Response to Write in the Middle Workshop 8

Jessica Sumpter

English 484

February 24, 2008

Write in the Middle

Workshop 8

Linda talks about revision as ‘have I said what I wanted to say in the best way possible?’ I think that is a really good way to think about it. Of course, you’d have to deal with technical difficulties separately then. But I think it makes the process less intimidating for that age group. It’s changing the thinking from ‘I have to fix what is wrong with my paper,’ to ‘I need to improve the good things that are already in my paper’ and I think that’s a good thing.

Jack touches on another subject I agree with. I think it’s really important that the student understands that what they wrote in their first draft is not ‘written in stone’ so to speak. I think that sort of flexibility in writing is important to being a good writer.

I notice that the teachers ask a lot of questions instead of making statements about the papers. I think it’s a really good technique. You’re not saying this is what you should do, you’re asking them if that’s what they meant to do. Again, it forces the students to articulate what they mean, and then see if what they answer matches up with what’s in the paper. Also, questions help students develop their ideas further if they are struggling with that in their papers.

What I haven’t seen in the video is what to do when normal revision prompting doesn’t work. What do you do with the exceptionally struggling child? If your normal techniques aren’t working, what do you do then?

Jack is really good at telling the students what he expects from them. He guides them through discussion, but he’s firm, too, which is good. He teaches fifth graders, so I feel like a little extra firmness is required to keep them on task.

There is one thing that I don’t like about these Write in the Middle videos is the long unbroken times when you’re just watching them teach. I think it’s valuable to see, but I want to hear them talk about teaching more than I want to watch it. I start to lose interest after a while. I’d like to hear more from the discussions between the teachers.