1. Building a Community of Writers Through Writer’s Workshop in Middle Schools What? Why? How?

2. What is Writers’ Workshop? Writing Workshop is a framework for writing instruction and practice in the classroom Based on the idea that students learn to write best when they write frequently, for extended periods of time, on topics of their choosing

3. Writers’ Workshop As in a professional writers’ workshop, each student in the class is a working author. The teacher is the writing professional and peer coach, guiding authors as they explore and hone their craft

4. Goals of Writers’ Workshop  Establish a safe environment so that students can take risks in their writing  Write in a variety of genres  Develop lifelong writers

5. Workshop Format Activities in the Workshop

6. Workshop Format – Begin with a mini lesson – Students work independently – End with a share – Make time for kids to share what they are writing—once a week? Once a month? – Make time for students to share their writing—impromptu readings, formal presentations,--celebrates writing and affirms student work and voices.

7. – Plenty of room for individual styles and personalities. – The goal remains the same: Teachers want students to understand the power of language and to become more confident and capable thinkers and writers. – Adapt the workshop model for your own needs and preferences.

8. Why Writers Workshop? Theories and Benefits of Writers Workshop

9. Why Writers Workshop? – Students learn and take ownership when they are empowered to write in a meaningful way. – Enjoyable – Authentic – Meaningful – Post-Process Theory Supports the Practice – Fosters a collaborative relationship between students and teachers lending to a student-centered learning environment

10. History of W.W. – Developed from the early work of Donald Graves, Donald Murray, and Peter Elbow. – Popularized by Lucy Calkins and Nancie Atwell – Found coaching students to write for a variety of audiences and purposes was more effective than traditional writing instruction

11. Relevance in 2015 – Student-centered environment for writing instruction of all grade levels – A valuable tool for differentiation – students can move at their own pace in the writing process – Technology can facilitate collaboration and revision

12. Post-Process Theory and Writer’s Workshop – David Russell: “The idea of a universal process—”the process,” as he puts it—is less accurate than the idea of plural processes” (Kastman Breuch 120). – Writing is process, (YES!), and we must move beyond that…3 main points of Post-Process Theory as they pertain to composition we must re-examine from a post-process standpoint: 1) Re-examine writing as an activity rather than a body of knowledge, (2) our methods of teaching as indeterminate activities rather than exercises in mastery, and (3) our communicative interactions with students as dialogic rather than monologic (Kastman Breuch 120).

13. Post Process Theory Continued – “Knowing a framework or process is necessary but not sufficient for communicative interaction” (Kastman Breuch 122) – Kent distinguishes background knowledge—grammar systems and so forth—from the writing act, which he says is indeterminate, dynamic, and defies systems” – View of writing as a social act….hence! Writer’s Workshop!

14. Sounds a bit like…??? – “Instead of dialecticians who initiate students into new knowledge, mentors who endorse a paralogic rhetoric become co-workers who actively collaborate with their students to help them through different communicative situations” – “As co-workers, these mentors—by relinquishing their roles as high priests—engender a new relationship with their students in that they actively collaborate with their students and become, in a sense, students themselves.” (from Kent Quoted on 124)

15. Ignoring the “audience” – Elbow distinguishes between writer-based prose and reader-based prose, contending that writer-based prose can be the better of the two as we free the writer from topical constraints and audience inhibition (53). – The absence of inhibiting audience awareness (i.e. awareness of a critical teacher figure) in the initial stages of writing leads to better writing. – The writer may ignore the reader, yet still in engage in process writing. “Ignoring audience can lead to worse drafts but better revisions” (53).

16. Graves – The student's writing stumbled, but his voice was authentic. – Writing that tells the truth connects people. – By writing, students figure out what they really want to know, and the writing helps them investigate.

