Writing can be tedious and difficult for so many students and it is important for teachers to make it hands on and more enjoyable. As most first year and beginning teachers feel, I am a little nervous for my very first "setting up classroom" experience.However, chapter nine of Katie Wood Ray's book The Writing Workshop: Walking through the Hard Parts (And They're All Hard Parts) gave excellent example and instruction on how to begin a writing workshop classroom.
One idea that I completely agree with in the reading is having students use their writing in the classroom in order to make it part of the structure and routine. My favorite examples are the "official response groups" for writing and the bulletin board for displaying students writing. I feel that students may begin to feel more comfortable sharing their writing with others if they start at a young age. Personally, I sometimes feel uncomfortable sharing my personal writing with others because I believe I may get judged. Although structure is beneficial in the classroom, independent writing should be more open to creativity.
Another section from the reading which interested me was creating the best environment for a writing workshop. I think any writer's environment should be consisted of inspirational features and things you can learn from.
I think we all feel some degree or discomfort or vulnerability when we share writing that means something to us. This is one of the more interesting parts of the workshop - we are all working on things that actually matter to us, so sharing it is risky. We will talk about and experience sharing in several ways this semester. I agree that starting this kind of habit early helps students to feel more at ease with it as they get older.
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