entry 2: digging deeper into my own past practices

Caulkins and Ehrenworth (2016) identify three elements of good writing instruction: "time, choice, and response. That is, [students] need protected time to write, they need choice over their topics, and they need response from a community of writers" (Caulkins & Ehrenworth, 2016, p. 8). These three elements of good writing instruction reminded me of a specific project I did in second grade. Our teacher had us do a research project about animals. This project had to include research, and it had to be about an animal, but we could choose to research whatever animal we wanted (unless someone else got to the animal you wanted first). I vividly remember my teacher calling our names by alphabetical order and one of my classmates saying she wanted to research horses. I was heartbroken! I had my heart set on researching horses because I had always been interested in them and wanted to take horseback riding lessons but never did. I quickly realized I needed to come up with a new animal. The anxiety I felt in that moment is a feeling I will never forget! One by one my teacher was getting closer and closer to calling on me, and it seemed every animal I thought of, another student said before I was called on. By the time my teacher called on me, for some strange reason, the only animal I could think to say was "chipmunks." Chipmunks? Really, Sam?

I accepted my fate and dove into my chipmunk research. I remember my teacher allotting hours, sometimes even full days to work on our research projects. I think that protected time to write really allowed my classmates and I to dive deep into our research, even at such a young age. I also remember how the choice over our topics was very important to us (clearly it was very important to me!), and I still got to choose an animal to research even though it wasn't my first choice. When everyone was finished with their research, my teacher had us set up around the room to present our projects. This was a great way to share our hard work with our community of writers and receive feedback. I remember being really proud of my work, despite it being about chipmunks of all animals, and felt really accomplished being able to teach my peers new things they didn't know before viewing my research.

Today when I was subbing in a fifth grade classroom, the students were each working on a biography project. Each student got to choose to research whoever they wanted to. One student chose to complete her project on Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG), another student chose to research Frederick Douglas, and another student chose to research Rosa Parks. It was really interesting to see the people that these students chose to write their biographies about, and I think the choice they had in this project really influenced how interested they were in their research. When I would check in with students while circulating the room, I would ask students to share with me something they learned about their person. Each student I talked to was able to give me a lot of information they learned about the person they were researching. I could tell how hard all of the students were working, and it was really great to see!

I have not yet had the opportunity to implement a writing workshop of my own, but I know that I will ensure that my writing workshop includes Caulkins and Ehrenworth's (2016) three elements of good writing instruction: protected time to write, choice over their topics, and response from a community of writers. I have seen and felt the importance of these three elements both as a student and as a teacher, and I know I want my future writing workshops to be based around these three elements.

References

Calkins, L. & Ehrenworth, M. (2016).  Growing extraordinary writers:  Leadership decisions                 to raise the level of writing across a school and a district.  The Reading Teacher,                     70(1), 7-18.