17. Writers Workshop Supports Common Core – Atwell recommended that a student who had trouble writing a personal narrative try writing his story as fiction instead. – The student began writing his feelings freely, but in a fictionalized form. – He built his writing fluency. – Choice is meaningless unless we show students how to connect choice with honest struggles and issues. That is how we bridge the gap between the writer's notebook and the CCSS writing tasks. Authentic Writing (from Graves)

18. Where Does the Teacher Go Now?

19. Teachers must write – If I am going to promote writing, they have to see me writing too. – She went back to her Writer's Notebook and read something to the kids that inspired her piece. – Then she said that she decided to write about her mother's cooking. – "Now let me show you my mind map."

20. Teacher as Part of the Community – Teachers can share personal experiences that might be similar to those that the students are having. That can encourage students to open up and share more freely.

21. Physical Space and Atmosphere Establishing the Climate for Writer’s Workshop

22. Workshops are Messy Places – Even when students appear to be off task, they may be moving towards a resolution. – You may need to allow students lots of freedom to talk and move around. – This helps them write independently. – Sometimes there is business that they need to take care of or sort out before they can be productive. – High energy students may need to walk around and talk. – Make space for them to talk and make time for them to talk.

23. Building a Community of Writers – Every day must include – Time to write. – Time to talk – Sometimes writing workshop is a quiet time, but most often there is some kind of buzz going on. (Any type of workshop is a messy place.) – Noise doesn’t necessarily mean that learning is not going on.

24. Building a Writing Community – Writing in that environment is possible and pleasant. – Establishing the ways to – What should we do when someone needs some quiet time? – How do you let someone know when they are disturbing you without being rude? – How should we move from free areas to seats?

25. Establishing Respect and Trust – Provide time for students to get to know one another – Greeting Activity Students greet each other, shake hands, and make eye contact.

26. Building a community of writers – A quick Greeting Activity. – Students form a circle – Teacher calls one to begin – That student walks across to another student, looks him in the eye, shakes his hand, and says, “Good morning, Gary, (etc.).” – Then the activity continues. – Students who have been greeted sit down so that only those still standing need to be greeted. – Demonstrates how we should treat each other, even when someone is not your favorite person. – Sometimes they choose and sometimes not?

27. Establishing Respect and Trust – Morning meeting – Students chat with a peer about what is going on in their lives – Then the partner shares the information with the whole group.

28. Establishing Respect – Every person has an opportunity to share without ridicule. – If it does happen, then the teacher asks the student to think about an apology: What can I do to make it better for that person that I hurt. (Sometimes the hurt student asks for an apology letter.)

29. Trust and Safety Through Conversation – Love, trust, and risk taking is built in with talk. – Everyone has a voice. – Talk is IMPORTANT – Everyone has an opportunity for his/her voice to be heard. – Teachers need to create opportunities for students to have conversations Important to allow students to talk about their personal experiences as well as their writing.

30. Building Confidence – Point out how what they are doing is similar to what the author is doing so that they can see how they are authors too. – They see themselves as authors. – Teachers should write along with their students and read aloud. – Teachers must write too. It makes the students feel comfortable and safe.

31. Building a Community of Writers – EVERYONE writes (all adults and students in the room) – Writing is cherished. It goes up on walls and is shared.

32. Writing to Learn – Take time for students to talk about what is going on in their writing: – What is challenging them – What is going well and should be celebrated

33. Peer Revision – They tried a new peer revision technique (Talking Revision) and took a few minutes at the end to reflect on that new technique. – Telling your story is an important activity! Don’t just read it to them. Instead, tell them the story and let them ask questions. Then you will discover what important details you need to include.

34. – To really get good at writing, it has to come from the heart. – It cannot focus on conventions, or students will tend to only use words that they can spell and not write with depth and feeling.

35. Writer’s Notebook

36. Modeling Writing – A teacher who doesn't feel comfortable with writing can be one of the best mentors for children. If you don't feel comfortable, just be honest. Teachers don't need to write so that kids see how to write well; that's what they'll learn from their reading. Teachers need to write so that children can see someone else going through the process and so that teachers will understand that process. If writing is hard for you, it puts you in a better position as a teacher because you understand what your students may be feeling. Katie Wood Ray