Choice #6: Work on Writing

The Work on Writing choice is in full swing, and as I expected there were many smiles about this new choice! I have learned from my class this year that they love to write...well, they love to write when they can write about what they want, which is part of how our Writing Workshop is run. For many the idea of getting more time to work on their Writing Workshop story was viewed as a positive thing. Many students are often asking for more time in Writing Workshop, or if we can just keep going with Writing Workshop and skip whatever is next. So giving them a choice in which they can spend more time writing is great! This is a choice that helps students not only become better readers, but better writers as well. It allows them work with words in a different way, it allows them to tell their own story, in which they will often have to reread and reconfigure their words so that what they are trying to say makes sense to other readers.

I was not at all surprised to find that when asked "How do you feel about the Work on Writing Choice?" 10 students stated that they Love it! and 12 that they Like it. There was 1 students who had a Ho-Hum response and two others that said they Don't like it! but the majority of the class seems to be embracing this choice. Of those that do not like this choice one stated that they feel they have enough time during writing to write while another simply said, "I don't like to write." My concern with this choice is that students will choose to complete this choice too often, while I see the value in having this as a choice in Reading Workshop, I also see the value in spending time with a good I PICK book. I am giving it a little more time to see how things play out, and then thinking about possibly putting some limits on how often you can Work on Writing during Reading Workshop.

While my class loves to write... about things of their choice... they are not loving the Write about Reading choice. (see Choice #5) This choice by far has had the most mixed response from my students. When asked how they feel about Write about Reading, 3 showed that they Love it!, 11 that they Like it, 5 that feel Ho-Hum about it, and 6 that Don't like it! While there is still over half the class on the positive side of this questions, it is the biggest challenge that I have faced yet! The students have only had to turn in one journal entry so far, with next week being the second turn in week. I did watch a few students excitedly open their folders to my letter back to them, so I am hoping that is some sort of motivation as we continue with this process. After reviewing the survey results and some of the reasoning given by the students about their dislike of this choice I noticed a few students saying that they should not be spending reading time writing, as this will not help them become a better reader. (although they sure don't seem to mind being able to Work on Writing) I feel that maybe I did not present the Write about Reading choice in the best way that I could, looking back it was over a period of time when I was sick and prior to MEA, when a break is so needed. I think that after this next round of journals I am going to take a week to go back to this choice and discuss the importance of Writing about Reading and helps us as readers think more about what we are reading... it is a way of showing that Reading is Thinking! As we are really starting to get into our Reading Workshop routine (which feels like it has taken awhile, but introducing choices is something new for me so I think that it is good that I am taking my time) I finally feel like there are more days when we can offer more choices in one reading block period. Today I had a student ask me if we would have time for more than one choice today, because he was hoping to do both a reading and a writing choice. This was cool to hear... they are thinking about their choices prior to Reading Workshop. :) My hope is to be able to start getting more than one choice in most days!

The next choice I will be implementing is Word Work/Spelling, this is the last choice that will become a part of our Reading Workshop routine, and it is not by chance that it is last. This is the one that I am most unsure about. I know that my students could use some additional practice with spelling and vocabulary, I am just not sure of the most effective way to do this... stay tuned to find out!

As I continue to document what I am doing in my classroom this blog is a way for me to keep track of how I am putting my research into action. I have spent a lot of time researching ways to motivate students in the classroom, specifically in reading, and through my research I have have decided on student choice. The link below leads to a Prezi that presents some of the research that I have found most valuable throughout this process. http://prezi.com/soivglb7undl/present/?auth_key=1yxflej&follow=sebrac10@smumn.edu