hmmm

Writing continues to be a joyful time in my classroom for the students, not so much for the teacher though.  I am impressed by how much my students want to write, how much they enjoy the writing time and how much their writing has improved.  But I'm struggle with writing time, with what to teach when, and how to manage the teaching, conferencing, and publishing.

How important is it to follow through on all the stages all the time?  how can I streamline the stress level for me and yet continue to teach my students to the best of my ability and to encourage my students' learning all the time?

What management strategies work for teachers with the workshop model?  Obviously everything I've tried hasn't worked so well for me.

workshop model?

Writer’s workshop…I continue to try and use writer’s workshop in my classroom.  I have the format down, my students love the time for writing BUT (and yes that’s a big BUT) it doesn’t seem to flow smoothly for me.  I have a hard time planning where to go with mini-lessons, how to stay connected to all students with conferences and then there’s the publishing piece…YUCK!  I quickly get overwhelmed with all the expectations and respsonsiblitlies that come with writer’s workshop and flounder while my students continue to love to write. 

SO….HELP!  how do I manage where to go next as teaching points?

            HELP how do I keep up on publishing and conferring?  So far….i’ve fallen apart in these areas and get frustrated easily which then seems to spoil the rest of the writing time for me.

welcome!

I’m a second grade teacher who is trying to understand the way my students learn to write and learn from writing.  Why is writing important for students as learners, what benefits will the see from learning to write?  I don’t mean the physicl of writing, handwriting but the concept of writing.  What is the best way to teach writing?  There are so many styles and expectations, what is the BEST?  Why has writing become a lost art?  So many grade levels aren’t tested in writing…does that mean writing isn’t important anymore?  Writing gets pushed to the back burner.  What about content area writing?  Is it important?  Does it teach anything about writing?  Or does it show what students know?  What if students understand a concept but are unable to write about it?  Does this really show what a student knows or doesn’t know?  Second grade seems to be the forgotten grade.  In writing, we need to find our own materials, mini-lessons, ideas, etc.  No well written series dedicated to second grade students.