Launching the Writers Workshop

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Launching the Writers Workshop

• Pat Adkisson
• Cathy Black
• Union County Schools

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Turn and Talk

• Sit knee to knee.
• Quickly choose who will go first.
• Partner 1 talks.
• Partner 2 talks.
• Speaker speaks loudly and clearly.
• Listener listens with a calm body.
• Everyone takes responsibility for their own
  listening.

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The Social Side of Writers Workshop

• Writing is by nature a social process.
• Writing represents the means by which a message
  can be communicated to someone else.
• Children learn how to become writers through
  meaningful interactions with more knowledgeable
  people. -Linda Dorn 2001

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The Cognitive Sides of Writers Workshop

• The child must understand and pull together ideas
  or knowledge.
• The child must hold the ideas in working memory
  long enough to transcribe the message. Healy, 1994

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What must the young writer be able to do when
he/she writes?

• Turn and talk

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Writing is Shaped through Practice and Feedback

• When children write, they acquire searching,
  monitoring, evaluating, and self-correcting their
  actions. -Linda Dorn, 2001

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Writing Depends on the Interrelatedness of Three
Aspects of Writing

• Comprehension of ideas
• Expressive language
• Facility with mechanics

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Balance/Putting It Together

• If the child has too many new things to learn,
  this can interfere with the orchestration
  process.
• The primary grades are critical times for shaping
  orchestration.

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The Teacher Can Ask Four Simple Questions

• What is easy for the writer to do?
• What is hard for the writer to do?
• What does the teacher expect the writer to do ?
• What does the teacher expect to do for the
  writer? -Linda Dorn, 2002

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The Writing Process

• Prewriting
• Drafting
• Revising
• Editing
• Publishing

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Time

• Children should leave the first grade having
  spent countless hours with pens and markers in
  hand and paper in front of them making all the
  decisions someone who writes has to make. -Katie
  Wood Ray, Lisa Cleveland, 2004

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Confidence

• Recognize that it is scary to begin.
• Be prepared - have your materials on hand.

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Anatomy of the Mini-Lesson

• Connection
• Teaching
• Active Engagement
• Link
• Confer
• After the Workshop Share

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Connection

• Links what has been done to what is expected to
  be learned in the present lesson
• May serve as a quick review of previous learning

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TeachMini-lesson

• Has a clear objective - teaching point
• States the purpose explicitly
• Models Demonstrate
• May Provide Guided Practice
• Explains and gives examples

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Link

• Before sending student off to write
  independently, encourage student to use the skill
  taught in the mini-lesson

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Active Engagement

• At the end of the mini-lesson students are given
  the opportunity to try-out the lesson through
  sharing with a partner
• At times students may watch other students trying
  something out

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Writing Time

• Students write
• Teacher confers

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Conferring

• The teacher may meet with students individually.
• The teacher may meet with small groups of
  students with similar needs
• The teacher takes the time to record her
  compliment and teaching points

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ConferringThe Compliment

• The teacher looks for something that the student
  is trying to use in his/her writing.
• The teacher uses specific language to compliment,
  I am going to complement you for.

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ConferringTeaching Points

• The teacher looks for what the student knows.
• The teacher looks for what the student needs to
  know next
• The teacher asks herself what is the most
  important thing that she can teach this student
  next?
• The teacher must decide how she is going to teach
  the child

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Sharing

• Students return to same place that they were for
  the mini-lesson.
• The teacher may decide to restate the teaching
  point of the mini-lesson and share examples of
  student work.
• The teacher may decide to introduce a new writing
  behavior that was observed.

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Lesson OneBegin with the Whole

• We dont begin by breaking the process of
  writing down and asking children to do just one
  small part of the process. We believe it helps
  learners to have an image of the whole thing
  theyll be trying to do, even though it can feel
  ambitious to show them the whole thing and say
  Get started doing this -Lucy Calkins, 2005

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Writers Workshop Times

• Gather on the carpet (2 minutes)
• Mini lesson (7-10 minutes)
• Write (25-35 minutes)
• Confer (while students write)
• Share (3-5 minutes)

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Lesson OneGather on the carpet

• Dont worry about assigning partners the first
  day.
• Designate an area for students to gather.

