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Writer's Workshop in the Classroom
I will admit to anyone that I know that Writing is not my strong subject to teach. For the 3 years I was in FL, I had used it as my PDP. My 1st year back here in MO, I took it again. After being transferred to one of the best schools in the state, I knew that I had my work cut out for me. I had heard the buzzword "Writer's Workshop" and knew that I wanted to use it in my classroom. I just really wasn't for certain where to begin.
I have spent this year fumbling through the Publishing Notebook, the Writing Process, and how to organize this workshop. Although I still claim that I am not the best Writing Teacher, I am finding out what works best for me with my teaching style. It is still a work in progress and I am certain that things will change, but for the first time in six years, I can actually say that I am pleased with how my students have grown as writers.
Check out the information below to see how I run my Writer's Workshop.
| The Gist of It All
First thing to understand is that in order for this whole thing to work, students must spend time EVERY DAY as writers. This was the hardest for me as I have a very tight schedule to begin with. It's also the first thing that I have always seemed to pass off if I'm in a time crunch. I decided that if I was going to make this work, then I would start it off the same way that I do most of my other lessons, with a mini-lesson. Most of my mini- lessons involve the reading of a picture book or writings by myself. I then give the students a "mission" to work on while they write independently. I have a writing mini-office for each student. Their Writer's Notebook is for their final publishing. While students are writing, I informally conference with as many students as I can. I usually conference for about 3-5 minutes. |
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| My Schedule
Below is the schedule that I have found to work for the time I am allowed. I do have a push-in person on Monday's and Wednesday's so Writing is done at different times on those days. For the most part, we have Writing immediately after lunch.
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Getting Started
Before I began any sort of lesson planning, I wanted to be certain that I had all the materials necessary for the students to be successful at Writer's Workshop. Below is a list that I have compiled of everything that should be made available to the students. Currently, they are on a few different shelves and sorts. Ideally, I want to have it all in one convenient location for students with a nice backdrop with the "No Excuse" Words and other helpful tips & tricks. Writing Center Materials Writer's Notebooks: Composition or Spiral Notebook Paper-lined, unlined, construction, stationery Pencils, pens, color pencils Blue Colored Pencils for Revising Red Colored Pencils for Editing Markers Highlighters Hole puncher Tape Paper fasteners Stapler Folders Notebook Rings Date Stamp Stickers Stamps Stamp Pads Clipboards Rulers Glue Erasers Alphabet Cards Books/Magazines to cut apart Bag full of interesting things to "spark" ideas Magnetic letters Map Greeting Cards to cut apart Thesaurus Dictionary High Frequency Word list Food Word list Number Word list People Word list Examples of different types of book-making Lesson Planning Just like the set up for Guided Reading, Writer's Workshop requires spending a few weeks setting up routines in the classroom. Many of these ideas are ones from various teachers that I have learned from. I cannot take credit for most of these ideas and will not. Here are the mini-lessons that I use to introduce Writer's Workshop routines. After I teach each one of these mini-lessons, students write independently. These routines cover the first few weeks of school. After that, the students are writing to the district prompts that are provided for us. |
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| Managing a Writer's Workshop
Ideally, I would have every student on the same page, but the reality is that doesn't happen. I have tried several different ways to "Status the Class". I have tried the "raise the hand" method, the "move the clip to the stage you're on" method, and my favorite (note: Sarcasm) the "move your card to the stage you're on" method. None of these worked for me. I noticed that the students we're not moving their clips like I had intended. I purchased these wonderful student flipcharts from Really Good Stuff. I have placed a piece of Velcro on the bottom of these and on the students' desks. This way when they move on, they flip their chart to the next stage. What I mostly love is that the side the students see tell what each stage of the writing process means, the side that I see says what they are doing. Instead of keeping these on their desks, I store them in a bucket. When the mini-lesson is finished, I dismiss students back to their desks. On their way back, they are to pick up a flip chart and go ahead and place it on the correct step. I always forget who I need to conference with. To make this easy on my I created a weekly chart with student names. Each one has enough space that I can write down notes about what we talked about. By the end of the week I can see if I talked to everyone. I have 4 groups in my class. Since, I teach writing 4 days a week (Fridays are Catch-Up day), I conference with those from that group. So on Mondays, I see my first group, Tuesdays my second, so on and so forth. |
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| Grading
Because our district uses Prompt writing, I have created rubrics to go with each of the Unit Prompts. Typically, there are 3-4 prompts per grading period. I also calculate in their Grammar grades. Nothing is weighted. As a fellow experience 3rd grade teacher once told me, "there's no need to weight things in 3rd grade, let the secondary teachers take care of that. The rubrics that I use follow the rubrics for our writing series. I have aligned them to the 6+1 Traits and added on points for neatness. Students in MO have a writing portion on the state test. It is important that students understand that if the judges can't read it, they won't grade it. It's amazing how quickly their handwriting improves when they see the "0" they got in presentation. |
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| Writing Picture Books
Those that know me, understand my passion for using children's literature throughout all of my lessons. Click on the links below to take you to the list of books I use in my classroom. |
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| Helpful Links |
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Copyright © 2004-2011
All Rights Reserved
Mrs. Abuyo's 3rd Grade Class
All Rights Reserved
Mrs. Abuyo's 3rd Grade Class