Sharing and Responding: Using the Techniques in My Classroom

After reading Elbow and Belanoff’s Sharing and Responding, I was made increasingly more aware of ways to share writing in a classroom setting. I have little experience with sharing my writing out loud. While I have had peers write comments on my papers, I have seldom read pieces of my writing out loud. This reading taught me several techniques to use in my future classroom, and as an elementary and middle school teacher, I can see myself using these to promote students’ growth as both readers, writers, and responders.

In Elementary School, I remember loving to read my journal entries out. Oftentimes, my peers would respond with questions or comments about things that I had shared, which often lead to further discussions. This reminded me of the concept “What are your thoughts?” because it encouraged discussion. I think that this form of response is especially helpful for Elementary School students because it helps to promote listening skills and invites students to respond to their peers with thoughtful questions or personal connections. In my future as an educator, I also envision myself using the “Movies of the Reader’s Mind” technique, as it helps to promote creativity in students and pushes students to be very descriptive with their writing. This is a skill that Elementary School students work on often, and could be strengthened through the use of this strategy.

In terms of using these techniques in a Middle School setting, I can foresee myself using almost all of them. The “Sharing: No Response” technique would be helpful for warm-up prompts and introductory writing activities that invited students to write for a few minutes and then share. This technique, as cited by Elbow and Belanoff, would hopefully help students to develop confidence in their own writing without necessarily needing the praise of others. The “Summary and Sayback” technique would guide students in strengthening arguments and thesis statements, and it helps them to find valuable information to back up their major points. I think that it is helpful

to have others share what they understood from their piece because it gives an outsider’s perspective on a topic that the writer has been focused on for so long. Similarly, the “Skeleton Feedback and Descriptive Outline” would help writers to understand where they may need to strengthen their argument, or where they may have too much information. All of these techniques are helpful for writers to gain feedback and insight from readers of all levels and invites multiple perspectives into the piece.

While all of these techniques are very helpful and engaging, I think that the most important thing to remember is that the writer doesn’t have to follow the advice of the readers. Ultimately, the writer has the final say, and it is up to them to make the improvements, changes or suggestions from the readers. I think that it is important to remind students that just because a reader feels a certain way doesn’t mean that they have to change their writing, but that they should still consider feedback openly and honestly in order to make the most of the sharing process.