Writers’ Workshop

A guide to getting started…in the real world.

Step 1 - Storying Storying is one way to help students become better

writers. Often students are hesitant to write because they think they have nothing to say. When classrooms spend time storying, students discover they have many stories just waiting to be told.

Spend the first 2-3 weeks of school storying, before writing in notebooks. (You might feel tempted to have your students start writing sooner, but wait.) You will most likely find that storying will help build community in your classroom. You will know your students better, and they will know you better. It is a chance to see each other as real people.

The teacher gets things started: Gather students together in the meeting area

and tell a story of your own (demonstration/modeling). You will set the topic for that day's storying. (For example, you might tell the class that today you are going to tell a story about a time that you were afraid.) There are a variety of ways to get started each day.

Tell a story from a memory. (A time I was sad, afraid, excited, embarrassed, etc.)

Read from your own writer's notebook

Use a read aloud to start a conversation (For Example: You might read a book about sledding or playing in the snow, and then tell about a similar experience you remember.)

Students bring in an object with special or sentimental meaning (not a toy or something of monetary value – this is not show and tell)

Tell about a wish or a dream

Describe someone special or something interesting.

Do a "quick draw" and then tell the story inside the picture

Tell about something you love (friends, rainy days, fuzzy blankets)

Tell about something you hate (people fighting, the sound of fingernails on the chalkboard, etc.)

Students bring in photographs from home and tell about the event or people

Then the students take over:

After you have told your story, give everyone else in the class the chance to tell a related story. (For example, children might tell a story about a time they were afraid.) You will, of course, want to talk to them about the importance of good manners: listening to others, taking turns, responding correctly, etc. There are a variety of ways to have children share their stories:

Talking Into the CircleYou can ask children to just take turns telling their stories. In this case, children don't raise their hands and wait to be called on. They simply begin talking. If more than one person begins talking at the same time, then one waits, allowing the other person to talk first, knowing he will go next.

A/B Partner TalkEach student has a partner. One is partner A and the other Partner B. Each partner gets 2 minutes to tell his story. Partner A tells a story on a given topic. Partner B listens and then asks questions he has after the story. Then Partner B tells his story and partner A listens and asks questions. Then, the students turn to a new partner. They repeat the same process. This time, students might remember to add the detail their partner asked them about. Each student should share with 3 partners. This process helps children develop their stories orally and teaches them how to revise by adding detail to their stories and taking out unnecessary information.

Focus on the TALK

Do not send students back to their desks to write these stories. The intentional focus on oral language will help your students build confidence and a repertoire of ideas. You and your students may want to develop an idea list on a chart in your room. The ideas should be more general so that they could apply to many students. The following is an example of a class idea list. Remember, however, that the power is in the students creating the list.

Step 2 - BUILD ANTICIPATION! Storying usually lasts about 20-30 minutes,

which will be your whole Writing Workshop block for the first couple of weeks. Students will begin to get excited about writing as they realize they have something to write about. The following are a few more suggestions of ways to build anticipation toward writing:

Set a date to begin writing. Mark it on the calendar and begin talking about it with excitement.

Begin a writer's notebook of your own and show it to the class. Talk about the things you are already thinking about putting in your notebook.

Have students personalize their notebooks. Decorate the covers of the notebooks. You can use pictures, drawings, wrapping paper, anything! You can cover them with clear contact paper to keep them looking nice.

Have Students share their notebooks with each other.

Share Notebook-Like Literature Amelia series by Marissa Moss, including:

Amelia's Notebook Amelia Writes Again Amelia Hits the Road Luv, Amelia, Luv, Nadia Amelia Takes Command Dr. Amelia's Boredom Survival Guide Emma's Journal, Marissa Moss Rachel's Journal, Marissa Moss Dilly's Summer Camp Diary, Cynthia C. Lewis Amazon Diary, The Jungle Adventures of Alex Winters, Hudson Talbott & Mark Greenberg Hey World, Here I Am! Jean Little

One last note on storying: While generally, storying is a way to begin the year,

you may want to consider using it throughout the year. For example, storying can be helpful in getting students motivated again after a long break, such as winter break, or after you complete a genre study. During these times, you will probably only want to spend about a week storying. During that week, you could use your mini-lesson time to story with your students, and then use the remainder of the time to write and share.

A Writer's Notebook, Unlocking the Writer Within You, Ralph Fletcher

Schedule for Writers’ Workshop:1. Mini-Lesson (5-10 min.)

2. Status of the Class (2 min.)

3. Writing & Conferencing (20-40 min.)

4. Sharing (5-10 min.) 4

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Status of the Class:

I have a poster with library pockets for each student. In each pocket I have 3 cards, red=Work in progress, Yellow=Illustrating, Green= Publishing. Each student may have any of these 3 colors in their pocket depending what they are working on.

