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Writers' Workshop: Empowering Kids to Write the Stories of Their Lives
- Meredith Goldberg, Elementary Cycle 3 English teacher, Selwyn House School

Writers' Workshop can be an empowering experience for students. It all begins with the Lifebook, a place to nurture the stories of everyday life. Through mini-lessons, these seeds are expanded into short texts, full of rich images and emotion.

What is Writers' Workshop?
  • Student-centered learning
  • Authentic Learning
  • Teacher Mind-Set
  • Reading/Writing
Seed Ideas: [Stories happen to those who tell them. – Thucydides]

A Lifebook is…
  • A container for thoughts
  • An incubator for ideas
  • A place to collect things
  • A playground for words
Mini-Lessons
1. Procedures/Management
  • Schedule for Writers' Workshop
  • Choosing a Lifebook
  • Using a stapler, staple remover, hole punch, etc.
  • Using different kinds of paper
  • Basic writing materials and how to use them
  • Finding a good spot to write, conference and share
  • Computer Lab/Laptop cart rules
  • Using word processing software
  • Using reference books
  • Voice volume during drafting, conferencing, sharing
  • How to whisper
  • How to self-evaluate and why we do
  • Where graphic organizers, rubrics, checklists are found
  • What to do if you need help and the teacher is busy
  • Organizing a portfolio
  • Using a personal dictionary

2. Writers' Craft
  • Finding seed ideas
  • How to find inspiration in the world around you
  • How a writer turns a seed idea into a fleshed out story
  • Prewriting techniques
  • Crafting good leads
  • Showing, not telling
  • Grounding dialogue
  • Revision techniques
  • Editing symbols
  • Crafting good endings
  • What to do if you are stuck
  • Point of view
  • Writing for an audience
  • Watermelons vs, Seeds (sunrise to sundown vs. focused stories)
  • Using strong verbs
  • Other words for sai

3. Conventions
  • Commonly misspelled words
  • Possessives
  • Paragraphing
  • Ending punctuation
  • Run-ons and fragments
  • Subject and verb agreement
  • Keeping a consistent tense
  • Capital letters
  • Dialogue punctuation
  • Common spelling patterns
  • Compound sentences
  • Comma usage
  • Pronouns
  • Juicy adjectives
  • Types of sentences
  • Conjunction

Resources:
  • How's It Going , Carl Anderson – A guide to conferring with students
  • The Art of Teaching Writing , Lucy Calkins – A guide to writing in context from one of the masters in the field.
  • Units of Studies for Primary Writing (K-2), Lucy Calkins – L. Calkins' newest series of books, a lesson by lesson how-to to teaching WW in grades K-2. A great source for teachers just starting to incorporate WW in the classroom.
  • Units of Study for Teaching Writing (Grades 3-5 ), Lucy Calkins
  • Craft Lessons , Ralph Fletcher and Joann Portalupi – a book of writer's craft mini-lessons
  • Writing Workshop , Ralph Fletcher and Joann Portalupi – a guide to WW
  • Guiding Readers and Writers (Grades 3-6), Irene Fountas & Gay Su Pinnell – an amazing resource for creating a seamless Reading & Writing Workshop
  • A Fresh Look at Writing , Donald Graves – this book details the writing process and how to integrate it into the classroom. It touches on different genres and suggests routines for keeping track of students' progress.
  • Revision Toolbox , Georgia Heard – Heard introduces three revision techniques, words, structure and voice, and the mini-lessons and tools to help inspire students to revisit and improve their drafts.
  • In the Company of Children , Joanne Hindley – from the mini-lesson through assessment, this book details elementary reading and writing workshops including anecdotes and tips from teachers.
  • http://rubistar.4teachers.org - the rubric creator resource for teachers
  • www.eric.ed.gov - internet-based digital library of education research and literature. You can assess full-text journal articles on every aspect of education. A great resource for reading up on the thinking and research behind programs like Writers' Workshop.
  • www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer
  • www.hmco.com/indexf.html
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