Components of Writers' Workshop

Essential components of Writers' workshop

Writers’ Workshop is central to the instructional program. It also becomes central to the students’ lives. They begin to view themselves as writers, and live their lives accordingly. Students learn to see the writing potential in their everyday living. Writing is not just a “school thing.” It is a way of life.

All students write for an extended period of time. Students learn to write by writing. In grades 1–6, Writers’ Workshop lasts for approximately one hour a day, at least four days a week (minimum amount of time: 40 minutes per day). At the beginning of the year in kindergarten, Writers’ Workshop lasts for approximately 20–30 minutes a day, at least 4 days per week. As the school year goes on and kindergarten writers develop stamina, Writers’ Workshop can grow to 40–60 minutes per day.

OWNERSHIP and CHOICE are extremely important. Teachers encourage students to choose their own writing topics, forms, and materials. When engaged in a genre study, students will be required to write within that genre; however, topic choice is still up to the writer’s discretion.

There is a sense of community built during Writers’ Workshop. There is acceptance that ALL students have important stories to share and that everyone is a writer.

The teacher KNOWS what real writers do, KNOWS the students, KNOWS the writing process and TEACHES students the writing strategies they need to learn. It is essential that the teacher engages in the writing process as well and views himself/herself as a writer. For a teacher to truly understand what his/her students are going through, he/she must have experienced it also.

Writers’ Workshop is a time of ACTIVE TEACHING through whole-class focus lessons and conferring with students. Teachers explicitly teach students the craft of writing and writing conventions so that they can use these strategies when writing independently.

There is a structure to Writers’ Workshop (focus lesson → independent writing → group share) that is predictable and consistent with regard to expectations, instructions, and time devoted to writing.

Students study several authors and genres throughout the year. These studies help students learn the craft of writing and how to use other authors as models and mentors when writing independently.

Students learn to write by writing, and they learn to edit and revise by editing and revising their own work. Teachers do not “red pen” student writing but rather teach students how to reread and edit their own work.

Students often work on a single writing project for an extended period of time. Beginning as a short entry in the Writer’s Notebook, or perhaps as a drawing or question, these short pieces become seed ideas for future writing projects that eventually make it all the way to publication. Over the course of a year, ALL students complete the entire writing process and publish many pieces of writing.