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Since I am teaching all year levels in primary, this different writing process is really helpful.

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Since I am teaching all year levels in primary, this different writing process is really helpful.

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Anchor Chart for Idea Generating and Planning Strategies for Nonfiction Writing

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Reading and Writing Workshop in International Schools

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Reading and Writing Workshop in International Schools

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Great group focused on literacy in International Schools!

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Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

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The Classroom Essentials Series

A foundational guide to the principles, practices, structure, and daily routines of Writing Workshop.

*How can I get started with writing workshop, or refine my workshop?
*What are the essential elements of a writing workshop?
*How can I create daily structures and routines that support writers?

In this foundational guide, Katherine Bomer and Corinne Arens describe the elegant simplicity of a Writing Workshop focused on just three essentials-time, choice, and response. Based on the research-based belief that children learn to write best when we provide a predictable, daily structure for writing, Katherine and Corinne introduce teachers to the rituals and routines of writing workshop and suggest ways to take small, incremental steps toward implementing them. Shared from the viewpoint of two veteran educators who understand the issues and obstacles teachers face day to day, A Teacher's Guide to Writing Workshop Essentials also serves as a refresher for experienced workshop teachers looking for a chance to refocus, clarify, and extend the work in their practice. If your teaching has become more complicated and more focused on curriculum than on the writers sitting in front of you, if you're not sure what your students really need to support them as writers, or if you're just not sure how to get started with Writing Workshop, this guide is for you.

(click any section below to continue reading)

Contents

Part One: Writing Workshop Essentials
Writing Workshop Structure

Part Two: Time
Working In Time
What Students Do in the Writing "Bubble of Time"
What Teachers Do in the Writing "Bubble of Time"
Predictable Time Matters
Work That Extend Across Time
Protecting Writing Workshop Time
Benefits of Breaking Out of the "Bubble"
Writing Workshop and Multilingual Students

Part Three: Choice
Understanding Decision Making
Choice Matters
Possibilities for Maximizing Student Choice
Starting with Choice Right From the Start
Writing Workshop and Multilingual Students

Part Four: Response
Response Matters
Structures and Routines for Daily Response
Teaching Students About the Give and Take of Response
Extending Response Beyond the Walls of the Classroom
Writing Workshop and Multilingual Students

Part Five: Time, Choice, and Response Across a School Year
What You Will Likely See Early in the Year
What You Will Likely See as the Year Progresses
"I'm the Kind of Writer Who..."

Companion Resources

Related PD Services

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A Teacher's Guide to Writing Workshop Essentials: Time, Choice, Response

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A foundational guide to the principles, practices, structure, and daily routines of Writing Workshop. - Heinemann

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Blog Post on Two Writing Teachers

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My first interactions with something called, The Writing Process, involved a chart in the shape of a circle. We know this chart. It has words like planning, prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing drawn circularly, implying that one naturally leads to the next, and then it begins all over again. All of these labels, words associated with a writing process, can belong to any writer within any genre. A writer's process (notice that apostrophe?) is more complicated than a simple path of steps to rinse and repeat. Does each of these elements live within a writer's process? Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don't. The time spent within different parts is often determined by the comfort the writer feels within the subject. As writers voraciously draft, little else is happening. As writers draft, stop, reread, and rework there is planning and revising of thought all within a cycle that cannot be limited by time or steps.

Many would argue that someone going through the process of writing something always ends with a publication. Has anyone ever read a second or third edition of a text? I have. Those typically occur after publication and include revisions and edits to the original published piece, which reveals that the edges of a writer's process are blurry. A writer working within these processes is learning to navigate toward clarity. Thinking evolves, and therefore a writer does too.

A writer's process belongs to the writer. It cannot be devised or determined. It can be influenced. It cannot be prescribed or scripted. It can be observed. It cannot be taken or credited. It can be nurtured.

