writer’s workshop small group presentation

Writer’s Workshop

Jennifer EvansAssistant Director ELASt.Clair County RESAEvans.jennifer@sccresa.orghttp://www.protopage.com/evans.jennifer#Untitled/Home

Writer’s Workshop Format

Mini-Lesson(10-15 min.)

Independent Practice with Conferring

(30-40 min.)

Sharing( 5-10 min.)

Connection with

Yesterday’s lesson

Ongoing unit of study

Mentor Text / Student work

An experience

Teaching Point

Explicit Instruction

Model

Create anchor charts

Active Engageme

nt

Try out the new strategy

Watch / Participate in

demonstration – Shared Writing

Plan work out loud

Link

To ongoing work

Practice

1. Mini lesson

To – With – By Model

Independent Practice with Conferring

30-40 MinutesStudents work independently while the teacher meets with small groups or individual students• Conferring Talking Cards

Possible mid-workshop teaching point• Occur naturally when the teacher notices

something that needs clarification or further explanation to help students as they write

“What are you working on as a

Writer?”Find “Teaching

Point”

Conferring During Independent Writing Time

Diagnose Student Needs

From: Writing Workshop The Essential Guide by Ralph Fletcher and JoAnn Portalupi p. 96

•He knows to include dialogue inside quotation marks•He uses commas to set off a name in the middle of a sentence•He knows how to write simple sentences•He understands that proper names require capital letters

First, notice

the skills the

student uses

correctly:

What do we notice?

•He knows that proper names need capital letters, but he’s inconsistent in applying this rule.•He also seems confused when a name stretches across more than one or two words (ie. Pear of Aces is written “Pear of aces”)•He understands that dialogue needs quotation marks, but he doesn’t understand how to use the comma to identify who is speaking.•It appears he isn’t aware of paragraphing at all, either in terms of dialogue or as an organizational tool in writing.

Second, think about

what his errors teach

us:

• Since he has partial knowledge of the rules of capitalization, it makes sense to start there. (Show him how you decide which letters need to be capitalized when a name includes a collection of words. You’ll be talking about titles as well since the same rules apply.)

• He is also ready to learn about combining two short sentences. (Show him how he could do this with a number of places in this piece he could apply this skill.)

• Because he shows an understanding of comma use in a sentence, he’s probably ready to expand his knowledge of other ways commas can be used.

Next, select one

or two skills to

teach him when you confer. What

shall it be?

Sharing5-10 Minutes Notice Question Personal Connection Compliment and Suggestion (glow & grow)

Partner

Small GroupWhole Group

Working together as

a team, make a list

of the essential standards you expect

your students to

learn by the end of the year or by the end

of each unit.

Create a checklist

to monitor progress and for student

use. (exampl

es appendix K and L)

Determine how

your team will accomm

odate the

various skill

levels in your

classes.

Using PLC’s to Make it Work

Checklist / Anecdotal Records

Kelly Gallagher, Author and Teacherhttp://www.kellygallagher.org/index.html

“Assigning writing is

easy. Teaching writing is

really hard.”

“We need to teach our

students to read like writers and

write like readers.”

Professional Learning Community Team Practice

Look at Writing

Workshop Teacher Reflectio

n Continuu

m.

Discuss what

each box means

with your team to

acquire a common understanding of

the expectati

on.

Highlight what you already

do.

Select one area you want to focus on this year.

Write Action Plan to

help you accomplish this goal.

Remember Use Look-Fors Tool:

Day 1: Review/Introd

uce the concept

Day 2: Model Choice Lesson

Mini lesson

Conferring

Sharing

Day 3: Observe/supp

ort in classroom

The PD Plan

October 21 Scoring Clinic at Staff Meeting

October 31st ½ Day PD:

Reading Strategies Flipbook