Article 1

I. Title: Writing from the Heart
II. Author: Keaton Shenk
III. Author’s Purpose: The author wanted to share his ideas on incorporating a reading
and writing workshop method of teaching in his middle school classroom
IV. What are the points made in the review of the literature? Do they support
the need for the study? The author presented the following points about the workshop
model he incorporated:
A. 25 minutes for reading
B. 20 minutes for writing
C. Self-selection of both reading material and writing topics
D. Teacher needs to write with his/her students
E. Teacher needs to share his/her writing along with students
F. Keep a fairly low key atmosphere in the classroom
I found this to be in keeping with Nancie Awell’s model of the reading/writing workshop.
V. Author’s Inquiry Question: How do I get my students to write pieces that matter and
write from the heart? When did my students and I ache with caring over what we are
writing about?
VI. Author’s Methodology: The author implemented the workshop and observed
students’ reactions and quality of their work.
A. Who is being studied? Students in a sixth grade language arts class.
B. Over what length of time? Not stated, but I’m assuming over at least one school year.
C. What data is being collected? Student writing and the changes they experience
through participation in the reading/writing workshop.
D. How is it being analyzed? The teacher looked at the quality of student work, ideas
expressed in the writing, willingness of students to share writing, quality of editing
and had the students write a reflection of the model.
E. Any other interesting or pertinent data? I really didn’t look at the date the article
was written until was reading when I discovered it was written in 1996. This author,
Keaton Shenk, was giving the reading/writing workshop a first go.
VII. How the author collected information: He implemented a reading/writing
workshop in his class and gave the students a bit of free reign in their topics by allowing
them to write about things that were important to them. He then looked for changes
and development in their writing.
VIII. What the Author Discovered or Conclusions/Implications: The author used
strategies he learned at a workshop to develop his students’ writing and discovered that
this was a great way to bring out the best in his students.