Writing Workshop » Writing

Writing Workshop Mini Lessons

David Stoner — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 09:57:58 +0000

Writing Workshop Guru

David Stoner — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 11:01:09 +0000

Processing Learning Activities

David Stoner — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:17:18 +0000

1) Start-Up or Warm-Up
The first 3-5 minutes of class time each day are regularly set aside for students to do a quick segment of writing on the topic of the upcoming lesson. (Reflections on my reading, questions I have this morning, highlights from the homework, or response to a specific daily question or quote put on the board by the teacher). This activity works especially well to begin a class since it causes students to break social contact, look down at their writing, tune in to the lesson, gather thoughts, and get centered.

2. Freewriting
In “focused freewriting” students simply write as fast as they can on a given topic for 2-3 minutes, to tune into what they know, to surface their knowledge. The teacher’s instructions must expressly invite “sentences, phrases, notes, jottings – whatever helps you to get thoughts down quickly.” Because the goal of freewriting is spontaneous, quick jottings, teachers are careful not to say “write a paragraph.”

3. Listing or List-Storming
This is written version of brainstorming. Here, the student quickly jots a list of words or phrases reflecting whatever they know – or think they know – about a given subject, without editing or second-guessing themselves. Later, lists can be used in many ways: pairs or teams can compare and discuss their lists.

4. Fact Value Lists

When a new topic with a strong values dimension (e.g. AIDS, nuclear war, slavery) is being introduced, students begin by making two lists side-by-side: on the left, facts about the topic, and on the right, attitudes, beliefs, values, or opinions they have about it. As the lesson continues, students can validate their facts and explore their opinions.

5. K-W-L

When a topic is being introduced and investigated, students make and use three lists that guide the inquiry. Each student divides a piece of paper into three columns, sideways. In the left column, each student
lists all the things they Know about the topic. These can be shared aloud and a whole-group list of Knows is compiled. Next, in the middle column, everyone writes down some things they Want to Know. These can be shared aloud and a whole group list of ‘‘Want to ‘ is also compiled. The class pursues its questions as the unit unfolds. Toward the end of he unit, kids return to fill in their third columns with things they Learned. These then are the subject of a wider class discussion and review.

6. Graphic Writes
Clustering: Students put a key concept, term, or name in a circle at the center of a page and then free-associate, jotting down all the words that occur to them in circles arrayed around the kernel term, in whatever patterns “seems right.” This is great for surfacing prior knowledge and recollecting “lost’ information and reveals connections and relationships.

Semantic Maps: These are maps or diagrams that help us to remember terms, concepts, ingredients, or relationships. These help to chart content or knowledge in order to plug it into the brain or memorize it.

Mindmapping: The principle: if you really want to remember something – like a set of terminologies or a complex concept – it helps to make a careful, craftsman-like, artful illustration of it.

Story Maps: These are diagrams of maps of the events in a story or narrative often done chronologically. This can apply to both literature and historical narrative.

Venn Diagrams: When subjects – books, concepts, people, countries, etc. – have certain attributes that are alike and others that are different, kids can use tow or three interlocking circles to display the contrast and similarities.

Timelines: Another familiar combination of graphics and writing, applied to chronology. These work best when cartoons or other illustrations are added.
Drawing/Sketching: This is the graphic equivalent of freewriting. Students do original drawings to illustrate ideas found in their reading, discussion, and inquiry.

Cartoons: Another combination of words and drawings, cartoons can either be a quick response of a fine art form, depending on the time devoted to it. This can be a key to help getting reluctant writers to get words on a page – in balloons or captions.

7. Written Conversational Dialogue Journals
Talking informally in writing about course content with the teacher and/or other students provides a private, two-way channel of communication, typically developing into an exchange of information about both academic and interpersonal issues (see page 8). If written conversation is to stand alone as a regular class activity, the teacher will have to make significant efforts to institutionalize it (perhaps by initiating the first notes, by installing a mail box, by doing much modeling, and by responding promptly and fully). As this gets to be a regular activity, it blends into learning logs. Either the teacher or another student must respond to each letter/entry. Post-it notes limit the burden and also save the surface of students’ work from markings.

8. Learning Logs
Learning logs are in a sense the natural culmination of doing lots of notebooking/journaling activities. As teachers become committed to journaling, they want to make it an official, regular, consistent, predictable part of their courses. They also need a place for students to store all their drawings, lists, clusters, admit slips, and freewrites. Many teachers have formalized this approach by asking each student to keep a continuous notebook or learning log throughout the class. while some specific topics may be set by the teacher, the essential idea is for students to be making regular journal entries on a variety of class-related topics – 3, 4, or 5 entries per week. A loose-leaf format is preferable so that students can remove and share one entry without having to hand over their whole spiral notebook to someone else. Index cards, admit slips, and other odd-sized entries can be pasted or stapled on a loose-leaf page and added to the notebook.

9. Exit Slips
Instead of teaching “bell-to-bell”, teachers save the last 3-5 minutes of class for students to do a short piece of writing or drawing representing their response, summary, or questions about the day’s session. The teacher may collect and study these and use them to plan future lessons. Exit slips can be a great diagnostic tool and natural source of quick-review during the next class – the teacher can read a few sample exit slips from the previous day aloud (without names) to commence the lesson.

10. Admit Slips
Upon entering class, students hand over their “tickets’ – short writings on a preassigned topic, such as three suggested discussion questions for today’s class, a sketch of a character or historical figure appearing in our reading, or a summary of the previous night’s reading assignment. To begin class, the teacher may share some or all, or admit slips may be passed out randomly among students to be discussed in pairs or groups.

11. “Stop-n-Write”
Too often in presentations, teachers feel the need to plunge on and “cover the material,” when in fact, students would benefit greatly from an occasional pause for them to reflect on their thoughts. Some possible focusing suggestions: what I’m thinking right now; what I grasp up to this moment questions that am bugging me. This pausing to draw or write provides kids a chance to consolidate what’s been learned so far and prepare to go on.

12. Poetry
Many different genres of verse are adaptable to quick-draft or content area writing: haiku, limericks, bio poems, diamantes, etc. The ones with simple and clear-cut formulas seem to work best.

13. Dialogues
A good way to ensure students to grasp both sides of complex issues is to have them write dramatic dialogues between opposing characters, personages, historical figures, points of view, scientific
traditions, etc., giving students practice articulating ideas while’ learning.

14. “Faction”
Students can create a piece of fiction that depends upon a solid understanding of facts studied in a course. Examples: creating a “missing chapter’ from a novel, roving reporters interviewing Pythagoras, Madame Curie, Hitler. All of these factions invite illustration, of course.

15. Definitions
Sometimes it is valuable to focus on certain key words in vocabulary – heavy content areas. Some basic approaches: freewriting on the key word or key term; predicting definitions of the central vocabulary of a lesson, drawing with concrete poetry using key words from the subject mailer.

16. Paraphrases
Paraphrasing means writing precise summaries of key ideas, concepts, procedures, processes, events, quotations, demonstrations, or scenes. To do this over textbooks, it is more palatable and useful if done in pairs or teams rather than solo. The “sidetalk” that goes on while boiling a chunk of text down to its elements is often worthwhile.

17. Predictions
The teacher stops students at a key point in a reading, an activity, or a lecture and invites them to quickly write or draw what they think will happen next, and then discuss the predictions in small or whole groups.

18. Dialects/Double-Entries
Students divide note cards or journal entries in halt thirds, or quarters, and then use each space for a different kind of writing or drawing. In one kind of double-entry journal, the left side is used for factual note taking during reading, lecture, or activity – while the right side is used for personal reactions and questions. In mathematics, one side can be used for doing calculations and the other for explaining in words how the students attacked them. Many math teachers report that if
students can explain a concept in these two languages – symbolic and English – they really grasp the ideas.

19. Metacognitive Analysis
In metacognitive analysis, the student writes to describe her/his own thinking process in the subject, perhaps up the point where difficulties are encountered.

20. Instructions/Directions
The “how to” is one of the most primitive and inherently engaging forms of writing. Possibilities; how to build a birdhouse, how to hem a skirt, how to plan a battle strategy. A realistic performance assessment would be: can a reader do this task based upon the instructions given?

21. Observation Reports
Science labs have always offered a special and valuable kind of composing experience: reporting data from the close observation of physical objects. This sort of writing can be extended to data gathering and observational reports in a number of other subject areas and formats.

22. Class Minutes
One student is elected as minute taker for each daily class session, and must produce a set of official “minutes” by the following class. Minutes are either posted in a regular spot or are copied for distribution to the group. Reading and amending these minutes provides an excellent focusing activity for the start of each day’s class; having everyone’s attention gives each student author a chance to shine. In practice, authors usually try to infuse the minutes with as much personality as accuracy will permit.

23. Problem, Questions, Exercises
OK, it’s the oldest one in the book and potentially deadly if mishandled, but students can write their own discussion, study, essay, or even exam questions, mathematics word problems, or science experiments on the material being covered. This can replace dull, rote, end-of-the-chapter questions or workbook banalities with
questions that students originate because they identify them to be worth considering.

24. Save the Last Word for Me
Each student individually reads a common text. As the students read, they write on the first side of a 3 x 5 card (or slips of paper) any segments of the text words, phrases, or sentences that particularly catch their attention. These segments can be items that they find interesting and want to discuss (Suggest doing at least 3). The page number should be recorded.
* On the other side of the card, the students write out what they want to say about each quote they have selected.
* Once they have completed the reading and writing, they gather in small groups or in a single group to share their cards.
* Before the group discussion, each student goes through his/her cards and puts them in order from most to least important in terms of their desire to discuss them. During the sharing, if someone else uses the same top quote, the person who has not yet shared will choose his or her next quote.
* Each student reads the quote on a card to the group. The other members of the group have a chance to react to what was read. The student who read the quote then has the last word about why that segment of the text was chosen and bases the remarks both on what he or she wrote on the back of the card and on the preceding discussion.

