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Writing workshop is a time for our students to grow as writers and this can be more difficult for our students who are not native English speakers. Although all of our English Language learners have different levels of understanding, they all have knowledge of writing that they can bring to Writer's Workshop. In my classroom, peer-review time is important for letting students learn from their peers and gain a deeper understanding of their writing. I model for the class how I would peer-review and then let my students partner up and give each other constructive and positive verbal and written feedback to each other. After, they are able to craft check-lists together based on what they know about their writing and what they are required to do in their writing.
Another extremely important aspect of bridging borders in our classroom is incorporating families and backgrounds into our writing and sharing. I want my students to feel comfortable and excited to talk about their families and their cultures. I try to involve families as much as I can by having parents help with specific writing assignments and assigning writing topics that have to do with children's families and backgrounds.
It is important for me to make sure that my students' know that although we are developing our writing in English during writing workshop, that doesn't mean that my classroom doesn't value their native language. I give my students opportunities to write and share stories in their native language while still working on developing their knowledge of the English language. Every student is different so I take the time to learn how much my student knows in their first language (writing, reading, and speaking) and what stage of language acquisition they are in so the language goals we create aren’t too challenging. After I feel like I've learned everything I can about the specific child and their family and background, I can modify and tailor my instruction to support that student as best as I can.

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After we have organized ideas, drafted, conferenced, revised, and published our writing, I think it is extremely important to give students' an opportunity to share their writing with their peers. I incorporate sharing into writing workshop for three reasons: audience, community, and celebration. We ask ourselves, "why do we write?" and our answer is always, to tell a story to an audience. I believe that it is crucial to give students the opportunity to see what the purpose of their time and effort they put into writing is for. In terms of community, I believe students should share their writing so as a class we can learn about our peers' likes, dislikes, background, and overall personality. And finally celebration, during our sharing we are giving students' the opportunity to compliment and suggest in response to their peers' writing.

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Partner time in our classroom is after everyone has gotten the opportunity to write freely on their own. During partner time, students are encouraged to talk about their writing! They can bounce ideas of one another, ask for advice, and simply just talk about what they're writing about. I feel that this component of Writer's Workshop is essential because it's important for students to get feedback from not just their teacher, but their peers also. They are using their communication skills and have the ability to confide in a peer and share ideas and thoughts that they might not feel comfortable sharing with me.

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Writing Workshop: Independent Writing Time

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Writing Workshop: Independent Writing Time

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Independent writing time is a designated and sacred time in our classroom where students are encouraged to free-write and use their ideas and techniques that they have learned. I like to remind students to focus on solely getting their ideas on paper rather than worrying about spelling, grammar, and other factors that we will eventually focus on in the revising period of our writing process. I do this because I want my students to focus on the content of their ideas and not stress about what they might be missing or doing wrong in their writing.

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The mini-lesson is the foundation for our writing workshop. I like to demonstrate and model an aspect of writing that I believe will help our class become better writers. During the mini-lesson, students have the opportunity to watch me as I explain and model the writing tool or technique. Next, they are able to work as a group or in partners to practice the writing technique. Finally, they are encouraged to try the writing on their own and hopefully incorporate it into their own writing.