Writing Workshop(Day 6)

Recapping Summer Learning and Getting Ready to Start the Year!

What do student writers need?

3 Things Student Writers Need

• Ownership of form and subject

• Feedback from other writers

• Time to draft and revise

What does this look like in the ELAR classroom?

Writing Workshop!

The Essential Characteristics of the Writing Workshop

• Choices about Content• Time for Writing• Teaching• Talking• Periods of Focused Study• Publication Rituals• High Expectations and Safety• Structured Management

How do these characteristics come together?

Day by day!

The Essential Components of the Writing Workshop Class Period

• Mini-lesson/focus lesson (5-10 minutes)

• Writing time/conferences (30-35 minutes)

• Sharing time (10-20 minutes)

Mini-Lesson/Focus Lesson

• The whole group of students is engaged in a directed lesson, usually by the teacher, but a lesson my also be taught by a student or a guest.

Mini-Lessons

The topic of the mini-lesson varies according to the needs of the class, but it typically falls into one of the following categories:• Procedural• Writer’s process/strategies• Qualities of good writing/

literary craft• Editing skills/written conventions

Mini-Lessons: Across the Process

• Generating Notebook Entries• Choosing an Idea• Developing an Idea• Drafting• Revising and Crafting• Editing• Publishing

Mini-Lessons: Show and Tell Your Objective!

Some ways to “show and tell” the objective of your mini-lesson:• A quote of advice from a professional writer• An example from a published text• A piece of student writing• A piece of the teacher’s writing• A story or a metaphor• A report on a conference• Some public writing the teacher does

Writing Time/Conferences

• Students work as writers (which may include both time to write and writing inquiry) while the teacher confers with individuals or small groups.

Sharing Time

• Students share strategies, problems, and insights from their day’s work as writers. Sharing may be done as a whole group, in smaller groups, or in pairs.

Starting the Year Off Well

What can you do to ensure that writing happens every day in your classroom?

Consider space, time, and community

Space: Design with writing in mind!

• Place for keeping writers’ notebooks

• Space and time for peer conferencing (furniture arranged to facilitate collaboration)

• “Author’s chair” for sharing

Time: Keep writing at the center!

Create a Community of Writers

• Establish a warm, welcoming, safe, classroom environment from day 1

• Introduce the idea of the workshop with an emphasis on student ownership

• Engage students in collaboratively developing class norms during week 1

• Model sharing your own writing with students

Week 1

• Writers’ Notebooks• Norms• Procedures/Routines• Reading and writing every day!• Establish the weekly structure

“A writer’s notebook gives you a place to live like a writer . . .”

-Ralph Fletcher

The Purpose of the Writer’s Notebook

Why “Notebooks”?The principle, the purpose—not the name—is what’s

important . . .• A place for students (and writers) to save their

words—in the form of a memory, a reflection, a list, a rambling of thoughts, a sketch, or even a scrap of paper taped on the page.

• A place for students to practice writing• A place to generate text, find ideas, and practice

what they know about spelling and grammar

Writing, writing, writing . . .• The most important aspect of a notebook is

that it allows students the practice of simply writing . . . in what ever form.

• Writing, rereading, reflecting, and writing some more promotes fluency.

• Keeping a notebook is a process. (It) leads you from one thought to another until you experience the writer’s joy of discovering something you didn’t know you knew.

Resources