One of the key components of the workshop approach that I value and try to foster in my classroom is sharing. One thing that I have always read, heard, as well as experienced, is that giving students time to share is vital to their motivation to write. When students know that they are going to be sharing their work with their peers or a teacher, they will be more invested in the process they go through to produce their piece. They also build confidence in their writing ability because they can receive positive feedback and constructive criticism from classmates, without feeling penalized for having errors (this is because correcting errors is not the focus during this time).
Although this is not a new idea for me, creating that sense of community with writing is something that will definitely enhance the learning of my students. In Gail E. Tompkins' Teaching Writing: Balanced Process and Product, she talks about how both teacher and student alike should work to create a secure classroom community or "A community of Writers" (24). I feel that this might be the most important step or part of the workshop approach because students need to be comfortable and trusting enough to share, expose, and express their thoughts, ideas and opinions with their teacher and peers. The second component to this is getting students to see themselves as writers as well. If they can rid themselves of the idea that authors are only adults, and realizing that adult authors go through the same processes too, they will begin to internalize that role as an author.
