Lain response

Sheryl Lain's Reaffirming the Writing Workshop for Young Adolescents

At the beginning of this article, Lain says that many teachers are nervous about "having middle level students behind the wheel." I am fairly comfortable with this, but I've been concerned that administrators or other teachers will think it shows that I'm not doing my job. It makes me feel a lot better to read all of these articles that show it to be a sound practice.

It seems like many teachers struggle with finding strategies that work for our unmotivated students, especially since most people who end up teaching were easily successful in school. Lain acknowledges this challenge and encourages us that using writing workshop can help us to reach even the students that challenge us the most.

I really like what she says about minilessons: "The recurring pattern. . . is to introduce the skill and then apply it to something the students have an interest in." This goes for music, too. Students learn much better when I teach them something and then let them use the concept in music they actually like. Combining music and writing, I am sure the students will learn most successfully when I let them write what they choose about the music they like.

I have hated writing poetry most of my life and wondered what it was really good for. Lain compares moving words with rearranging furniture. This week I finally experienced this for myself, and I discovered that this really involves some higher-level thinking as we decide what sounds the best and what provides the best meaning. It is also kind of fun!