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Lesson OneSet the Purpose for Writers Workshop

• We are going to write books like the authors of
  the books we like to read.
• We will write songs like the ones we sing.
• We will write letters.
• We are all going to be authors.

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Lesson One Connection

• Explain that every day students will work in a
  writers workshop and that it will always begin
  with a meeting.
• Share that they will become writers.

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Lesson OneTeaching

• Show how you go about choosing a topic you know
  and care about.
• Think aloud. Highlight the kind of thinking that
  you hope the students will do.

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Lesson One Sketch

• Show how you are thinking about your story.
• Make your sketch simple.
• Show your whole idea and then separate it into
  parts.

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Lesson OneLabel the Sketch

• Label the parts that are important to the story.
• Expect students to try even if they do not know
  enough about graphophonics to do as the teacher
  does.

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Lesson OneThe teacher restates what she did in
the mini-lesson

• A writer thinks in his head about something he
  enjoyed or was important.
• Then he sketches it quickly.
• Then he labels the parts of the sketch that are
  important.

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Lesson OneActive Engagement

• Have students close their eyes.
• Have students think of something that they have
  done recently or something that they do often.
• After a moment, have students open their eyes and
  tell someone sitting next to them what they might
  write about (Turn and talk).

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Lesson OneMaking a Link

• Let students know that they will be thinking of
  something they know about or happened
• Students can write by sketching and writing

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Lesson OneThe Teacher Passes Out Paper

• Have paper ready.
• Have one sheet and one pencil for each student.
• Be prepared with a system to pass out paper
  quickly.

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Lesson One Practice

• Close your eyes, think of something that you
  would like to draw and write about.
• Turn and talk to someone about your story.
• Sketch your story.
• Label the important parts.

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Lesson OneThe teacher confers as students write

• Conferring is the heart of teaching writing.
• Students will learn to write for longer periods
  of time as they become more experienced.

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Lesson OneShare

• Have students hold their work up for all in the
  room to see.
• Praise and celebrate.

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Lesson OneDemonstrate How to Put Away Writing

• Tell students that everyday they will keep their
  work in a folder.
• For the first day, have a place that students can
  quickly put their folder
• Instruct students to come to the carpet.

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Lesson OneOn the Carpet-Celebrate

• Share one or two students work.
• It may not be necessary to highlight the entire
  work. Focus on the part that needs to be
  emulated.
• Make the students know that writers workshop is
  special.

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Remember

• Each student will take in only that which he is
  able to take in.

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Turn and Talk

• Identify the key points to remember in this
  lesson.
• Why start with the whole lesson first?
• What happens in each part of the lesson?

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The Mini-Lesson, Lesson Two

• Focus on what happens in the mini-lesson.
• Today, and everyday, we will start the
  writers workshop with a mini-lesson. In a
  mini-lesson, I will remind you what we have been
  doing in writing and then I will tell you what
  well learn today. Lucy Calkins, 2005

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Lesson TwoRevisit the Procedures of Writers
Workshop

• Remind student of what occurs in the mini lesson
• Have a students sample from Lesson One ready to
  share
• Celebrate

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Lesson Three-What Do You Do When You Think That
You Are Done?

• Students will work beyond when they first
  consider themselves finished.
• Students will add more to their picture or words
  or start a new picture.

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Review Other Lesson Plans

• Turn and Talk

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Anchor Charts

• Aids teacher and students in remembering
  procedures and expectations
• Added to during the year
• Are removed when no longer used

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Activity

• Break up into groups of 3-5
• Brainstorm a list of Launching Lessons titles
• Put them in order

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Activity

• Use the lesson plan format provided.
• Complete lesson plan(s) to be used in the unit.

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Plan

• How will you launch Writers Workshop?
• What will you do to help others learn about this
  important unit?
• Turn and talk.

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References

• Calkins, L., and L Memmelstein. 2003. Launching
  the Writing Workshop. Portsmouth, NH Heinemann.
• Dorn, L J, and C. Soffas. 2001. Scaffolding
  Young Writers A Writers Workshop Approach.
  USA Stenhouse.

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References

• Healy, J. 1994. Your Childs Growing Mind. New
  York, NY Doubleday.
• Ray, K W, and L Cleveland. 2004. About the
  Authors, Writing Workshop with Our Youngest
  Writers. Portsmouth, NH. Heinemann.