Reflections on the Way

The whole addition of the Blog of the Week (said, of course, in Abby’s voice from now unto eternity), had made this experience feel much more high-stakes. Why not just intentionally underperform so that when mine is inevitably not selected I can say, “Oh, I wasn’t even trying anyway,” and bypass the shame of never being chosen as an exemplar. In reality the stakes are the same, as low as ever, and the blogs remain simply a place for reflection and perhaps brief conversation. However, these thoughts have led me to wonder what the impact this sort of selection of exemplary work for sharing with the class has on students. There is, of course, the excitement and pride of having your work selected, but what about those whose writing is never held up, even anonymously? No one else may notice, but those students will. Does this encourage them to strive harder, or simply leave them in the place I arrived of why even bother? It depends on the student of course, but the factors leading to that...

I want to start by saying that I really like the idea of a course based around the writer’s workshop. The last general English course that I took was in 9th grade, as my high school options were more focused on either literature or writing. However, even in the writing classes, none of them were as focused or writing intense as the writer’s workshop framework advocates. They also tended to be more teacher focused, with assigned topics, formats, and timetables. It is hard for me to imagine, as a teacher, how the writer’s workshop would function, as I never experienced it as a student. Yet, it intrigues me nonetheless. When it comes to the application of this model of teaching writing, and English language arts in general, I do wonder at the feasibility in the more generalized high school ELA classroom. Most of the examples discussed by Nancie Attwell and others focus on elementary and middle school levels, when writing is first being introduced. Continuing this model with high schoo...