Writing+Workshop-Structure

Sample Schedule for the Elementary Level:



=Get a Quick "Status of the Class"-- A Nancy Atwell trick (//In the Middle//) = =Purpose : Helps teacher keep track of where students are in the writing process; Helps students plan for writing. =
 * Teach students the Writing Process jargon:
 * Teacher: What do you plan to do today?
 * Student: Discovery draft of my feature project and peer conference


 * Methods:
 * Verbally
 * Written on chart paper
 * On a display chart

In //Time for Meaning//, Randy Bomer opts to modify the "Status of the Class." Instead, he determines the class' status during his conferences with the students. He keeps track of the students' progress by record-keeping sheets. (More on this later.)



For workshops at the elementary school level, workshops always end with an "Author's Share," a time when an author shares his or her work with the whole class in order to get feedback from a broad audience. Even Nancy Atwell ends her workshops with this structure.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 180%;">Challenges for high school workshops:
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 180%;">By this time, pieces are too long.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 180%;">Teenagers would rather have their fingernails pulled out than be on display for possible humiliation.

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">Solution? <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 180%;">Bomer suggests "The Modified Share."

<span style="color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 180%;">"After a while, when I would have an interesting conference with a student, when we discussed something I thought might benefit the whole class. I would ask whether in the last few minutes, he would tell the others about what had been going on in his writing, perhaps what the problem had been, and what he and I had figured out as a solution. . . . Usually, I would pitch in to help the rest of the class see how this strategy might apply to other situations. "

<span style="color: #057af5; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 180%;">For Bomer, <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #057af5; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">these two structures --the <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #057af5; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Mini-Lesson and the <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #057af5; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Modified Share --are really <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #057af5; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">the same. He uses either one at the beginning or at the end of the workshop. Sometimes, if the lesson and sharing are very short, say 5 minutes each, he uses them at the beginning and the end.


 * Basic Structure for a HS Writing Workshop ||
 * 5-15 Minutes || Mini-Lesson (Whole Class Meeting) ||
 * 20-30 Minutes || Writing and Conferring (Status of the Class-type record keeping occurs during conferring.) ||
 * 5 Minutes || Clean Up (optional) ||


 * Optional Structures for HS Writing Workshop ||
 * 20-35 Minutes || Writing and Conferring (Status of the Class-type record keeping occurs during conferring.) ||
 * 10-20 Minutes || Modified Share (Whole Class Meeting ) ||

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #672deb; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 180%;">How Often?

<span style="color: #672deb; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">At least 3 times a week, 5 times a week is better. <span style="color: #672deb; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">The days should be consecutive (M,T,W or T,W,TH)

<span style="color: #672deb; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">media type="youtube" key="y4KIcbOe5kQ" height="439" width="739"

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #672deb; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 180%;">Response Groups: Another kind of Modified Share

<span style="color: #672deb; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">When students are working on drafts, schedule Response Groups.
 * <span style="color: #672deb; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Last 20 minutes of class.
 * <span style="color: #672deb; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Don't do a mini-lesson on these days.
 * <span style="color: #672deb; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Hold them twice a week, say Tuesday and Friday.
 * <span style="color: #672deb; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Purpose: Allows writers to get feedback and help from a larger group.
 * <span style="color: #672deb; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Self-selected and permanent for a long chunk of the year.


 * Workshop Structure for Response Group Days ||
 * 20-35 Minutes || Writing and Conferring (Status of the Class-type record keeping occurs during conferring.) ||
 * 15-20 Minutes || Response Groups ||


 * <span style="color: #672deb; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Set an agenda to figure out which one or two people will get help. <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #672deb; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">FORBID them to go around the circle, letting each person read her piece. That avoids conversation!
 * <span style="color: #672deb; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Agenda mirrors writing that of conferences (more on conferences next):
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;">The writer talks about what she is trying to do.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;">Then she might read the draft or a section of it.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;">The group responds. They think together about ways to revise or proceed.

<span style="color: #672deb; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">You can make kids accountable by having them turn in the results of their discussion. Make it structured, especially for lower groups, with a form. Teach them the kinds of questions good readers ask of any writer in a mini-lesson, and hold them to it with a grade.