Readers and Writer's Workshop

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Readers and Writer's Workshop
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Readers and Writer's Workshop is designed to
help students develop skills and strategies that
will be used in their future writing projects
and in future reading .and in their
future.There is a gradual build of skills and
strategies and then forced implementation. For
the students, those skills and strategies
eventually become instinctive, innate, and their
own.
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http//www.teachersfirst.com/lessons/writers/write
r-4.html

• Writers Workshop

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Mini-Lesson

• A Mini- Lesson is usually a 5-10 minute whole
  class activity and may be as simple as doing
  guided writing from a story, or how revision
  codes are used.
• Useful mini-lessons for the Upper Grades are
• story mapping
• having an adult guest writer, or yourself, model
  the process of revision
• modeling note taking for gathering information
• modeling the strategy on the overhead
• reading from a touchstone text to model the
  strategy

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Practice

• In their writing, students are to integrate the
  mini-lesson skill.
• Their writing should also have evidence of
  previous mini-lesson writing strategies.

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Status of the Class

• The Status of the Class takes about 2-3 minutes
  and provides the student and teacher with
  information about how the student's work is
  progressing.
• In the Upper Elementary grade classrooms it can
  be done quickest by having students write their
  name on the board under the appropriate category
• Conferencing
• First Draft
• Work in progress
• Revision
• Illustrating
• Final Editing
• Publishing

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http//faculty.uoit.ca/hughes/Writing/TheWritingPr
ocess.gif
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Write and Confer
Mini-Lesson A Mini- Lesson is usually a 5-10
minute whole class activity and may be as simple
as doing guided writing from a story, or how
revision codes are used. An example is to lay out
a favorite story's events in beginning, middle,
and end form, create an idea web featuring a
book's plot, or formally present the use of '
mechanics' such as more complicated grammar parts
and punctuation. Modeling good interviewing
techniques is still appropriate because students
will need to use them in

• Writing Conferring is ideally a 20 - 40 minute
  session. Brainstorming sessions may still be the
  best way to come up with topics and ideas, and
  peer conferencing is still useful to the student.
  
• Editing is not the focus of the teacher
  conference, expanding ideas and trying to find a
  'voice' for the student writer is. Revisions can
  then take place.
• The editing phase focuses on mechanics and any
  additional revisions to be made. In the Final
  Draft, teachers should expect correct use of
  basic grammar, spelling and punctuation with
  guidance.
• For Peer Editing, TAG can be used.
• Tell one thing you liked about the story
• Ask one question
• Give one suggestion.
• (Upper Elementary students may want to share a
  'Work in Progress' or 'Revision' to get many
  different opinions for inspiration.)

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Sharing Author's Chair

• Sharing and Author's Chair usually take 10
  minutes and be done either by having the students
  
• read to the class a 'published book
• by children sharing their work in pairs
• by allowing students to read published works to
  themselves.
• Peer Sharing or allowing students to read
  classmates works individually and write TAG
  comments may be preferred by Upper Grade
  Elementary students.
• Student Assessment is done by keeping a portfolio
  of revisions and copies of completed work.

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Readers Workshop
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The Readers Workshop Mini-Lesson

• Readers Workshop starts with a mini-lesson that
  is based on a reading strategy.
• The mini-lesson must be short, concise, and
  focused and begins with a connection.
• The teacher models the strategy through reading,
  using a mentor text.
• The students take part in practicing the
  strategy through a simple activity.
• Students then read independently, either using an
  assigned novel or a self-selected piece,
  practicing the strategy for immediate
  implementation.
• The workshop can then proceed with the weeks
  activities that include a variety of learning
  opportunities, many of which are based on the
  mini-lesson strategy, including teacher
  conferencing. The teacher conference, in small
  groups, allows the teacher to get a better
  perspective on how well the students are grasping
  the strategy and allows students to ask questions
  and share responses in a less threatening
  environment. The students can then rotate through
  the activities daily. Students can also work
  independently to implement the strategy, using
  the traditional elementary model.

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Readers Workshop
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Flexible Grouping
Readers Workshop groups may transform..
Jamie Saponaro
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Example of Management of a Readers Workshop in a
50-minute period
http//www.readingonline.org/articles/ash/
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Other Ideas

• Readers Workshop can be done in pairs, where the
  strategy is practiced by each partner together.
• Instead of using an assigned novel or reading
  selection, students can choose their own Just
  Right book (determined by using running records)
  to practice the strategy.
• Students can choose magazines, newspaper
  articles, content area text assignments, etc.
  The idea is that they read what they are
  comfortable with and eventually, they make their
  own choices to read novels.
• Students can practice the strategy with an
  assigned class novels as well as a self-selected,
  leveled piece.

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Where Reading and Writing Workshop Merge

• Students are able to write about what they are
  reading about.
• Often the reading strategy mini-lesson focus can
  also be the writing strategy mini-lesson focus.
• Writing styles should mimic the styles of the
  currents readings.