The Justification of ‘Failure’
The Journey of Writing Research at Its Best?
The journey is long and the road is meandering with road blocks and construction…One thing I keep asking myself is why am I so resistant to getting the writer’s workshop to take off in my classroom. The way it is supposed to be as outlined in the research I have done. IT’S PAST THE MIDDLE OF THE SCHOOL YEAR! (Actually, it’s almost the end now.) I even feel like I have done even less writing with my students than I ever have. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?! I am still confused by the whole set up of writer’s workshop. I think the problem was organizing a plan that I had such a different vision about. After the surveys at the beginning of the school year, the organizing of the classroom, getting to know my students as writers, gathering materials, disciplining and rewarding-it seemed like it was already the middle of the school year. As the school year whizzed by, as I was trying to figure out the required pieces of writing needed, collecting samples of students’ writing and also how to incorporate the writer’s workshop writing time-I freaked out and went back to my old habits. They weren’t bad habits per se, but I didn’t set up the writer’s workshop as I had outlined.
Writing workshop vs. Writer’s workshop. Maybe this is where I have gone all wrong.
“In a writing workshop the focus is on the writing. Teachers hone in on what’s present on the page, what’s missing, and how the writing needs to change to meet a set of standards. In a writers’ workshop, the focus is on the writer.” (Writing vs Writers’ Workshop)
Interestingly enough I’ve never thought about it that way. It was thought-provoking to find that article in the midst of the fog that I was in because it brought me out of the clouds to see clearly what writing workshop and writer’s workshop is all about. That’s the slight difference. The writer and the writing. Am I mad, insane, fatuous, or daft? I feel quite ignorant and pea-brained. I’ve been teaching for 30 years and there have been so many changes, initiatives, objectives and standards, it’s hard to keep it all straight. Don’t you think I would’ve noticed this at the beginning of the year. I guess it’s just a matter of semantics as I do touch bases, of course, with both the writing and the writer.
“Teachers focus on the person crafting the text — helping writers choose topics, purposes, and audiences for their writing and offering suggestions to guide the writer’s decision-making process. A writing workshop provides a physical space for writers to work, while a writers’ workshop provides both a physical and psychological space for writers to grow.” (Writing vs Writers’ Workshop)
So as I have taken this journey with it’s many twists and turns, dark corners, occasional street lights, and definite hills to climb (which I am still doing), I think I have come to the realization that I am still on this journey. I may not have implemented all the parts of the writer’s workshop, but I learned a lot about the process. I can’t say that I haven’t been constructing components of writer’s workshop in my ELA class because I am and have been. I give them mini-lessons on writing skills and the poem of the day and the journal writing prompts. It’s just structured around certain writing activities or assignments. I do know they haven’t been given much choice or ownership in the writing.
I have implemented the Poem of the Day as outlined by Nancie Atwell in her book, In The Middle. We have been working on a Poem of the Day and Journal writing prompt of the day. At first, I came up with the poems and writing prompts for the journal writing and then I had my students do the searching and sharing.
It was difficult at first to get the students to write; it was question after question after question about what they should write about. They were very unsure of themselves at first, but then watched me write and they saw how much I wrote and I swear I saw their eyes light up in surprise. It was heartwarming to hear one student say, “Can I debunk this one, Mrs.?” as we were talking about our daily poem. That is worth all the bumps and cracks in the road.
The journey this year has not been about writer’s workshop at all. The journey has been about figuring out a “middle road” for my writing curriculum that will fit my writers in Necedah, Wisconsin. What will be relevant to them. Yes, the writer’s workshop aspect has been a failure. But the journey to know my writers has not. I have really struggled with letting go of my old way of teaching writing. So honestly I haven’t turned the corner to the writer’s workshop of doing things. I really believe that writer’s workshop should allow the freedom that the students need to write. The journey is never over.
“If you tell your students what to say and how to say it, you may never hear them, only the pale echoes of what they imagine you want them to be.”
~Donald Murray