I look at the pocket chart to see who is publishing (An edited, word processed piece ready to be illustrated.) I excuse those students to get their writing folder and sit down at their desks. I then excuse the illustrators (Those who have been hired by someone who is publishing to help and/or do it for them. Illustrators receive full credit on the published work.)

Mini Lessons

The mini-lesson is our forum for making a suggestion to the whole class...raising a concern, exploring an issue, modeling a technique, reinforcing a strategy. First our students are engaged in their own important work. Then we ask ourselves, "What is the one thing I can suggest or demonstrate that might help most?"

Excerpts from The Art of Teaching Writing, p. 193,4,5

The writing workshop mini-lesson is the whole-class teaching time, which generally lasts 5-10 minutes. The teaching must be explicit and concise. Choose only one focus for the lesson. This could be a content focus or a conventions focus. Be careful, though. We often over-focus on conventions when it is the content that is the heart of the text, the message to be communicated. The conventions are merely an avenue to communicate the message.

There are a variety of ways to teach a strategy or skill during a mini lesson. Most teachers use one of the following:

Teacher DemonstrationOften a teacher will demonstrate writing an entry in front of the children on a chart or overhead. This works well if you can actually put the overhead projector on the floor and gather the children close to you. The teacher uses this demonstrated writing like a think aloud.

Your Own Writer’s NotebookReading from your own writer's notebook is a great way to let your students see you as a writer. You can show them how you have worked through different issues in your own writing, strategies that you have tried, and a variety of genres you have tried.

You might share a writing you have tried and ask the students for feedback on how you might improve the writing. After all, they are readers and will have opinions on what they read.

Student WritingOften students learn best from each other. When one child in the class decides to try something, the others will want to try it, also. You will need to get the child's permission before sharing their writing in a mini lesson. You may want to focus on something new they tried in their notebook, a strategy they learned and applied, or anything they did really well. We only use student writing to show what they did well, not what they did wrong.

Sometimes the mini-lesson will be designed to create a warm glow around the workshop. The easiest way to do this is to read aloud from wonderful literature... a story, a poem... and to do so without turning the reading into a lesson. Instead, we simply read aloud . . . and then immediately, and with no discussion, we write and write and write.

The Art of Teaching Writing, p. 194

Teaching with Picture Books

Writing/Conferencing

"We think of the writing conference in two parts. In part one, the teacher listens carefully to what the student says about his writing and asks questions to clarify and deepen his understanding of the student's work. In part two, the teacher makes a teaching decision based on the conversation with the student, and then explicitly teaches the student one thing that will help him, not only on this writing, but on many writings in the future.

How's It Going? by Carl Anderson

Expert Teaching during Conferencing:

While students are busy in their own writing work, the teacher confers one-on-one or with small groups of students. In kindergarten, the teacher and assistant try to confer with every child every day. In grades 1-5, the teacher confers with 3-5 children per day.

After sending all of the students off to do their job, continue to write. This models for them how to complete the story. (They also tend to bother you less if you are busy. They tend to try themselves first.) After 2-3 minutes, begin to individually conference with the students, working on anything from helping them with ideas to write about or motivation. Help the students revise and edit their stories. Help them determine when they are ready to move forward in the writing process. Do this for about 20-30 minutes, depending on how well the students are working.

Since some students are working on publishing and others on illustrating, that leaves just a few students who need to work on stories. The students get their folders so you can review what they are working on and what they need to finish. Conference with each child to brainstorm on writing ideas, and to help them to organize their thoughts, or to continue a previous story. Students can have 5-6 stories in their first folder pocket before picking one to move toward publishing. Stress just as in real life not everything we write needs to be published. Being able to visit with several students a day allows you to keep each on track and move them forward in the writing process.

How to get that conferencing done:

The conferring time is often referred to as the heart of the workshop. During this time, the teacher has the opportunity to see if the child is applying all that has been taught. It is a time for the teacher to: (1) affirm what the child is doing well and (2) teach/reteach a skill or strategy within his/her own writing.

Be careful to teach the writer, not this piece of writing. In other words, don't go about helping the child fix up the writing to make it perfect... how you think it should be. Avoid the temptation! Instead, teach the child one strategy he/she will be able to use on many other pieces of writing in the future.

Sharing The purpose for the share time is two-fold. First, it gives children

a real audience for which to write. Secondly, it provides children with immediate feedback from the teacher and other students. This will eventually help the child to self-revise because he will begin to predict what others will ask about the writing. For example, the writer might predict that students will ask how he felt when his lost puppy came home. So, he will add this detail before sharing time.

Sharing usually takes about 10 minutes. If you run short of time, do not skip the sharing time. Instead, either save the sharing time for later in the day or use a simplified method for sharing, such as having everyone turn to a partner and read what they have written. You would not want to get in the habit of doing this all the time, however, because students need feedback from the teacher and from the larger group.