25. Say Something
Students are asked to choose a partner and each pair is given a single copy of a reading selection.
* Before reading, each pair is asked to decide whether they will read the selection aloud or silently. If reading orally, the two share one text and take turns reading aloud.
* Students are informed that as they read the selection, they will discuss what they have read with their partner. After they read the first several paragraphs, they’re to stop to “say something” to each other about what they have read. This continues as they read the text.
* Students can comment on what was just read, make predictions about what will happen next, share connections and experiences
related to the selection, or ask questions about something that is confusing to them.
* After the first several times that Say Something is used with a group, the teacher should engage the students in a group discussion aimed at helping them become aware of how they can use this strategy in their own reading.

Variations:
Say Something can be used with a read-aloud book. The teacher reads aloud, stopping at particular points. Students are encouraged to “say something” and after several comments, the teacher begins reading again. Instead of responding as a whole group, the students can instead turn and say something to a partner every time the teacher stops reading aloud. This works well with young children and to introduce the engagement to the class.
Written conversations can be substituted for oral conversation (see page 7). Writing, however, is more constrained. It is not wise to introduce this alternative until after students feel free to respond to text at a more personal “what it meant to me” level. Writing in the Round is used to get response to writing for revision purposes. A blank sheet of paper is attached to a draft; the draft is circulated to three or four different readers. Each reader reads the draft and previous readers’ comments and then makes suggestions for revisions of meaning.
Reading in the Round involves a student’s writing a response to a reading selection. This response is circulated among other students who write their own comments about the reading selection and about the reactions already written on the sheet by other readers.
Students should be encouraged to use “Say Something” whenever they say they are having difficulty understanding what they are reading. This procedure should be continued until students naturally engage in this strategy on their own.

26. Sketch to Stretch
Students work in small groups of four or five. They first read the selection, individually or as a group.
* After reading the selection, students think about what they read

and draw a sketch of ‘What this story means to me.” Encourage students NOT to draw an illustration of the story, but to think about the meaning of the story and see if they can find a way to visually sketch that meaning. It also helps to ask students to draw their own connections to the story.
* Teachers can help students to understand these directions by sharing several examples of Sketch to Stretch with them before they are asked to create their own.
* Students should be told there are many ways of representing the meaning of an experience and they are free to experiment with their interpretations. Students should not be rushed but given ample time to read and draw.
* When the sketches are complete, each person in the group shows his or her sketch to the others in the group. The group of students participate in the sketch and say what they think the artist is attempting to say.
* Once everyone has been given the opportunity to hypothesize an interpretation, the artist, of course, gets the last word.
* Sharing continues in this fashion until all group members have shared. Each group then identifies one sketch to be shared with the entire class.

27. Written Conversation
Written conversation is introduced just like an oral conversation, except that instead of talking orally with a neighbor or friend, students will do their talking on paper
* Some teachers have announced a “Written Conversation Day” during which students can do as much talking as they wish, but on paper rather than orally.
* Some teachers begin by having a “public” Written Conversation with one student using the overhead projector. Students are then asked to pair up and have similar conversations with each other
* Another strategy is for the teacher to simply begin informally sitting next to various children and have a “Written Conversation”, and then encouraging them to try this engagement with others.
* The first participant writes a question on a sheet of paper and hands the paper and the pencil to the second participant. The second participant reads the question, writes a response and returns the paper to the first participant. This continues until the conversation is terminated.
* When using Written Conversation for young children whose writing is unconventional and difficult for others to read, each participant writes a message and then reads whatever was written to the other participant.
* Once students are familiar with the process, it can be used after a reading selection to discuss the selection. Although they can be collected by the teacher, they’re best used as a device to organize their thinking. Students can read different variations of the same story (such as Cinderella) and engage in Conversations about the similarities and differences. Students can be invited to have a Written Conversation about a topic they want to write about as a way to collect information and ideas before beginning a draft.
* Written Conversation can be used to discuss disputes and disruptive behavior.

28. Message Board
To initiate the Message Board, the teacher may write a message to the entire class or to a particular student and place it on the board. When the students discover the message, they are invited to write a message to one another and for the teacher. The only restriction is that messages must be signed. Each message may be hung publicly, folded over with the recipient’s name on the outside, or sealed in an envelope.
* A variety of types of messages can be posed on the Message Board by teachers, students, and parents, including personal messages, announcements, records of assignments, invitations, jokes, riddles, items to sell, current events, sign-up sheets for classroom activities, exchanges of messages between classrooms – anything that needs to be communicated.
* In one classroom of young children, the teacher used the Message Board in conjunction with sharing time. Children who had something to share with the class wrote their messages on a piece of paper and posted it on the Message Board. When it
was time to share, only those who posted their messages shared. Since each child read his/her own message, it didn’t mailer if it was written conventionally.

29. Dialogue Journals
Dialogue Journals are a form of written dialogue between two people usually either the teacher or a classmate. Usually students write daily in their journals about their experiences at home or at school and then exchange the journal for a response. Teachers often color code the journals so that they can take one color each day for a response. By the end of the week, they have responded to everyone’s journal. Sometimes students place their journals on a table and anyone who chooses can take the journal to write a response. Other times, students hand their journal to another person for a response.

Writing Workshop Graphic Organizers

David Stoner — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:03:50 +0000

Writing Workshop

Improving Peer Response in the Writing Workshop

David Stoner — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:49:36 +0000

Peer Response Improvement

Student writers need far more feedback than any single teacher can provide.

What’s more, responding to someone else’s work can be a learning experience for

the responder as well as for the recipient of the advice. For these reasons,

many experts recommend the use of peer response groups, groups of students who

respond to the work of their classmates.

There are many different ways to set up such groups in the classroom. Some

teachers prefer to assign students to long-term groups which meet on a regular

schedule. Others assign students to groups, but change the composition of the

groups often. Other teachers identify certain students who form a revising

committee and another group which functions as an editing committee. Students

take their papers to these committees whenever they need help. Periodically the

membership of these groups changes. Teachers who are using a workshop approach

often prefer to let the groups form and dissolve according to need. Students who

need help with revising put their names on the board and when four or five names

appear, the group gathers for as long as they need to meet to help each other.

Similarly, editing groups are formed and then disband when their work is done.

Other teachers allow students to decide whether they need to recruit a group or

just share their work informally with people they choose. Each of these systems

has advantages and drawbacks, such that no single method has been found to be

more effective than the others.

What we need to focus on is not how the groups are formed but what happens in

them. How can we help students provide effective responses to peers’ writings?

If peer response groups are to function at all, students must be taught how to

work together. They also have to know the teacher’s rules and expectations for

group work. It is helpful if students have worked together enough to trust each

other and share their writing and their responses willingly. Even when these

circumstances exist, students may still be unable to offer constructive

criticism. They may give each other suggestions which will help initiate writing

and they may offer additional ideas while the writer is drafting, but they may

falter when they need to suggest improvements. They may. for example, praise

work even when they know it is awful, point out only the surface errors, or

criticize in a way that demeans the writer (e.g., “That’s a dumb idea! What a

stupid paper!”). Actually, none of these responses should surprise us. When

students share papers informally, they usually share with friends. Friends are

expected to support and encourage, not criticize. They really don’t want to hurt

the writer’s feelings. The correction of mechanics is often a reflection of what

teachers and parents point out when they look at papers, so students may be

doing nothing more than modeling adult behavior. Whenever students work in small

groups, peer pressure is a factor. Offensively critical comments are the same

kinds of put-downs young people use in social groups to establish a pecking

order. Thus, offering unwarranted praises or sharp, personal criticisms are

typical behaviors. If we want students to behave differently, we have to teach

them how to respond.

To help students, we need to know first what we can expect from them.

Observations indicate that responses typically form a hierarchy. The lowest

level of response, the one used by inexperienced responders, is a subjective

personal response. The reader basically states whether or not the topic is of

personal interest. If the reader likes the topic, then the paper is judged as

okay. The second level of response is to comment on the surface features of the

work. The reader points out factors such as length, neatness of handwriting, and

mechanical accuracy (i.e., incorrect spelling, punctuation, and so forth). The

third level includes comments about the effectiveness of the content as basic

communication. The reader may note, for example, that part of a paper makes

sense but another part seems incomplete. The next higher level of response is

one which includes some comment about how the writer expressed content. For

instance, the reader may say that the paper is good because it shows imagination

or has well developed characters. The highest level of response is one which

includes some concern for how well the paper addressed audience needs. For

example, the reader may note that the writing could offend some readers or that

it should entertain a broad range of readers. Much of what students do is at

Level 1; they give a subjective personal response which is not very helpful to

the writer.Students may also use a Level 2 response, especially if surface

features are what their own teachers have emphasized. What most of us want is

for students to move to the higher levels where they look at the piece more

objectively and respond to its communicative quality, the effectiveness of

expression, and its impact on the audience.

But how do you get students to move beyond personal reactions and surface

features? In Strategies for Teaching the Composing Process (Koch & Brazil, pp.

8-12) there is a section on evaluating essays which makes an excellent point.

Students may need reassurances that they can recognize good writing. Often they

feel that what they consider good is not the same as what the teacher and other

adults consider good. They really have little confidence in their own judgment.

The book suggests that students be given three essays written by students whom

they do not know. Working independently, they are to read each paper carefully

and write notes telling why and how each paper represents good and/or bad

writing. Students then meet in small groups, share their comments, and determine

which comments were made most often and with which ones everybody agrees. These

are recorded. Then they are shared with the class. A summary statement for each

essay is written on the board. The teacher and the class discuss the

similarities which appeared and acknowledge that they all can recognize good

writing and agree on which papers are best.

Once this confidence is established, the teacher can move on to address the

quality of responses. One way to help students focus attention is to distinguish

clearly between revising and editing. To accomplish this the teacher can insist

that students read their papers to peers but not exchange them when the goal is

revising. Then when they edit, papers should be exchanged. This approach does

help students avoid the trap of attending to mechanics when they need to focus

on content. This also gives the teacher an opportunity to teach strategies

associated with these two different writing activities.

