W RITING M OTTO : “T EACH THE WRITER, NOT THE WRITING.” Writing Workshop Professional Development – Summer 2011 Washington Primary Center Mrs. De Luna, Ms. Guinn and Mr. Speight

W RITING W ORKSHOP M ODEL OF I NSTRUCTION R ESEARCH B ASE  Research Principle 1  There are fundamental traits of all good writing and student write well when they learn to use these traits. Topic Choice, Meaning/Significance, Structure, Elaboration/Details, Genre Knowledge, Conventions, Voice  Research Principle 2  Using a writing process to teach the complex task of writing increases student achievement. Rehearsal, Drafting, Revision, Editing, Publishing (color drawings only during this stage)  Research Principle 3  Students benefit from teaching that offers direct instruction, guided practice, and independent practice.

W RITING W ORKSHOP M ODEL OF I NSTRUCTION R ESEARCH B ASE ( CONTINUED )  Research Principle 4  To write well, writers need ample time to write every day.  Research Principle 5  A well-rounded curriculum provides support for struggling writers and English language learners.  Research Principle 6  Writing and reading are joined processes, and students learn best when writing and reading instruction is aligned.

W RITING W ORKSHOP C OMPONENTS  Minilesson  Student Writing Time with Conferring and Small Group Work  Independent Writing Time  Mid-Workshop Teaching Point  Partner Response Time  Teaching Share

M ANAGEMENT OF A W RITING W ORKSHOP  Teach management, don’t tell it.  Reasonable Expectations  Consistency and Routine  Teach Toward Independence

M ANAGEMENT T IP : POSTER OF IDEAS

M ANAGEMENT TIP : SAMPLE POSTER

C ULTIVATING C OMMUNITY IN THE W RITING W ORKSHOP  Story tell  Read Aloud  Create and Rotate Partnerships  Encourage students to bring in artifacts from their reading and writing lives  Establish the Values  Model your own passionate love of reading and writing

S TORYTELLING OUR L IFE E XPERIENCES  Why storytelling?  Helps children learn how to tell stories, incorporating the elements of story.  Helps children use literary language, dialogue, time words, and so forth.  Helps children value the stories that fill their lives and to see themselves as makers of stories.

W RITING M ATERIALS  Paper Choices (students should choose own paper)  Pencils (or pen option)  Class set of two-pocket folders (label left side – Still Working / label right side – Finished for Now)  Class set of revising/editing pens in different colors  Extra strips of paper  Post-it notes  Tape  Stapler  Scissors  Teacher Demonstration Texts  Shared class story to use in minilessons

O N -D EMAND A SSESSMENTS  Teachers will create common On-Demand Assessments to assess the qualities of writing or students’ process of writing. On-Demand Assessments can answer: What does the writer do well? What does the writer already know about the genre? What does the writer need me to teach?  Will be administered at the beginning of the school year  Will be administered at the end of each day writing unit to assess the writing skills mastered as well as the skills that need to be retaught during the next unit.

S TRUCTURE OF A M INILESSON  Effective minilessons tend to follow a similar structure. While the content changes from day to day, the structure remains constant.  On-Demand Assessments should drive minilessons. 1. Connection (2-4 min) 2. Teaching (3-5 min) 3. Active Engagement ( 2 min) 4. Link (30 sec – 1 min)

T HE W RITING P ROCESS IN A K-2 C LASSROOM  Students will be utilizing the writing process during each day writing unit. Rehearsal Drafting Revision Editing Publishing

P UBLISHING Students will choose one piece of writing to take through the publishing process the last 5 days of every unit.

R EVISING AND E DITING During the publishing process, students will revise their writing piece using a colored pen and then the next day students will edit the same piece using a different colored pen. Eventually students can be taught to use revising and editing checklists.

C ELEBRATIONS Celebrations will end each writing unit. Ways to Celebrate Sparkling apple cider and toast Snacks Small groups (kids read their published copies in small groups) Whole group compliments. Can chart and keep them up. Tell kids this is what we did well and let’s continue doing this. Author’s chair Invite buddies Celebrate with another class Invite parents Act out writing (for all about) Sticky note for student to write one thing they learned (I learned…) Sticky note for student to write a new goal for the next unit (My writing goal is …)

W HAT DO WE DO WITH STUDENT BOOKLETS ? Students will take their booklets home at the end of each unit. (Exceptions: writing pieces needed for PDs, SSTs, principal request, or teacher deciding to keep additional pieces as they see fit) Teachers need to send a letter home (approved by principal) to parents with the student booklets explaining that the pieces were not published, but are drafts which is why they have not been corrected/ revised. The goal of sending the booklets home is to share writing growth with parents and to start fresh every unit.

C ORE D RIVERS OF W RITING W ORKSHOP  Grade Level Writing Curriculum Calendar  Guide for teachers to plan day writing units for the entire school year  The K-2 Writing Process will be utilized during each writing unit.  Well-Planned and Focused Minilessons  On-Demand Assessments (per grade level)  Teachers will create these common assessments to assess the students’ qualities of writing.  Administered at the beginning of the school year  Administered at the end of each day unit to assess the writing skills mastered as well as the skills that need to be retaught during the next unit  Assessment results will drive teachers’ minilessons and conferring sessions

C ORE D RIVERS OF W RITING WORKSHOP ( CONTINUED )  Unit Checklist/Conference worksheets to use throughout each unit  Will help track students’ writing skills and growth  Will help make conferring sessions focused and more effective for teacher and student.  Will help track the number of conferring sessions for each student  Teacher created rubrics for each unit and/or genre (per grade level)  Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study and other writing resources will be utilized to support the writing units planned by the grade levels.