Writer's Workshops

"There is a great deal of data suggesting that improvements in writing will have a payoff across the curriculum." -Lucy Calkins

What are writer's workshops?

Writer's Workshop is an interdisciplinary writing technique and FRAMEWORK which can build students' fluency in writing through continuous, repeated exposure to the writing process.

Components:

• Read Aloud (5 min)
• Mini-lessons (10-15 min)
• Independent Writing (20-30 min)
• Conferring (occurs during writing)
• Sharing (5-10 min)

Read Aloud of Touchstone/Mentor Texts

Texts used to teach genre are known as touchstone texts or mentor texts. Use authors as mentors for writing styles and genres.

Teach using genre studies

• Personal narratives
• Information writing
• Procedural writing (how-to), and so forth

Mini-Lessons

Direct instruction and modeling - teach concepts, strategies, and techniques for writing while encouraging students to write in different genres or styles.

The teacher will...

• Activate students’ prior knowledge
• Directly instruct a skill
• Model the skill
• Engage the students in discussing or practicing the skill
• Connect the skill to other learned writing skills

What makes a good mini-lesson?

• Brevity - 10-15 min
• Focus - single topic
• Authenticity - practical and immediately useful

Independent Writing

Independent writing is...

• Daily
• Student-choice
• Organized (writer's notebook/folder)
• Students at different stages of writing

students are...

• Prewriting
• Drafting
• Revising
• Editing
• Publishing

Teacher is... the facilitator

• Circulating
• Monitoring
• Encouraging
• Conferencing
• Providing help as needed

Conferences

conferring

• Supports the writer with authentic responses that help shape and develop the composition.
• Small group or peer-to-peer work
• Teacher conferences
• Ask questions - how they are doing, what they are working on, what they’re planning to do next, etc.
• Keep it short (2-3 min)

Sharing

sharing is...

• Opportunity to share student work
• Writers learn from others
• Practice speaking orally
• Whole class, small group, or one-on-one
• Voluntary

Why choose writer's workshops?

Writer's Workshops help to...

• Develop reading and writing skills
• Cultivate creativity and curiosity
• Develop critical and creative thinking skills
• Improve cultural literacy
• Provide activities that stimulate the senses

"Writers do not write with words and convention alone; writers write above all with meaning." -Lucy Calkins

additional sources

• Welcome to Writer’s Workshop by Steve Peha http://www.ttms.org/PDFs/05%20 Writers%20Workshop%20v001%20%28Full%29.pdf
• Mini-lesson planning sheet: http://www.busy teacherscafe.com/worksheets/writing_workshop/minilesson%20planning%20sheet....
• Making Students into Better Writers: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/improving-student-writing

references

• Frostburg State University. (2014). Elementary and middle school creative writing workshops. Retrieved from http://www.frostburg.edu/cwcenter/workshops/k-12-writing-workshop/
• Gomez-Schanne, E. (n.d.) Writing workshop. Retrieved from http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/literacy/writing_workshop.html

references (cont.)

• Moore, D. (2007). Writer’s workshop an introduction [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/flowergurl/writers-workshop-an-introduction
• Peha, S. (2003). Welcome to writer’s workshop. Retrieved from http://www.ttms.org/PDFs/05%20Writers%20Workshop%20v001%20(Full).pdf

references (cont.)

• TeachersFirst. (2015). Writer’s workshop: Making writing a lifelong habit for elementary students. Retrieved from http://www.teachersfirst.com/lessons/writers/index.cfm
• Zaner-Bloser. (n.d.) Writer’s workshop [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.zaner-bloser.com/news/writers-workshop