Writing Workshop Realization
In 11th grade I took an English class that was pretty interesting. My teacher Mr. Field, who always dressed up every day of class, came in the dull brown door that led to his classroom and mentioned that we would all be doing a writing workshop that day. Even though the class did not appear to be too enthusiastic about the news, they only groaned a little. When Mr. Field said the mysterious words that this paper would be a "free choice paper,"the students then got a look on their face that they could accept the challenge because they could write about whatever they want. When I think about how Nancy Atwell says in her book that student choice is something that needs to happen when topics of papers are discussed, I instantly thought of Mr. Field doing something that I had never seen done before.
The workshop was interesting because for the first time, students were quiet when they were writing. It used to bother me when I could hear a lot of things going on in the classroom as I was trying to put together ideas that made sense and have my fingers put those ideas on paper. Usually there would be people passing notes and whispering, and during that dilemma, usually the whispering would get louder because no one could hear the other person that was talking to them. So it is pretty reasonable to say that up until that point I had never been fond of writing in class because I felt like I couldn’t be productive there. So on that day I was shocked to see that everyone there was inspired to do good work.
I noticed that Mr. Field wrote during class too. It was really cool to see him do the same thing the students were doing. It is funny when I think about his posture when he wrote because he would get so interested in what he was writing that his face would be only about a foot from his pen. I don’t know if other students felt the same way as me, but I thought that the assignment that I was writing must be important because the teacher was doing it too. That realization gave me the feeling like I was responsible for doing a good job on my choice paper and that I didn't want to let the person down that reads my paper.
When the class period almost finished, Mr. Field said that he came to some realizations about this assignment. He stood before the class with an authoritative look on his face and said that he realized this assignment is a heavy load to complete within two days. He said that we could have the weekend to finish the paper if we did not feel like we were able to do our best on it by tomorrow. I thought that was so cool because I knew while I was writing the choice paper, I wanted to make it really good and not just something that I had to finish quickly. Mr. Field stood up and defended quality of work so that was the first time I realized that quality in a paper is better than quantity.
I know that the teacher probably only came to that conclusion because he was doing the work too. That makes sense to me because Atwell talks about how it is important that teachers read and write when their students are reading and writing so that they can tell the students without saying words that their assignment is important. It is also a great class room management skill, as I noticed, because Mr. Field was modeling what students should do at their desks. That is the only reason the classroom atmosphere was helpful and appropriate to facilitate student writing.
The workshop was interesting because for the first time, students were quiet when they were writing. It used to bother me when I could hear a lot of things going on in the classroom as I was trying to put together ideas that made sense and have my fingers put those ideas on paper. Usually there would be people passing notes and whispering, and during that dilemma, usually the whispering would get louder because no one could hear the other person that was talking to them. So it is pretty reasonable to say that up until that point I had never been fond of writing in class because I felt like I couldn’t be productive there. So on that day I was shocked to see that everyone there was inspired to do good work.
I noticed that Mr. Field wrote during class too. It was really cool to see him do the same thing the students were doing. It is funny when I think about his posture when he wrote because he would get so interested in what he was writing that his face would be only about a foot from his pen. I don’t know if other students felt the same way as me, but I thought that the assignment that I was writing must be important because the teacher was doing it too. That realization gave me the feeling like I was responsible for doing a good job on my choice paper and that I didn't want to let the person down that reads my paper.
When the class period almost finished, Mr. Field said that he came to some realizations about this assignment. He stood before the class with an authoritative look on his face and said that he realized this assignment is a heavy load to complete within two days. He said that we could have the weekend to finish the paper if we did not feel like we were able to do our best on it by tomorrow. I thought that was so cool because I knew while I was writing the choice paper, I wanted to make it really good and not just something that I had to finish quickly. Mr. Field stood up and defended quality of work so that was the first time I realized that quality in a paper is better than quantity.
I know that the teacher probably only came to that conclusion because he was doing the work too. That makes sense to me because Atwell talks about how it is important that teachers read and write when their students are reading and writing so that they can tell the students without saying words that their assignment is important. It is also a great class room management skill, as I noticed, because Mr. Field was modeling what students should do at their desks. That is the only reason the classroom atmosphere was helpful and appropriate to facilitate student writing.
Passion For Writing!!
Going through high school, I was taught that in order to be a good writer I needed to tackle and master something known as the five paragraph paper. This was something that was highly taught until even 10th grade. At that point in my academic life, I didn’t even know that there were other types of papers. There were times that I wanted to add a lot of information to my paper that I thought was interesting, and teachers would tell me that I am adding too many sentences. They were more concerned with me having the correct structure than the content that I was trying to put in the paper. The point that was most confusing for me was when I was in a high school English class and the teacher wanted me to write an argumentative paper. She explained the importance of the student choosing to write something that they could talk about at length and provide good arguments for. This was an assignment that was supposed to be a “free choice paper.” What I didn’t know was that the “free choice paper” really meant that I could pick whatever topic I wanted to talk about as long as the teacher did not have an issue with that topic.