One of the most effective ways to teach students how to revise and edit in small

groups is to use a 3-step sequence:

1. Model

2. Fishbowl demonstrations

3. Independent practice

To model, the teacher begins working with the whole class as they examine a

student-written (anonymous and not from this class) paper. This may be done by

giving each student a Xerox copy of the paper or by making an overhead

transparency of it. The teacher helps the students understand the kinds of

questions to ask and the kinds of comments that are most likely to be helpful to

the writer by modeling. A fishbowl demonstration is one in which a single small

group meets in the middle of the classroom and conducts a discussion while the

rest of the class sits around behind them and listens. The discussion may be

interrupted occasionally to point out or discuss with the whole class what is

going on and how the discussion could be improved. When the discussionis done,

the teacher leads a class assessment of how well the group functioned, what

helped the group move forward, what hindered the group, and what comments seemed

to be of most help to the writers. The next step is to have students practice in

their own small groups. As they do this, the teacher must circulate, listen,

prod, and praise. She must keep in mind that the goal is to teach the students

how to respond in small groups. At this point the process is more important than

the result. Throughout these three steps, students use papers provided by the

teacher rather than their own papers.

When the students begin to use their own papers, the 3-step sequence might be

repeated with reminders aboutcommenting on the writing and not the writer. Also,

those who are sharing papers with their group members should be advised to

listen and jot notes while others respond, but to not talk except to answer

questions posed by the responders. The reason for this is that students have a

tendency to defend their work. This often leads to arguments rather than

responses. Since the writer retains ownership and decides what advise to take

and what to disregard, defenses are generally unnecessary in response groups. As

students come to trust one another, they will gradually learn when it is

appropriate to explain something which the group has misunderstood. In the

meantime, writers should simply note that something went awry because the group

missed the point they were trying to make.

While we hope that response groups will help writers produce better papers, it

is important to keep in mind that one of the main reasons for response groups is

to involve students in discussions about composing. One way to do this is to use

sentence combining activities as a starting point. The entire class can be given

an uncued sentence combining activity which they work on independently. They

then write their results on an overhead transparency, a paper for Xeroxing, or

the chalkboard. The variations are discussed and compared. One significant value

of this approach is that no single version is best. Rather, different versions

achieve different aims and produce different audience reactions. All of these

can be discussed. This activity can then be repeated in small groups once

students understand how the discussion is supposed to proceed. Eventually,

students can use their own writing as the basis for similar activities and

discussion.

Another possibility for involving students in discussion of composing is to

engage them in devising the criteria for evaluation. In general, this is

difficult to do until students have had some experience with the task at hand.

If this is the first time that students have attempted a particular kind of

writing, then they need to work on the discourse for awhile before trying to

identify the factors which distinguish an effective from an ineffective product.

Another method is to have students complete a sequence of activities which leads

to devising a sound list of criteria. One such sequence which has been found

useful with college freshmen begins with students interviewing each other in

pairs. Students then write a personal ad for themselves to which a partner

responds in a structured way by restating some of the information in writing.

The next task is the writing of a letter of application for a job. Once students

know what the assignment is, the class brainstorms the criteria for evaluating

the papers. Based on what the class with the teacher’s assistance sets up, a

response sheet can be devised which students use to guide their discussions.

There are many other approaches which can be used to help students become more

effective responders. You might want to try some of the activities suggested in

“Peer Response: Teaching Specific Revision Suggestions” or the sequence

recommended in “Improving Students’ Responses to Their Peers’ Essays.” One of

the most elaborate systems for improving responses is a sequence of experiences

Sharing and Responding. While these experiences were designed for college

students, several of them can be used at the secondary and even elementary

levels. There is also a videotape available which explains and demonstrates each

of these techniques.

One final point to keep in mind is the idea that finding problems and fixing

them are two different operations. Response groups may help writers find

difficulties, but they may still be unable to help them improve the work.

Nevertheless, being able to locate and communicate about strengths and problems

are necessary first steps.

Handling the Paper Load

David Stoner — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:46:56 +0000

Handling the Paper Load

Consider this:

Does the basketball coach isolate every error that each player makes and point

them all out?

Consider this:

Do you recall any of the specific comments your teachers made on your

compositions?

Consider this:

How many times have you corrected the spelling of a word on a student’s paper

only to see it appear misspelled again and again?

Consider this:

How often do you return a set of carefully corrected papers only to have to

spend additional time justifying a grade or explaining the markings to students?

Consider this:

When you spend hours editing students’ papers, who learns how to edit‹you or the

student?

Consider this:

You are a student. As such, You are probably extrinsically motivated. Your selfesteem

is somewhat shaky and you have already decided that you aren’t very good

at writing. If you believe you don’t have talent, then you probably don’t see

much hope for improving, and you probably don’t feel that the teacher can really

teach you much about writing.

Every time you have to write, you hope that you will get lucky and impress the

teacher. You keep searching for the magic key that will insure that you will get

a good grade on every paper. If you are that student, how will intensive marking

of your paper help you?

Consider this:

How many times has a comment come back to haunt you? You praise something a

student does once and he/she does it every time from then on even when it is

totally inappropriate to do so. When you note this as a weakness, the student

says, “But on the other paper, you said that was good.”

Being able to handle the paper load means that you must reject the idea that you

have to mark every paper intensively. It may even mean rejecting the idea that

you have to read every piece of work students write. Until you accept these two

premises, you will continue to have difficulty with paper load.

There is also another point to be made here. If you do not have lots of skilldrill

exercises to check, spelling tests to grade, and grammar/usage quizzes to

mark, your paper load will decline. While it is useful to consider ways to make

composition correction more efficient and effective, you also need to look at

other sources of paperwork too and make some adjustments there as well. Should

we grade everything students do? Isn’t there a time for making mistakes and

learning from them without being penalized?

But on to the matter of handling the composition paper load. Basically there are

10 ways of coping with composition paper load:

1. Don’t give grades of any sort at all.

2. Reduce the amount of writing students do.

3. Reduce the number of students you have.

4. Hire additional people to grade papers.

5. Reduce the number of papers you grade, but increase the amount of writing

students do.

6. Change the design of tasks assigned.

7. Involve students in grading.

8. Streamline the method of grading

9. Increase the impact of marking.

10. Improve the quality of the writing you grade.

For most of us, options 1, 2, 3, and 4 simply are not feasible. Most schools

require that grades be given and students need feedback on the quality of their

work. In general, students need to do more, not less writing, and few of us are

in control of our class sizes. Budget cuts are forcing us to accept more

students, not fewer. With limited funds the possibility of hiring external

graders is unlikely. Besides, the use of such graders interferes with the

teacher’s knowledge of students’ writing.

That still leaves six options that we can experiment with. The trick, of course,

is to become not only more efficient but more effective at the same time. Any

plan that reduces your load but doesn’t improve student writing doesn’t work.

Let’s look at these six options and share some ideas about them.

Item 5 – Reduce the number of papers you grade, but increase the amount of

writing students do.

Possibilities:

* Use various kinds of journals.

* Have students write fewer but longer papers.

* Assign more writing tasks as prewriting building up to the actual

assignment.

* Use a writing folder system in which students write many papers. You grade

the collection as a whole not separate papers.

* Use a portfolio system wherein students select only certain papers for

evaluation.

* Have students write and revise several papers. On an appointed day collect

from their folders only one of these papers (draw a number at random or choose a

paper you want to read) for grading (See English Journal, Feb. ’86, pp. 102-3

for a description).

* Involve other teachers in assigning more writing across the curriculum.

* Have small groups produce collaboratively written papers, one from each

group. All students are involved in writing, but you grade only one paper from

each group (See English Journal, Jan. ’94, pp. 60-61 and 71-74 for a

description).

Item 6 – Change the design of tasks assigned.

Possibilities:

* Assign real world tasks for real audiences (e.g., children’s books which

will be bound and placed in a classroom library, school newspaper, pen pals

correspondence, etc.)

* Assign tasks which serve a useful purpose as is without revision (e.g.,

summary of lecture for personal recall, a report of the day’s work for

absentees, questions submitted to the teacher for response, etc.)

* Assign some short tasks that serve a specific purpose while developing

some particular writing skill (sentence combining practices, short story

summaries to check comprehension prior to taking a test, writing directions for

playing a game student created, etc.)

* Assign writing tasks that act as preludes to oral activities (e.g.,

scripts which are performed, speeches, stories which are then told orally, etc.)

Item 7 – Involve students in grading.

Possibilities:

* Have students select which papers you are to grade.

* Have students develop grading criteria.

* Have students participate in response and editing groups.

* Have students mark certain items on each others’ papers.

* Have students set writing goals for themselves and grade according to

these goals.

* Have students specify the kind of feedback they want on a particular paper

(e.g., general response and comments, a specific assessment of something

particular he/she was trying to do, intensive marking, etc.)

* Each writer writes an explanation of what grade his/her paper deserves and

why.

* Give students copies of an anonymously written paper which they are to

correct and grade the way an English teacher does. The results are compared and

discussed. (This activity helps students grasp the time and effort and

difficulty of grading.)

Item 8 – Streamline the method of grading.

Possibilities:

* Use holistic evaluation techniques.

* Use a checklist of items.

* Look only for a limited set of problems and grade only on this basis.

* Grade intensively only a specified part or aspect of each paper depending

upon the preceding focus of instruction (i.e., opening paragraph, vivid detail,

spelling of homonyms, etc.).

* For every negative comment you make and every error you mark, write a

positive comment or note a correct item of value equal to the negative. (This is

likely to cause you to cut down on the negatives you mark.)

* Read the paper aloud. Mark an X in the margin every time you have to

reread or pause to figure out the meaning. Mark a check every time the writer

makes you think about content in a positive way (i.e., triggers a memory,

presents a new idea, makes you laugh intentionally, etc.). Comment only on some

of your X’s and checks.

* Put a check mark next to the line in which an error occurs. This forces

the student to examine the entire line, find the error, and decide how to revise

it.

Item 9 – Increase the impact of marking.

Possibilities:

* Provide specific feedback about what works and what doesn’t. Offer

suggestions and ask questions. Avoid general comments.

* Look only for patterns of errors not isolated mistakes.

* Mark and comment with an instructional purpose in mind. Focus on what

students are likely to be able to apply the next time they write. If the problem

is related to a particular genre (e.g., the use of quotation marks in dialogue),

you didn’t teach it, and students didn’t master the concept, then ignore it; you

can give another assignment and teach the item then.

* Focus on those skills and problems that students are developmentally ready

to handle.

