MrsMBTeacherPortersPoint: Writing Workshop

A balanced literacy program combines a multitude of experiences for children within a structure of four main components: Reading Workshop, Writing Workshop, Word Work and Read Aloud.

For Writing Workshop I primarily use the work of Lucy Calkins, founding director of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Teachers College (Columbia University) to immerse ourselves in writing instruction. Although I have been using her research to teach writing for many years, over the last two summers I was fortunate enough to study her latest work more in depth through my own graduate studies. Launching Writing Workshop this year has been a very rewarding experience for me and I cannot wait to share with parents how much their children have learned. I began the first week of school. In the first three days of school I had all students write independently to capture on paper what they knew and provide a starting point from where they will grew as writers.

My first goal for writing is to develop each child's identity as a writer and surround them with the work of being writers. This can seem like an impossible undertaking for young children, but with instruction that is developmentally appropriate, even kindergarteners can begin to identify themselves as writers who have something important to say. All year our class will be immersed in learning to use the same tools all “published” writers use to put their ideas on a page.

Our first unit of study builds the foundational skills children will use all year as we learn to write for a purpose. Behind the lessons are some core beliefs about what writers do. For example, writers write to put meaning onto paper. They start with something to say and do everything they can to put that meaning on paper for an audience of readers including stories, opinions, and thoughts. Writers write about subjects that are important to them and so students also choose their own topics most of the time. Writing starts with having an image and then drawing representationally to put that meaning on paper. Writers then pause and ask themselves if they need to add anything else to show their mental image or intended meaning. In this way, we learn to use our first “anchor” chart that reminds children that, “When we are done, we have just begun.” This chart references how they continue to convey their meaning by “adding pictures, adding word, or starting a new piece.” As children develop skills around writing letter sounds in words, they learn to stretch out, listen to and record all the sounds they hear in a word. In time students will learn other mechanics writing including spaces between words, uppercase letters at the beginning of a sentence and punctuation marks. For now, we are immersed in putting ideas on paper with pictures and words.

I must say I am brilliantly pleased with what your children have done in such a short time span to see themselves as writers and carrying on as independently as they can with bravery and confidence. They are learning to use the tools of self-reliance when they have a problem, reminding themselves to say, “I can solve this problem myself” when they get stuck. I love when they can look inward for help before 20 of them all call my name! As we say “no, writers carry on with writing and think how can I solve this problem by myself” while Mrs. B. is conferencing with someone else. When writing time is done we often end the workshop with a share by a few students. This builds self-confidence and helps others to learn from their work. As children share, I point out strategies they used so that others can use them, too. You should see the smiles on writer’s faces when they are the reader of their writing and their classmates acknowledge their work!

Each day’s lesson brings new learning along with links to previous lessons. I use “anchor charts” to list strategies we are learning so that children can reference them when they get stuck or don’t know what to do next. For example, several days were devoted to the how to make writing more clear to the reader, including stretching words, putting two finger spaces between words, capitalizing the first word in a sentence, placing a punctuation mark at the end of sentence. Over successive days the anchor chart grew to include each of these tools. I don’t pre-make my anchor charts, but rather write them little by little each day to go with the daily mini-lesson. In the photos that follow you will see various anchor charts and the progression of learning.

Although this first trimester was devoted to narrative writing, we will continue to write in this genre and use the writing tools learned for new writing opinion and informational books as well. At parent conferences you will see the many books your child has written and you, too can share in their joy of writing!

Establishing routines... writing folders placed to support writing, small groups of children at a table, supplies on the table, voices kept to a whisper.

The Power of the Share: building confidence and gaining feedback from peers by reading one's writing.

Reading our Writing... weaving how reading and writing instruction and behaviors are linked.

Early Writing Experiences... some writing was broken down into smaller parts with focused writing about a particular learning experience.

The Power of Planning and Rereading... In writing books, writers add on to their story over successive days. Children start by organizing their pages, rereading what they wrote, deciding what they will write next and then applying the new strategy just taught in that day's minilesson.

Writing Partners... as we plan our books, touching and telling our stories across the pages, writing partners can ask questions such as Why? How? Who? What? to stir up ideas and be sure we are adding all the details that make the book interesting and stick to the story we are writing.

Putting It All Together... planning, touching and telling across pages, working with writing partners, going to the table to work independently, using knowledge of letter sounds, words, and spaces between words and completing a book over several days. WOW!

Minilesson Tools... Working through hard to write experiences with the analogy of The Little Engine That Could to build confidence. Anchor charts built over many days with a reminder of that day's lesson and displayed for reviewing and reminding what strategies can be used.

The Share... using the document camera to share our work with the class. This not only builds confidence, but reminds others that they, too can try the strategies their classmates try. As I teachers, I can use their work as an example of what I taught at the beginning of that day.

Linking Reading and Writing... the word "a" found in Shared Reading books to show that they can write the same word in their writing. As we learn to read and touch our reading finger under one word at a time, so, too can we write one word at a time, stretching out every sound in that word and adding spaces between the words. Our writing genre this trimester was narrative writing about true events.