ch. 14, 15, 17

In most, if not all of our classes, we hear about differentiated instruction.  The major point that came into my mind and stayed there is that individual conferences are the ultimate differentiated instruction.  Students get a chance to try everything that you present to them over the course of the year, but the individual conferences allow the teacher and the student to address what is most important for that writer at that moment.  Not only does the teacher get to see where the writer is at in his or her progression, but the teacher and student get a chance to actually discuss the student’s progress.  I had been under the impression that the teacher was just walking around looking over shoulders and waiting for raised hands before conferencing with a student.  So, it surprised me that the conferences were on a schedule.  Once I read when Ray says, “I want them to eventually feel like they don’t need me at all,” did I really think, Ah that makes sense. We want them to eventually become independent and be able to work through their problems and not need our help for every little thing.

            When reading about share time, I totally agree with Ray on its importance for receiving feedback from piers and the teacher.  I could be totally wrong because I did not have my highlighter when reading this chapter, but I believe she missed the fact that it is important for the writer to be able to actually hear what he or she has written.  Sometimes we can recognize or solve our own problems just by being vocal and hearing the way things sound.  Ray makes a great point on page 178 that may have taken me ten years of experience to realize.  When she states, “For one thing, we’ve learned that if students read something to the whole class, we often see that they don’t have much energy to return to the piece after that.”  I can see myself being the same way saying, “Well, it has been put out there.  Guess there’s nothin’ else to do.”  One other thing that I’m glad she addressed is the use of partner sharing.  I use it with my kids every time there’s a chance to share something, and as long as there’s some type of structure for who shares with the whole class, everyone is happy.

            The assessment chapter is the chapter that I’ve had some struggle with whether I agree with Ray, or not.  I feel like she places a little too much importance on the individual assessment for the overall assessment.  I think it is very important for the writer to take part in assessing his own writing, and it is vital for assessing the things the teacher cannot see, such as work done away from the writing workshop.  I just feel that self assessment can be too great an opportunity to fudge it a little, however.  Ninety percent of the writers may be completely honest and take the self assessment serious, but there’s a chance the other ten percent may see this as an opportunity to slack off for a while and not use all the procedures the assessment is evaluating.  The teacher won’t be able to see how hard some children are, or are not, working until the student’s writing is read and evaluated.  So, in the mean time, if there’s a point where the student just doesn’t feel like doing his writing work, he can take advantage of the self assessment if he wants.  But like I said earlier, there is only so much work the teacher can actually see to evaluate, so some self assessment is necessary.  Plus, I’ve just gotten tired of agreeing with Ray, and have been looking for an opportunity to disagree or at least play devil’s advocate.