Just as students learn to read best by reading, writers learn best by writing. To make the most progress, we believe students need ownership of their writing work, guidance from a more experienced writer, and the support of a community of fellow learners. We believe, writing workshop gives students the time to write by streamlining instructional moments. Here's how it works.
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4 Components to this student-centered framework:
- Mini lessons - short, focused, direct instruction. They typically fall into the categories of classroom procedures, the writer’s process, the qualities of good writing, and editing skills.
- Independent work time - students are writing for a sustained time period. They are planning, drafting, rereading, revising, editing and talking with other writers about their pieces — doing the real work of writing.
- Conferring - During independent writing, the workshop teacher is moving about the room, taking a couple minutes at a time to check in with students as they write. These moments are opportunities to differentiate instruction by working one-on-one with a student. They are also chances to gather informal assessments of a writers’ progress. Based on these assessments, the teacher can plan what to teach in a future mini lesson or they can pull a small group together to address a common area of need.
- Share - This is a special time when writers can share their writing with the whole class or with a writing partner. It might be a completed piece. It might be a draft that the student wants help problem-solving. It’s a time when students learn to give and receive feedback.