Writing

"Good writing occurs because a writer passionately desires to say something....Students do not need more abstract advice about how to write. They need somehow to have their feelings kindled." X.J. Kennedy This statement couldn't apply better to my feelings about writing. I like the idea that Atwell established her classroom as a workshop. In chapter 10 she lets us know that she believes it is imperative for her to be a role model for her students. With her bringing papers of her own, or stories, poems etc., it shows her students that there are adults who write as well. We can't ask our students to write for us if in fact they don't see us writing at all. We are English teachers and this should be like breathing to us anyway. I hope to establish my classroom as a workshop just like Atwell in the future.

http://www.oneofus.co.uk/index.php/writing_tips/writing_exercises/

Above is a link that has a couple of writing activites that could help others dive into some "non-traditional" way of teaching it. My personal favorite is "Writer's Tennis" because I have had such success with this actually in my life. I was introduced to it during high school, and I actually used this when I was helping tutor for the OGT at Akron North. Many of my students were not passionate writers, and when we were practicing on some of the essays for the OGT I used this approach. I would help them after they wrote a paragraph and we would write off of each other. Clearly the students wouldn't be able to do this on the test, but my idea was to keep them thinking and writing the entire time.