In the real world of state standards and standardized tests, it can be a little difficult for a teacher to get their head around what Writer’s Workshop is. As long as I have been teaching there has been a continuing push towards making teachers more and more accountable for student achievement.

With Writer’s Workshop teachers are accountable… but they are also asked to take a leap of faith into the world of flexibility. The teachers are asked to believe that Writer’s Workshop is the best way to get the results that EVERYONE wants for the students they teach.

In this multipart series on Writer’s Workshop you will:
• Learn what Writer’s Workshop is
• Discover how you may already be using certain aspects of Writer’s Workshop
• Learn some tips for implementing Writer’s Workshop
• Learn how to avoid some of the stress and traps of implementing Writer’s Workshop

I am a teacher… and the realities of REAL teaching in actual classrooms will always be a part of everything you will read in this series.

What is Writer’s Workshop?

Here are “the parts” of Writer’s Workshop. We will examine each of the following parts and will explore the pros, the cons, the problem areas, and the areas of benefit for each stage of Writer’s Workshop.

1. Mini-lesson – Direct instruction lasting between 5-15 minutes.
2. Status of the Class – As students begin work on their individual writing project, the teacher quickly monitors the status of each student. Where are the students in their writing and how will they be spending their writing period? (2-3 minutes)
3. Writing and Conferencing – Students write and teachers either write or conference. The teachers can conference with individual students or small groups. Teachers are encourage to spend at least some workshop time actually writing themselves in order to model what authors do. (25- 40 minutes)
4. Sharing – There are a variety of ways to share. Author’s chair, peer editing, and reading to at least one other student are popular methods. (5-10 minutes)

Using the Writing Process in Writer’s Workshop

It is important to note that the entire Writer’s Workshop process incorporates the entire Writing Process. Here is a simple version of the writing process outlined for you:

1. Prewriting
2. Drafting
3. Revising
4. Proofreading
5. Publishing

The actual writing process is not a straight line and there are other models of the writing process which more accurately reflect the TRUE writing process. This five step model is “the classic version” and one which is easy for students to grasp. Essentially, this is what students will be implementing during Writer’s Workshop. 

Using the Six Traits of Effective Writing in Writer’s Workshop

Also worth mentioning is that a natural part or integration of Writer’s Workshop is the Six Traits of Effective Writing model.

The Six Traits of Effective Writing are:
1. Ideas
2. Organization
3. Voice
4. Word Choice
5. Sentence Fluency
6. Conventions

Let’s Use More and More and More Workshops!

 How important is Writer’s Workshop to creating fantastic writers? Proponents propose that it is indispensible to creating students who can truly write. But before we go hog-wild on Writer’s Workshop here are some more workshops where the proponents propose the dire necessity of the workshop.

• Reader’s Workshop – Your students will develop independence in reading and become lifelong readers outside of the classroom. Your students will conference with peers and teachers yet the focus is always on becoming independent learners. Reader’s Workshop often becomes the favorite part of a student’s day!

• Independent Work Time (IWT) – Students must have a time each day where they work productively in groups while the teacher meets the needs of individual children. Teachers also need a time where they can challenge advanced students and give support to struggling students… and the Independent Work Time Workshop is the method you should use!

• Math Workshop – Meet the needs of your children! Boring textbooks leave behind the students who can’t keep up while too much hands-on math ensures that all your students will fall behind. We have the perfect solution. It’s “Math Workshop!” We have uniquely found the right balance!

I think you will be able to find a “workshop theory” for every single subject and every single concept that a teacher might teach.

The Truth about Writer’s Workshop

The truth about Writer’s Workshop is that teachers have used workshop strategies for years and years without a lot of the rhetoric associated with “Writer’s Workshop.”

Many workshop strategies are used across the curriculum in order to:
• differentiate instruction
• scaffold instruction
• meet student’s needs

Sometimes people get carried away with “philosophies.” Can anyone say “out of touch administrators” or “professional development guru?” It seems a lot of decision makers have not been running a classroom for a long, long time…

Personally I use many aspects of Writer’s Workshop… and… I also know I have to use my time wisely!

There is not enough time in the day for workshop after workshop and still teach the curriculum and meet state standards and prepare for the upcoming standardized test.

But… it’s great to know about all these theories and strategies so we can continue to grow as teachers!

Be sure to:
1. Check back for Part 2 of this series
2. Read “The Controversy over Writer’s Workshop in Elementary and Middle School”
3. Go to the homepage and discover “Pattern Based Writing: Quick and Easy Essay.”

Teaching writing… in the world of teaching… is “controversial.” So few teachers really feel they know how to teach “writing” well. Everyone feels they teach “grammar” just fine, but writing… This feeling of uncertainty creates defensiveness and high emotions.