Every student had to talk to the teacher about their topic, even though they were expected to have already started writing about it, so that the teacher could make sure that their topic was appropriate. It was soon my turn to go have a talk with Mrs. T, whom had been sitting at her over head projector all morning talking to students. The teacher learned of the topic I had already started writing about, and she had a look on her face of unhappiness that I didn’t understand as I approached her desk.
“I don’t understand what is wrong with my paper. I choose to write about abortion because the issue is interesting to me. You said that everyone can write about whatever they want.”
The teacher said, “Well it is just not a topic that you should be researching for this assignment. There are other topics that are more appropriate for your argumentative paper. A good example could be about whether the smoking age should be 18.”
Hesitantly I said, “I don’t want to talk about that because I don’t care about that. I would rather talk about abortion because people talk about it on the news a lot. It is something that I have heard a lot of information about.”
Shocked, she said, “That is a topic that is too graphic to talk about in this class. That would make other students feel uncomfortable and you could offend them if they know someone that had an abortion. Maybe your English teacher next year will be willing to let you express your opinions about it as long as it is carefully thought through first.”
Feeling upset, I said, “But if I talk about smoking, there are people who know other people that smoke. Couldn’t that be offensive too?”
“Well, I don’t think that topic would get you an A on the paper. So please know that before you make the mistake of writing about it,” she said.
I then asked her, “Aren’t you the only person reading my paper? How are other people going to know what I am writing about? You did say that other people could be offended.”
She didn’t want to respond to that question and sent me back to my desk. I decided that I was going to write about that topic and do such a good job with my facts and research that she could not give me anything but an A.
It turns out that she decided to give me an A for my paper, which was great because it was clearly grade A worthy. The grade gave me even more determination to write about what I think really does matter. It was the motivation I gained from doing something against the grain of paper topics that really inspired me to become a better researcher. It was because of that type of motivation that I learned to take a high interest in most things that I write. I realized that in order to be a successful writer, I need to put my emotion and passion into every thought that I write and every argument I give to write about the topic. I gained great knowledge that I need to write about things that matter and not about things that don’t create emotion in the reader. I realized that the dialog I had with the teacher inspired me to prove he wrong and let her see how a good paper looks.
Every student had to talk to the teacher about their topic, even though they were expected to have already started writing about it, so that the teacher could make sure that their topic was appropriate. It was soon my turn to go have a talk with Mrs. T, whom had been sitting at her over head projector all morning talking to students. The teacher learned of the topic I had already started writing about, and she had a look on her face of unhappiness that I didn’t understand as I approached her desk.
“I don’t understand what is wrong with my paper. I choose to write about abortion because the issue is interesting to me. You said that everyone can write about whatever they want.”
The teacher said, “Well it is just not a topic that you should be researching for this assignment. There are other topics that are more appropriate for your argumentative paper. A good example could be about whether the smoking age should be 18.”
Hesitantly I said, “I don’t want to talk about that because I don’t care about that. I would rather talk about abortion because people talk about it on the news a lot. It is something that I have heard a lot of information about.”
Shocked, she said, “That is a topic that is too graphic to talk about in this class. That would make other students feel uncomfortable and you could offend them if they know someone that had an abortion. Maybe your English teacher next year will be willing to let you express your opinions about it as long as it is carefully thought through first.”
Feeling upset, I said, “But if I talk about smoking, there are people who know other people that smoke. Couldn’t that be offensive too?”
“Well, I don’t think that topic would get you an A on the paper. So please know that before you make the mistake of writing about it,” she said.
I then asked her, “Aren’t you the only person reading my paper? How are other people going to know what I am writing about? You did say that other people could be offended.”
She didn’t want to respond to that question and sent me back to my desk. I decided that I was going to write about that topic and do such a good job with my facts and research that she could not give me anything but an A.
It turns out that she decided to give me an A for my paper, which was great because it was clearly grade A worthy. The grade gave me even more determination to write about what I think really does matter. It was the motivation I gained from doing something against the grain of paper topics that really inspired me to become a better researcher. It was because of that type of motivation that I learned to take a high interest in most things that I write. I realized that in order to be a successful writer, I need to put my emotion and passion into every thought that I write and every argument I give to write about the topic. I gained great knowledge that I need to write about things that matter and not about things that don’t create emotion in the reader. I realized that the dialog I had with the teacher inspired me to prove he wrong and let her see how a good paper looks.