Albert Park Primary

School

Writer’s Workshop presentation and open morning

Tracy Skiba

The aim of this presentation is..

To understand and explore the many elements of Writer’s Workshop within the

context of Albert Park Primary School.

To consider how this can impact on writing at home.

To understand the nature of how the teaching (pedagogy) of writing has

changed in recent years.

Albert Park Primary School

Writer’s Workshop

Writer's Workshop is a program that encourages students to write about their own passions and interests. In order to do this effectively students must see themselves as writers. The goal of every writer is to either persuade, entertain or inform their readers.

With students choosing their own topics they become the expert in their field, their writing has purpose and learning the mechanics of the English language and the writing process becomes authentic.

This approach to writing also forms a strong connection between students’ appreciation of literature and the role of the author.

Writing at Albert Park

Many opportunities to write using a variety of contexts or purposes.

Explicit modelling and instruction of the different elements of writing.

Importance of oral language in developing writing.

Many occasions to work with the teacher, individually or in a small group, on different aspects of writing.

The chance to choose their own topics based on their experiences and interests or using writing “seeds”.

A supportive climate for writing (reducing the fear of making mistakes and experimenting with unfamiliar writing styles).

Developing as authors

See explicit modelling of, and learn to use, an ongoing revision process i.e.to write, read, reread & rewrite as they compose.

To engage with a range of different text forms, based on models which they have analysed (which also connects with Daily Five reading sessions).

To share, reflect on and discuss their work in supportive situations.

To write for a range of audiences.

To understand who they are writing for and why.

The structure of the Writer’s Workshop

Direct, explicit mini-lesson based on the 6+1 Traits of Writing (Ruth Culham).

Whole class writing time:

During this time the teacher guides the young authors through writing conferences, meets with small groups to teach specific writing techniques and/or works one-on-one with student authors. Students may also work with a partner during this time to revise their writing or work on a shared piece.

Sharing of student work and feedback.

Reflection on new understandings presented during mini lesson.

Mini Lesson and Explicit Instruction Mini-lessons should be about 10–15 minutes in length and follow the same structure each time. Make connections to a previous lesson, teach a new writing technique, and have the students practise the technique with teacher guidance.

Mini-lesson topics might include:

using dialog to show an action

elaborating on physical descriptions

writing for a targeted audience

using planning templates to compose a specific genre piece

choosing a seed idea

creating imagery through words

narrowing a story, making it more focused starting a story with an action

Mini lessons are determined by the specific needs of the students and incorporate Ruth Culham’s Six +1 Traits of Writing.

The Writing Process: aiming for quality Establishing a consistent writing process that the students work through is one of the main principles of the Writer’s Workshop.

Each student will move through the process at their own rate, however it is not always cyclic, meaning that students may begin a draft and realize through revising and feedback that it is not a quality piece of writing. The writing process would then begin again.

• Generating ideas, collecting writer’s notebook entries or “seeds”

• Choosing a seed idea and determining the purpose and audience for the piece

• Planning the draft

• Revising to change the content and quality

• Editing with peers and with the teacher to improve the piece

• Publishing the piece to share it with the world (1–3 days)

• Sharing and celebrating

What is a writing “seed”?

Writing seeds are the ideas or triggers that help inspire new writing. They can be teacher directed or collected by the student in their Writer’s Notebook.

Some examples are:

Writing memories related to a favourite object Writing about a special person

Listing favourite foods, movies, books Writing a quote

Collecting strong story leads Making a map of your bedroom, house, neighbourhood

Listing places you love Writing about a special time in your life

Sketching an observation in your yard or neighbourhood Responding to a poem or story and say how it speaks to you

Making a web of holidays and special moments Gluing in a photo and writing about it

Gluing in a magazine or newspaper headline or article and telling why you chose it Gluing in a letter from a special person

Collecting words or phrases or snippets of dialogue Sketching or writing about something that is going on in your life right now

Sketching the people you love Sketching or collecting pictures of things that would make the world a happy place

Conferring Conferring takes place during the time when students are actively writing.

The teacher circulates around the room, meeting with individual students or student groups to discuss their writing progress.

The conferences are often short, typically lasting anywhere from two to seven minutes (Ray, 2001, p. 158). Calkins (1994) has described a three-step process for facilitating these conferences: “research, decide, teach”.

The teacher begins the conference by asking probing questions to ascertain the student’s current focus in his/her writing. Once the teacher has identified an area of need, the teaching can begin. The teaching often includes critical feedback for the student, a short time in which the student and teacher practice the new skill or strategy, and a link to how the new skill or strategy will improve the child’s future work as a writer (Anderson, 2000).

Another component of the conference is record keeping. The teacher, and sometimes also the student, can make anecdotal notes about the content of the conference. This will allow the teacher to refer back to previous notes and monitor the students as they grow as writers.

Conferring: “the heart of our teaching”

(Calkins 1994)

Conferring is about identifying the explicit writing needs of individual students.

It is about guiding students to use new strategies and develop the quality of

their writing.

It is not about the teacher correcting every mistake made by the student. The

student, with assistance or guidance from the teacher or peer should correct

their own errors and aim towards doing this with independence.

Grammar, Spelling and Handwriting

Explicit instruction is given to each of these key areas during Writer’s

workshop, Daily Five Reading sessions and Letters and Sounds.

High expectations in published work and in other areas of the curriculum

Handwriting needs appropriate grip and attention to the starting points and

size of each letter.

Support your child by focusing on lower case letter initially not capitals.

Golden rules for writing!

• Do offer plenty of praise for writing effort.

• Encourage different forms of writing.

• Try not to focus on spelling and handwriting alone.

• Ask me or our teachers for helpful hints and tips.

• Remember oral language is the key to writing. Encourage make-believe role

playing, discussions, word games or make up stories together.