Writer s Workshop
Writing Instruction at Snow Hill Primary Writing is area of weakness, especially for ELL students (see Can Do Descriptors and WIDA rubric) Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5
Writing Instruction at Snow Hill Primary Writer s Workshop mini-lesson time for writing sharing Writing Process Six Traits of Writing
Writing Instruction at Snow Hill Primary Writing Process
Writing Instruction at Snow Hill Primary Six Traits
Writer s Workshop mini-lesson 5-15 minutes writing/conferencing 20-40 minutes sharing 10-15 minutes
During Writer s Workshop... Students decide what to write Students select writing/prewriting activities Students revise and edit (individually and with peers) Students use mentor texts (books that students/teachers refer to as examples)
Mini-Lessons Fletcher Dorn Wood Ray Caulkins Fountas and Pinnell
Mini-Lessons What are Mini-lessons? A Mini-lesson is explicit instruction in a specific writing technique taught in a short 5-10 minute period at the start of the workshop. o There are 4 types of writing mini-lessons:!procedures and Organization - routines!strategies and Processes!Skills!Craft and Techniques
What We Teach Procedures: Conferencing Writing Expectations Schedule for Workshop Portfolios Writing Logs/ Notebooks Procedure for Editing Using Resources Strategies/Processes: Writing Process Spelling Words Planning the Story
What We Teach Skills: Writing Mechanics* Editing Publishing Use of Resources Use of Technology What Good Writers Do Punctuation *Mechanics - The conventions of print that do NOT exist in oral language, including spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and paragraphs. Craft: Leads (Beginnings) Endings Personification Writing for a Purpose Genres Topics for Writing Point of View Six Traits
Getting Started Fletcher Ask your kids to join you in a meeting area Start by saying something like A writer is someone who makes decisions: How will you begin?, etc. May share 2 or 3 personal stories. Keep them short!
Getting Started Fletcher After you re finished sharing, say But those are my stories. What are you going to write about? Take a minute and think. Then, Please turn and tell the person beside you what you plan to write about. (Turn and Talk)--1 or 2 minutes
Getting Started Fletcher Ask 4 or 5 students to share out loud. Invite students to choose what kind of paper they want to write on lined, unlined, large, small, pre-made books Say We ll write for 30-35 minutes, then we ll meet back here. Students begin to write
Ways We Go About the teaching Wood Ray - study published writing; show examples from it; noticing - conduct a fishbowl activity (watch something happen) - survey the room (ask students what they know) - teach from our own writing - teach from conferences; Shares from your individual conferences
The Mini-lesson Caulkins Teach in ways that move students along a gradient of difficulty as writers enable children to do what they could not, at first, do Plan the method as well as the content of our teaching demonstration explicitly tell and show an example inquiry guided practice Show writers when and why they ll use what you teach
Getting them active during the mini-lesson Caulkins Do something and ask children to be researchers, telling what we did Tell your partner what I just did. Ask children to try it immediately Get started doing that right now, on the carpet, and I ll send you back to continue. Ask children to plan to do it immediately Reread your writing and find a place where you could do that same thing.
Goals for mini-lessons To assist students in becoming writers who: Have developed personal voice Know how to think about writing Know how to revisit their work, asking themselves the questions they need to refine it, including the conventions of spelling, punctuation, and usage. See the purpose behind what they are doing in writing Fountas and Pinnell
Organization mini-lesson leads
Sentence Fluency By My Brother s Side- Focus on the beginning, and focus on page 2 and sentences Easy does it. (3 words) and zigged and zagged and bounced and He rode his bike to the far side of the huge dirt pile, and he popped a wheelie. (18 words) Talk about how writers use different lengths of sentences to make their stories more interesting. Give example from My Puppy (He licks my face= 4 He licks my nose=4 He licks my fingers=4, etc.) I tell kids My ear gets tired.
Creating Charts during Mini-Lessons Charts are generated/created during mini-lessons WITH the students and then posted in the room for students to refer to later on.
Start with PROCEDURES
Writing Folders Works in Progress Finished Pieces (not moved until teacher agrees)
Prewriting Writers Write About...
Writers Write About... Things they do Places they have been or want to go People they know Things they like Things they know a lot about How they feel Their families Things that are special to them
Special times in their lives Things they are interested in Things they are learning about Things they are afraid of People they love Things they do with someone special *Ideas come from books you read to the children and conversations you have with your students about the kinds of things they can write.
