Possible Challenges and Benefits of Circles

I do believe that not only does all writing benefit from collaboration, but all writers do as well. As long as the feedback is well-intentioned, writers will grow and feel nurtured instead of attacked. As a middle school teacher, this thought unfortunately leads to a possible negative side: students are not always nice to one another, much less nurturing. As was mentioned by several of you in the responses to the previous prompt, the "set up" for this needs to be extensive and expectations and obligations for writing circles need to be taught directly, modeled and reinforced.

Another benefit of writing circles is the actual “good” advice and suggestions for writing. Ideas to improve upon a piece or take it in a different direction, suggestions to clarify the reader’s confusion or rework organization have all helped each one of us improve our writing at one time or another. But, as in life, not all advice is sound advice. This is another challenge I can see with writing circles. Especially in a mixed ability grouping, writers may receive some irrelevant or “bad” advice. The trick will be to teach our students how to consider and reflect upon all feedback, decide what is relevant or possible for them to apply, and then pick and choose the direction they want to take. It may be that the feedback they received is not a change they want to pursue, but the interaction will provide them with a direction for future writing or a perspective they had not considered.

Before I get into the many benefits of writing circles, another negative would be the extremely reluctant writer/worker/learner. By 7^th and 8^th grade, my students have a lot of experiences with writing and reading, some good and others horrible. Some students have learned a sense of helplessness that pervades their demeanor and makes them—well, reluctant is an optimistic word for some. I can envision a challenge in writing circles will be including these writers and encouraging their effort and participation. However, I’m looking at writing circles as an opportunity to engage these challenging students, hoping positive writing attitudes spread and stick like peanut butter.

So, the benefits of positive feedback on a blossoming writer, contagious positive writing attitudes, and strong advice for improvement are added to my list that already includes: learning how to keep a conversation focused on an educational topic—in this case writing, increasing writing stamina, student choice, and set responsibilities and accountability for all participants in a circle. Since these are all areas of focus for the writing environment in my classroom, I am seriously looking forward to creating writing circles with my students!