Meeting Students' Needs

On my visit in a second grade classroom, the teacher, Sarah, and her class made a class book that they had formally published by www.nationwide-learning.com. Sarah saved the book to share with students during the sharing time of writing workshop, which she called “The Big Reveal”. The book is hardbound with color illustrations, and the cover has a photo of the entire class. Each student read his or her page and showed the illustration while sitting in the author’s chair. It was easy to see the pride on their faces from being a part of this publication. There is a fee to purchase individual copies of the books, and not all students bought one to keep; however the teacher has a copy that can be kept in the classroom library for all to see. All students contributed to the book, no matter their abilities. Some of the written pages were short and some long; some of the illustrations simple and some elaborate; some handwriting was neat and some not so neat. The important thing is all could contribute at their level. This concept is at the heart of writing workshop!
Sarah spoke to me about her beliefs in the value of writing workshop. She sees the daily structure of independent writing time as a way for students to freely express themselves – something they may not have the opportunity to do during any other aspect of the school day, and for some, not even outside of school. She tells stories of students whose stomach aches and daily ailments seem to get better during writing workshop. Sarah is an advocate for the use of writing workshop to meet the individual of students, and she definitely has experience in this area. Within her classroom of 23 students, nine students have some type of special need. Four students are learning English as a second language. Sarah is bilingual, so she is able to communicate with the students when English is too challenging. I watched her conduct a writing conference in Spanish when she could tell that the student needed a more in-depth explanation than he could understand in English; however the majority of the teaching and learning is done in English. In addition to these students, there are three students with various challenges to learning, one student with autism who receives Tier 3 special education services, and one student with other health impairments related to behavior. Various adults move in and out of the room throughout the day to assist along with various students leaving the classroom for extra help.
Each of these students is a full participant during writing workshop. One student who is not writing words independently traces over his words that have been written down by another adult. Another student is able to write his story, but has difficulty reading the words aloud. Still another student can say the three sentences of her story, but cannot put sounds and letters together to write the words. While another student talks of being an author when she grows up, writing two-page stories which include vivid details and written conversations. It has been amazing to see what these students can do when given the opportunity to express themselves through writing.