Writers' Workshop

Welcome to Writers' Workshop!

The idea behind Writer’s Workshop is simple: if we know from experience that a

workshop approach to the teaching of writing works well for aspiring professional

writers, why shouldn’t we use this approach in our classrooms? As in a

professional writer’s workshop, each student in the class is a working author.

The teacher is a writing professional and peer coach, guiding authors as they explore

their craft. Instead of spending the majority of class time on spelling tests, grammar

worksheets, handwriting practice, and other isolated sub-skills of writing, Writers' Workshop

is designed to emphasize the act of writing itself—students spend most of their time

putting pencil to paper, not just learning about it. Over time, students learn to choose

their own topics and to manage their own development as they work through a wide variety

of writing projects in a sustained and self-directed way.

What is Writer’s Workshop?

What is writers' workshop?

Mini-Lesson (5-15 minutes1). A short lesson focused on a single topic

that students need help with. You don’t need to give a mini-lesson each

day; 2-3 times a week is usually just fine.

Status of the Class (2-5 minutes). A quick way of finding out what each

student is working on.

Writing Time (20-45 minutes or more!). They write. You can write and/or

conference with individual students or small groups.

Sharing (5-15 minutes). Writers read what they have written and seek

feedback from their audience. You can share your writing, too.

This chart can be done WITH your students, in front of them while discussing and asking students why writers write. A great idea, commonly used in GLAD, is to pencil in all the info and sketches and then use markers to write in front of them. If you have more than one group, you should do a new one for every class you teach!

from: http://www.ttms.org/PDFs/05%20Writers%20Workshop%20v001%20(Full).pdf