After I read Write In the Middle by Nancy Atwell, I was introduced to the idea of a Writing Workshop and the idea of building student writing skills by teaching writing as a community of writers.
I loved how Atwell created such a positive classroom atmosphere and how this encouraged students to write. I read the Atwell book while I was a graduate student of Education at Pepperdine University and at CSUN.
When I finally had my own writing classroom, I decided to follow in Atwell's footsteps. I wanted to create a positive classroom for my students. We put the desks in a circle. Students faced each other so that they could collaborate on their writing. Some parts of the classroom had large bean bags so student and teacher could brainstorm on writing ideas or have mini lessons on improving a draft. Instead of having one final grade for a paper, students wrote multiple drafts to improve on their paper. Their portfolios were hung on a wall and each draft were put in these large envelopes hung on the wall.
I hung on the wall past papers that students had done and had gotten high grades for. Just about every student in my class, had a high grade paper on the wall they were proud of. I also hung up artwork that students had created as part of their writing process. I encouraged students to draw to go with their writing.
If students had favorite mottos, they would write in large letters their favorite sayings and draw how that motto or saying made them feel. By decorating the classroom with student artwork, papers, and bright positive posters, this made for an inviting writing classroom. Instead of being eager for recess, students loved Writing Workshop time.
I even played music to go along with writing time. I had students who were of different cultures bring in ethnic music to go with the writing. I even bought in Chinese music during writing time. The music relaxed the students and got students more in the mood for writing. I followed as much as I could Atwell's suggestions and I found the Writing Workshop experience to be very rewarding.
By creating a positive classroom where students respect each other, this gave the students a sense of belonging and community and increased teamwork and collaboration among students. In any good classroom, you want to give students that sense of belonging to motivate them to be life long learners.
When I teach online, I do the same, I love to create a positive classroom and I have engaging forums, constant feedback, hang or create artwork for my empty class shells, ask Bloom Taxonomy questions for my students, compliment students who participate a lot in the forums to give students that same sense of belonging that I used to do in my face to face classrooms. Just like in my face to face classroom, in my online classroom, I gave students mini-lessons via screencast videos for students who needed extra help in writing. I also encouraged students to work together to peer edit each other's writing to encourage collaboration and teamwork just like I did when I was teaching Creative Writing to my face to face elementary school students.
Whether teaching online or face to face, it is all about creating a positive classroom experience that gives the students that sense of belonging and community that makes learning fun.
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