Article #2 Response

As I read this article, I also thought a lot about Writer's Workshop. I have been using that model in my first grade classroom for five years. With each year, I learn more and hopefully the students get more out of the program as each year passes.
Teaching the writing as a process, is helpful for students. Especially in first grade, kids need to know where to start. As it said in the article, beginning writing with a mini-lesson gives student a starting point. I remember this year doing a mini-lesson on adding describing words to writing. After teaching a 10 minute mini-lesson on this topic, my students were using description overwhelmingly. During "author" share that day, each student that read their writing had used descriptive language.
Another part of the article that I liked was when it talked about writing at the same time as your students. I find it hard to do that, only because I am conferencing one on one when the students are writing. I like being able to conference with students briefly to see where they may be struggling, or their successes. I do think, however that if giving a writing prompt, it would be good for the teacher to write about the same topic as his or her students. The students would feel more comfortable perhaps if their teacher was writing along with them.
I think one of the most important parts of writing is letting students choose their own topic. When a student is passionate about something, it will be much easier for them to write more about it, and add describing words etc. The writing process has many important components, and this article highlighted them in an easy to read way.