Writers Workshop: Lucy Calkins

Writers Workshop

1) Kids write everyday

2) Investment
a. topic choice
b. write about the experience and audience
c. What do you like to write about: nonfiction, mystery, dialogue?

3) Explicit teaching
a. Teach explicitly
b. Teach clear and specific skills

4) Process
a. everyone is writing
b. everyone is writing at different points

Primary Writing Process:
1) Rehearsal
a. Tell story out loud to a partner and sketch a picture
b. It doesn’t matter how they get to this point
c. Writers Plan Their Writing Before they Draft

2) Draft
a. Write it down
b. We are collecting Entries
c. Partners Can
i. Be readers
ii. Compliment
iii. React
iv. editors

3) Revision
a. Add in
b. Makes story better
c. Elaboration

4) Tools for Revision
a. Post-its to add information
b. Asterisks
c. Add another page
d. Add flap
e. Tape, staple
f. Speech bubbles

Unit completed students:
1) Choose a piece

2) Further revise (students DO NOT rewrite the piece, they add and change their draft. This allows students, teachers and parents to see the development in their writing).

3) Edit

4) Publish

5) Author Celebration

Units take 4-6 weeks

Teaching Writers Workshop
1) Minilesson (10 min.)
a. “Writers today we are going to work on __________.”
b. Connection 1- min. activate prior knowledge
c. Teach 5-6 min.
d. Active engagement 2-3 min.

2) Independent Writing
a. Students are writing
b. Teacher conferencing
i. One-on-one or small group strategy lesson
ii. During Conference time the teachers sits side by side the students. The student does a lot of sharing and talking while the teacher observes and then develops compliments and teaching points.
c. mid – workshop teaching point
i. “Writers so and so did ___________. Please keep going.”
d. continue a-b

3) Link: teaching share options
a. Follow up on minilesson by reading a part of a students piece
b. Talk about any problems that may have arisen during WW i.e. “today we ran out of paper, what we can do?”
c. “Writers remember this skill __________.”
d. “today and everyday …”

Assessment

While conferencing with students I have in front of me the Unit Rubric (download from the CD). The unit rubic guides me during conference time and allows me to note what I have taught, what the student is completing independently, with support or is not able to complete the task at this point. This rubric is very helpful for parent conferences and report writing.

Resources:

Lucy Calkins, Teacher's Reading and Writing College
Lucy Calkins, One to One