Making Writing Workshop Work for You

1. Making Writing Workshop Work for You Erin Lee Spartanburg Writing Project Summer Institute 2010

2. Think…Pair…Share • What is writing workshop? • What is happening in the classroom during writing workshop? • What does writing workshop look like in your classroom? • What are some things that you feel like you need to change about your writing workshop?

3. What is Writing Workshop? • “Writing Workshop is an instructional model that views writing as an ongoing process in which students follow a given set of procedures for planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing their writing. It allows students to be at various stages of the writing process at one time. Collaboration with peers and teacher is inherent in this model. Process writing focuses primarily on what children want to communicate. Student choice is important.” (Calkins)

4. What Does Writing Workshop Look Like? • The Writing Workshop is a hour long block of time that focuses on the teaching of writing. It is broken up into a 5-10 minute mini-lesson on a timely writing technique, 35-45 minutes for the workshop’s main business of writing and conferring, and 10-20 minutes for the concluding group-share session.

5. What does a Writing Workshop classroom look like? • Small groups of students are busy throughout the room. In a corner, two students are conferencing about one of their stories. Another student is at the publishing center designing the cover for their personal narrative about the day they broke their arm. The teacher is conferencing with a student about their mystery story. One student is intensively working on their book of animal poetry. An author’s chair is positioned at the front of the room. Posters explaining the steps of the writing process are posted on the walls. Student writing is very visible. Children have easy access to the tools they need such as pencils, paper, thesauruses, and dictionaries. There is energy in the room as children purposefully converse with each other about their writing.

6. What is a Minilesson? • Lucy Calkins (1986) came up with the idea of mini-lessons as—”a brief instructional session that addresses some element of writing is targeted in the current scope and sequence or has appeared as a problem in student work. It might be the use of vivid verbs or how to punctuate dialogue. It also can be a time to talk about issues of process or technique. An example would be the difference between revision and recopying. At the beginning of the year, mini-lessons may deal with procedural issues—how to use the daily writing folder, what to do in conference corners, etc. Mini-lessons generally last between five and ten minutes, just long enough to touch on a timely topic.” Source: Atwell, In The Middle, p. 77

7. Minilessons that Power Your Curriculum • Looks closest to what we associate with traditional teaching • Short, focused and direct • Topic varies according to the needs of the class • Not meant to direct the course of action for the rest of the workshop • A time to introduce an important skill but not expecting students to spend the rest of the time in writing workshop practicing it • When minilesson ends, students return to their ongoing writing projects with the focus on the goals and intentions they’ve set for themselves

8. Types of Minilessons • Procedural • Important information about how the workshop runs-how to get or use materials, where to confer with a friend, etc. • Writer’s Process • Strategies that help the writer choose, explore, or organize a topic, cut-and-paste techniques for revising, etc. • Qualities of Good Writing • Information to deepen students’ understanding of literacy techniques: strong language, leads and endings, point of view, etc. • Editing Skills • Information to develop students’ understanding of spelling, punctuation, and grammatical skills

9. Components of a Minilesson • Connection- We put today’s work into the context of students’ ongoing work and explicitly name what we will teach today. Whatever we teach will be something children will use often as they write • Teaching- We teach a new tool or concept that we hope the will use often as they write • Active Engagement- We set children up to briefly use the strategy of concept we’ve tried to teach them • Link- We restate our teaching point and either try to ensure that every child applies this new learning to their ongoing work today, or encourage them to add today’s teaching point to their repertoire of possible strategies or goals.

10. Tips for Minilessons • Make connections short and beyond the obvious • Don’t over-rely on charts • Limit examples • Help children’s contributions matter • Use concrete visuals • Limit children’s contributions • Use familiar texts • Make your directions clear and consistent • Demonstrate often • Offer contrasts

11. What is Independent Writing? • “Teachers who have writing workshops share a fundamental belief in their need for writers to spend timewriting in order to grow, and so independent writing time is where this happens. It’s the time when writers write. It is also the least directed components of the workshop because, unlike all other components, it’s the time when students are on their own and not doing anything with anyone else.” (Ray, pg. 59)

12. Elements of Independent Writing • Students determine the topics and form for their writing • Students keep a notebook or folder to organize their “in progress” writing • Class members are at different points in their writing. Some may be prewriting while others are at an editing stage • The teacher’s role is that of a facilitator: monitoring, encouraging, conferencing, and providing help as needed • Students seek response to their writing from response partners or response groups for the purpose of improving their writing • Instruction is provided to various-sized groups based upon student needs. • Publishing a writing project • Writing exercises • The teacher meets with individual students to conference about their writing throughout the process

13. The Writing Cycle

14. Status of the Class Chart • Teachers can use a “status of the class” chart to keep track of student progress and to determine when teacher conferencing is needed Prewriting Drafting Revising Editing Publishing

15. Conferring with Writers • “The writing conference lies at the heart of the writing workshop. The writing conference lets you engage in the teaching dynamic that most of us wanted when we entered this profession-a unique one-on-one interaction between you and a student.” (Fletcher, pg. 48) • Conferences almost all follow this structure, however there are categories of conferences with each having its own character: • Content conferences • Expectation conferences • Process and goals conferences

16. Conference Fundamentals • Keep conferences short • Go beyond what’s on the page • Get the student involved • Teach one thing • Build on strengths • Follow the student’s energy • Listen • Understand the writer • Be present as a reader • Tell the “story of your reading” • Don’t get into a power struggle

17. Components of a Conference • Research –what is the child is intending to do and has done • Decided- what to teach and how to teach it • Teach- using various methods to teach the child and usually ends in guided practice • Link- what is it that the writer will carry forward into tomorrow’s work

18. Sharing • “The share when we talk about our writing usually lasts from five to ten minutes a day. It may come at any point during the workshop, but it often happens at the end because it is a good way to process the work of the day and make a transition into something else.” (Ray, pg. 174) • Kinds of Shares • Simple response share • Survey share • Focused share • Student-as-teacher share

19. Benefits of Writing Workshop • There is no time wasted with students waiting for others to finish. Each student continues on to the next topic and form • Students develop independence and motivation to be writers • Students learn to write by writing. The stages of writing (prewriting, drafting, response, revision, editing, and publishing) occur naturally as students work toward completion of their projects • The more children write—and write about what really matters to them— the greater their chance of growing into able thinkers • “It is terribly important for kids to read and write for the reasons that people the world over read and write, which is to communicate, to be delighted, to laugh.” - Lucy Caulkins

20. Troubleshooting Tips • Writing workshop is too noisy • Not happy with what the kids are writing about • Kids use inappropriate language • Kids finish pieces too quickly • Kids don’t finish what they start • Student’s writing is flat and dull • You don’t know what to teach in a minilesson • Overwhelmed by student conferences • Workshop energy runs low • Too many (or none) want to share • Kids don’t want to revise

21. What decisions must a teacher make when using the Writing Workshop model? • How pure of a workshop approach should be used? • How will response groups be established? Use of partners, groups, and full-class responses are possibilities. • How will the writing be stored? In folders? In notebooks? • What role will the computer play in the workshop approach? • How will the language textbook support the workshop approach? • How will direct instruction be given? Will the teacher use the “mini- lesson” format or the more extensive direct-instruction lessons to facilitate the writing? • What guidelines will the class need for movement, access to the teacher, and behavior during the response sessions?

22. Final Thoughts Two +s and a Wish