Writers Workshop

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Writers Workshop

• A guide to getting startedin the real world.

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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.

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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.

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• 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)

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• 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

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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

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• 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.

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• 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.

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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.

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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

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• 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.

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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

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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

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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.)

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1
2
3
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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, redWork
  in progress, YellowIllustrating, 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.)

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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

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• 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

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• 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 Writers Notebook
• Reading 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 Writing
• Often 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.

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• 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

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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

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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.

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How to get that conferencing done

• 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.

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• 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.

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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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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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

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•  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

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•  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

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Publishing supplies

• Students 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

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The Process of Publishing

• When 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.

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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 onSpellingThere 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.

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Spelling suggestions

• 1. 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)

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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?

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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.)

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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?

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Editing Wall

• When 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.

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A true story of starting the process of rotating
responsibilities

• I like to introduce Writers 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.

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• 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 childs 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 dont know how to
  write. I feel that many times over editing does
  more harm, than good, in the early writing
  process.

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• When I edit I dont 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.

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• 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 its really not part of
  their great story. By using the legs I dont get
  those sad faces after you tell them to go back
  and work on it some more.
• Many times they just dont 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. Im getting wonderful stories so I can
  spend more time on editing and less on keeping
  the story line going.

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Credits

• Springfield Public School District 186
  http//www.springfield.k12.il.us/resources/languag
  earts/instruction/?mod105
• Jeanne Morris (Jmorris565_at_aol.com). Maple
  Elementary, Fontana, CA
• Writers workshop http//www.teachersfirst.com/les
  sons/writers/index.html