Writing is an idiosyncratic process. If we accept this statement then it should be quite clear that there is not one, best way of teaching writing to students. Students should be exposed to a variety of different strategies and be able to determine which ones work best for them. In my own experience in our class, different strategies have had varied results with my writing. For example, I found with the “first blurt” approach I was able to write a large amount very quickly and had an influx of many ideas. Looking back at the results I realized that some of the ideas could be used and expanded on in a story while others were not as useful. Others in the class did not write very much using the”first blurt” approach and did not find it useful for them. Even with this one example we can see that there is not one approach that works best with all students. To become engaged and successful writers, students must not only have a lot of time to think about writing and actually writing but also must feel that the writing is meaningful and authentic.
By looking at how writing is done in real situations, by real writers we can gain insight into authentic ways of how writing is accomplished. As with real writers, students should be encouraged to share their ideas and their writing with others (both peers and teachers). By sharing, their work can be developed and improved from constructive comments, questions and other feedback provided by their peers and teachers. To make writing meaningful, students should be offered a choice in their writing both in topic and genre and should be encouraged to take risks by writing in a variety of genres. The kind of writing environment I am describing, where the writing the students choose to do is: meaningful, authentic, shared, supported, developed, improved, varied, and frequent lends itself well to a writing workshop model.
The writing workshop model also supports the principles of learning as described in the Integrated Resource Package (IRP):
• Learning requires the active participation of the student.
• People learn in a variety of ways and at different rates.
• Learning is both an individual and a group process.
• Learning is most effective when students reflect on the process of learning and set goals for improvement.
The IRP also recognizes that students will be of varied backgrounds, interests, abilities and needs. In a writing workshop, students are encouraged to write about what is of interest to them and about what is relevant in their lives. Their writing is supported by both the teacher and their peers (in the form of conferences with the teacher and other students). In fact the IRP discusses the writing workshop as a way to organize writing so that the teacher can introduce a range of writing strategies, and students can move toward independence at different rates. The IRP also discusses the different strategies used in each step of the writing process:
• prewriting – generating ideas for getting started, often including building criteria and setting goals
• drafting – writing down ideas
• revising – meaning-based refining and polishing
• editing – grammar and style refining and polishing
• presenting and publishing – preparing a presentation or representation and sharing it with others
To generate ideas before writing, Atwell uses "writing territories". These territories are unique to each person and are generated at the beginning of the workshop and expanded throughout the year. They comprise the sphere of interest and areas of expertise of the writers. These territories include subjects you have written about or would like to write about, audiences for whom you write and genres YOU have written in and would like to try. Atwell describes a list of territories representing a self portrait of the writer. This list may at first be quite small but will grow over the year as students write more pieces in a variety of genres for different audiences.
From the initial territories students can then begin drafting from one of their ideas in a chosen genre. These drafts can be reworked and revised after conferring with other students and the teacher. While conferring with students and observing, analyzing and tracking their work, topics for minilessons are generated. These minilessons address what students need to know next. These interactive lessons can vary anywhere from five to twenty minutes and must be thoughtful, appropriate and authentic. Genuine writing samples are used to show, for example, solutions to writing problems. These minilessons address and support student learning during any step of the writing process. From prewriting and setting goals, to drafting, revising and editing and finally to presenting and publishing. These minilessons should be designed to scaffold learning in what the IRP describes as the zone of proximal development; challenging students to learn what they need to know next, to progress in their writing.
Depending on the level of support the students need, various writing strategies can be employed. For example when a high level of support is required the teacher can do modelled writing (which is done with the whole class or group) where the teacher thinks aloud while composing. In this way the teacher is modelling the writing process he/she uses. As support is gradually removed the class can move on to shared writing where texts are composed together to guided writing and independent writing as well as writing share (where students share their writing as it progresses) and writing conferences. The point is the students receive the amount of support they need and this support is gradually removed as writers become more independent. During the writing conferences the students are performing ongoing self assessment where they learn to look at what they've done and what they need to do next. Atwell places self evaluation at the heart of the evaluation process. Atwell accomplishes this in part using questionnaires that enable students to reflect on where they've been as writers and where they are going. The questionnaire also generates hard data in the form of output (how many pieces of writing, genres represented and so on). Students are also asked to choose their best writing and comment on it and also describe new things they tried as a writer. This self-evaluation puts the ownership of writing and learning on the students and helps them to reflect on what they have learned and where they are going. It reinforces the concept that their writing is an ongoing learning process. The teacher evaluation uses these self-assessments along with the full body of work the student has accomplished to come up with fair evaluations that are based on the expectations explicitly stated at the beginning of the term. These evaluations always include goals for the student.
The principles of learning spelled out in the IRP are well represented by a writing workshop model. I believe this model can be used effectively to engage students in the learning process and address the needs of a varied class where students have diverse backgrounds, different ways of learning, different abilities and interests. If implemented correctly this model can deliver the correct amount of support appropriate for each student and will gradually lead students to be independent writers. Learning is accomplished both individually and in groups with feedback from the teacher and peers and self assessment helping students define their strengths and also helping them set their learning goals. By using a writing workshop model to teach writing I believe that students will not only improve their writing but will be more likely become engaged, habitual, lifelong writers.
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