Generally, about 3 children share per day. In primary grades, the most common form of sharing is in the Author's Chair. The author's chair is any special chair which students sit in when sharing their writing. The author's chair signifies that the person sitting in it is a "writer" and has something to share with everyone.

After the child reads his writing, the class gives feedback consisting of positive reinforcement (e.g., "What I like most about your writing is...) and wonderings (e.g., "What does your dog look like?). The teacher will need to demonstrate both kinds of feedback for several weeks in younger grades before turning the task over to the children. It is very important to set a tone of encouragement in the classroom early on, where no is allowed to put another child or his work down.

Reading Into the Circle

Older students often use /Reading Into the Circle, recommended by Joanne Hindley in her book In the Company of Children, to share their writing work. Students gather in the meeting area in a large circle. The teacher might ask children to simply read a portion of their writing they would like to share or she might ask students to share something they tried from the mini lesson that day (e.g., a great beginning you tried). Students don't raise their hand to share. They simply start reading. If more than one person begins at the same time, then one simply waits and knows he will go next. Everyone is invited to read, but it's okay if they choose not to that day. It is expected that they will eventually share.

Creative Publishing Ideas:Once students have gathered multiple entries in their writer's notebooks, begin the publishing process with a few students. First, they will need to select an entry they feel they would like to publish. Then, they will need to think of what they might make out of it. The following are a few ideas students might consider:

a guided reading book for other students

 a newspaper for the school or an article for a local newspaper

 a picture book or chapter book,

 a "How-To" or teaching book for the school or class library

 a letter to send to a friend, family member, or an important person

 a biography or autobiography

 a poster to decorate the room for a holiday party

 a song for you or others to sing

 a list of directions or rules for parts of the school

 a flyer or brochure

 a scrapbook for your family (e.g., family vacation, memories from growing up, etc.)

 an alphabet book

 a framed word portrait or poem to hang on the wall

 a skit or play to be performed for or by other classes

 a poem to be read at a poetry reading

 a comic strip for the school office, your doctor's office, etc.

 a "Get Well" card or poem for a sick friend

 a "Keeping" quilt with memories or poems written on it

 a calendar with your best poems or other pieces on each month

 a collection of memories placed in a time capsule

Publishing suppliesStudents will need access to a variety of supplies if they are to take on the task of

publishing. Keep in mind, the child needs to do the work of publishing whenever possible. The following are a few suggestions:

 blank paper in a variety of sizes, lined and unlined  materials for covers (construction paper, wallpaper cardboard, etc.)  markers, colored pencils, pens pencils, crayons, etc.  tape  glue  scissors  stapler  stationary, envelopes, stamps  phone books for mailing letters and cards  catalogues  paper clips  erasers  correction tape  posterboards  word processors  dictionaries, encylopedias, atlases, thesauruses

The Process of PublishingWhen you feel students are ready to publish a piece, teach them the following

steps:

Read your writing out loud to at least 2 other people. You might ask one or more of the following questions:

Does my writing makes sense?

Are there any parts that aren't clear?

Does my writing leave you with any unanswered questions?

Did my words paint a picture in your mind?

Check your own work with a revising/editing checklist. Have a conference with your teacher to see what one new thing she can teach

you about being a writer. Try the strategy that your teacher suggests to you in the conference. Then, turn

the writing in so your teacher can make the final edits. Go to the publishing center and choose the materials (paper, crayons, etc.) that

you want to use in publishing this piece. Be sure to make the corrections that your teacher has written on your practice copy.

How do I get my students to edit? Students need to become responsible for checking their own

writing for errors in conventions or places where the content needs to be revised. The following are suggestions for helping students take this task on:

SpellingThere are many ways for students to check their own spelling. Suggestions

Student Revising/Editing SheetsThe following are samples of revising/editing sheets, which range from least to most difficult. There is no one perfect editing sheet for any one classroom. These editing sheets change, not only from class to class, but from student to student. The Developmental Writing Continuum can be of great assistance when deciding the type of editing checklist that is appropriate for your students. You will want to focus on edits that you have already been taught and placed on an editing wall.

Spelling suggestions1. Read the writing backwards, from the end to the beginning. This will make you less likely to read what you meant to say.

