Greetings bloggers! I am so happy you all have joined me once again. As you probably know, this week's blog topic deals with writing in the classroom. I am quite happy with the broad blog topics. I am given more independence and choice (something we look to give our children in our own classroom). To my surprise, I am actually taking another education course right now (Education 347) which is also teaching about writing concepts in the classroom. The two courses are overlapping a fare amount, reinforcing the learned concepts of writing in the classroom.
Because reading and writing are often paired in one subject or one lesson, they both often similar "rules." In both disciplines, teachers should create comfortable noncritical learning environments. Also, teachers should allow ample time for children to write and read in the classroom. Simple reading and writing are such effective ways of learning in a classroom! When children are reading or writing, the teacher has the opportunity to confer with individuals. Children should have choices when reading and writing, where the teacher acts more as a facilitator than a supervisor. Even though some of these concepts seem pretty basic, it is still necessary to acknowledge their importance in conducting a successful classroom.
I am so please to have these resources in teaching reading and writing. To my surprise, I actually like reading the textbooks and articles because they give me good ideas for my own classroom. When I am a classroom teacher, I will plan on using my college textbooks and articles for resources for possible lessons. I hope you all do the same too!
Carpe Diem! :)
Dear Tony,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post! You brought to our attention some very important aspects of reading and writing instruction.
I especially appreciated your comments concerning allowing students to have choice in what they read and write and ample time in the classroom to do both activities. I am very much in agreement with Atwell's reading/writing workshop methods and philosophies but I am a little skeptical of its practice and implementation in a public school where there are certain standards educators and students must meet in order to get funding. I found myself discouraged to use this idyllic workshop once I discovered Atwell uses it in her own independent school in which she created. She has had success with the workshop, no doubt, but has not been constrained by the state mandated standards that public schools need to follow in their curriculum.
Now the question remains of how to implement various aspects of the workshop into our own future classrooms while still ensuring that students are meeting the standards.
Thank you again, Tony, for your thought-provoking post!
Courtney B.