June 2o, 2012

Writing Workshop Review: What did we learn last year?  Silent Discussion: What is writing workshop?  What are the components of writing workshop?  What are some of the things that went well for you last year in writing workshop?  What are some things that you would like to do better/different this year in writing workshop?  What do you need more assistance with in implementing writing workshop?  Chapter 8: “Changes” from Reflections of Elementary and Middle School Teachers

Reading Like a Writer  Read Chapter 2 of Live Writing by Ralph Fletcher  Do you read like a writer? Take 60 seconds….  Turn and Talk: How can we encourage our students to read like writers?

How Read Aloud Nourishes Writing  Read aloud builds community- builds relationships between students and teacher  Read aloud creates common experiences that the class shares together and can refer back to in later lessons  Read aloud allows us to learn about our students (we can then help them find topics to write about)  Read aloud fills the “storehouse” in their heads and builds the foundation needed to grow as readers and writers

How Independent Reading Nourishes Writing  Time spent reading books of choice fuels student writing  Students discover genres and authors they love  They choose to return to their favorites and through rereading deepen their knowledge of individual texts  Knowing your students’ tastes as readers can help you confer with them on their writing (help them use these as models)

How Independent Reading Nourishes Writing  Time spent reading books of choice fuels student writing  Students discover genres and authors they love  They choose to return to their favorites and through rereading deepen their knowledge of individual texts  Knowing your students’ tastes as readers can help you confer with them on their writing (help them use these as models)

How Book Discussions Nourish Writing  Use books to talk explicitly about good writing and the choices writers make to craft their texts  Studying author’s craft in reading workshop will make us better writers  Use books to demonstrate how authors can write about the same topic using different genres

How Book Discussions Nourish Writing  Writing asks students to make many decisions:  What will I write about?  How will I write about it?  What am I trying to accomplish/Who am I writing for?  How might I begin? How should I end?  Shall I be playful or serious?  Is this the best word to use?  “Students can’t make these choices in a vacuum. Literature fills that void.” --Fletcher and Portalupi, 2001

How Literature Fits in Teacher-Student Conferences  Teachers need to bring out the reader in the writer  The more you know about your students as readers, the better you can challenge them to think critically about their writing  “Writing without reading is like seesawing alone. Without someone on the other end of the teeter-totter, it’s impossible to get off the ground.” --Fletcher and Portalupi, 2001

How are reading and writing connected in the workshop model?  At different times during the year both reading and writing workshops are geared to focus on different genres  Students read and write in these genres, apprenticing themselves as readers and authors of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and more.

A Quick Snapshot of How Reading and Writing Workshop Fit Comprehension strategyWriter’s workshop genreMini-lesson focus ConnectionsPersonal narrativeVoice, leads QuestioningResearch/expositoryAccuracy, primary and secondary sources VisualizingDescriptiveLanguage systems InferringPersuasiveVoice, leads Determining importanceWriting on demandVoice SynthesizingMysteries, suspenseCharacter development

“Reading, Writing, Harvesting Hope” Chapter 1 from Notebook Connections by Aimee Buckner Strategies that Work pg Figure1.1Writer’s NotebookReader’s Notebook StrategiesStrategies help writers develop ideas for writing pieces. Strategies are used throughout the writing process to support the writer in completing a finished piece Strategies help readers focus their thinking— giving them choices for how to respond to a text. Strategies may be used over a period of time as a reader completes a text and may be reused with a new text. Entries-Entries are about a page long, giving the gist of a story or the writer’s thinking about a topic. - Writers purposefully explore a topic for writing using several entries in a row. -Writers use notebook entries to try out writer’s craft that may be used in a draft. -Writers eventually use the entries to create finished pieces of writing outside of the notebooks. -Entries may be as short as a few sentences or as long as a page. Entries may lead to a new line of thinking with the text. They are a place holder for ideas the reader wants to share with others or to further explore on his or her own. Patterns of thinking may appear through entries for a similar book or across texts. AssessmentAssessment is based on a preponderance of evidence over several entries. A rubric is used to guide this holistic approach.

Reading Like a Writer: From Notebook to Notebook pg.73  As a reader:  Stop yourself when you have read a really great part of a book  Go back and reread the same part two or three times  What do you notice the writer did to help you enjoy the piece as a reader?  Record this in your reader’s notebook as you read.  As a writer:  Try to use some of the techniques you notice when you write in your writer’s notebook.  Make a quick note to yourself about what you’re trying to do so we can talk about it later.

Favorite Authors and 3 Things to Know  Pgs  Round Robin Share-Favorite Authors and Why

Read to Write Strategies from Notebook Know-How by Aimee Buckner  Read pgs  Strategy 1-Grabber Leads  Strategy 2- Try 10  Strategy 3-Mapping the Text  Strategy 4-Poetry Pass  Strategy 5: Charting Authors’ Styles