Item 10 – Improve the quality of the writing you grade.

Possibilities:

* Spend more class time preparing students to write better final papers by

teaching them various revising and editing strategies, focusing on prewriting,

and providing more in-class aid through group responses, one-on-one conferences

and so forth.

* Provide checklists for students to use.

* Predict potential problems and teach mini-lessons ahead of time.

* Focus on a few persistent problems and try to eradicate them.

* Focus attention and energy on responding effectively to students’ work

during the writing process.

* Encourage students to use computer checkers for spelling, grammar, style,

and so forth. Be sure they know how to use these devices. Provide time for their

use.

* Institute an editing council, a group of students who review all papers

before you get them. Each person checks for a particular feature. If they note

problems, the paper goes back to the writer for improvement.

* When you get a set of papers, skim through them. If you see some common

problems, return the ungraded papers the next day and teach a lesson on the

problems. Students are to check their work and make any necessary changes before

submitting again.

Some concluding remarks

We don’t want to penalize students for being inexperienced writers. If we mark

every error, we may discourage them from taking risks and learning language the

natural way by trial and error. Remember that some errors are actually signs of

growth. Finally, be sure to communicate openly with students and parents about

how you grade and why you use this method.

A Community of Writers

David Stoner — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:45:46 +0000

Community of Writers (Sociolinguistics)

When we write, we must make many choices. We choose the subject matter and

the discourse mode. Sometimes we choose the audience; at other times we

shape discourse to fit a known audience. We choose language according to our

sense of purpose and what we know about the audience. We employ what we

believe we know about social conventions and appropriate usage.

But there is more to it than all of that. There is also the matter of context. Context

includes some very pragmatic issues such as how much time do I have to

complete the writing and how long is this kind of discourse. Journalists worry

about the space available in the newspaper layout. Short story writers have

certain length limitations as do writers of magazine articles.

But there is also the matter of social context which influences writing. This is a

more elusive concept to pin down, but there is evidence to prove that this effect

exists. Not long ago researchers set out to study the kinds of comments college

freshmen made in peer response groups. They wanted to see if more effective

writers responded differently in these groups. What they found instead was that

the kind of response depended on the particular clique students were most

interested in joining. The students who hoped to become varsity athletes

responded the way that they thought athletes would respond. Similarly, those

who had aspirations of becoming artists responded the way they believed artists

would respond. Even though they often had other thoughts which they revealed

in private interviews, they withheld these remarks because they considered them

out-of-character, or at least incompatible with the character they hoped to

become.

We know that spoken language use varies according to the social situation.

What we say and how we say it depends to a great extent on the social

circumstances surrounding the utterances. While there is less evidence to prove

it, there are many clues which indicate that the social situation has a great deal

to do with writing. This factor becomes even more important when peers act as

the audience in a classroom. No doubt you have had the experience of students

being quite willing to submit a paper to you but unwilling to share it with peers. At

times this is a positive: The student has written something personal or something

mature which he feels only an adult will understand. But sometimes this

reluctance is a negative: The student knows that the work is not of good quality

and not his best work and he does not want to embarrass himself among his

friends. In this case the student would rather receive a low grade than face peer

ridicule. Unfortunately, the message this student sends is that he doesn’t really

care what the teacher thinks of him, but he does care what peers think.

If you have been teaching for any length of time, you have probably heard about

or personally experienced a class which contained students who wrote things for

effect. Sometimes they attempt to offend you as the teacher, but more often they

seem intent upon producing an effect upon their peers. Often this is done

through writing about inappropriate topics or through the use of vivid details

about violence. Real risk-takers often use obscenities, too. The result of all this is

a constant state of uproar whenever writing is discussed and shared, especially

since part of this quickly becomes a competition to see whose paper will create

the most disruption. While whole classes like this don’t come along often, most

classrooms contain one or two students who may try this approach.

Most teachers treat these situations as discipline problems. The students are

reprimanded or punished and the class moves on. What is interesting about this

situation is that students who engage in this behavior understand that language

use can be powerful and that language can be manipulated to produce certain

effects on the audience. While we certainly do not want students to write only to

produce horror, shock, revulsion, and embarrassment, we do want them to learn

how to use language to produce predictable responses and to appreciate the

power that comes with using language well.

What we really want is for students to see themselves in a positive light as

writers/authors and to see their classmates similarly. While there are other ways

to phrase this, one common way is to say that we want students to join the

community of writers. Really what we are saying is that we want students to buy

into the notion of joining the academic community. We want them to value

reading and writing as worthwhile goals, but more than that we want them to see

education as a valuable enterprise. When students care about themselves and

others as learners and care about school as a whole, instruction has a much

greater chance of being effective. Going back to that research study of college

freshmen, the researchers found that the most effective response came from the

group that wanted to join the academic community. They saw themselves as

scholars who wanted to learn as much as possible during their college careers.

And most of us have had the experience of working with some students who

seemed committed to learning even though they may not have been our most

competent students.

The implication of research in sociolinguistics, which is the study of the

relationship between social factors and language, is that how students perceive

themselves in relation to their social environment has a direct impact on their use

of language. Developing a community of writers means establishing a social

context in the classroom such that every student sees himself and herself as an

author. It also means seeing everyone else in the class as an author. Even more

than that it means committing oneself to the improvement of all through helping,

sharing, teaching, and supporting. A community, after all, works together.

Sounds like utopia, doesn’t it. The question is, of course, how can such a

classroom environment be created? The best answer is gradually and carefully.

Attempting this approach is not simply a matter of designating a chair as the

author’s chair and requiring students to sit there when they read their papers to

classmates. Creating a community in the classroom involves altering our teacher

behaviors such that we become members of the community. It also means

focusing a great deal of attention and energy on two factors—developing positive

self-concepts and respecting students as people. Further, it demands reducing

competition to a minimum while increasing cooperation to a maximum. Students

must do more than just respect each other; they have to care about each other.

In addition, the environment has to be safe if students are to take the kinds of

academic risks which will produce learning. They need to be physically

comfortable, but more than that they have to feel emotionally protected, safe

from humiliation, verbal abuse, sarcasm, and ostracism.

How students perceive themselves as writers does make a difference in how

they write. How students perceive themselves in relation to their classmates

influences how they write. And how students perceive the environment of the

classroom affects how they write. In order for students to produce their best

work, all of these perceptions need to be positive.

For additional information and specific details about creating this kind of

classroom environment, you really should read some of the recommended

source books.

Recommended Further Reading:

• Harste, J., & Short, C. with Burke, C. (1988). Creating classrooms for

authors: The reading-writing connection

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

• King, L., & Stovall, D. (1992). Classroom publishing: A practical guide to

enhancing student literacy

Hillsboro, OR: Blue Heron Publishing.

• Lamme, L. (1989). Authorship: A key facet of whole language. The

Reading Teacher, 42 (9)@ 704-710.

• Moxley, J. (1986). Five writers’ perceptions of writing functions. Journal of

Teaching Writing, 5 (2), 249-266.

• Smith, F. (1988). Joining the literacy club

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

• Vygotsky, L. (1962). Thought and language

Cambridge, MA: MIT Press and Wiley. (originally published in Russian in

1934)

• Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological

processes

. edited

by Michael Cole, Vera John-Steiner, Sylvia Scribner, & Ellen Souberman.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

The Writing Process Approach

David Stoner — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:43:52 +0000

Writing Workshop Approach

The writing workshop approach is strongly advocated by a number of experts in

the field of composing. Atwell, Romano, and Rief recommend it for middle and

high school students. Donald Graves and Lucy Calkins also advocate this approach

for elementary students. Similar preferences can be found to a lesser degree in

the writings of Donald Murray and Peter Elbow, both of whom focus mainly on the

college level.

Many people upon first reading about writing workshops see a laissez faire

situation much like the open classroom of the 1960s. On the surface there are

similarities in descriptions and to the casual observer in classrooms where

writing workshops are conducted, there are similarities in appearance. However,

what makes writing workshops work is what was missing in the open classroom: a

sound underlying structure based on a clearly defined philosophy developed from

a solid research base. In short, in the 1960s most teachers who tried open

classroom approaches were not at all sure why they were doing this, what they

hoped to achieve, and how to provide instruction and monitor progress within

this environment. The open classroom was an import from England. Unfortunately,

the advocates who tried to transplant it here told us a great deal about what

not to do but very little about what to do. The approach failed not because it

was flawed but because teachers didn’t know how to make it work and nobody was

around with the information.

Writing workshops are different. Yes, they are student-centered. Yes, students

do have a great deal of control over their writing. But in the writing workshop

the teacher does not simply stand back and let the learning (or lack of it) take

place. Rather, the teacher is deeply immersed in the work in progress. More than

that, the teacher creates the environment, supports and facilitates learning,

provides instruction when needed, and carefully monitors progress up to and

including setting requirements for students who need that kind of structure.

Before going further it is necessary to point out that students have to be

taught how to function in a writing workshop setting. You can’t just start out

with an open situation and expect students to respond. Younger students who have

had little exposure to school or those who have worked in workshops before will

need less ofan introduction than older students who are accustomed to being told

what to do all the time. Even high school students who say they are fed up with

school structure have a difficult time adjusting to a writing workshop approach.

Therefore, any teacher who wants to attempt this needs to start with some kind

of structure and a clear set of guidelines for behavior and work production.

Later this structure can be modified and the guidelines adjusted or relaxed

often in conjunction with student recommendations.

What should a fully functioning writing workshop look like? There seem to be 5

factors which distinguish the writing workshop.

* First, there is total involvement in composing. All students are engaged

in prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, or sharing/publishing.

* Second, there is diversity. Students are working on writing that they have

chosen to do, so all kinds of writing are going on simultaneously and students

are at all different stages in the writing process.

* Third, the environment is cooperative. As a result, there is a constant

hum of voices rather than silence. Students work in small groups, pairs, and

alone. They are free to move about the room as the need dictates.

* Fourth, the teacher knows the current work of each student as well as the

progress each has been making. In many cases, the teacher also has goals for

individuals. Related to this monitoring and planning for instruction, the

teacher is actively engaged working with individuals and small groups throughout

the workshop time. Even when he/she is not conferring with students, he/she is

observing and making notes about students’ composing processes and products.

