Week 1
The Minilessons article started very slowly and I was not overly impressed by it. However, there was one very helpful exercise for introducing peer writing conferences. I really enjoyed her activity of modeling "proper" and "improper" responses in writing conferences and having students take notes and discuss the differences in her two different portrayals. I also liked the way she returned to modeling like this a few times a year, modeling things she was seeing and hearing during the student conferences. Definitely an activity to use in my classroom.
Across all of the readings, I like the emphasis on approaching writing as a process, and not necessarily a static one across writers. Staying away from referring to "a writing process" will involve more students' ideas and methods in improving writing skills. I enjoyed how Wilson referred to writing as "a very personal activity in numerous respects, which means not only that there are many behaviors that are not universal but also that there is variation within the universals" (101).
Additional Resource:
http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/language_arts/writing/
This is a great site with lessons, writing ideas, language organizers, etc. There are over 50 "mini lessons" to peruse and possibly use in the classroom.