"Learning to Teach Writing"

-->

While I hope to read and reflect on multiple writings for my own professional development, I am intrigued by my beginning readings of In the Middle: New Understanding About Writing, Reading, and Learning by Nancie Atwell. I began the first chapter of this book today: Learning How to Teach Writing. At first, I felt her stories a little wordy and I just wanted to get to the answer: how do I better teach my students to write? Like Nancie did, I fear that using the workshop format for LA will cause utter chaos and severe classroom management problems with my 7^th graders. However, I know the ones who could handle less structure would excel greatly and love the chance to write what they want and explore the Art of Language. Her writing challenges me to trust my students and learn from them as a teacher, to let them write about things they care about, things they know and things they can share with others (Atwell, 14). While I am still a little leery with trying this with all students, I am intrigued that Atwell argues, “Freedom of choice does not undercut structure. Instead, students become accountable for learning about and using the structures available to writers to serve their purposes” (15). I have yet to finish the chapter, but am becoming convinced to at least try this workshop approach with at least one of my classes this year.