* Fifth, students behave autonomously. When they finish a piece of work,

they know what to do next. They do not wait for teacher directions or for a new

assignment, nor do they refer to an assignment sheet to see what they are

supposed to do. When students come into the classroom or begin the time set

aside for writing workshop, they know what to do and they can begin working

immediately. They make their own decisions about when to get help with revising

and editing and whom to ask for assistance.

Occasionally there is some kind of special event–a guest speaker, a videotape,

maybe even a field trip. Occasionally there is a day set aside for public

readings of specially chosen papers. Occasionally there is a whole class lesson

on a skill everyone seems to be having trouble with. For the most part, though,

one day’s work in a writing workshop looks much like the next.

What are the advantages of a writing workshop approach? One advantage is that

this approach builds on what we know about the natural way that young children

learn to speak. It allows them to extend that natural process of trial and error

learning into the realm of writing. It also allows them to control the

difficulty level so that they adjust the risk factor to match their own sense of

competence. Another advantage is that motivation comes from the student. The

teacher does not have to expend time and energy convincing students that they

should work hard on the tasks they have been given. Another advantage is that

instruction can be individualized and students can progress at their own rates.

Probably the most important advantage is that students spend nearly all of the

available time involved in writing or in some activity related to writing. They

do not wait for instructions or wait for special help or wait for classmates to

finish or wait for papers to be passed out or wait for the teacher to grade

their work. When it functions well, the writing workshop is one of the most

efficient methods of composition instruction.

But efficient and effective are two different factors. Lecturing is also

efficient for covering the material. The problem is that it isn’t very

effective. Whether or not the writing workshop is effective depends on two

things. First, how effectiveness is defined. And second, whether or not the

teacher makes provisions for the necessary instruction. If the goals of

instruction are fluency and self-confidence as a writer, the writing workshop

has the potential for success. If one goal of instruction is learning to write

in many different [nodes for different purposes and addressing different

audiences, then the workshop approach can still be used, but students will have

to be allowed fewer choices of tasks. If students self-select all of their

tasks, they are not likely to produce as wide a range of discourse as they need

to practice. Additionally, most of us probably hope that the students will gain

some knowledge about the different modes of discourse and develop some criteria

for judging quality. Further, students may need to be introduced to some

concepts that they might not discover on their own. In short, they may need more

than just practice; they may need formal instruction. For this to occur, the

teacher must plan for it.

But that need not mean planning whole class instruction. Rather the teacher may

plan to work one-on-one in conferences to provide individual instruction. Or

he/she may plan to teach needed skills to small groups. Or he/she may plan

regularly scheduled mini-lessons which introduce various discourse forms which

students can list and try immediately or later or not at all. The teacher can

plan sharing opportunities wherein students can introduce modes they have used

to classmates and describe what they have learned about writing these modes. The

teacher may even plan some whole class instruction during which he/she models

writing a certain kind of discourse or models a particular writing strategy

which students then practice through rough drafting or by using some of their

own work-in-progress. The particular method or combination of methods has to be

chosen by the teacher depending upon the needs of students and the goals of

instruction. And the teacher must monitor the learning closely so as to

determine progress and to decide whether or not the current format of writing

workshop is having the desired effect or whether the format needs to be

modified.

One of the keys to insuring effectiveness seems to be record keeping. Atwell

recommends taking a maximum of 3 minutes at the start of each workshop to

collect a status-of-the-class report. Each student states verbally what he/she

intends to do that period. This helps the teacher chart progress and identify

which students need immediate assistance and which students can wait until later

in the period. However, Atwell believes that every student should receive some

teacher attention every period.

Other teachers make it a point to confer with every student each day to gather

data about the student’s writing. These teachers carry with them a notepad or

index cards or even a tape recorder for making anecdotal records of each

encounter. Other teachers provide students with a calendar. At the end of each

work session students report what they plan to do the next day and turn in the

calendars. The teacher reviews these each evening and identifies possible

interventions to be implemented the next day. Other teachers have students

maintain a log in which they record what they accomplish each day. If the

teacher is unable to confer with everyone that day, he/she can review the logs

of those who were skipped.

Many teachers who are using a writing workshop approach also maintain some kind

of checklist on each student. Often this checklist includes several processes

which can be observed and checked off. Some checklists also include skills that

the teacher expects students to become aware of and/or master. These, too, can

be checked off as they appear in student conversation and written products.

These checklists provide an overview of student progress and patterns of work.

Nearly all teachers who conduct writing workshops have students maintain writing

folders. Some teachers have students keep records of their work in these

folders. They make lists of writings they have done and the processes they used

by having a column for prewriting, one for drafting, another for revising,

another/or editing, and one more for sharing/publishing. Students check the

columns that apply. Some teachers also have students keep lists in their folder

of what they have learned. On the list might appear items such as the following:

I have learned to put periods at the ends of sentences.

I have learned to punctuate dialogue.

I have learned to check my work for misspelled words.

I have learned to move paragraphs around to find the best arrangement.

This list often acts as a reference guide for students. They check it to make

sure they have applied what they have learned before they consider a paper

finished.

One of the most difficult factors, if not the most difficult, is evaluation.

Assigning grades to students who are working in a writing workshop situation is

extremely problematic. While the teacher may have a great deal of data about

what students are doing and have done and the progress they have made, this

information cannot easily be translated into a grade. Checklists help, but they

tend to promote a set of standards which contradicts allowing students to

progress at their own rate. Even when fluency is the central goal, should the

grade be based on the amount of writing produced or should the factor of

increase over initial fluency be taken into account? And will basing the grade

entirely on the quantity of writing send the message to students that quality is

of little significance?

Most advocates of writing workshops would probably prefer that grades not be

given at all, but in many school districts that is not a realistic possibility.

An alternative which is being used in many classrooms is directly involving

students in evaluating their own work via an evaluation conference or a written

evaluation report in which the student assesses what he/she has learned during

the grading period. Some teachers are using this approach in conjunction with

the creation of a writing portfolio which contains pieces selected from the

folder which contains all the writing produced. Another approach is to allow

students to choose pieces which they want to be graded. If this approach is

used, the teacher should periodically require submissions; otherwise, he/she

will be swamped with papers to grade at the same time that report cards have to

be made out. Periodic grading also is useful if parents frequently request

progress reports on their children.

There are no easy solutions to the matter of evaluating in a writing workshop,

but then evaluating writing and writing progress has always been a problem.

Using a writing workshop approach may in some ways complicate the process but

the evaluation which comes from a collection of data which includes both writing

processes as well as products is likely to be a more realistic assessment of

student learning than an average based entirely on grades given to products

alone.

Peer Conferencing in the Writing Workshop

David Stoner — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:34:02 +0000

“Well, I shared my piece yesterday and I learned that it was good. It just needs a little work on the beginning, the middle, and the end.” This unsolicited sentence appeared as an enthusiastic observation in Heather’s writing journal the day after a group conference. Heather, a quiet eighth grade student, had shared her bicycle piece, a very short “grocery list” type of story, telling of her memorable bike crash. I had conferred individually with Heather a few times with little resulting revision. During group conference: something clicked inside Heather as she listened to feedback from her peers. She returned excitedly the next day to expand her piece to a five page emotional account of her bike ride and the forbidden jump and crash. The conference also triggered the emergence of a more self-confident writer and person. I will use Heather’s writing to illustrate various points about group conferences throughout my paper.

INTRODUCTION

Group conferences are only one part of the writing process. If properly introduced and incorporated, conferring in groups becomes a most beneficial tool to improve student writing. In the group conference, students should be positive, constructive, and specific-behaviors which middle school students do not normally practice. This group conference method does as much to develop these behavioral skills as it does to develop good writing. My papers will present how to set up a framework for group conferences that will enhance the observation/editing skills of the responder/listener, as well as build confidence in the student/writer – to essentially get beyond the “Gee, I really liked that story” response. The method I use is based on my UNH writing program background. I will describe the approach as I have used and adapted it.

Group conferences consist of a group of three peers and the teacher (especially in the beginning) sharing their written pieces following a certain procedure, involving POINTING and QUESTIONING with specific goals in mind. Members of a group conference are not charged with evaluating the piece of writing shared, rather with giving the writer feedback on how they were affected.

Writing is a very personal act: sharing it is a threatening experience for many people (Elbow. 1973). Confidence in one’s writing ability is rare, especially in middle school students. Group conferences (any conferences in my class) have one main goal under which two sub-goals fall. Hopefully, my students know these by head (they should, I repeat them enough!) The main goal is to make the writer feel positive about the parts of his/her piece that work. Under this goal come two more specific goals. First, the writer should want to write. She/he should feel confident that at least part of the rough draft is worthwhile and that it offers a starting point for revision. Secondly, the conference should provide ideas for revision. A successful conference builds confidence in the student writers’ ability to improve. (Student writers do, however, have the option to abandon their piece and work on a new idea).

I have found the group conference method works very well when time is spent ‘training” the class one step at a time, making sure everyone is adept at each step before moving onto the next. The first four to six weeks of

each year, I model the ingredients of the group conference to the class as a whole. The main ingredients are POINTING and QUESTIONS. The first part of this paper will deal with methods and rationale for training the class to be adept at conferring with their peers. The second part of the paper will deal with how and when to use the conference to its utmost advantage.

POINTING

Definition: POINTING in my class means positive, specific feedback. POINTING is always the first feedback students in my class expect to receive.

Within the first day or two of school, I introduce and define POINTING. I share short pieces of writing (student or professional) that are “attention grabbing” with many details. Before reading, I tell the students to be aware of parts they like in the piece, parts that stick out in their minds as they listen, parts they remember. These prompts are written on the board.

What part jumps out at you?

What parts do you remember?

What parts do you like?

Could you picture any part in your mind?

