Online Peer Conferencing in Four Different Educational Settings: Practices and Insights

Writing Workshop Approach

The writing workshop model is based on the belief that writing is a process and that writers need the time and space to engage in writing (Calkins, 1986). Teachers who engage their students in the writing workshop approach not only focus on each step of the writing process –prewriting, drafting, revision, editing, and publication, but they also focus on the writer. Hence the mantra of many writing workshop advocates is “teach the writer, not the writing.” Because many students already use savvy Web 2.0 tools to communicate socially at home (Lenhart, Arafeh, Smith, & Macgill, 2008), teachers must modify traditional writing workshop methods in order to best meet the interests, abilities, and experiences of their students. Principles of the writing workshop: student choice, revision, publication and a focus on process, can be enhanced by a variety of digital tools and online writing opportunities (Hicks, 2009). For example, digital tools such as blogs, wikis, and VoiceThread can provide students a platform in which to collaborate, conference, and publish their writing.