The Writing Workshop Responses to Chapters 9, 10, 13

• In chapter 9, I connected with Ray’s statement about my future classroom design. She writes, “If I locked my students in my classroom and stood outside the door, what could they learn about writing without me even being there.” In my current field placement, the classroom walls are mostly barren exaggerating the white paint that blankets them. My mentor teacher has several posters of typical, motivation-type sayings, science posters, and a few about the writing process. Other than a couple items here and there, it does not encourage learning in the least or mirror the actual learning that is occurring. However, the high school English classroom in which I took the GACE created a positive learning environment, especially in regards to writing. The ceiling tiles had quotes from authors and writers, clearly illustrated by students. Mentor texts and student writing examples filled the walls and cork boards. Instead of simply having a generic poster about the writing process, one could find more specific strategies to complete a piece. The decorations stimulated me to almost want to take the test at eight o’clock in the morning: not an easy task. I hope that my classroom fosters learning through the help of the environment I create just as the English classroom did for me.     
• In regards to the focus lesson chapter, I have a question on how to access students on what they learned during the lesson. If everyone is writing about different things at different stages, how do you access the lesson? For instance, in the example Ray gave, she just offered a suggestion as to how to find a topic for writing poetry. She indicated that students could use her strategy during the workshop time, but they were not required to apply it to their pieces. How do you access students on focus lessons if they are just invited to participate and are not mandated? Also, are lessons such as defining poetry and how to teach noun and verb agreement included in a focus lesson? If not, should that be taught during another block of time aside from writer’s workshop? Would it be better to have students free write for ten minutes and then spend the remaining writing time on these subjects?