Kindergarten/Beginning Writers Say your story to a partner Clap the words, pat them, snap them, sparkle them, etc. Tell your story (sentence) across your hand Teacher may draw lines for words at first
Drafting Getting the Story Down on Paper
Getting My Story Down on Paper 1. Think about the story I want to tell. 2. Say my story. 3. Tell it across my hand. (Thumb word gets a capital, and last word gets a period.) 4. Write my words down. -look at the word wall -stretch it out (one part word) -clap out words that have more than one part -write down as many sounds as I can hear 5. Read back over what I wrote.
Just Getting My Words Down on My Page -from About the Authors by Katie Wood Ray and Lisa Cleveland ( p. 69) Think about what the word looks like. Think about what the word sounds like. Say it slowly and think about the letters. Think about if it is a long or short word. Think about other words you know. Ask: Is this word like another word you know?
Self Help Spelling Chart Linda Dorn Say the word slowly, and listen to what you can hear Write what you can hear first, next, last Think of the way the word looks Write the word in parts Think of another word with similar parts Use your practice page to try out the different spellings Use classroom resources to help you Ask your teacher during writing conference
Revising What Do I Do When I THINK I m Finished?
What Do I Do When I THINK I m Finished? 1. Go back and re-read my piece. 2. Ask myself: Does it make sense? Did I tell the entire story? Did I leave anything out? Do I like my story? 3. Add or take out things in my story. Fix things I noticed when I re-read it. Add details /color picture 4. Edit my story. 5. Start a new story. (OR Publish my story, once publishing is introduced)
From Craft Lessons by Ralph Fletcher
Editing Punctuation Capitals!?, A i Spelling saw sall sight words
Editing My Story Read my story 3 times. First, read for punctuation. Do I have a period, question mark, or exclamation point at the end of every sentence? Next, read for capitals. Do I have a capital at the beginning of every sentence? Are names in my story capitalized? Are all my I s capitalized? Last, read for spelling. Are word wall words spelled correctly? Are most of my 3 or 4 letter words spelled correctly? Have I put as many sounds as I could in words I didn t know how to spell?
Students edit their own writing first. Use different colors for each facet of the editing process (punctuation, capitalization, spelling). Use checklists to help them know what to check for (see next slides) Students work with partners to do peer editing to help notice errors.
Publishing Sharing my writing with an audience
Motivation sharing their stories motivates students to keep writing gives them a real purpose for revising and editing Accountability students who know they have an audience for their stories know they must have a story to share
Publishing a Piece of Writing 1. Decide which piece I want to publish. Read all my pieces. if I like a piece. if I don t like a piece. if I might use this piece. Choose one piece to publish. 2. Decide what I need to do to this piece. -Edit (punctuation, capitalization, spelling) -Nicest, neatest handwriting (with appropriate spacing) -Colorful, interesting pictures which help tell the story
Conferencing With Young Writers
One teaching point per conference (2 for more advanced writers) Model from your writing, student s writing and literature Do not make changes for the student Keep notes on conference (see Conferencing Notebook-next slides) Hold students accountable for things taught in conferences
Tabs for student names make it easier to find the page quickly.
Tabs for student names make it easier to find the page quickly.
Keep a roster on the inside front cover of the notebook with empty blocks next to the students names.
Record dates of conferences; Add a star or dot if all or a portion of a student s piece of writing was shared that day.
Another way to keep notes
While the teacher is conferencing, students can be referred to the charts. That s why we make them! What do you do when you think you are finished? If you are publishing, what do you need to do? What are our procedures for Writer s Workshop?
When You re Overwhelmed by Student Conferences Stop class and address problem directly Remind them writers are decision-makers Don t sit there waiting for me-it s up to you. Keep writing. I ll get to you. Give students clear expectation that they can solve their writing problems
see poster on file cabinet 63
Writing Websites/Resources Writing Notebook by Grade Level Wonder Writers Cards Six Traits manual from training SHP Literacy Wiki http://shpliteracy.pbworks.com/w/page/7105374/writing http://6traits.cyberspaces.net/mini.html http://www.mandygregory.com/startingwritersworkshop.htm http://www.edina.k12.mn.us/concord/teacherlinks/sixtraits/sixtraits.html see Word Choice Activity Wee Can Write (you d have to purchase or I have copy) http://quest.carnegiefoundation.org/~dpointer/jennifermyers/workshopapproach.htm#
Writing Websites/Resources Choose one resource to find a minilesson idea from to try out in your writer s workshop and email or write up your thoughts to get an additional CEU (0.1 = 1 contact hour)
Questions?