"Writing Workshops"

I really enjoyed this Chapter, for I was able to relate to my past and future. Whenever I come across great ideas or even bad ideas for teaching I feel obligated to write them down. One process I found myself writing down was on the "writing workshops." I can most definitely relate it to my past classrooms. I also believe it is a great way for students to learn writing in a different way. By analyzing the section titled "Student-centered instruction," do feel the writing workshops are significant in the writing process and learning to write?

My past and present day teachers have asked the class to form small groups and revise each others papers (rough drafts). At first I never felt comfortable because I know that writing is not my forte. However after the exercise I found the feedback my fellow classmates gave me to be beneficial when it came time to revise and edit my paper. To be able to see others thoughts and ideas on writing allows you to learn new styles or even grammatical errors you never knew. It also gives you the opportunity to learn new ways of writing whether they are negative or positive. Not all feedback you will agree with.

Statistics even show the benefit of these workshops. I think if you only had an outline you received from the teacher and only your ideas on how to write a paper, you are limited to the creativity you might not be bringing to the table. Having other opinions other than your own may get you out of the rut you were in and give you an idea for an amazing paper, or even improve an already descent paper. "These groups become collaborative teams in which students help one another succeed" (p. 103). In my eyes this is definitely true. However I do also understand that not all students learn the same way, so perhaps this might not be as beneficial to some as it is for others. But I do believe it will have some positive aspects for all, depending on how much positive you get out of it depends on how you learn.

After reading this section I found myself writing down "Group activities, comparing works, collaborating to find the best answer." This section led to my idea of how future workshops or student centered instruction could work in my classroom. This allows for a more active role in learning rather than a non active role. I know how much I prefer hands on learning than auditory. Therefore this activity gives students a chance for hands on rather than auditory. This also may give a teacher the opportunity to experiment with a class to see what learning styles work best in a classroom.

Pages 43-53

There are multiple ways to approach writing and how one teaches it. Many will teach in a way that is most comfortable not what is best for his/ her students. There are several different ways to teach writing, whether or not a teacher teaches through a method that is most effective is up to them. However I feel as if one most definitely should experiment on what methods for teaching writing work best in a classroom. For example the two approaches to writing: Bottom up and top down approaches. Analyze the two and tell which one you believe to be most effective and why?

I know we have briefly discussed the meaning of the two in a previous class, but I want to go more in depth. In my personal opinion, I feel both can be effective depending on the age group being taught. Younger students who are just beginning to read do not have the skills to take apart an entire essay and work their way down. However, if you are dealing with secondary students this may perhaps be a better approach. Current-Traditional rhetoric focuses on the bottom-up approach for teaching. This is when the instruction moves from small units to larger units. Comparing it to top down, again I believe bottom up works best for elementary students who are just beginning to read. They need to start at the beginning by learning words first. Then they are able to move on to connecting those words into sentences and sentences into paragraphs. They cannot take a paragraph and understand its true meaning without learning the meaning of words first. I am not saying one approach is better than the other, in fact I believe both are successful in different ways. Once a student learns the basics through bottom up they can then turn it around and use the top down approach.

It also depends on what you want your students to learn. Say you are teaching high school students and want them to determine structure, voice, length, standards of proof, and ways of knowing. With this you should use top down approach in which you start with the whole essay. This is in contrast to the bottom up approach.

I feel if I were an elementary student and was given an entire essay, I might run away and cry. I wouldn’t know what to do with it, especially if I was a beginner reader. Once I know how to read it won’t be as scary and I can then attempt to work backwards starting with the whole essay.

Reading and Writing

By allowing children/ students to "decode" words, has been found to be essential for teaching children how to read and learn how to comprehend what they read. How does teaching children the sounds of English (vowels, consonants, consonant blends, etc.) benefit them when they start to read on their own?

This allows children to develop skills that will help them to identify the meanings of words, especially when seeing a word for the first time. Having the ability to sound out words will help them, perhaps, recognize a word they already know but have never seen it in written form. Students with the skill of "decoding" will benefit. This not only teaches them to read but enables a child to read on their own without the help of an adult.

Even to this day when I come across an unfamiliar word on paper, I will sound it out. Most of the time I will either recognize the word or figure out the meaning to the new word I have just found. I know for myself, if I did not have the skills to determine how to say a word by sounding it out, I would not be as good of a reader as I am today. By allowing students to figure out meanings on their own, I believe also gives them independence. Every time you read something, there will not always be someone there to guide you through the unknown word/s.

I can recall in the past when I was with a child and they wanted to read a book to me, they would use these same "decoding" skills. They were able to figure out how to say the word without my help. However if they were still a little uncertain I would help them. Therefore they learn from their mistakes and will recognize the word next time they see it.