Week 15: Writing Workshops

This week, we learned about Writing Workshops and what makes a good mini-lesson for students to learn to write effectively and become accomplished writers. While we discussed this, we talked about the five steps of the Writing Process, which are:
1. Rehearsal
2. Drafting
3. Revision
4. Editing
5. Publishing

Through field placement experiences and class, I know about Writing Workshops, however, I found them hard to define completely while in class. Looking online, I found a concrete example of what exactly a Writing Workshop is, and what it consists of.

 

Through my Methods Block field placement, I observed my co-op perform many Writing Workshops. My favorite part was that she would allow students to go through the steps of the writing process but write about any topic they would like, giving suggestions to those who wanted them. As a teacher, I enjoyed circulating the class to discover the different ideas of my students, and as a class this semester, we devised a list of characteristics that would be included in a Writer's Workshop:

- Independent Writing: Students interact with their writing, editing it multiple times to reflect maturity in writing and applying their knowledge of grammar to make a readable piece of writing.

- Teacher Conferencing: The teacher facilitates writing by giving mini-lessons on writing conventions or grammar and conferencing with individual students to strengthen their writing based on their weaknesses and the class mini-lessons.

- Mini-Lessons: Target one skill so students can effectively incorporate and apply new skills to ongoing writing.

- Dedicated Time: Students expect a certain time each day or a few days a week to work on ongoing pieces of writing. 

- Routine: Writing happens frequently, for a set period of time either every day or a few days a week, so a student can progress through all writing stages. 

- Choice: Topic suggestions are engaging and motivating, allowing students to apply knowledge from lessons, but also allow students to have free reign about their favorite topics so they can write what is relatable to them.

Keeping all of these components in mind, we understood as a class that some students just do not like to write, typically because they feel like writing is not one of their strengths and they would rather avoid the task altogether. In my field placement, I worked frequently with one student who despised writing because he felt as though his ideas were "bad" and he took longer to form his letters than most other students in the class. I adapted writing lessons with him by allowing him to suggest to me ideas for sentences, and then writing those sentences for him on a whiteboard for him to copy onto paper. This engaged and motivated him as he was no longer apprehensive about spelling or forming his letters incorrectly, and also assured me that he could create his own ideas and come to conclusions about writings based on the topics given in class. Other adaptations we discussed were to scaffold, such as the technique I used with my student this semester. Other scaffolds include notes or prompts to give the student ideas and feedback to feel confident about writing. A graphic organizer or set of steps can help students be aware of the writing process and follow the steps of the process to write effectively. Through conferencing, teachers can embed strategy instruction based on conventions with which the student specifically has trouble.

Finally, the last step in the writing process, Publishing, is the most important. Students feel accomplished when they work towards publishing, and all students feel validated when they are able to share their ideas. Many teachers struggle to follow through with this aspect of the writing process, but I hope to emphasize publishing in my classroom so that my students understand that they can all be writers and feel pride in their work as it is displayed or read in the classroom.