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video on conferring: teach the writer not the writing

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video on conferring: teach the writer not the writing

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Conferring: Finding Big Ideas in Opinion Writing

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Teaching children to write - to express their ideas clearly and creatively, and to find joy in the process - is a complex task. To grow as writers, children need explicit instruction in the craft, mechanics, and process of writing, choice in what to write about, and plenty of time to practice.

Writing Workshop is an instructional practice designed to help children become confident and capable writers. During Writing Workshop, children have time to work independently and with their peers. They engage in the writing process by selecting topics, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing their original work. They receive explicit instruction in the craft of writing from exploring genre, to organizing their pieces, to word choice, style, and mechanics.

The workshop structure encourages children to think of themselves as writers and take their writing seriously. It gives children the skills to express their important thoughts and celebrates the fact that their stories and ideas matter and are worth expressing.

What is Writing Workshop?

Writing Workshop is an organizational framework for teaching writing. The framework consists of three components: the mini-lesson, work time, and share time. The Writing Workshop structure is an efficient and effective way to deliver writing instruction to meet the needs of all learners.

Each Writing Workshop session begins with a mini-lesson, during which you explicitly teach the children a specific writing skill or strategy over the course of five to 15 minutes. Use the mini-lesson to address the writing needs of your children as determined by your curriculum, state and local standards, and most importantly, formative assessment. Your conference notes and the children's writing help you identify a primary literacy objective for the mini-lesson. During the mini-lesson, explain what you are teaching and how it will help the children become better writers. Model and demonstrate the use of the skill or strategy, thinking aloud throughout the process. Give the children a chance to try out the skill or strategy right there on the carpet.

The mini-lesson is immediately followed by work time, the component that is the heart of Writing Workshop and occupies its largest block of time. During work time, the children write - both independently and with partners. They apply what they've learned from the current and past mini-lessons to their writing. It is during work time that you can differentiate your writing instruction. To do this, conduct one-to-one writing conferences with children, taking careful notes throughout each conference. You might also work with small groups of children who have similar instructional needs in writing. Increase the amount of writing time as the children's stamina increases.

Share time comes at the end of the workshop. During share time, two or three children share their writing with the class. Writing deserves an audience, and share time is one of the ways to provide it. The "authors" might show how they've applied the day's mini lesson to their own writing. They might show what they've learned about writing or about themselves as writers. Usually only a few sentences will be shared, but sometimes a child will share a completed piece of writing. Share time is motivating for the children, and it provides peer models for them.

Why Writing Workshop?

Being a capable, confident writer is a necessary skill for children to be successful in school and in life. As they progress through the grades, they'll need to write summaries, reports, critiques, and essays. To be functioning adults, they'll need to write in both their working lives (e.g., letters, memoranda, and reports) and their daily lives outside of the workplace (e.g., shopping lists, emails, and notes). Through daily writing in a workshop, children can learn to effectively communicate in writing.

Writing Workshop is uniquely structured to help children develop positive attitudes about writing and progress as writers. Through writing, children have voice and agency - a way to express their ideas. This can be a deep source of satisfaction. The Writing Workshop structure provides manageable amounts of direct, explicit instruction that meets the developmental needs of our K-3 children: a lot of support, targeted feedback, and an audience for the children's writing. Most importantly, the Writing Workshop gives children plenty of writing time. Children can only grow as writers if they have repeated practice and opportunities to write independently.

Children are often eager to express their thoughts, ideas, and experiences. Sharing what we know and telling stories is an important part of learning and living in a community. Writing provides a suitable venue for children to share their thinking and ideas. As an additional bonus, writing helps children make sense of, clarify, and develop new learning and thinking. Our carefully planned lessons can facilitate children's ability to have the voice that they crave. In a Writing Workshop, unlike in settings where K-3 children often copy the teacher's writing, the children are the authors.

Finally, audience is a critical component of writing. That is, writing is meant to be read. An audience is often found for some of the children during work time, when pairs or small groups of children will read their writing to each other. But most of all, this is the primary focus of share time, the final component of the Writing Workshop. Each day during share time, two to three children have an opportunity to sit in the "author's chair" and share what they've written with others. In classrooms not using the workshop model, the teacher is often the only one who is an audience for writing, sharply reducing the opportunities for children to read their writing to others. This turns writing into a "written assignment" rather than a true mode of communication.

