Shared Writing in a Dual Language Classroom

In Room 20, which is part of a dual language curriculum, at first glance I thought they used shared writing talked about in Routman. But in further observation I think it is closer to the technique of shared demonstration. The teacher is still bringing the ideas and content to write about and the content is not from the students. But at times the teacher will use their ideas from the story they read together in a read aloud form but again the teacher picked the book not the students. And fore example when it come time to write the summary of the book they read they do it independently using the main ideas they came up with as a group to help them if they want. They do not write the summary out together. These activities seem to be somewhere in between shared demonstration and shared writing.

I wonder if literacy was done in a shared writing form especially during the afternoon and mornning when it is taught in something other than the students native language, if it would help students more than the shared demonstration. Which is better shared demonstration or shared writing? It seems to me that both are good and that shared writing could be done as part of the shared demonstration in Routman’s Optimal Learning Model. In this way the shared demonstration because more meaningful to students because the students bring the ideas and content instead of the teacher. This in my opinion would make the shared demonstration less artificial and more applicable for students.