As teachers of young writers who are learning their process, we can provide experiences involved in uncovering their process. When we look at writers as creators, sculptors of meaning, painters of ideas, and blenders of knowledge, we realize every piece is created as unique as its creator.

So the question becomes, how do we influence, observe, and nurture?

INFLUENCE

To influence our writers to experiment with elements of writing they may feel less comfortable with, we can model and demonstrate what they look like. For students reluctant to revise, experimenting together within minilessons and active engagement of a writing workshop allows students to be influenced by the power of the elements the writing process offers. The image below shows a revision plan my students helped me create for a realistic fiction story I was writing. Making a plan for revision helped me to break apart different ways I could revise and then choose one to try.

Using process shares at the end of your writing workshop allows writers to influence each other. Initially, we can help writers name and share elements of their process with peers. As writers learn to identify their process within different genres, a writer's process can be shared within partnership work with more independence.

OBSERVE

As we watch and observe our student writers engage in their process, what we gather will help us guide writers toward the less natural parts of a writer's process.

Asking students, "What are you working on as a writer today?" Then listening intently for keywords that match writing process elements will help us share our observations.

"I heard you say you are writing a lot of words today about the problem in your story. It sounds like you are drafting some middle parts of your fiction piece. What do you plan to do after you get all those ideas drafted?"

Below are three short videos of third-grade students sharing parts of their writing process within a realistic fiction unit.

Writers don't always know how to accurately name the elements they use, so when we can point out words like drafting, revising, planning, it helps students become more aware and later more intent on using a process.

NURTURE

For me, nurture marries well with independence. If I am nurturing a student writer, I am honoring where they are and creating an environment for them to grow on their own.

As students begin to approximate, we can show them our noticings, "Wow, did you see what you did there?" Pointing our their milestones to create a sense of accomplishment that could otherwise go unnoticed. I find when I'm able to name and nurture my writers' processes, they become more driven and intentional, repeating these writing behaviors independently.

What could be more rewarding than accomplishing something while doing it your own way? Allowing our writers to discover and value their own personal writing process encourages them to tackle it over and over again with more and more vulnerability, independence, and confidence.

Share your questions, practices, and comments below, and you will be entered in a giveaway for two resources that can further help you influence, observe, and nurture your writers in any genre you teach. Also, reach out through twitter, (@Betsy_writes) to continue the conversation and support each other as we support our writers.

Giveaway Information:

This giveaway is for a copy of each of the following books: Craft and Process Studies: Units that Provide Writers with Choice of Genre by Matt Glover and Focus Lessons: How Photography Enhances the Teaching of Writing by Ralph Fletcher. Thanks to Heinemann for donating a copy for one reader. (You must have a U.S. mailing address to win a print copy of this book.)

For a chance to win this copy of Craft and Process Studies and Focus Lessons, please leave a comment about this or any blog post in this blog series by Sunday, February 9th, at 6:00 p.m. EST. Betsy Hubbard will use a random number generator to pick the winner's commenter number and announce the name in the ICYMI blog post for this series on Monday, February 10th.

Please leave a valid email address when you post your comment so Betsy can contact you to obtain your mailing address if you win. From there, our contact at Heinemann will ship the book to you. (NOTE: Your email address will not be published online if you leave it in the email field only.)

If you are the winner of the book, Betsy will email you with the subject line of TWO WRITING TEACHERS - EXPAND THE POSSIBILITIES. Please respond to her email with your mailing address within five days of receipt. A new winner will be chosen if a response isn't received within five days of the giveaway announcement.

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The Writer's Process: Expand the Possibilities of the Genres You Teach

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My first interactions with something called, The Writing Process, involved a chart in the shape of a circle. We know this chart. It has words like planning, prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing drawn circularly, implying that one naturally leads to the next, and then it begins all over again.

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Skill Progressions, J. Serravallo

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Strategies and lessons for teaching writing in Kindergarten through elementary to seventh grade with differentiation and inquiry. Complete guide with ideas for small group guided, shared, and interactive writing. Improve engagement and independence though social support and teacher feedback.

