Having heard the term Writers Workshop repeatedly, been part of the process in the classroom, but never been "taught myself" I was grateful to finally begin to have some overview.
By having to make a poster child of this article, I began to internalize and finally have a comprehensive view.
The Mini lesson is the head and the conferencing is the heart. There are writing tools that the teacher provides and then "products" that the students produce.
Like an apprentice and a "master" craftsman (no one is every quite there), the work that the student is producing is mentored, expanded upon, guided by the teacher, but the work still belongs to the student.
I also appreciated the perspective of the author that the fundamental principles of the Writers Workshop can be kept, despite other methods and teaching philosophies coming along.
I think the poster really did help with understanding. It was such an excellent depiction of the article also.
ReplyDelete