To see a complete list of the reflection activities and for an explanation of the program, visit my Day By Day Main Page.
Routines Cycle 1: Revving Up
Day 2: Creating a List of Classroom Expectations
Challenge: Develop a list of expectations for writing workshop with your students. Even if you’ve already created workshop rules, take some time to elicit student input about the expectations for writing workshop. Post these expectations in a prominent place in the classroom.
I’ve dedicated a part of our room to be a writing workshop resource center / writing space. I have two computers set up, as well as a table and a bookshelf with all necessary writing supplies (paper, pencils, big erasers, dictionaries, with more to come as I introduce the items). I’m definitely going to need to set up expectations around that space. Otherwise, I plan for our rules to look much like the charts we use to guide our behavior in Daily 5, which includes Work on Writing.
What are your nonnegotiable expectations for writing workshop?
- Have a plan for the whole writing time.
- Write/revise the whole time.
How can you boil these expectations down to something general for students in order to start a discussion?
Again, I think that the “something general” will be our usual expectations from Daily 5 (work the whole time, get started right away, build stamina, etc).
How did creating a list of expectations differ from creating a list of classroom rules with your students?
Classroom rules can seem a bit more concrete — the look-fors are more cut-and-dry. I anticipate that we’ll have to have conversations about writing versus “fake writing” much like we have at the beginning of the year in reading.