Writer's Workshop: Planning for "Dips"
Aimee Buckner
I'm training for a half marathon. I need to keep to a training schedule if I'm going to be ready. In the past, I tend to run from January through June. These are the best weather months for running down in the South. I don't like to run in July, August, nor September because it's too hot and humid. Then I'll start again in October, but November and December are the holidays and I end up sitting those months out as well. I have a problem.
I hired a running coach to keep me running through the summer. I knew I needed to get out of this routine of not running. So after paying him a ridiculous sum of money, he came up with a running schedule that included the summer months. "How will I do that?" I asked him. His brilliant response? "Just run." "I don't like to run in the heat," I said. With all of the southern charm he could muster, he responded, "So? Do it anyway. Sit down and plan the time of day you can run when it's cooler. Invest in a babysitter. Then run."
I'm writing this in mid-July and I'm still running.
Commitment Through Dips
I was speaking to a group of fourth grade teachers this summer about implementing writing workshop and its virtues. One teacher held tightly to the idea that there wasn't time to teach writing and that fifteen minutes of grammar drill was enough. Through our conversation, I find out this teacher has 'tried' writer's workshop each year and by October she has gone back to her old ways. Her conclusion: writer's workshop doesn't work.
She's right. Writer's workshop is not a program with some magic dust that will instantly turn students into grammar gurus and novelists. It's a format of time for children to work as writers. Writing doesn't come naturally to most people and most professional writers work hard at it. But writers write. Every day. Just like I had to commit time and resources to running, we have to commit that time for writing if we want to see results.
This teacher's dip was October, and mine (for writing) is in January. I think most teachers have a time during the year where writing workshop seems more difficult than at other times. Maybe it's testing that gets in the way or snow days or unexpected school programs. Whatever the disruption, many teachers skip writing to fit other things in. And so, I'm here to say, on those days don't teach math.
I say that tongue and cheek. I do love the gasp and looks of horror I get from teachers when I say it. Don't teach math? Are you kidding? Yes, I am. But the point is this, we're appalled at the idea of skipping math because we are committed to teaching that daily. So much so, that we can't imagine a day without it. That is the attitude, the commitment level we must find for teaching writing.
If you know you tend to give up writing during testing, plan more writing during testing. If you know January is a difficult month for you to teach writing, plan to teach more writing during January. Commit to it. Commit time to plan for writing and for time in your schedule to write. It will be the most difficult thing you do for a successful writing workshop. But, if you can commit to it, students will write.
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