“The Power of Choice in the Writer’s Workshop” Amie Pincumbe Lakeview Community Schools Lake Michigan Writing Project 2011

Price of a pen… $1.00 Price of a pad of paper… $2.00 The “power of choice” to write what one wants…Priceless

Today’s Agenda Group Anticipatory Set: “I have to write about what…?” “Why Won’t My Kids Write?” – Description of problem within my Writer’s Workshop “Let’s Go Shopping for Stories!” Choosing a topic to write a personal narrative Share Time/ Wrap up with questions 11:00-11:10 am 11:10-11:20 am 12:00-12:15 pm 11:20-11:40am 11:40-12:00 am Prompting Choice in Narrative Writing Strategies used to generate topics to write

* Why Won’t My Students Write?”

Classroom Observations Students having a hard time getting started Head down on desk Students writing a few sentences and then were finished Doodling in Writer’s Notebook Moaning about writing time No matter how creative I thought my lessons were they still were not producing quality samples

In ord er for chil dre n… “In order for children to learn to write and to grow as writers, it is absolutely essential that they are invested in their writing and they care about writing well.” Lucy Calkins “

How Can I Get my Students to Write ?

A content placeholder. Use for text, graphics, tables and graphs. You can change this text or delete it. Here is a placeholder for more text. You may delete this text Lucy Calkins- Units of Study Writer’s Workshop Ralph Fletcher “Teaching the Qualities of Writing” Research Used:

“When children have opportunity and responsibility to choose their own subjects they are not only much more apt to be invested in their writing, they are also much more apt to be knowledgeable about their topics.” Lucy Calkins

Prompting Choice in Narrative Writing

“The Concept of student choice is believing that the best, truest topics lie deep within each of us.” Ralph Fletcher

“My Treasure Map of Stories” My Authority List/ All About Me My Writer’s Notebook Shoebox of Stories Yet to be told Strategies to Generate Personal Narrative Topics:

“My Treasure Map of Stories” Think of a place where you have a lot of memories about or stories you could tell Draw a sketch of that place Then place a “X” on your sketch where a memory happened that you could tell or write about Let’s give it a try!

“My Authority List”/”All About Me” Take a few minutes and label a sheet of paper “My Authority List” Then list all of the things you know a lot about OR Draw a picture of yourself Then write words or short phrases about things you know a lot about Choose one of the strategies a and give it a try!

My Writer’s Notebook

Shoebox of Stories Yet to Be Told

Let’s Write! First choose a a topic from either your treasure map, Authority List or your All Abort Me page Circle it Then begin to write your personal narrative story You will have about 10 minutes

T i m e l i n e t o T e a c h S t r a t e g i e s f o r N a r r a t i v e W r i t i n g This chart utilizes Smart Art which is feature in PowerPoint If you wish to make charts like this and don’t have PPT 2007, we have provided the graphical elements to help you build this yourself. Here is the description of the chart. You may change or delete this text as you wish. Here is a placeholder for more text and description of the chart. Changing this text will not interfere with the formatting of this template. Timeline to Teach Strategies for Narrative Writing:

Share Time Turn to a person sitting next to you First, describe what strategy you choose to use Then, read your personal narrative piece

Wrap Up Important Things to Remember: Giving students the choice in what they write is powerful! Teach students the strategies to help them develop topics to write about Personal Narrative Strategies: “My Treasure Map of Stories” “My Authority List”/ “All About Me” Writer’s Notebook My Shoebox of Stories Yet to be Told

“ You only learn to write better by actually writing.” Doris Lessing If you want to get your students to “actually write”simply give them the power of choice.”

References