Reading and Writer's Workshop

I have searched my memory and I cannot specifically pinpoint anything that I can confidently say, "Now, that took place in a reading or writing workshop." I do, however, remember learning everything in units. For instance, if the class was reading a book together, then suddenly everything we were doing in class seemed to be connected to the book in someway. I do wish that my classrooms in elementary school would have participated in literature circles. The most experience, and only experience, that I have had with literature circles have taken place in college. Literature circles are a great way to discuss literature and connect literature to personal experiences. Certain roles within the literature circle also connect the literature to history which brings in other subjects such as social studies.

I'm not sure if the classes that I was in, in elementary school, went about writer's workshop correctly. I don't remember if we had a full hour to work on our writings but I know that there were some other aspects of a writer's workshop that were present. I specifically remember going through all of the stages of the writing process before producing a final copy of my paper. We all started our papers at the same time but all continued at our own pace. I enjoyed this. However, more times than not, I remember simply turning my paper in. There were very few times that we had the opportunity to share our work with our peers. I believe that just turning papers in can sometimes change a students purpose of writing to writing for the teacher instead of writing for themselves.

Assessment

Assessment can be a scary word, or at least for me it can be. When I think of assessments I automatically think of testing. I understand the concept of testing students on topics and concepts that they should know, but I believe that there doesn't always need to be a test to assess students learning. As we learned in class there are many ways to assess students learning.

In my future classroom I would like to use projects, with a rubric, to assess students learning. I remember that in elementary, middle, and even high school I would prefer a test over a project. A project meant more work than a test. If there was a test I could sit down to study (aka memorize) what I needed to know, take the test, and be done. A project meant that I had to sit down and put in a good amount of effort and creativity to get it done. However, looking back, I realize that the material that I "studied" for a test I no longer remember. I simply memorized what I thought I was expected to know and then forgot all about it after I turned in the test. With projects, I had to not only know certain concepts but I also had to apply them. Also, because I used these concepts in context I was more likely to remember them later on.

I believe that rubrics are great because as the student you know exactly what is expected of you and can plan accordingly. There is less pressure in creating a project than a test because there is room for mistakes. In a project, if you make a mistake you have more time to catch your mistake and correct it than you do in a testing situation.