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The writing workshop is a block of instructional time in which students practice the writing process (Dorfman & Shubitz, 2019). Writing workshops can be used with young children and with adolescent students. This article provides a brief overview of instructional methods involved in the implementation of a writing workshop.
Conducting a Writing Workshop
Increased time to write with a focus on the strategies of pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing are linked to increased writing quality (Graham & Harris, 2016). Unfortunately, students tend to demonstrate a decrease in enthusiasm for writing from early childhood to middle school and high school, due to less time to write and less engaging writing opportunities (Graham & Perin, 2007) so it is imperative to engage students in workshops that are personally and culturally meaningful. We recommend that it should be evident that multicultural literature is being read, enjoyed and analyzed across the curriculum. Writing workshops provide opportunities for lively inquiry and discussion about texts with diverse characters, settings, and cultures (Alexander, 2018).
Conversations
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Incorporating this new understanding of individuals as possessing multiple identities allowed possibilities for learners to be exposed to, take on, and embrace new identities as learners.
In Gee’s (2003) discussion of his tripartite identity model, learners possessed three identities which combined to form the deep learning experiences of which he spoke. In his ‘tripartite play of identities’, Gee (2003) described the interaction between the individual’s real-world set of identities, the virtual identity created by the learning situation, and the projective identity created by combining the real-world and virtual identities into a new identity (pp. 55-56). The real-world identity involved the varied aspects of the learner’s individual life experiences (their race, ethnicity, class, interests, etc.) which influenced and filtered the learning experience. The virtual identity created within the learning experience allowed the learner to take on the “identity” of the new role – a game character, scientist, mathematician, historian, etc. The projective identity allowed the learner to blend the real-world and virtual identities into a new identity where the learner could “transcend the limitations both of the virtual identity and the learner’s own real-world identity” (Gee, 2003, p. 63). Clarifying the role of the projective identity, Gee (2003) stated this projection went beyond role-playing – the virtual identity – to “proactively building that virtual person as a certain kind of person with a certain kind of history. They are projecting their own hopes and desires onto that person” (p. 62), creating a belief in their own ability to take on the virtual identity as a potential real-world identity in the future (p. 63). A perfect illustration of this concept was shared by Bitz (2009) when he described the Youth Music Exchange project created to “establish school-based record labels owned and managed by youths in underserved urban areas” (p. 15). Students embodied record label executives while they researched and developed all aspects of running a record label – creating business plans, hiring recording artists, creating and distributing materials and managing finances. This range of activities allowed students to develop skills in both literacy and math while building ownership, confidence, and entrepreneurial spirit. Further, this experience enabled them to view potential career opportunities in the future - potential real-world identities to pursue.
In What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Literacy and Learning, Gee (2003) defined the Identity Principle as one where
Learning involves taking on and playing with identities in such a way that the learner has
Deeply connected to Gee’s idea of ‘deep learning’, the concept of identity plays a key role in achieving active, critical learning. According to Gee (2003), “People cannot learn in a deep way . . . if they are not willing to commit themselves fully to the learning in terms of time, effort, and active engagement” (p. 54). The learner’s personal belief in their ability to take on this new identity provides motivation for deep engagement and persistence, and allows the development of multiple perspectives, skills, and connections to alternative experiences and roles beyond their real-world lives. Additionally, incorporating a social learning aspect in developing the new identity, the learner had to believe they would be “valued and accepted by others committed to that domain” or the discourse or “affinity group” associated with it (Gee, 2003, p. 54). Gee’s ideas on identity mirror the shift in new literacies to the paradigm of multiple identities; incorporate social learning opportunities utilizing 21st century technologies which include critical and digital literacy using multiple formats, content and mediums to produce evidence and assessment of learning; and provide potential implications for deeper learning opportunities for in-school learning settings through dramatic inquiry and role-play.
When considering identity development, the dramatic inquiry approach provides a unique vehicle to allow exploration of alternate identities. Developed by Dorothy Heathcote, this approach takes advantage of “the ability of humans to ‘become somebody else,’ to ‘see how it feels’ . . . to ‘put yourself in my shoes’” as a natural ability used throughout a lifetime (as cited by Beach, Compano, Edmiston, & Borgmann, 2010, p. 69-70). Strengthening deep learning opportunities and identity development, dramatic inquiry uses students’ “imaginative ability in order to deepen and extend students’ inquiries” (Beach et. al, 2010, p. 70). This approach “dramatizes whole-class inquiries about life. . . embodied, collaborative, interactive, and sequenced improvised activities that young people engage in alongside adults as they explore questions about a topic from multiple viewpoints by creating, experiencing, representing, and
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