“Reaffirming the Writing Workshop for Young Adolescents” – Sheryl Lain

Lain gives us great insight into her classroom in this article. She is so articulate about what has worked for her and how it has been a learning process to get to where she is today in instructing a writer’s workshop. Honestly, I enjoyed reading this article, but found that I did not highlight nearly as much powerful text as I did when I read Calkins or Rief, for example.
One part of the article that I thought was really powerful was when she talked about conferencing on page 25. “How do I know what to say in a conference? I write myself, and because I write, I know what to celebrate, what questions to ask, what teaching tips to offer, what to ponder. I know, because as I write my own lines or struggle to untangle a thread of my own thinking, I’m learning how writing works. This is the knowledge I share with my students.” How insightful! I really appreciated this passage because it brings home how important it is for us, as teachers, to also continue to be readers, writers, and life-long learners.
My journey as I writer is just getting started. This is my first real experience with writing for pleasure. My writing in the past has always had a real purpose (a focused assignment, transactional writing). Even though we are completing assignments in the Summer Institute, I feel the structure is flexible enough to let us really explore our writing. Thank you for this experience!