Writers Workshop in

Middle and High School

NESA Spring Educators Conference

Bangkok, ThailandApril 2, 2011Janine A. King

Janine A. King

What is Workshop? Not a curriculum, but a set of

structures and practices An environment that gives students

the opportunity to bring their reading and writing lives into the classroom for the purpose of stretching themselves in the company of others

A format that allows teachers to explicitly demonstrate the strategies and habits of mind employed by critical readers and writers

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Teaching the writer instead of ‘fixing’ the piece of writing

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The Importance of Environment

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Meeting Area Focus

Tone

Community of readers and writers

Teacher as mentor (vs someone who is going to tell us what to do now)

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Collaborative Seating Arrangement

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Anchor Charts What - the skill or strategy

being taught

Why it is important

How - an example

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The Mini-Lesson Short

Direct

One teaching point (posted)

Explanation

Modeling/demonstration/examples

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Notebooks: Writers Workshop

Volume Growth Evidence of

Generating and collecting ideas “Test Drives” Experimenting with craft Planning for drafting

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Partnerships

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Partners… Encourage each other Push each other Generate and develop ideas with

each other Provide a constant audience Engage in active listening and

learning

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Conferring Individualized instruction

Differentiation

Accountability

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Writers Workshop

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Why Writers Workshop? Choice Notebooks Explicit instruction Teacher demonstration Volume of writing Conferring Differentiation Independence

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The Writing Process

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The Features of a Personal Narrative

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Generating People/Places/Moments

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Writing Partners Encourage each other

“Please read it to me.”“I like that part.”“I’d love to hear more about…”

Push each other“I hear you saying…”“Why does this matter?”

Generate ideas with each other“Wait! I need to add to my list.”“You just reminded me…”

Practice Active ListeningFace each otherMake eye contactSit up straight

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Generating People/Places/Moments

People/Remarks/Emotions

First Time/Last Time

Musical Timeline

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Planning

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Drafting Out of the notebook On loose leaf paper Skip every other line Write about one event only Keep the issue/message in mind

Why is this important?

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Revising

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What does it look like to add significant, specific detail?

Include: Seasons, months, days of the week Weather Real names of streets, parks, stores Colors People’s appearances

What are they wearing? How does it look on them?

Hair, facial features and expressions Smiles, movements, brand names

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EditingTeach two or three lessons based on

observations of students’ writing.Examples: Punctuating dialogue Paragraphs Commas Pronouns Verb tense

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Publish & Celebrate Read-around Whole grade or across grade levels Whole school Blogs ‘Coffee house’ Parent/community invitations

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Feedback

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Self-Reflection Where did the idea for this piece

come from? How did the story/essay change from

your original idea? What revision strategy had the

biggest impact on this piece? What specific feedback was most

meaningful/helpful? Why?

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Structure of a Workshop

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The Architecture of a Mini-lesson

Teaching Point Connection Teach Active Engagement Link Share

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Personal Essay

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Generating

“Issues”

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Generating Pulling ideas and

issues from previous narrative entries in your notebooks

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Writing to ThinkPossible Thesis Statement

because… For example… Another example is… This is important because… On the other hand… This makes me realize…

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Planning Developing and revising a thesis

statement

Boxes and bullets(Main idea and supporting details)

Collecting evidence

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Evidence Personal anecdotes Books, movies A friend’s experience Interviews, quotes Facts from articles Statistics

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Drafting Synthesis of evidence for each bullet

Use all you’ve learned about good writing

Incorporate transitions

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Revising Make sure your subtopics are

parallel but not repetitive Each paragraph focuses on one

supporting idea Transitions are smooth and logical Lead is powerful (mentor texts) Conclusion leaves reader with a

sense of closure (mentor texts)

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EditingExamples:

Punctuating quotes

Use of academic language

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Celebrating Students group

essays by topic to invite readers

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Sample Units of Study Personal Narrative Raising the Level of Personal

Narrative Personal Essay Fiction Literary Essay Memoir Poetry

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Fringe Benefits Increased student engagement Stronger student/teacher

relationships Through sharing your own writing and

conferring Teachers as writers Teacher collaboration More intentional planning Cohesive school community

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Resources The Writing Workshop: Working Through

the Hard Parts (and They’re All Hard Parts) by Katie Wood Ray and Lester L. Laminack

Assessing Writers by Carl Anderson Notebook Know-How: Strategies for the

Writer’s Notebook by Aimee Buckner Units of Study for Teaching Writing,

Grades 3-5 by Lucy Calkins Thinking Through Genre: Units of Study

in Reading and Writing Workshops Grades 4-12 by Heather Lattimer

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Resources (continued)Personal Narrative Marshfield Dreams by Ralph Fletcher The Glass Castle by Jeanette Wells Knots in My Yo-yo String by Jerry Spinelli

Personal Essay Starting With “I”: Personal Essays by

Teenagers by Youth Communication, Andrea Estepa, and Phillip Kay

This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women by James Allison, Dan Gediman, and Studs Terkel