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Skill Progressions, TCRWP

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"These assessment tools make progress in writing as transparent, concrete, and obtainable as possible and put ownership for this progress into the hands of learners, allowing students and teachers to work toward a very clear image of what good writing entails."
-Lucy Calkins, Writing Pathways
Lucy Calkins' groundbreaking performance assessments offer instructional tools to support continuous assessment, timely feedback, and clear goals tied to learning progressions that have been aligned with world-class standards. Originally published as part of the bestselling Units of Study in Opinion/Argument, Information, and Narrative Writing, grades K-8, Writing Pathways is ideal for writing workshop, but suitable for any writing instruction context or curriculum.

This practical guide includes:

Learning progressions for opinion/argument, information, and narrative writing, which map the specific benchmarks students will master for every grade level

On-demand writing prompts that support schoolwide performance assessment

Student checklists to help students set goals and integrate crucial self-assessment into their work

Rubrics to support individual teachers and professional learning communities as they evaluate mastery and plan instruction within and across grade levels

Student writing samples that illustrate different ways students have exemplified standards and highlight essential features of each writing genre

Annotated exemplar pieces of writing on the same topic for every grade level that highlight the traits you can expect to see at each level of the learning progressions.

Who needs Writing Pathways?

Educators who are not yet ready to implement the full Units of Study curriculum can use Writing Pathways to get started with Lucy Calkins' proven approach to writing assessment and instruction.

Coaches and administrators who are supporting implementation of Lucy Calkins' Units of Study will find Writing Pathways to be an ideal resource to guide their work.

Who doesn't need Writing Pathways?

The content in this stand-alone edition is the same as in the previous editions found in Lucy Calkins' Units of Study (K-5 and 6-8 are combined in this new edition). Teachers who have the Units of Study do not need this new edition.
For more information, visit UnitsofStudy.com.

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"These assessment tools make progress in writing as transparent, concrete, and obtainable as possible and put ownership for this progress into the hands

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Why & What of Workshop: Connect, Extend, Challenge Reflection

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Why & What of Workshop: Connect, Extend, Challenge Reflection

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Reflecting on Writing Process Experience

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Reflecting on Writing Process Experience

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Notecatcher for Studying Writers at Work

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Notecatcher for Studying Writers at Work

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I love that notecatcher template - I would love more tools like that to work with when conferencing with my Year 1s.

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Was good to revisit the writing process and be a writer to feel what that is like once again. 

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Was good to revisit the writing process and be a writer to feel what that is like once again. 

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GOTS: Great reminders about Choice, Voice and Ownership in writing.
WANTS: Classroom management during independent writing for MS students. Getting MS students motivated and engaged in writing.

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Good to see the tools and informal setups of classes used

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Good to see the tools and informal setups of classes used

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I would love to watch some videos of mini-lessons. I'm working on trying to shorten mine!

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Got - The process is not linear.

Want - The note catcher to study the traits of the writer.

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I loved the examples of a the writers tool space visuals..and the discussions/ reminders on giving students choice and time!

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I have been out of the classroom for a year and this was a good reminder of the philosophy of Workshop. Wants- Ways to engage online

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I have been out of the classroom for a year and this was a good reminder of the philosophy of Workshop. Wants- Ways to engage online

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GOT - a visual how writing process across primary look like.

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GOT - a visual how writing process across primary look like.

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WANT - to know more about the tools needed in writing process.

