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The Writing Lab
The Writing Lab is a place where all students work on their writing for any subject. Students compose everything from lab reports to poems, letters to essays, while here. Free writing and personal writing may also be done during team time and before or after school.
The Writing Lab is housed Room 102, but we also have computer labs in Rooms 101 and 104. Each lab has 28 computers and one printer for student use. In addition, a color printer and scanner are available in the Writing Lab. The equipment is used to help students complete assigned and creative writing projects, making writing and editing easier to complete.
All students are encouraged to use the many writing resources in the Lab. For their convenience, a Writing Tip Book filled with word banks, revision strategies, works cited forms, editing rules, and formatting and computing guidelines is available at each computer. Each sixth grader will receive his own Writing Tip Book to take home and to keep. Students are also encouraged to follow the directions for writing activities and to allow ample drafting time prior to their Lab visit, not only to facilitate student Lab use but also to lead to better writing, the goal of the Jefferson Middle School Writing Lab.
Writing Lab Hours of Operation
The Writing Lab is open before school from 7:45 to 8:00, Monday through Friday. The Lab is open after school from 3:00 to 3:35, Monday through Thursday, although it must occasionally be closed for staff or departmental meetings. On Fridays the Lab closes at 3:00 p.m. Students may also work in the Writing Lab during team time when computers are available; classes that have signed up to use the Lab get first priority. Students are encouraged to make an appointment with the Writing Clinician if they are having difficulty finding time to work or have specific concerns about a particular piece of writing.
Role of the Writing Clinician
The Writing Clinician is an English teacher who works full time with students and instructors in Room 102. The Clinician is available to discuss problems the student is having with his writing and to help him discover solutions. The Clinician works with teachers of all subject areas to design and to implement effective writing assessments. She often teaches mini lessons to classes in the labs or in the teacher’s room to address particular writing skills and strategies. In addition, the Writing Clinician coordinates the Parent Volunteer Program that trains volunteers to conference with students about their writing for a particular assignment. Finally, the Writing Clinician sponsors the school’s award-winning literary magazine, Our Piece of Mind. The Clinician will neither write nor fix papers. The student will remain the author of his or her own document. The Clinician will, however, help the student become familiar with the writing process and strategies for revision.
The Writing Process
1. Prewriting
Different strategies work best for different writers, so we encourage many different types of prewriting. These might include outlining, webbing, free writing, brainstorming, interviewing, drawing, conducting a discussion, or taking notes.
2. Writing
The writer discovers, develops, explores, and arranges ideas, perceptions, and/or facts in a first draft.
3. Revising
Organization, word choices, sentence structure, and clarity can all be improved by conferencing with peers, teachers, or adults. Students can also re-examine their own pieces.
4. Editing
The author checks his spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. This step is better delayed until ideas are clear and organized.
5. Presenting or Publishing
The final draft prepares the writing to be shared with others. Papers might be simply to fulfill a class assignment, or they might be for inclusion on a web site or in a publication.
That’s a Good Question!
Parents sometimes ask, “What is the rationale behind middle level students completing their writing process activities in school?” Usually, students are permitted to take copies of their work home, and they are often encouraged to have revision and editing conferences with an adult as well as with a peer. However, most writing process assignments are word processed in school for several reasons.
· More important than focusing on product, students are focusing on practicing the writing process. As a result, teachers want to observe the process and offer strategies along the way.
· A child learns from being physically involved with word processing text. More revision takes place if a child can word process, conference, revise, conference again, and edit as a circular, on-going process, a possibility if he is word processing in school and saving on the network.
· If a child works at home, he may possess an “I-am-finished” attitude that undercuts a desire for deep revision, one of the most important goals. If the child does not work at school, moreover, the student is unable to participate in the strategies and resources offered for revision and editing.
· Practicing the process in school offers students the opportunity to learn to be a part of a writing community, to collaborate, to conference, to suggest—qualities employed in real world writing.
· Writing assignments are specifically targeted to teach particular skills which are outlined on a rubric and reinforced by the teacher during the class and lab time.
· Offering the children time to complete the writing in school avoids conflicts with the family computer and crises with the “untimely death” of the ink cartridge.
Something To Think About
"To be good, you still [have to] learn this stuff. Computers are just a tool. To do good work with them, you still need skill, discipline and creativity."
- John Lasseter, director of Toy Story and Toy Story 2
