In Response to Lucy McCormick Calkins’ “The Art of Teaching Writing”

Although, this article was really aimed towards elementary teachers and classrooms, I still really enjoyed the article and am feeling more and more confident about implementing workshops into my own classroom. It seems that we are being surrounded by anything and everything workshop this week and I think it is one of the best ways for me to get a firmer grasp on what they are and how to use them in the classroom!

One of my favorite concepts from Calkins’ article is found on page 209 at the very top (the whole block quote). Here she is quoting Randy Bomer from his book A Time for Meaning, he is discussing the issue of trying to get students to be more passionate about revising or drafting. The suggestion Randy Bomer gives is to push students through their first drafts quickly. GENIUS! He says to not give the students enough time to sort everything out right away; you want to make students feel as though they are “unsatisfied” with their work which gives them a desire to draft and revise their work. Bomer says, “I am trying to hold open spaces of possibility by pushing them through the first draft.” I don’t know why it wouldn’t work, but you never know, what do you guys think? Is this our solution in helping students care about revising?