Reflection 2

     This reflection is based on two lectures that took place on September 2nd, 2019 and September 4th, 2019. These lectures focused on the Writer's Workshop Lesson plan format, where we were actively engaged in the teaching-learning process. The primary purpose of the lessons was to educate us on a simple and effective method that teachers can use to facilitate the teaching of writing. 

       In the first session of the lecture, we were exposed to the elements of the writer’s workshop. The focus lesson/ mini lesson, writing time, conferencing and group share session are the elements that were discussed in class. In an effort to ensure that we understood the elements, the lecturer used a writer’s workshop template to highlight the elements and then proceeded to model the specific outcome for each. The action of modelling gave us a reminder that it is always necessary to model to students whenever content is being taught. This particular format of the lesson plan was very straightforward, as it consisted of similar components of previous lesson plan templates.  On the contrary, although it depicted similarities to previous lesson plan templates, the differences were noticeable. The Writer's Workshop outlined several different types of objectives designed to achieve specific purposes such as Time to Teach, Time to Write and Confer and Time to Share. During this time the lecturer also mentioned specific activities, that we as future educators can utilize to make students more interested in sharing their written pieces. Activities such as the author's chair was mentioned, where a special chair and specially designed crown would be assigned to students who are going to share their pieces with the class.

        The second session of the writer’s workshop was solely based on independent practice. The practice was done in groups and guidance was given to ensure that the task was accurately completed. The group discussions gave room for collaboration among our peers, as ideas and opinions were combined to create the final product. The method of using peer evaluation was effective as by reviewing other groups’ work, we were exposed to their ideas and learned to provide critical feedback. 

        After further evaluation, we have recognized that throughout the teaching of the two lessons, it was noticeable that the procedure of delivering the content took some form of the elements of the writer’s workshop. This was evident as the content was taught, modelled and independent practice was given followed by conferencing. These specific steps that were performed by the lecturer can be imitated in other content areas. For instance, in Mathematics when teaching addition without regrouping to students, the rules can be taught and modelled, independent practice given, conferencing can be done during practice to prevent misconception and finally share time. Furthermore, the time taken to provide independent practice was satisfying, as continuous practice will assist us to become familiar with the steps, so that we are able to successfully create an effective writer’s workshop lesson plan. Moreover, it was agreed that the group discussions should be continuous as it was deemed to be very interactive.