Supporting Children as They Learn to Write Through Writer’s Workshop Prepared by Marilyn F. Cullen-Reavill

Teaching of Writing K-6 9-3-08 OBJECTIVES TSWBAT discuss the scaffolding of student writing by use of the five levels of support TSWBAT collaborate on the development of ideas for writers workshop TSWBAT identify the parts of a mini-lesson and write an objective for one ACTIVITIES Turn in reading worksheet Roll: Give an adverb describing how you are feeling about you book at this time Power Point 2 which incorporates slides from last time and activities dealing with the 5 levels of support and writers’ workshop FOR NEXT TIME Reading review sheet Ch. 3 Continue work on books Look at the mini-lesson on P25 and decide what purpose it has Try to write that purpose as an objective Remember objectives must be assessable Objectives have action verbs (never know and understand)

Writing Process At your table groups name the 5 stages of the writing process Decide what stage describes where you are at with your book and why

Components of Writer’s Workshop Reading aloud To learn about authors how they write and different genre Mini-lessons Introduce topic Share examples Provide information Supervise practice Assess learning Writing Heart of writers workshop Writing is a skill and must be practiced Students write many rough drafts and choose a few to revise, edit, and publish Sharing Author’s chair Pair share One to one conference with teacher Critical friends writing group

Scaffolding Support for writing Demonstrate Guide Teach Vary amount of support according to Instructional purpose Students’ needs

Five Levels of Support Modeled Writing Shared Writing Interactive Writing Guided Writing Independent Writing All of these components are present in writers workshop Levels 1-3 are approached in a mini-lesson and levels 4 & 5 in the writing time

Modeled Writing Level of Greatest Support Teachers: Children: Decide what to write and create text Write so all students can see Demonstrate writing workshop procedures Think aloud to model Writing reflection Making decisions Use of writing strategies Children: Observe Make suggestions when asked to

Professor Demonstration of a Writer’s Workshop and Modeled, Shared, and Interactive Writing Reading aloud The Fox and the Crane by Aesop Fables inspired by Aesop Created by Mrs. Sunda’s 3rd graders Mouse, Dog, and Armadillo by Michelle The Bad Fox by Jake Mini-lessons Introduce topic: Writing a fable Do you like fables? (Is this a good question?) What do all fables have in common? {Where would you start in writing a fable? I would ask this only if the lesson were and interactive writing or perhaps a shared writing lesson} Share examples I shared examples in the read aloud Assume students have been reading different fables (DON’T forget to include multi-cultural fables) I would ask students to name some fables that they have read and share the moral {What if everyone wants to share and you are running out of time?}

Professor Demonstration of a Writer’s Workshop (cont.) Mini-lessons (cont.) Provide information Will go back to list of things all fables have in common Will model writing aloud Will write a modern-day, real-life fable. Moral is “When someone is rude to me it is even more necessary for me to be patient and kind with them.” Instructional purpose will be to demonstrate how one does a think/write aloud Will demonstrate how good writers make decisions on writing for clarity Supervise practice At this point I would ask students to go to their desks and think of a situation with a moral to be learned Then they would tell a partner the situation and the moral Then they would begin by naming characters (nondescript), and vaguely describe setting If time allowed students would write a rough draft Assess learning Listen to students share looking for them to describe a believable situation and then state a moral that fits it Observe for active listening Check writing to see if the characters and setting fit the fable format Writing Elem students would write rough draft of fables College students will get opportunity to do self checklist of their rough drafts (at the end of power point) Sharing Elementary students would share fable rough draft in pairs and those signed up would go to the author chair College students will pair share rough draft of book (At the end of power point)

Shared Writing Teacher and children compose text Choose something that the whole class is knowledgeable about or that they have all experienced Teacher does Physical act of writing Demonstrates expert writing Draws attention to letters, words, and conventions of written language

Steps to Revising Reread the rough draft Read out loud to yourself Read to someone else Have someone else read for ideas and content Share the rough draft in a writing group Can be spontaneous or formal Offer choices to the writer Give responses, feelings, and thoughts about the piece of writing Show different possibilities and speed up revising Revise on the basis of feedback Children use spaces they skipped to draw arrows and add words 4 types of changes: Add Substitute Delete Move

Sample Text for Authors Chair Read the following essay and as a group come up with what you would say to the student if you were doing a one on one writing conference Essay: I rember when I was 4 and it was christmas time and I went to spent the day with me aunt faye she took me downtown on the bus I think. We got a soda at the soada bar plase and she bout me a puzzle with Santa. I went to grandpas house where she lived and did the puzzle ate lunch and fell asleep. What would you say to this student if you were doing a revision conference?

Shared Writing of Revision Process Teacher asks students Where would you say this piece is at – done ready to publish, needs editing, or needs revisions and editing Revisions when: There are things that confuse the reader Not enough information to make sense Extra words that get in the way Not enough exciting details

Stage 4: Editing Putting the pieces of writing into its final form Writers understand that the main purpose of writing is to communicate. Therefore readers must understand what writers write. Mechanics: commonly accepted conventions of written standard English Capitalization Punctuation Spelling Sentence Structure Usage Formatting Considerations Now use the Proofreaders’ Marks chart on p 17 to edit the sample text

Interactive Writing To demonstrate writing words and sentences Teach the use of conventions and mechanics To create written texts that children could not write independently To challenge them and simultaneously provide support To assess and provide immediate feedback Always remember to have a clear, succinct purpose As a group we will interactively use the proofreaders’ marks on P. 17 to edit the piece

Guided Writing Children do the writing Teachers plan structured writing activities To scaffold writing experiences so all children are successful Introduce different types of writing Help facilitate children’s use of the writing process Reinforce procedures, concepts, strategies, and skills taught in mini-lesson Teachers support where needed and assess student progress

Independent Writing Provide authentic context for practice Children learn how to make decisions on topic and form Gain fluency and stamina Use writing as a tool for learning Make and Publish books Document learning through focus and thematic units

Writing and Sharing activities Students will write for 5 min (guided writing) to do the self reflection Students will partner share their books that they wrote independently and do the partner checklist

Writer’s Workshop Checklist Self-Check The best part of my book is? The part of my book that needs more work is? Two questions that I would like to ask my reader are? Partner-check The part I enjoyed most was ______ because _______ I was a little confused when____ The overall message I am left with is________________

Writing objectives for mini-lesson Look at the mini-lesson on P25 what purpose does it have Try to write that purpose as an objective Remember objectives must be assessable Objectives have action verbs (never know and understand)