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Writing Workshop

Session 1: Building a Mental Model

The Writing Workshop, similar to the Reading Workshop, is a method of teaching writing using a workshop model.  The workshop structures are planned utilizing CCSS, student data and habits of mind.  The mini-lesson provides direct instruction in the common core grade level standards.    The workshop structures allow the teacher to differentiate instruction based on data in order to meet the needs of all their scholars. Students are given opportunities to write in a variety of genres with intentional balance between fiction and non-fiction genres.  Writing Workshop fosters a love of writing and gives students a chance to practice writing and thinking strategies at increasingly sophisticated levels first with teacher guidance, but with the goal of independence at the forefront.

Purpose:  Why the Writing Workshop Structure?

Time:                      Component:

 

10 - 15 minutes     Mini-lesson

 

30 - 60 minutes    Independent Writing

                                 & Conferring

                                 Guided Writing

 

5-10 minutes         Sharing

Mentor Texts

In the Writing Workshop, units of study are often grounded in genre studies.  Examples are personal narratives, informational, opinion, writing, procedural writing (how-to), and so forth.  Scholars are expected to produce writing in these genres; therefore they need to be immersed with books based on those genres.  These texts are known as mentor texts.  The use of a mentor text is a way to use authors as mentors for, genre, writing styles and many literary elements.  Teachers may also use their own writing as another form of a mentor text.

Mini-Lesson

The mini-lessons of the Writing Workshop teach concepts, strategies, and techniques for writing while encouraging students to write in different genres or styles.  The 10-15 minute mini-lessons gives teachers the opportunity to provide direct instruction, grounded in the CCSS.  The teacher will and model the lessons focus using a mentor text or the teacher's own writing. 

Sample mini-lessons can include:

  • Launching the Writing Workshop (see Calkins units of study)

    • Rituals and routines

    • Habits of mind

    • first six weeks of school or if refinement is needed later in the year

  • Writing strategies and skills from grade level Common Core Standards.

  • Literary elements/Genre Studies

  • Literary techniques

    • Voice,

    • Descriptive words

    • Strong Leads

    • Organization

    • Etc.

Independent Writing/Conferring

Independent Writing is the heart of the Writing Workshop.  This is the time when students practice and apply strategies modeled in the mini-lesson.   Students can write alone, in pairs, or in small writing groups.  Depending on the age and abilities of your students, independent writing can be as short as 15 minutes or as long as 60 minutes.  It is critical to build stamina with your class over time, beginning with a short amount of time and building that time until they can work for up 30 minutes or more.  The teacher is actively engaged with writers throughout the independent writing block both responding to and gathering data on scholar progress.

 

Teachers may be doing any of the following:

  • Conferring with scholars

  • Teaching guided writing lessons

  • Teaching a small-group lesson on a specific strategy or skill

  • Tracking scholar progress using anecdotal notes

 

Scholars may be doing any of the following:

  • Independent process writing

    • Pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing their pieces.

  • Writing in a writer’s notebook

  • Writing exercises to experiment with language and style

  • Reading to support writing

  • Conferencing with the teacher

  • Guided Writing group

    • Peer-conferencing

 

Data is gathered and followed up on in order to provide the writer with specific actionable feedback in a repeatedly do process.  The ongoing feedback cycle is critical to the success of the writing workshop as it guides next steps for individuals, small groups and the community of writers as a whole. 

  • Reflect

  • Set Goal

  • Planning

  • Acting

  • Reflecting

Guided Writing

Guided Writing is a form of small group instruction, the teacher works with a small group of students that are on the same writing level as determined by the writing progressions from the teacher’s college units of study and the common core standards.   Similar to guided reading, the teacher works with a group based on their instructional level needs.  It takes place during independent writing time.   The groups are defined by the student data that is gathered during the writing workshop time or from scholar work samples.    The teacher and student may share the pen creating a shared writing piece or the teacher may repeat a previous mini-lesson using a mentor text, teacher created writing or a piece of student writing.   Guided writing maximizes instructional time by not repeating the same conference with a number of students.

Sharing

The writing community regroups to discuss what they learned or did in their groups, such as which strategies they employed in their writing, or projects they worked on.  Share time is VERY IMPORTANT and should not be skipped.  During the share portion, students contribute what they did during their independent writing time, either with the whole group or with a peer.  This gives students the opportunity to observe and learn from each other.   It also allows scholars to see the purpose of writing is to convey an idea through print.

 

Some of the benefits include:

  • Teacher can assess what students have and have not learned

  • Scholars learn to think, and talk about their own learning (metacognition)

  • Scholars learn to listen to others learning process benefitting from peer models

  • Scholars stay engaged knowing that they will have to discuss their work during share time]

 

Some possible strategies for sharing include:

  • Shoulder to Shoulder: Partners sit shoulder to shoulder to discuss a teacher's question or share what they learned/did in Reading Workshop.

  • Public/ individual Share: Teacher asks one student to share something they practiced that the teacher noticed during Reading Workshop, this can serve as a model for the rest of reading community.

  • Small Group Conversation: Scholars sit in groups to have discussion on a topic or a strategy

  • Authors Chair-Scholars share a published piece of writing with the community receiving feedback from the writing community in the form of compliments, comments and questions (CCQ’s)

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