Were there any “movies” created in your mind? (Elbow, 1973)

Also the constant reminder: POINTING = POSITIVE and SPECIFIC

After I read the piece to the class, everyone gets a chance to POINT. I have everyone POINT because in a group conference all participants are expected to contribute. I commend any positive, specific comment. Students are very hesitant at first. I remind them that everyone will POINT at least once. These beginning POINTING sessions are much like practice sessions for a sports team. As an example, during baseball practice everyone gets a chance to field the ball. In this manner, the players improve their fielding. The more each student practices POINTING, the better they become at finding the strong parts of the piece for them. The better each student is at POINTING, the better the class will function as a workshop of writers. The practice in the beginning is worth the time. I tell the students we are working toward having as many writing teachers as there are students (Calkins, 1986). The teacher in my class is in no way the sole audience for student writing.

I often have to probe the responders to get them to be more specific. I explain, even before the discussion, that I will do just that in order to help them become better POINTERS. For example, comments from novice POINTERS are often like these. “I like the detail” “I liked the beginning”, “I liked the whole thing”, “Good word choice”, “I like the story line (plot)”, etc. Some of these comments are what the students think I want to hear. I do not negate these general comments, rather I nudge them along politely until they become beneficial POINTS. I reply positively asking if there was a particular part they remember; “OK, what do you remember about the beginning?” “What words (details) worked for you?” I often refer to the suggested POINTING comments written on the board.

I give students daily opportunities to practice POINTING just before they start their own writing time. This activity has the tremendous side effect of generating insightful discussions concerning the qualities of good writing. Students notice that their peers POINT to particular qualities and these are discussed. As students become better at POINTING, we discuss what types of qualities are being POINTED too. As a class, we develop a list of “ingredients” that go into good writing. Often students POINT to “showing” details. I use this fact to demonstrate the difference between showing the reader and telling the reader. For example, I often share a piece of descriptive writing called “The Swim” written by an eighth grade girl. The piece is full of details that put the reader “there” on the beach with her, “the sand squishing between my toes as the sea breeze lifts my hair. Students often comment that they felt as if there were “there”. We discuss how that is accomplished by the writer. Then, I share a piece about swimming that goes like this: “Swimming is my favorite activity. I love to swim, especially in the summer when it is hot…” The difference is obvious. I encourage students to think of their own piece and try to incorporate showing details when they can.

Students that are trained well at POINTING become perceptive, discriminating listeners and readers. They avoid judging a whole piece of writing as good or bad. Instead, they look for potential in what they read and write. Students who have gained experience in POINTING, have continued being discriminating writers. Colleagues have commented that they have noticed a difference in students who have had experience in

POINTING. They are able to discriminate parts of a piece of writing that “work,” while others cannot.

RATIONALE FOR POINTING

Why positive and specific comments only? Why positive feedback? Moat writers are very insecure about their writing. How many of you reading this paper would feel comfortable sharing a rough draft you had written with a group of three of your peers? Would you feel better if you knew the first comments from them would be about parts of your piece they liked? I like to think of the rough draft as a pile of rocks. Hidden among the rocks there are often gems. People trained to look for gems can help the owner of the rocks see worth in the pile. Often the writer/owners are so involved, they can see no gems. I have seen so many “lights” go on in the student’s eyes as they realize their piece has parts that their peers actually thought were good; parts that stuck out in someone’s mind. Truthful positive comments on writing have the effect of easing the defensiveness often associated with sharing something as personal as writing.

Why specific? Specific comments help the writer gain confidence the responder as well as showing them the “gems” in their writing (Moffett, 1976). While sharing my own writing, I have experienced general comments from a peer like, “that’s good, I like that.” I have been left with an unsure feeling. Did the responder really like the piece or were they just saying that? I search body language to sound out the truth in the statement. I have also experienced a responder saying exactly what worked for them in the piece. Then I have gotten the palpable feeling of pride. Especially, and this often happens, if the responder hits on a part of the piece I know is good, or at least I thought might be, because I had spent time on that section. My confidence in the responder increased and I wanted to hear more from them. This can be a truly powerful experience, especially when it happens between middle school students. I have seen student/writers have the look on their face that says, “Hey, you noticed that part too. You’re right. That did turn out well, didn’t it? You must know what you are talking about. What else do you have to say about my piece?”

Feedback from peers that is truthful, positive, and specific has a powerful impact on the writer, especially in the middle school where peer influence runs so deep. This group conference method capitalizes on the peer influence in a positive way.

One striking example I recall involves Heather whose journal is quoted in the beginning of this piece. She had written a very telling: grocery-List type” of piece about riding BMX bicycles with her brother and his friend.

“I remember when I was about nine years old. There was a school that had lots of jumps for bikes. My brother and our friend David and I were told not to go to that school, but we did. They were having fun jumping these ramps. I just watched them. I then started to jump them. I then heard my brother say faster and I went faster then I couldn’t believe it. I then found myself up in the air and my heart beating hard. When I landed my bike was on top of me and I got a couple of scrapes. I then went home. My step-sister was there and I started to cry. She fixed me all up. When my dad came home he had asked what I had been up to and I told him what happened and I apologized for what I had done. After a week I had a scar left behind”.

She brought this piece to group conference. Of the three student/writers in the group, she had the lowest writing ability. Lulian, one of the classes’ strongest writers, was there as well. Lilian’s piece was a descriptive piece about finding a lizard and finally setting it free because of a moral issue. I try to mix the ability levels of each group for reasons I will deal with more later on. She shared her piece and received POINTING comments from her three peers and me.

Julian: “I like the part where you said your heart started beating hard.” Other Student: “I liked the part when you felt yourself up in the air.” Teacher: “I liked those parts too, where you felt yourself going through the air, and your head started beating hard. Those details helped show me what it was like for you to go over the jump”.

Heather was flabbergasted. Prior to the group conference (her first) she was making sarcastic, exaggerated comments about her piece: very uncharacteristic behavior for this quiet girl. She was very uncomfortable about sharing her writing. While the group pointed she kept smiling and incredulously saying “really?” She was then very ready to listen to any questions or suggestions from the group.

POINTING from peers had an extreme effect on her. The gain in confidence was immediately noticed in her eyes and words. The next day in her journal she wrote about her group conference experience. She had learned that people liked her piece! As I mentioned earlier, this experience was the beginning of a new, more confident Heather in English class.

Positive comments from peers have a tremendous confidence building effect. I ask you, the reader, to think of a time you have tried anything new or difficult. Has it helped you most to find out what you did wrong first, or what you were doing right? It is easy to pick out wrong parts in students’ written work. The trick is to see the potential lying dormant and nurture it.

QUESTIONS

Definition: Questions are actually statements using “I” about parts of a piece that may be confusing or need expansion. QUESTIONS, I feel, should be delayed for the first four to six weeks of school depending on the students’ confidence in their writing ability. I hold students back from asking any questions about their peers’ writing in the beginning of the year This is hard at times because some students want to jump at asking questions. I squelch any questions or attacks on student writing. I ask students to have patience, saying we are going slowly and we will build up to that stage.

Before QUESTIONS are modeled these following events should have occurred. POINTING has been modeled. Most students should be able to POINT successfully to two or more parts in an average piece of student writing. Each student should have had at least two group conferences with only POINTING comments made.

I have found QUESTIONS are harder to model than POINTING. Students do not become good at this task as easily. The time spent practicing QUESTIONS results in high quality, successful conferences. If each student can POINT well and ask a good perceptive QUESTION or two, the class has as many good conference partners as students. A true writing workshop atmosphere exists.

I emphasize that students should ask QUESTIONS that come from themselves. By that, I mean they should, as responders, form the question as something they want to know more about, rather than something the

writer has done wrong. They practice by asking their QUESTIONS always using “I”. This actually transforms the QUESTION into a statement. Some of these statements are:

“I didn’t understand what happened (at a particular part).” “I was confused when….”

“I wanted to hear more about…”

‘‘I’m unsure about what your mean.”

I try to have students couch the traditional: who, what, where, when, why, how, questions into “I” QUESTIONS.

Before a piece is read in group conference (and after), I ask students to be aware of their reactions and to think of themselves as human seismograph machines measuring their bodies’ emotional changes. If they find their foreheads wrinkling at a certain pad in the piece, that would be a good place to ask a question. Or, I’ll ask if there was a place where they had just a sketchy mental picture and wanted more. I get students in the habit of first being aware or their reactions and second to jot them down very briefly as they happen. This way, they don’t forget the part to which they wanted to POINT, and they don’t miss much of the piece. Students need to practice jotting down very brief notes to themselves about places to POINT to and to ask QUESTIONS. These issues are practiced much like good note taking skills are.

QUESTIONS (statements) coming from “I” are often not perceived by the writer as attacks on the piece. This is a very crucial point to make especially considering we are working with two very sensitive matters here:

adolescents and writing. If no attack is perceived, then the usual defenses are not triggered. To ensure this, I insist that questions be positive and begin with “I”. For example:

Student: “You should have put in more details about where you were when this.

Teacher: “How could you re-phrase that statement using “I”? Student: “I wanted to hear more about where you were when….

QUESTIONS are modeled in the same manner as POINTING. The difference being that, in the beginning, it is more effective to use pieces of

lower quality as examples. I try to pick pieces that are what I call very telling pieces. Pieces that leave the reader emotionally dry, telling of events that happen but giving no details to let the reader inside the story. Emotions are left out. Like the second “Swim” example shared earlier.

The second half of Heather’ group conference is a good example of how QUESTIONS work. As Heather’s journal indicated (quoted above) she was surprised by the POINTING comments and very open to further feedback. The group’s QUESTIONS dealt mainly with wanting to hear more about her jumping adventure.

Julian: “I wanted to hear more about what happened at the jump.”

Other Student: “I wanted to hear more about what the jump looked like.”

Teacher: “I wanted to hear more about how you felt as you realized you were going to crash.”

(I had given Heather basically the same feedback in individual conferences!

Heather verbally gave the group all the details asked for. I summarized, making sure Heather jotted down the QUESTIONS and her ideas for revision. In a case like this (which is typical) I ask the group if the verbal additions would help strengthen the piece if written into it (Hauser, 1986). The group agreed that the information made the piece work even better.