But even in the world of teaching writing… just the mention of “Writer’s Workshop” will get people all worked up. I know of one teacher’s forum on the internet in which a VERY heated debate over Writer’s Workshop has lasted for years. Tempers rise, accusations fly… and then finally someone says, “What exactly is Writer’s Workshop? I don’t get it…”

Writer’s Workshop: A History of Controversy

Let’s face it, “Writer’s Workshop” was born in the adult world and has been transferred over to the world of elementary and middle school writing. “Writer’s Workshop” in the adult world can bring up vivid images of hippy-communes and groups of beatniks writing in Greenwich Village. (I’ve seen some classrooms that use Writer’s Workshop which aren’t much different!)

Writer’s Workshop Works… But Only for Some Kinds of Teachers

Some teachers swear by Writer’s Workshop… others swear AT Writer’s Workshop. I think it’s good to understand a few different “kinds of teachers” as it will help you to decide if Writer’s Workshop is for you. I hate to categorize teachers, but when it comes to Writer’s Workshop, some will have great success and others will completely flop.

“To thine own self be true!”
                                             William Shakespeare

Two out of these four kinds of teachers will have success with Writer’s Workshop.  Which two do you think it will be?

1. flowery teachers
2. brass-tacks teachers
3. flowery talking teachers who are really brass-tacks teachers
4. brass-tacks talking teachers who are really flowery teachers

Answer: Teachers number 3 and 4.

Here’s Why:
1. flowery teachers – School and teaching writing is not about running a hippy commune where “it’s all good.” We are teaching students to be successful at school. Sooner or later being successful at school involves doing things correctly. With a flowery teacher who is not keeping an eye on results, too many kids will slip through the cracks and won’t MASTER the skills needed to be successful students.
2. brass-tacks teachers – This teacher wants results. They want results that can be measured and measured now. Writer’s Workshop will be an exercise in frustration for them. They will not have the patience to watch “progress over time” and “developing the love for writing” is not something they consider to be measurable.
3. flowery talking teachers who are really brass-tacks teachers - These teachers will have the greatest success with Writer’s Workshop. They buy into the philosophy and are firecrackers when it comes to monitoring what students are doing.
4. brass-tacks talking teachers who are really flowery teachers – These teachers will have success because at their heart they want kids to enjoy school. Writer’s Workshop will be a fun change of pace for their students. They will run a tight-ship during Writer’s Workshop and they will get results. It will be effective… but it will come a little bit at the expense of students developing a true love for the art of writing.

Be sure to check back for:
1. What Exactly is Writer’s Workshop? 
2. Tips, Tricks, Pros and Cons of Using Writer’s Workshop in the Classroom

What happens when no one ever sees a child’s writing? You guessed it, decreased motivation and lower quality writing. Publishing student writing is a vital part of the writing process. While it’s true many writers write only for themselves, it’s also true that the more people who read a child’s writing, the better their writing is likely to become.

You may also enjoy reading about the Pattern Based Writing Timed Writing System. It’s a self-monitoring evaluation system, which has the outcome of being a published portfolio powered by students’ own internal ego-based nitroglycerine. The best kind of competition is when you are in competition with yourself!

Now let’s find out what some of the most important names in teaching writing research have to say about publishing student writing!

Publishing Children’s Writing

To make writing public, the writer must have an audience. The audience becomes the writer’s stimulus–the purpose for writing. If children do not have a purpose for writing (i.e., an intended audience) then writing becomes an “exercise” for a non-communicative event. Children who have not published do not write for an audience, but instead write for a critical reader–the teacher.

Publishing for early writers may mean reading their writing to teachers, a group of children, a friend, or a parent. Publication may mean showing or displaying the work. Writing can be displayed on bulletin boards, on classroom walls or in the halls, mailed to pen pals, sent home, or published in “real” book form. Publishing “real” books is a child-centered production, where the child designs the book cover and illustrates the book, has a dedication and title page, and may even have a page written “about the author.” Students model bookmaking just like real authors.

WRITING COMPETITIONS

Some schools or school districts have writing competitions. The author of the best handmade book in each classroom gets to attend a conference for young authors. Some schools arrange for all children in the school to attend the conference. A children’s book author may be contacted to talk to the young authors, and workshops on writing may be conducted in which children share ideas about being authors with each other. The children’s books are displayed, then put in their school libraries for others to read. Copies are sometimes made and placed in public libraries to reach others in the community.

Some people question the need for and value of writing competitions. One may think the rewards for becoming an author are publication and the self-satisfaction that comes from sharing one’s idea. But acknowledgement of good writing, whether it is peer or adult, helps build an awareness of the importance of writing.

Calkins (1986) and Hansen (1987) support rewards but also see the need to celebrate throughout the school year. They encourage teachers not to wait until the end of the school year to celebrate authorship. The celebration should take place early in the year and continue throughout the school year. Make scissors, markers, crayons, paper, and other bookmaking materials and techniques available in September to encourage and excite students about publishing. Schedule author conferences periodically and invite the public in to browse. Events can be centered around completion of a topic, celebration of holidays, “awareness” weeks, or featured students, careers, etc. These celebrations of authorship to the process writing curriculum generate excitement about writing, and they promote more writing in classrooms.

CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT

How teachers choose to make student writing public may not be as significant as the attitude instilled in students during writing (Balcer, 1990). “That means treating students to that final and ultimate writerly pleasure of finding their words come alive in the faces of their listeners and their readers” (Willinsky, 1985). The classroom atmosphere determines the amount and kind of risks taken in writing. Children need to feel support and acceptance from teachers and peers to take the kind of risks involved in the process of producing good writing. When children feel safe from criticism, they become eager to write and to share their writing. The class becomes a community of writers.

During publication, children can play both the roles of author and audience to other children’s pieces. Instead of questioning the teacher, they can question each other for clarity of meaning. Children as authors use the ideas of their audience when revising their writing. As audience, they have the opportunity to see their ideas used by other students in their revised stories. Shifting from author to audience and back encourages children to become perceptive readers and writers.

It is also important that children confer with each other as they write. Some time should be set aside daily for children to read orally what they have written or are in the process of writing. Older children who are experiencing difficulty with writing may find it less threatening to share their writing with younger students. The benefits of such sharing are twofold: the older student gains the confidence and esteem needed in order to continue his/her writing, and the younger student sees, early on in his/her learning, the connection between reading and writing.

THE “AUTHOR’S CHAIR”

An integral part of the publication stage is sharing. Graves and Hansen (1983) refer to this sharing as the “author’s chair.” As writers, children struggle to put their thoughts on paper, and they talk about these thoughts with other writers. As readers, they compose messages and ask questions about published books. They play, they invent, they mimic, when they compose in reading and writing and sitting on the “author’s chair.” Use of an author’s chair gives children feedback on their writing, models conferencing, and develops a sense of “community” for writing and authoring (Graves and Hansen, 1983).

Hansen (1987) says young authors need to respond to other authors if they are to make the important connection between reading and writing. “Authors who share their own writing and who ask other authors questions experience connections between reading and writing,” states Hansen. She describes 4 different response situations: (1) response to unfinished pieces; (2) response to an author’s published piece; (3) response to other student’s published books; and (4) response to books by professional authors. These situations all need to occur in the classroom for children to develop a sense of authorship.

Harste (1988) sees his “author’s circle” as “crucial in helping authors develop the sense of audience so essential to becoming a writer who can successfully communicate with others.” This sharing and responding helps students develop a reader perspective on their writing among readers they know and trust. The child receives opinions and ideas from many children, whereas during individual conferences, the author receives the comments of only one person. Children learn how to be helpful responders in an author’s circle. They learn how to discover good qualities in a piece, and how to ask good questions about the content. Additionally, circle participants learn that their ideas are valued when many of them later turn up in the work of the authors they have helped.

In the process of revision, children become responsible for corrections. A piece ready for publication must contain correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, and good handwriting. It is important that the writing not be taken away from the writer during the publication stage. Final decisions about content, title, and so on, must be made by the author who must also attend to conventions. When involved in group publication, the author should remain in control of publishing decisions about illustrations, layout, form of publication, etc.

Hansen (1987) feels that students who attend to their own misspellings, errors in punctuation, grammar, and so on during the editing stage of publication learn and remember more of the mechanics of writing than if the errors are found for them. Calkins (1986) believes that even adult writers who are writing for publication must release their work at some point to have it corrected by editors. She argues that, as writers, we no longer want to “own” those errors. If teachers choose to do the final edit, they are taking the “ownership” of the writing from the writer, and they should be aware of the effects this may have on future writing for students in the classroom.

Teachers need to know their purposes for having children write. Ultimately, the goal is for students to be able to express themselves and what they are learning through writing that clearly conveys meaning to the reader. Realistically, teachers must give students support and encouragement to “make their best better,” and in so doing, children must be allowed to be responsible for all the components of publication.

Making writing public brings an additional dimension to reading and writing. Writers view themselves as authors and value the interaction with their audience in the process of writing. A cooperative and caring environment that invites children to share and to respond is the type of supportive environment in which children’s reading and writing can flourish.

REFERENCES

Balcer, B. (1990). “Give Your Students a Reason to Write. Help Them Get Published.” Learning, 19(4), 52-55. [EJ 425 086]

Calkins, L. (1986). The Art of Teaching Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. [ED 263 613]

Graves, D. and Hansen, J. (1983). “The Author’s Chair.” Language Arts, 60 (2), 176-83. [EJ 276 117]

Hansen, J. (1987). When Writers Read. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. [ED 282 226]

Harste, J. et al. (1988). Creating Classrooms for Authors: The Reading Writing Connection. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. [ED 320 168]

Willinsky, J. (1985). “To Publish and Publish and Publish.” Language Arts, 62(6), 619-23. [EJ 323 411]

Author: Simic, Marjorie

Source: ERIC Clearinghouse