Week 4 Blog: Shared Writing

This week (week 4) I wasn't sure if we were suppose to write a blog for homework or not so instead I'm writing about class. I want to discuss shared writing. It's funny how you do things that you never notice you do. I've been to many classes where they demonstrate shared writing, and I've done activities myself where the classroom is doing shared writing, but not once have I actually examined the technique and saw what all it is good for. Shared writing is when the whole class writes as a whole or in small groups. This is very common in the earlier grades of elementary. The example that we watched in class was of a class writing a thank you letter to one of their visitors. Shared writing allows the students to learn from one another and to grow as a group. The importance in shared writing is to keep all students engaged. Lets say one student comes to the front of the class to write the heading to the letter; while that student does that the other students can practice the same thing on their leg or hand so that everybody is doing some sort of work. As the teacher you must make sure that as many students as possible become involved in the writing. For Example, each sentence can developed by the whole class but wrote by 2 or 3 depending on length. Another big aspect of shared writing is what to do when the student is wrong? This will have a big effect on the student. If a student comes to the front of the class and writes the wrong thing or spells the word incorrectly, then what does the teacher do? As a teacher, you have to make sure to correct this student, but do it in a way that he or she does not become embarrassed. The student is now in front of his/her entire classroom/peers, this means the embarrassment has now doubled. Give praise to the child for their good try then ask if they may help you to correct the issue; sound out the word if its spelling, rewrite the word if its wrote wrong, etc. Shared writing can take students a long way; you just have to know how to use it properly.