Workshops Galore!

Thinking back over my education, the most clear memories that I have of using these different types of workshops and circle groups would have to be our Literature Circles in EDU 255. I really enjoyed doing that, not only because I had a WONDERFUL book (Al Capone Does My Shirts), but I also really liked the idea of doing this, with any age group! This is a really good way for students to read the book and then discuss the book while also gaining knowledge about the book from different aspects because of the different jobs that are brought to the circle meetings. I would say for 2nd graders, the grade I will be student teaching in, that I love to do this because that is a great age for discussion and having students responsible for different "jobs".

The more and more I think about it, I have probably participated in Writer's Workshops, Reader's Workshop and others, but I did not realize that until now. I can now see how my teachers had the class set up to incorporate these things into the class and I never even knew - teachers sure are sneaky like that!

Overall, I really like the idea of incorporating ALL of these into my classroom one day because they are a different way of teaching - they allow the students to almost teach themselves and others. This creates for a great learning environment that is not so monotonous with the teacher standing in the front of the classroom and blabbing all day long - it allows the students to move around and get comfortable so that they can learn the best way possible!