Heather wrote two revised drafts and a five page final draft that included details like:

“The school was large and was made of stone. Everywhere you looked there was either a trash can or a water fountain. We had to go all the way around the school to the back to find the dirt ramps. Looking straight ahead there were a few trees and lots of bumps that looked like hills formed together. We started with little bumps and worked our way up to the five foot jump.” And “Before I knew it, I was up in the air and my heart was beating hard. When I landed, I

was sliding down the path and my bike on top of me. As I kept sliding, the expression on my brother’s face caught my eye. After I stopped sliding, I stared into my brother’s eyes. I felt his concern for me inside

him. I started to wince in pain. I began trying to slip out from underneath my bike. My brother helped by taking the bike off me.”

WHEN TO HAVE A GROUP CONFERENCE

I wait until students have been working on rough drafts for approximately two weeks in the beginning of the year. I try to have at least two individual conferences with them. Also, as I mentioned earlier, most students should be competent at POINTING.

GROUP CHEMISTRY

I have tried group conferences using both assigned groups and by using whatever group of students is ready at the time. Both has pros and cons. Assigning groups allows for control of combinations, while having unassigned groups offers spontaneity, perhaps utilizing time more efficiently. I start the year with assigned groups until the class is comfortable with each other and the writing environment. I mix ability levels, and gender. Mixed levels provide great opportunity for modeling. As in the earlier example involving Heather, lower ability students receive effective feedback from peers. I have had the experience, with Heather and others, of conferring with a student and asking certain questions, or saying that I wanted to hear more about a particular part and not much revision resulted. Yet the same student has gotten basically the same feedback on the piece, only this time from a peer in a group conference, and the student has been very motivated to revise. The higher ability students hold up excellent models for others. This is a main reason why the group conference method is so effective and seems to support the theory that peers at the Middle School level are often more important than parents (Thorton, 1983).

Occasionally, I have had students who are very reluctant to share their piece, This is one of the very reasons for insuring that the first response is always a POINT. There is comfort in knowing that. Also, the beginning of the year is a very slow break-in period where students start sharing one sentence from their piece the first week with no comments, then two sentences the next week and so on. The first few group conferences are POINTING conferences only. They are designed to break the ice for sharing and to build confidence. Sometimes a student becomes reluctant to share especially after a particularly good piece has been shared in the group. I ask the student not to compare themselves to others but to compare themselves to themselves. I also remind them that their piece will receive positive and specific comments and I remind others in the group of this. I say, “We would like to hear what you have written so far.” If a writer does not want to share, I invite him/her to go back to work on the piece and be prepared to share next time. In the next conference, the reluctant writer is asked to share first.

I find students usually reach beyond what they think are their capabilities, and surprise themselves. Each year, a handful of students are mainstreamed from the Resource Room into my class. More often than not, these students are the most hesitant to participate in group conferences until they experience their first POINTING comments from their new peers. The reaction is often one of shocked pleasure at hearing positive feedback to their writing. The group conference is frequently a turning point for these students. They strive to repeat and improve the experience.

GROUP CONFERENCE PROCEDURE

I call three students to the back of the room to a cluster of four desks I have set aside as the group conference section. The students bring the piece they have chosen for the conference, as well as pen and a piece of paper to jot down POINTING comments and QUESTIONS they may have as they listen to the pieces being shared. I hand each student a GROUP CONFERENCE SHEET (refer to sample). The sheet is for the student-writer to record comments (feedback) from members of the group. I also ask students to verbalize what our goals are for the conference. I do this until I know everyone involved has these goals firmly implanted in his/her mind. A poster on the wall contains the goals I mentioned earlier. Then we begin. I have a clip board with me on which I list the members of the conference as well as my POINTING comments and QUESTIONS. I record particularly memorable or useful comments made by students to each other. After a piece is shared, I ask students to take a minute to record any POINTING comments or QUESTIONS they have in mind but didn’t get a chance to jot down during the reading. The group members each verbalize their POINTING comments to the writer first. Then any QUESTIONS the group may have are asked and answered by the writer. The writer also gets a chance to ask any questions they have for the group

about their piece. I make sure the writer has written down all the feedback from the group, as well as the areas to work on.

Writers often have a very clear picture in their mind of their topic. The writer’s verbal “filling in” to questions asked is a big tool to capitalize on for revision. When the questions come from a peer and the writer answers to a peer the dialogue is verbal revision. I nudge this talk along until the writer sees it as revision material. Follow up is very important. Sometimes the writer doesn’t return to the piece during the same class period and the heat of revision may cool. I have found it very helpful for writer and teacher to have the information written down and readily accessible. This verbal “filling in” is a major reason for having students read their own piece out loud in group conference (Hauser, 1976). Often student writers will stop as they are reading and say, “Oh year, I forgot to mention….” This becomes a great revision opportunity that comes directly from the student/writer at a very teachable moment.

The group conference is also a prime way to instill a sense of audience. My hope is that student/writers will eventually have the group audience in mind as they write, or reread, their piece and anticipate possible POINTS and QUESTIONS. This hope seems to be confirmed as I notice a steady increase in the quality of rough drafts brought to group conference during the year. I also decrease my role with the goal of turning the group conference completely over to the students.

EXPECTATIONS FOR THE CLASS

The writing class performs best when students realize they each have a role to play. I spend a lot of time discussing the cooperative effort needed for a successful class. Expectations are discussed and then written on poster board for all to see. The main goal of writing time is to write. When a group conference is in session, the rest of the class is expected to be writing. They may talk to a peer if they’re stuck. No “social talk” is expected. I frequently talk with my classes about what we will be doing in class and how the activity will work best. As the year progresses, the benefits of group conferences become very evident to the students. Each year, I have my students evaluate my class. When asked what helped their writing the most, over 90% of my students answered the group conference. I point out

that the best conferences occur in a quiet classroom. A successful group conference indicates whole class cooperation.

WAITING FOR A GROUP CONFERENCE

Students waiting for a group conference need to have additional work available. I allow my students to work on a reserve piece of writing during waiting times. Other options are to read from their book, which they are to have with them for each class, or browse through the class library (paperbacks, poetry, published student writing, etc.)

CONCLUSION

This group conference method has been the single most influential part of the writing process in my class. The conference channels the very powerful current of peer pressure, that runs so deep in the middle school, into most beneficial results. My students learn to cooperate, to trust, to share, to help, and to listen to others.

Dr. Jim Beane has done research on self-concept that indicates school success is 49% self-concept. To a large extent people perform as well as they believe they can. People learn how well they can do by past success (Middle School Conference, 1985). The group conference points out successes in student writing from an insightful audience that is held in highest esteem.

The middle school years are the most vulnerable, fragile, volatile time of life. Every facet of self-concept is in reorganization (Thornburg, 1983). Considering the combination of puberty and the sensitivity of writing, the group conference method has produced very favorable results. The structure provides security. The POINTING building confidence. The QUESTIONS provide insightful feedback, presented in a sensitive manner from a most literary audience. Often results are an enhanced self-concept and an improved writing ability. As Heather’s example demonstrates, her intelligence did not change overnight. However, a positive change did occur in her view of herself as a person and as a writer.

Donald Graves

David Stoner — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 12:56:46 +0000

Donald Graves: A Fresh Look at Writing – Time

David Stoner — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:46:11 +0000

I first met my friend Donald Graves in 1992 when I attended the University of New Hampshire Writing Program. Donald has had a greater impact on my teaching than any other mentor. When I visit writing classes to see if they are successful I always use his chapter titled, “The Seven Conditions for Effective Writing, from his book, A Fresh Look at Writing, 1994 , to determine if that teacher is on the right track. Donald explains in detail why “Time” is so key to a successful writing workshop classroom:

My best recollections of learning to write are connected to the “theme a week” in junior and senior high school. The essay was due on Friday and that ruined my Thursday evenings. I moaned, I struggled, I asked my parents for help, but most of all I procrastinated. Only the late night tenor and embarrassment of having nothing but a blank paper to hand in to my teacher the next day coaxed words onto the page.

But people don’t learn to write that way—at any age. Fifteen years ago students wrote an average of one day in ten. By “write,” I refer to compositions in which the student presents new ideas on a specific topic. Although the amount of writing has increased in recent years, we are a long way from having both the time and necessary conditions that make it possible for our students to learn to write.

Professional writers experience near panic at the thought of missing one day of writing. They know that if they miss a day it will take enormous effort to get their minds back on the trail of productive thought, it is extremely inefficient to miss a day. In addition, as our data on children show, when writers write every day, they begin to compose even when they are not composing. They enter into a “constant state of composition”

A fashionable educational dictum these days is “time on task.” We look to see if every child’s mind is on the book, on the paper. We want to see minds engaged, pencil and pens moving across the paper. What we don’t consider is the most significant “time on task” of all, what students choose to do beyond the walls of the school. Only when children read and write on their own because they have experienced the power of literacy can we speak of the significance of time on task.

If students are not engaged in writing at least four days out of five, and for a period of thirty-five to forty minutes, beginning in first grade, they will have little opportunity to learn to think through the medium of writing. Three days a week are not sufficient. There are too many gaps between the starting and stopping of writing for this schedule to be effective. Only students of exceptional ability who can fill the gaps with their own initiative and thinking, can survive such poor learning conditions. Students from another language or culture, or those who feel, they have little to say are particularly affected by this limited amount of time for writing.

When a teacher asks me, “I can only teach writing once a week. What kind of program should I have?” my response is, “Don’t teach it at all. You will encourage poor habits in your students and they will only learn to dislike writing. Think of something you enjoy doing well; chances are you involve yourself in it far more than one or two times a week.

How well I remember the seventh-grade students I had in my first year of teaching. I taught writing once a week on Friday afternoons— just as I had been taught in public school and at the university all my teaching was compressed into that one day, and that meant that I had to correct every error on student papers. Today I know that correcting errors is not teaching. Teaching requires us to show students how to write and how to develop the skills necessary to improve as a writer. And showing students how to write takes time. They need daily writing time to be able to move their pieces along until they accomplish what they set out to do.