Writing and Reading Connection

Writing and reading are reciprocal processes: reading affects writing, and writing affects reading.

When children read a lot, they become better writers. Each reading experience represents another encounter with writing, which builds knowledge of writing and helps children to understand what good writing looks like and sounds like. This in turn helps to make them more critical readers of their own writing. Reading books across genres helps children learn story grammar, narrative structures, and informational text structures. Then they apply this knowledge to their own writing. Favorite books that are read and reread become mentors for children's writing.

Writing helps to build and develop reading skills. Our kindergarten and first grade children are actively involved in developing phonemic awareness and phonics skills. When they are working through the spelling of a word during their writing, often using developmental spelling, they are actively applying phonics skills. This has a powerful impact and is much more effective than isolated practice using worksheets. When children access the word wall to use a high frequency word in their writing, they are getting additional exposure to the word. The act of writing the word, which gets reinforced when they encounter it again while rereading their writing, helps the word become part of their sight word vocabulary.

Leverage the reading-writing connection in your read alouds, Reading and Writing Workshop mini-lessons, and shared writing. During read alouds, make a point of talking about the author's craft and the characteristics of different genres. Draw children's attention to word choice, style, and the structure of different texts you read and create together. Gradually build anchor charts to capture what you are discovering about writing together and connect the ideas you are learning about to children's own writing. Highlight the efforts of children who are experimenting with different writing styles and genres during share time.

Find books to use in your mini-lessons to support children's instructional needs in writing. For example, if your children are ready for a lesson in punctuation, read Yo! Yes? by Chris Raschka. If the children are overusing the same words in their writing, read aloud Come On Rain! by Karen Hesse. Explicitly teach children to chunk words for both reading and writing by using a book like One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root.

Collaboratively write a text with the children using the shared writing approach. You are doing the actual writing, but the children are contributing ideas and "helping" with the spelling and conventions to the extent of their abilities. Shared writing produces readable text for all children. Display the text of your completed shared writing lesson and encourage the children to read it when they "read the room."

Different Types of Writing Instruction

The components of a balanced writing program include modeled writing, shared or interactive writing, guided writing, and independent writing. These four components are based on the principal of the gradual release of responsibility developed by Pearson and Gallagher in 1993.

During modeled writing, you are demonstrating how writing works. You write in front of the children, thinking aloud throughout the entire process. Be sure that all the children can see the writing. Modeled writing is likely to occur in mini-lessons and, of course, Message Time Plus. Shared writing is a practice in which the teacher and the children share the responsibility for writing a text. The children's role is to verbalize the ideas in the text and to contribute to the spelling and writing conventions to the extent of their abilities. The teacher holds the pen and does the physical writing. The writing is usually done on chart paper and written large enough for all the children to see. The level of child responsibility in shared writing can be increased by employing interactive writing instead. Interactive writing follows the same structure as shared writing, except that the children and the teacher "share the pen." The teacher selects individual children to come up to write a word or even a letter in the message. When shared writing or interactive writing is completed, the teacher and children usually do a shared reading of the text.

Guided writing is a notable shift in teacher/child responsibility. In guided writing, the child "holds the pen" and is responsible for doing all of the writing. The teacher's role is that of support. Teachers coach, scaffold, and support children while they are writing. Guided writing usually occurs during one-on-one writing conferences and small group writing sessions.

Finally, independent writing is when children apply all of the important lessons that we have taught them to their own writing. The teacher's role in independent writing is just to supply time and resources for writing. Independent writing occurs during the work time component of Writing Workshop, in class writing centers, and during journal writing.

Reflect on Your Writing Workshop

Like any instructional practice, Writing Workshop will benefit from your reflection. Take some time to think about your current writing instruction. What are you doing that is effective? Where do you want to improve your practice?

Frequently Asked Questions

My children don't like to go back and revise their work. How do I help them improve their pieces?

Children who can write narratives with beginnings, middles, and ends (transitional writers) are ready to add revision to their writing process. Make sure children understand the difference between editing and revision. Explain that editing is about making sure a reader can understand the piece by reviewing the mechanics and conventions. Revising is about making a good piece of writing even stronger. Devote a number of mini-lessons to revision. Through shared writing, co-create a text. Spend two or three sessions revising it (better opener, vivid verbs, awesome adjectives, no tired words, etc.). Compare the first draft to the finished piece. Try devoting one workshop session a week to revision (Revision Wednesday?). For share time, pre-select children who made a special effort to revise their writing. Have them share the "before" and "after" of their pieces.