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being able to revise the true nature and engaging steps of writing process that really scaffolded students to write the own writing in more pleasing ways. Lingga and Tsuroya

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we want to know more about the instructional strategy in coping the whole process mentioned in the workshop. mostly K-G2 writers as we've been working with younger students for the last 6 months.
Tsuroya and Lingga

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Strategies for team teaching in Writers' Workshop

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WANT- more understanding of extending and gaining more complex outcomes in younger writers

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WANT- more understanding of extending and gaining more complex outcomes in younger writers

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ideas for creating a self motivating class in writing lessons and ideas to encourage students to self reflect on writing

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Teaching Students to Examine Craft Moves and Author’s intent in Mentor Persuasive Essay in Order to Support Revision (5-8)

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This is for a READING strategy. Helpful for envisioning the structure for a WRITING strategy micro lesson

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Setting, Mood, & Impacts on Character (Str TI.27 Complete Comprehension: Fiction (c)2019 Serravallo)

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Writers think ahead in different ways. Some plan extensively while others let writing unfold as they write. Listen to authors talk about the role of planning and thinking ahead.

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From A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences of The Classroom Essentials Series
Invite students to have a real give-and-take with you.

Even though in conferences you're a teacher talking to students, you're also a (more experienced) writer talking to (less experienced) fellow writers about what writers do-come up with topics, make a plan for a piece of writing, write a lead, develop a section
with detail, use commas in a series, and so on. In this give and take, you learn about what students are trying to do as writers and how well they're doing it, and the students learn how they can do their work better.

Speak in a conversational tone.

Tone is the foundation of the good relationships you want to develop with students over the course of the school year. Speaking in a warm, friendly manner puts students at ease and makes it more likely they will talk with you about what they're trying to do as writers. What you learn from this talk helps you assess students and decide what you should teach to help them grow.

Sit alongside students, at their eye level.

How you sit with students helps you establish a positive tone in conferences. You might grab a nearby empty seat or sit on one that you carry with you around the classroom. As you sit, it's important to make frequent eye contact with students and make sure that your
facial expressions show an interest in what students are telling you.

Use "active listening" strategies.

For example, give some wait time after asking a question so that students have the time and space they need to come up with a response. Ask students to "say more" about what they tell you. And repeat what children say to check that you're hearing them correctly.
Using these strategies shows that you have a real interest in what students are saying and that you're really trying to understand them. Students will usually respond by talking to you more.

The goal of a writing conference is to teach students something about writing that they can use in the future. If you add to students' writing repertoires in every conference, they become better writers over time.

Learn more at Heinemann.com

Carl Anderson is one of the nation's leading experts on teaching writing to students in grades K-12. He dedicates his energies exclusively as an education consultant and writer.

Carl recently worked for Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University as a Lead Staff Developer, providing staff development in the teaching of writing grades K-8. He spent school days in New York City elementary and middle schools demonstrating effective teaching in the writing workshop and coaching teachers. He gave day-long workshops for teachers at Teachers College on launching the writing workshop, conferring with student writers, mini-lessons, and developing curriculum for the writing workshop.

Carl is the author of numerous books including the bestselling How's It Going? A Practical Guide to Conferring with Student Writers, as well as Assessing Writers and the series Strategic Writing Conferences: Smart Conversations that Move Young Writers Forward Grades 3-6.

His latest book, A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences, is part of the Classroom Essentials series. Full of classroom video, the book helps teachers understand the underlying principles and reasons for conferring with students, and how to make writing conferences a part of teachers' daily routines.

Follow Carl on Twitter @ConferringCarl

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The goal of a writing conference is to teach students something about writing that they can use in the future. If you add to students' writing repertoires in every conference, they become better writers over time.

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Parent Video - Helping Writers Find Topics

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Parent Video - Helping Writers Find Topics

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Gots - I liked the writing process clip system - It would be perfect for my little ones.

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Great to see the hanging displays to make it really visible where students are in the process! Thank you.

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GOTS: Very helpful scaffolding minilesson that can be used right away.
WANTS: Getting the MS students to be excited about writing is a difficult task. One way it was done was by making a class magazine that was professionally printed for each student. What are others ideas to get these kids excited?

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Got: I really like the idea of creating a process chart for my students to show what stage they are at in the writing process.
Wants: Photos, examples of writing displays. I have limited wall space in my classroom.

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Gots:  Loved the hanging student writing process tracker with clothespins.  Also the many other organizing scaffolds and tools for students of all ages. 

