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5: Establishing
an Environment for Writing
[Note:
this is a two-week unit]
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 Overview
This lesson focuses on two questions: How do teachers create classroom
climates that support writing? How do teachers structure their writing
programs? In this lesson you will learn strategies for creating a
cooperative, positive environment for writing, and for designing a writing
workshop. You will discover that there are many variations of writing
workshops, and that any, all, some, or none of the techniques described
may be used in your school. While you are working on this lesson, think
about the kind of structure and environment you would like to have in your
own writing classroom, and what practices or modifications of practices
you would adopt.
1. Read Atwell 4 and 5. Then read Z&D 4, 5, 6, and 7. Note the similarities and differences between Atwell’s writing workshop and Z&D’s, and features they have in common.
2. Interview your mentor teacher about his/her writing program. How similar or different is it from the kinds of programs described in your readings? Here are some questions you might ask:
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What do you do to create an atmosphere that supports writing? |
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Do you use a type of writing workshop? Why or why not? If so, how is it structured? What are the rules for the workshop? |
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Do students write regularly in class, in or out of a workshop setting? Do they write at predictable times? |
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What percentage of class time is devoted to drafting, conferring, revising, editing? |
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What is the balance of self-sponsored and assigned writing? Of expository, creative, and writing to learn? |
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Do students work on individual goals or on class goals? |
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Do students keep writers notebooks or journals? |
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Are students able to confer with each other on drafts? Do you have any procedure for peer conferring? |
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What kinds of records do you keep? How do you track student progress? |
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Do students keep a portfolio of their writing over the semester? |
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What resources (books, computers, etc.) are available to writers? |
All of these questions, and the
rest of the questions for the semester are available in
one PDF file. 3. By the middle of the first week,
post two paragraphs describing how your mentor teacher structures her/his
writing program, how it differs from Atwell and/or Z & D’s approaches, and
why.
Post your response in discussion labeled "Lesson 5" in
Blackboard.
4. Observe several English classrooms, preferably in which students are writing. Note how the rooms are set up. What is on the walls, and how does it support writing? How are chairs/desks arranged? Are arrangements flexible? Are there “activity centers” (for writing, conferring, editing, polishing? Does the room have computers? What writing resources are evident, available (dictionaries, etc.)? Is student writing displayed? What conclusions can you draw about support for writing in the class? In the classrooms you observe in which students are writing: what do students DO in the class? Take notes in your journal for your final reflection.
5. By the end of the first week,
read everyone’s posting and enter the discussion site.
6. Discussion: Based on the classrooms you observed and what you learned from your mentor teacher, what are the “real” environments for writing as opposed to those described in the readings? What features of workshops have found their way into your or others' secondary schools? What strikes you about the writing programs and environments you’ve seen and read about? Post your response in discussion labeled "Lesson
5" in Blackboard
by the middle of the second week.
7. Reflection Paper: What will your ideal writing
program look like? How will the classroom be arranged to support the kind
of program you would like to have? What workshop elements might you
incorporate? (Be sure to refer to the readings, the interviews, the
discussion and/or postings.) Turn this one-page paper into the Assignment
Dropbox Blackboard
under "Lesson 5 Reflection" by the end of the second
week. The document should be a Word97 or higher format, 12 point legible text.
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