Writers Workshop

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Writers Workshop Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

• PRINCIPLES
• Learning is optimized when students are able to
  make connections between what they already know
  and what they are expected to learn.
• The meaning or significance that learners impose
  on an experience shapes how and whether knowledge
  is stored long term memory.
• Learners can demonstrate competence in
  non-traditional ways.
• Ability is not static or finite, as human beings
  we build our brains through our engagement with
  experience.
• Through effort, monitoring and adjusting our
  strategies when we do not understand, we exert
  influence over what and how we learn These
  strategies and habits of mind are teachable.

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Circle Map Brainstorm about a relative or close
friend
Relative or Close Friend
Information about this person
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Quick Write!

• Take a few minutes to do a quick write about this
  person
• This is just a quick write, so dont worry about
  making it perfect, simply get your thoughts down
  on paper
• If you are artistic, you may choose to draw this
  person as well

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Analyzing Authors Craft
Strengthening Reading Comprehension and Writing
Applications Strategies through analysis of
Authors Craft
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Yolandas Geniusby Carol Fenner

• Aunt Tiny had a laugh as rich and flaky as
  biscuits and gravy. She wore gorgeous clothes
  reds so bright and whites so pure and spanking
  clean. She would fix ribs, baking them slow in
  the oven and serve them with red beans and
  steaming rice. She cooked the beans slow, too,
  with giant slabs of clove-studded onion.
• Tinys hands were pretty as Mammas, only her
  nails were very long, squared-off at the tips,
  and polished a shiny red. She ate with delicate
  bites, nibbling daintily, mincing her way through
  rib after rib, wiping her mouth with her napkins,
  not getting any of the barbecue sauce on her
  blindingly white slacks. She smelled wonderfully
  of perfume and food. When she surrounded Yolanda
  in a big, soft hug, Yolanda could have stayed
  there forever, inhaling Aunt Tinys sweetness.

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Analyzing Authors Craft
In Yolandas Genius by Carol Fenner, the author
uses adjectives and descriptive wording to
describe the character Aunt Tiny

• Maybe she wants us to picture and visualize Aunt
  Tiny
• She is trying to paint a picture in the readers
  mind
• She wants us to get to know Aunt Tiny better

• Sensory Details
• Descriptive Language
• Character Development

Tomas and The Library Lady by Pat Mora
Jorge revise to describe his father in more
detail Korina create a bubble map about her
sister before writing about the birthday party
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Analyzing Authors Craft

• Continue this process during the Red Section of
  OCR, Mini-Lessons, and during Authors Chair

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Bubble Map

• Develop sensory details and descriptive language
  by thinking of adjectives or adjective phrases
  using a bubble map to help you revise your piece

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REVISION
Use your new inspiration and adjectives to revise
your piece about your relative or close friend.
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Authors Chair

• Turn to your neighbor and share your pieces with
  one another
• Listen for use of descriptive language. Be sure
  to compliment effective use of sensory details.
  Did the author help you visualize this person?

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How were the Principles of Culturally Relevant
Pedagogy addressed?

• I. Learning is optimized when students are able
  to make connections between what they already
  know and what they are expected to learn.
• Circle Map Reflecting on someone close to you
• II. The meaning or significance that learners
  impose on an experience shapes how and whether
  knowledge is stored long term memory.
• The process of thinking and reflecting upon a
  person whom they are close to
• The process of reading and hearing their peers
  pieces and making connections with them

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• III. Learners can demonstrate competence in
  non-traditional ways.
• The use of the Thinking Maps allows access to
  writing without the pressure of perfect sentence
  structure and form, while acting as a scaffold to
  move them towards the writing standards
• An option is to share stories orally rather than
  in written form as an alternative during authors
  chair

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• IV. Ability is not static or finite, as human
  beings we build our brains through our engagement
  with experience.
• Rigorous analysis of authors craft where the
  student is challenged to then envision how they
  can apply what theyve learned from another
  author
• The process of revision is rigorous in that
  students are self-evaluating their piece and then
  making choices as to how they can improve their
  writing

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• V. Through effort, monitoring and adjusting our
  strategies when we do not understand, we exert
  influence over what and how we learn These
  strategies and habits of mind are teachable.
• Modeling the writing process and strategies good
  authors use such as prewriting with Thinking
  Maps, analyzing authors craft in books we read,
  and using what we learn from another authors
  craft to revise our own work
• Writers Workshop itself helps to develop habits
  of mind through the rituals and routines of the
  workshop, taking the students through the writing
  process, and through craft lessons

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