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Gots:  Loved the hanging student writing process tracker with clothespins.  Also the many other organizing scaffolds and tools for students of all ages. 

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Wants: Great Session! Thank you!

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Virtual Conference with Brittany (KG Author)

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Virtual Conference with Brittany (KG Author)

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This writer is drafting a How-To Book

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This writer is planning and developing his idea for persuasive writing.

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A Writing Conference: Teaching a Student to Write for Audience (3-5)

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Add an action artifact such as a photo of an anchor chart, your writers at work, your own writing, or some student writing. Let's celebrate!

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GOTS: The Art & Science of Conferring
WANTS: More examples/videos of teachers in action please. Today's video of the G4-5 conference was awesome!

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gots: love the conference example, and the art+architecture of conferring.

wants: Could we see some examples of revision strategies for opinion/narrative writing for younger students please? Perhaps examples of anchor charts?

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A major 'got' is the focus on transfer and I want to get ahead and apply this more consistently to my practice.

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I really enjoyed the kindergarten video, hearing the sense of agency in the child leading the direction of the writing, and seeing her adorable enthusiasm. I will work on making an anchor chart visible and celebrating the PROCESS of the learning journey.

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I loved watching the videos! I would like to see more examples of student writing across the grades.

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I like the video.
Got: seeing how writing workshop in action from the video
Wants: more video for each grade and for different topic

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1 Shift in Thinking...
1 Thing You're Excited to Try...
1 Wondering...

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Writing Celebration Ideas - Google Jamboard

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The version of the browser you are using is no longer supported. Please upgrade to a supported browser. Dismiss

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I used to think feedback came primarily from the teacher.
I now think that peer-to-peer feedback is just as valuable.

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1 shift in thinking: using other students to help during conferences - having them answer questions about their writing, not just showing their work

1 thing I'm excited to try: making publishing parties more fun

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What we display is what we value has struck a cord with me and moving forward I will use this to make sure that all aspects of writing are equally valued and displayed.

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I'm excited to try making a toolkit for the unit of study

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I used to think that writing is difficult
I am excited to write my own book, and be able to tell the kids that everyone can write too
I am wondering if having your book published only a matter just published or we really need to keep the quality at the best

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We are working to develop our writers, not texts or writing.

Excited to build and share my repertoire for each stage of the writing process.

Currently wondering about drafting strategies and tools...

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I forgot that coming up with ideas for writing is not that easy. Students and adults need guidance in brainstorming for ideas.
I look forward to focusing the conferences on the strategies students are using rather than how far they have gone with their writing.
I wonder how/when I can share this with my colleagues, on top of the curriculum they are already using at the moment.

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Shift in thinking = teaching much more into the editing process.

Excited to try:  Using a wider array of editing tools.

Wondering:  How to capitalize on peer to peer feedback even more than I do currently.

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Building a school culture of writers
"What we celebrate communicates what we value"

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ensure the question starts a dialogue
try more sign ups for conferencing
wonder how peer to peer feedback will produce better editing

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excited to celebrate their writing and try new publishing party ideas to get them excited and motivated

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I used to think that feedback was time & genre-specific but now I see that the best feedback is enduring feedback that can be transferred across genres and times

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Making the student feel like the author and refer to them in this way.

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Adrienne Truchi (Year 3) atruchi@ccsbali.com

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mwade@ccsbali.com

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lross@ccsbali.com

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Beth Ibrahim
Year 1 (Kindergarten)
bibrahim@ccsbali.com

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Sungeun Park
sungeun.park@sjajeju.kr

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friskatitinova@alumni.ui.ac.id

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Adam Ortega -Grade 2 - Tsukuba International - Japan

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Adam Ortega -Grade 2 - Tsukuba International - Japan

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ortega@tis.ac.jp
I'd be happy to work with anyone on developing (or finding) tools, strategies, anchor charts -- repertoire.

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Yanti
suyanti@ccsbali.com