2. Identify words you think may be misspelled and look to other resources for help.

Environmental print (displays in the room, word wall, etc.) Literature A friend The dictionary Charts displayed containing spelling patterns

3. Use a spell check form

4. Try to spell the word a variety of ways and ask yourself which way looks right.

5. Ask yourself, "Is this word similar in meaning to other words I can spell?" Do I know parts of the word. (Ex. courage - courageous)

Editing Checklist 1

Name: _____________________ Date: __________

1. Does it make sense?

2. Did you leave spaces between your words?

3. Did you use capital letters to begin sentences?

4. Did you use ending punctuation marks?

5. Did you check the spelling?

Editing checklist 2

Name: _____________________ Date: __________

1. Did you reread it carefully, checking for places where readers might be confused?

2. Did you check the spelling using a variety of sources?

3. Did you use correct punctuation? (ending, quotation marks, commas)

4. Have you tried to take out extra words that don't add much?

5. Did you reread it carefully, paying close attention to choice of words? (strong verbs, descriptive language, etc.)

Editing checklist 3 Name: _____________________ Date: __________

1. Did you use appropriate punctuation? (ending marks, commas, quotation marks, etc.)

2. Did you use capital letters appropriately?

3. Did you give enough information so the reader won't be left with questions?

4. Did you use several sources to check your spelling?

5. Does your writing flow in an organized, sequential order?

6. Did you indent and use margins when using paragraphs?

7. Did you use details and descriptions?

8. Did you write an effective beginning and ending?

Editing WallWhen building an editing wall, introduce one convention at a time.

(Demonstration) Introduce the convention during a mini lesson and then remind students of the convention for several consecutive days.

(Shared/Guided) Ask students to use the convention when writing in their writer's notebooks. When conferring with individual students, check to see if they are using the convention correctly. If not, show the child how to use the convention on part of his own writing. Then, stay closeby as he tries it on the next part of the writing.

(Independent) Once most of the students in the class are using the convention correctly, place the convention on the editing wall and explain to students that it is now their responsibility to remember to use the convention from now on. Explain that they will be asked to check for this convention before publishing a piece.

Then, select the next most appropriate convention and introduce it in the same manner.

A true story of starting the process of rotating responsibilities: I like to introduce Writer’s workshop by reading THE HUNGRY

GIANT, and THE HUNGRY GIANTS SOUP by Joy Cowley. I read these books during shared reading. (This takes about 2 weeks. They need a lot of experience with the books.) Then I set them up with the idea about extending the story to part 3. I have all of them write their stories. I pick about 1/3 of the class to publish. I type them up and we assign illustrators to help illustrate. The finished product is the word typed on the bottom of a regular ditto page they color right on the ditto paper. I then have 1/3 Publishing, 1/3 Illustrating, and 1/3 with work in progress. That means I will be conferencing with only a few students. This helps me to get comfortable with the entire process. I am not stressed to do everything at once. You will find time to really work individually with students.

Here's the other hint. I make sure students who are illustrators must publish a book before they can help illustrate another book this makes sure those artistic students get to publish also.

Our favorite part is the author chair reading the final bound product. They are so incredibly proud. They are the favorite books in the class.

In the beginning of first grade. (and second) I feel that too much editing a child's story “ruins” that child’s self-esteem. How many times have you seen a child come up to show you their story with a smile on his/her face, only to go back to their seat with a paper full of red marks that they are expected to recopy. Without making even more mistakes, than when they started! Resulting in feeling like they don’t know how to write. I feel that many times over editing does more harm, than good, in the early writing process.

When I edit I don’t over do the editing. I address the major punctuation mistakes, misspelled words found on the word wall, and anything we have learned during our mini lessons. But I leave much of it alone. This helps that kid who is struggling just to get a few sentences out, time to feel like he/she is a writer. Mid-year in second grade I address more editing, during my individual conferences.

I use something called “legs” when doing my conferences. Many times a child will seem to have 2 or 3 different stories going on inside their original story. I use these “legs” to help the child expound on the best one. It's the easiest way to teach revising. I take a piece of paper and cut it in half horizontally and I tape it to the original paper. I have the student expound on the good idea. We together add each leg as needed. It begins to look like a spider, sometimes with very long legs! We draw arrows to show where to connect each “leg.” I edit the rest later if needed, and follow the legs when I type up the story later that day.

The children enjoy writing more to their story because the "Legs" seem to make writing fun. They are excited to add more. Once they have created a wonderful story that makes more sense it is easy to talk them into removing the part of the story that doesn't make sense anymore. The children often ask for the other stuff to be crossed off, because they understand it’s really not part of their great story. By using the legs I don’t get those sad faces after you tell them to go back and work on it some more.

Many times they just don’t understand how to make it better or even what to add. I have found that once the students have added legs onto their paper fixing the parts that need more details, their stories are much better and they are proud of their hard work. The results are now mid-year in second grade I am having to use “legs”, less and less, because they are now understanding how to write a story without jumping around from idea to idea. I’m getting wonderful stories so I can spend more time on editing and less on keeping the story line going.

Credits

Springfield Public School District 186 http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/resources/languagearts/instruction/?mod=105

Jeanne Morris (Jmorris565@aol.com). Maple Elementary, Fontana, CA

Writers workshop http://www.teachersfirst.com/lessons/writers/index.html