Donald Graves: A Fresh Look at Writing – Choice

David Stoner — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:43:46 +0000

I first met my friend Donald Graves in 1992 when I attended the University of New Hampshire Writing Program. Donald has had a greater impact on my teaching than any other mentor. When I visit writing classes to see if they are successful I always use his chapter titled,“The Seven Conditions for Effective Writing, from his book, A Fresh Look at Writing, 1994, to determine if that teacher is on the right track. Donald writes the following on the importance of “Choice” in the writing workshop:

Children need to learn how to choose their own topics when they write. When I began teaching, I wanted my students to have challenging, morally uplifting topics, so I assigned them. I thought I knew what would engage students’ minds. How well I remember the moment every Friday when my seventh grade students returned from lunch. Behind the Denoyer-Geppert map of the Soviet Union I had written the topic of the week—something like “Should there be capital punishment?”— on the chalkboard. To make it more challenging and increase the dramatic tension, I would suddenly release the catch on the map, which would roll up to reveal the topic for the week. My students had no chance to read, interview, or gather material, to do what professional writers do before writing. I invited poor writing, and, got it. I should have realized how confused my students were when one asked, “Does this mean we capitalize everything?”

Several years later I moved into what I call my “creative phase” in teaching writing. I still assigned topics, but this time they were intended to release the spontaneity of students’ minds. I had the students write on topics like “If I could fly,” “If I were an ice cream cone or a baseball glove,” “If this glove could talk, what would it say?” I thought the writing they produced was cute, artsy, imaginative. It wasn’t. It was gushing and nonspecific. Worse, it had little to do with what writing is for: to help students learn to think through the issues and concerns of their everyday lives.

When students write every day they don’t find it as difficult to choose topics. If a child knows she will write again tomorrow – her mind can go to work pondering her writing topic. Choosing a topic once a week is difficult. The moment for writing suddenly arrives, and the mind is caught unprepared.

How well I remember Amy, a fourth-grade youngster in our research project in Atkinson, New Hampshire. The researcher, Lucy Calkins, kept asking this remarkable young writer how she wrote but got little response. Finally, Amy announced that she knew how she wrote: “Last night I was sitting in bed wondering how I would start my fox piece. But I couldn’t come up with anything. My cat Sidney, sat on the bed next to me. I said, “Sidney, how am I going to start my fox piece?” but I still couldn’t come up with anything. Finally, at about 10:30, my sister came home and turned on the hall light. Now over my doorknob there is a round hole where you’d have a turnlock. When my sister turned on the hall light a beam of light came through the hole and struck Sidney in the face and Sidney went squint. Then I knew how I would start my fox piece.” The piece goes something like this: ‘There was a fox who lived in a den beneath a stump. At midday a beam of light came through a crack in the stump and caught the fox in the eyes and the fox went squint’. That’s how I knew I’d start my fox piece.”

Here is a child in a constant state of composition: she knew that tomorrow she would write (time) and that she could write about the fox (choice of topic). The time she devoted to pondering the best lead for her piece was time well spent

When children choose their own topics, I can expect more of their writing. “What did you set out to do here? Did you have an audience in mind for this?” From the beginning in our conference I can focus my questions on their initiative and their intentions. I am reminded of how important it is that a writer choose his own topic by Donald Murray’s recent workshop experience at a New Hampshire conference. The workshop participants sent Murray out of the room while they chose a topic for him to write about When Murray returned they announced their decision: “Write about your favorite place in New Hampshire.” Murray began writing on the chalkboard: he wrote several leads, erased them, began again, made some notes, started again. Finally, he turned to the group and announced, “I can’t write this piece; I have no favorite place in New Hampshire.”

Murray could have produced a false choice or decided, although he had never thought about it before, on a favorite place in New Hampshire. But as a professional, he knew that dishonest writing is not good writing. How easy it is to teach our students to write dishonestly to fulfill curriculum requirements. Indeed, a student’s entire diet from first grade through high school can be a series of one dishonest piece after another. Sadly, the student can even graduate without learning that writing is the medium through which our most intimate thoughts and feelings can be expressed.

Although students can choose a topic for most of their writing, they are expected to write. They must produce. Sometimes topic assignment is helpful and even necessary. Students do make bad choices and experience writer’s block, or they need to shift to new topics after exhausting their usual few. When you show students how to “read the world” by writing with them, you also demonstrate how to deal with many of these issues. You may even find it useful to ask students to assign you a topic in order to show them how you work on assignments. -

Donald Graves: A Fresh Look at Writing – Response to Writing

David Stoner — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:41:49 +0000

I first met my friend Donald Graves in 1992 when I attended the University of New Hampshire Writing Program. Donald has had a greater impact on my teaching than any other mentor. When I visit writing classes to see if they are successful I always use his chapter titled, “The Seven Conditions for Effective Writing, from his book, A Fresh Look at Writing, 1994 , to determine if that teacher is on the right track. He writes the following on response to writing in the writing workshop:

It is important that you take children’s choices seriously. Your response to a child’s text helps him to realize what he set out to do when he started to write. When I began to teach—and for many years afterward—I only responded to students’ work when they had finished writing. At that point I corrected their papers and made a few comments lauding or condemning what they’d written. But that wasn’t teaching, and what is worse, I was the only person responding to their texts. The students wrote for me, and only me.

Students need to hear the responses of others to their writing, to discover what they do or do not understand. The need to help students know how to read their own work and the work of their classmates provides further teaching and demonstration opportunities (see Chapter 2.3).

How well I recall my first attempt to initiate peer response in my seventh-grade classroom. I simply said, “Okay, I want you to exchange papers and respond to each other’s work. Listen carefully, take the paper back, and return to your writing.” What I got was a massive blood-letting: first wails, then silence. My students went into shock. Their responses were not helpful. At the time I couldn’t understand why peer-response didn’t work. In retrospect, I realize that they responded to each other as I responded to them—with nit-picking criticism. My approach in those days resembled an old-time, New England hell, fire, and brimstone method; I tried to stamp out the sin of error.

My first response to student work comes in the form of short conferences (see Chapter 5) as I move around the classroom during writing time. Each class session I rove among the desks, connecting with perhaps six to ten students while they are engaged in writing. Students axe constantly writing; as soon as they finish one piece they begin mother. Some may be just starting to write, while others are beginning a second draft, and still others are considering final copy. I recognize that since students are constantly writing, it is not possible to respond to all of their work. I keep careful records on which students I visit so that each student, over time, gets a response.

At the end of each class, time is set aside for sharing students’ writing and their learning experiences during their writing. One or two students share a piece while the rest of the class listens carefully, first stating what they have heard and remembered from the piece, then asking questions to learn more about various aspects of the piece. This general sharing can also include talk about practices that worked and those that didn’t, new verbs, quick profiles of the genres in which children are writing, and brief introductions to fictional characters. This end-of-class experience reaffirms the essential conditions for writing: in this class we experiment and learn.

Donald Graves: A Fresh Look at Writing – Demonstrations

David Stoner — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:40:24 +0000

I first met my friend Donald Graves in 1992 when I attended the University of New Hampshire Writing Program. Donald has had a greater impact on my teaching than any other mentor. When I visit writing classes to see if they are successful I always use his chapter titled, “The Seven Conditions for Effective Writing, from his book, A Fresh Look at Writing, 1994, to determine if that teacher is on the right track. He writes on edemonstrations:

You, the teacher, are the most important factor in creating a learning environment in the classroom. Your students will observe how you treat writing in your own life, how you learn, and what is important to you through the questions you ask of the world around you. How you demonstrate values, how you knowledgeably show the meaning of writing as a craft will have a profound effect on their learning.

When I began teaching, I didn’t show my students how to work with their writing. I merely corrected. I didn’t know any other way. When you actually take your own text and put it on the chalkboard, an overhead projector, or experience chart paper, and show your students how you read it, they will receive the clearest demonstration of what writing is all about. (Chapter 13 will discuss in greater detail how to demonstrate reading writing with your students.)

Students can go a lifetime and never see another person write, much less show them how to write. Yet it would be unheard of for an artist not to show her students how to use oils by painting on her own canvas, or for a ceramist not to demonstrate how to throw clay on a wheel and shape the material himself. Writing is a craft. It needs to be demonstrated to your students in your classroom, which is a studio, from choosing a topic to finishing a final draft. They need to see you struggle to match your intentions with the words that reach the page.

To demonstrate the meaning of conventions, you offer “meaning lessons.” You show your second-grade children where quotation marks are placed and what they are for: “I’m going to put these marks here because I want to know where my person starts to speak… see if you can tell where this person stops speaking. Come up here and put your finger in that very place where they stop speaking. Good. These are the marks I put here because they help me and the reader to know where this person speaks.”

Every mark on the page is art act of meaning. The words march across the page from left to right. Words are spelled the same way every time they’re used. Spaces go between words. Periods go at the end of the sentence. The conventions are as much for the writer as for the reader. I won’t know what I mean until I have set my thoughts on the page in a conventional text.

In my writing with the class I demonstrate a mood of discovery and experimentation. “Hmmm, I wonder where my writing is going to go. I’m not sure if I’ll write about the way people use the mirrors in the weight room, or my own reaction to the mirrors (see Chapter 3). I’ve got two things here; I guess I’ll keep writing about my reaction to the mirrors.” I demonstrate curiosity about what thoughts are around the next comer.

Donald Graves: A Fresh Look at Writing – Expectations

David Stoner — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:38:13 +0000

I have high expectations for every one of my students. To have high expectations is a sign caring. Perhaps you have been in a class or a learning situation in which it is clear that the teacher wonders how you got in. When the teacher’s eyes scan the class, they seldom rest on your face as if you knew something. Of course, there are times when you might wish to remain unknown and undiscovered. But when you teach, your task is to find out what your students know, to show them how to put what they know into words, and to expect them to do it

“What are you working at in order to be a better writer?” This familiar question is one I ask a lot because I assume that everyone develops objectives in order to improve as a writer. I expect young writers to experiment, and I nudge them into trying new things in their writing.

I have high expectations for every one of my students. To have high expectations is a sign caring. Perhaps you have been in a class or a learning situation in which it is clear that the teacher wonders how you got in. When the teacher’s eyes scan the class, they seldom rest on your face as if you knew something. Of course, there are times when you might wish to remain unknown and undiscovered. But when you teach, your task is to find out what your students know, to show them how to put what they know into words, and to expect them to do it

“What are you working at in order to be a better writer?” This familiar question is one I ask a lot because I assume that everyone develops objectives in order to improve as a writer. I expect young writers to experiment, and I nudge them into trying new things in their writing.