"Energy for their work..."

After reading all four assigned chapters, there is one statement that resonated with me in a powerful way.  Wood (2001) states, "I want to leave students with an energy for their work after a conference, and I watch for signs of that in my teaching" (p. 171).  This is one of my goals for my future writing workshop.  Not only do I want students to feel energized after a conference, but I also want my students to walk into the classroom with energy for their writing.  I want my students have energy in their writing every step of the journey- from collecting ideas in their writer's notebooks to publication.

There are many valuable lessons I learned while reading chapter 14.  I believe in the importance of the teacher being out among the students.  No matter the subject or classroom, students respond in a more positive manner when the teacher is not sitting behind a desk but is out among the students.  As Wood (2001) points out, "Students know that we are serious about their work when we are out there with them while they are doing it" (p. 157).

I found the concept of conferring not about helping, but about teaching to be intriguing.  "Although we will "help" many writers in conferences, the purpose of a conference is not to help.  The purpose is to teach, and everyone needs teaching (whether they need help or not)" (Wood, 2001, p. 157).  I often wondered how a conference would take place if a student was not in need of any help from me.  Now I know that there will be other areas to discuss and work on with the student who seems to have it all together.  It is comforting (and at times frightening) to realize that we will never know it all.  There are always areas in our chosen fields and areas of interest where we can grow and expand our knowledge.  Just as this is true for me, it is also true for my students.

Learning about the four parts of a writing conference inspire me to maintain a organized workshop in the future.  By following the four parts, I can not only remain organized,  but I will also have an orderly record-keeping system for the future.  It is also quite the relief to know that I do not have to go into my first year of teaching a writing workshop with all the answers or teaching experience.  Wood (2001) explains, "When we first start teaching writing, we have only a few things in our fist; it's a very small fist, so we teach the same things over and over, all around the room.  And we must know that that's OK!" (p. 164).  Those words, coming from an expert, relieve stress and bring comfort.

After reading the chapter on assessment and evaluation, I still find myself questioning how to effectively and accurately evaluate students when most schools place so much emphasis on student testing and scores.  Even though Wood (2001) provides excellent suggestions, such as "...the rubrics that I've seen and used for evaluation is a combination of a score and a narrative that explains why the student has evaluated herself in this way in relation to whatever is being evaluated" (p. 221), I still feel that self-evaluation from the students would not be as accurate as I would want.  I foresee students evaluating themselves either too high or too low, and I will spend far too much time going back to reevaluate their work.  I want to establish an effective system of assessment and evaluation at the beginning of the year.  I hope that after this semester is over, I will have more direction and insight about how to establish this system in my future class.


Ray, K. W., & Laminack, L. L. (2001). The writing workshop: working through 
          the hard parts (and they're all hard parts). Urbana, IL: National Council 
          of Teachers of English.