Writer’s Workshop
What is Writer’s Workshop?
Writer’s Workshop follows a predictable format each day. We use the writer’s process and explore writing a variety of genres. Students have required pieces to complete (Response to Literature, Report, Persuasive Essay, Procedure, Narrative and Poetry) and self-select pieces they work on. We use our writer’s notebook to explore writing strategies and practice important skills.
What does a writing class look like?
- Mini-lesson . . . Writer’s workshop begins with a mini-lesson. Lesson topics vary from writer’s craft (action verbs, show-don’t tell) to grammar (nouns, adjectives) and mechanics (end punctuation, commas in series).
- Independent and Guided Writing . . . Students practice the skill or strategy taught in the mini lesson. Some students work in small groups or with a partner during this time. When finished students write in their writer’s notebook, work on a piece of writing, or research topics of interest.
- Sharing . . . We end by sharing our writing in pairs, pods or as a whole class.
Our Writer’s Notebooks:
We use the writer’s process to explore and learn about writing. Much of our pre-writing occurs when we write in our writer’s notebook. It plays a central role in our writing explorations! We keep track of important memories, interesting events, and things we wonder about in our notebooks. We also generate several lists, maps and timelines to help us generate notebook and writing topics. These notebooks are used throughout the year.
What are the steps in the writing process?
Writer’s follow a process when they write. While this process can be cyclical, it is often more fluid with several processes going on at one time. For example, students often revise their writing while they are drafting. In a writer’s workshop some pieces are brought through the full process and are published while others are drafted and nothing further will be done with it. Some pieces are revisited later in the year and completed at that time. Many “pieces” stay in their writer’s notebooks. Students keep track of their progress by using rubrics to evaluate their writing. Here are the steps we follow in our writer’s workshop:
Clipart by niznoz licensed under Creative Commons 2.0.
Clipart by Robin Hutton licensed under Creative Commons 2.0.