I model my writing for my children, and then they just copy what I wrote. How can I help them come up with their own ideas?

It's normal for children to copy writing. It's part of how they learn! As they gain confidence in their own abilities, and become eager to share their own ideas, they will branch out from the "safety" of copying. You can help children gain confidence by celebrating children's attempts, showing interest in their lives, and encouraging them to use their own invented spelling.

You can also help children by having them brainstorm a list of topics and display it, so the children can refer to the list. Have the children "turn and talk" to tell their partners what they plan to write. Ask the children who exhibit exceptional difficulty coming up with ideas to stay on the rug for an extra minute or two. Check in with each of the children to make sure they have decided upon an idea. You might even ask them to tell the first sentence of their piece.

How does spelling and grammar instruction fit into Writing Workshop?

Writing Workshop lends itself to the teaching of spelling and grammar because these lessons are taught within the context of actual writing for an authentic purpose rather than through isolated skill practice. Identify which lessons your children need by examining their writing. Then teach mini-lessons to target and address the children's instructional needs. Co-create anchor charts with the children to help them remember high utility grammar and spelling strategies and concepts. Teach children to use the resources in the room to check their spelling.

My children are still working on forming letters and writing their names. Can I still do Writing Workshop?

Absolutely! It sounds like your children are in the pre-emergent and emergent stages of writing. One of the things that helps them to grow as writers is many experiences with writing. In your mini-lessons and your daily Message Time Plus lessons, explicitly teach lessons like directionality, word boundaries, and matching sounds with symbols. Be sure to have individual-sized alphabet charts for the children to refer to while they are writing. Encourage them to draw a picture and label it. Many children will start out by labeling their picture with a single letter, but their labels will become more advanced over time. Have one-on-one conferences to zero in on individual needs. Don't forget share time, an opportunity for the children to show each other what they have accomplished.

Do I need to review and grade everything that my children produce?

Looking at children's writing is going to give you the information that you need to provide targeted instruction. So, although you don't need to grade everything, you really do have to find a way to see as much of their writing as you can. Consider providing each child with a writing folder. Have the children keep all of their writing from Writing Workshop in their folders. Create a schedule that allows you to examine writing folders at regular intervals. The number of papers in a folder indicates the volume of writing that the child is producing. Select one piece to assess with a rubric. Be sure to share the rubric with the children, so they will know how they are being assessed. Using this method, you should be able to assess one piece of writing a week for each child. That is usually enough to document the children's growth over time. You can also try asking the children to select one piece from their writing folders to submit for assessment. Clear out the writing folders after each unit or once a month. Make sure to preserve the pieces that you assessed with the rubric.

How do I manage independent writing time so that everyone is "on task"?

To ensure a productive independent writing time, the children must know the routines and procedures of Writing Workshop. Teach procedural lessons, practice and rehearse, and co-create anchor charts. Resist attempting conferences or convening small writing groups until the children know the routines. You must also be aware of the children's stamina for writing. This is simple to assess. Have them write, and note the starting time. When they become distracted, begin looking around, or start asking to go to the drinking fountain, they've reached their limit. Note how long they were able to write. Be assured that their stamina will increase over time. Nevertheless, the amount of time you allocate for independent writing must always be appropriate for their current level of stamina for writing. Walk around between conferences to be aware of what is happening. Make adjustments and offer options for children who need extra support. Finally, have the children self-assess and make goals or plans for improving their productivity during independent writing time.

What do I do with children when I meet with them one-on-one in a writing conference?

The architecture of the writing conference is research, decide, compliment, teach (Calkins, 2006). During the research part of the conference, you will need to find out what the writer needs. This can be discovered by having the child read their writing to you and have a conversation with the child. Then find something to compliment (i.e., point out something that the child is doing well) and decide what you are going to teach. Remember to teach only one thing. Try to find a concept that the child has partially mastered, and teach that concept. Close the conference by reiterating the teaching point and linking it to the child's ongoing work.

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Teaching children to write - to express their ideas clearly and creatively, and to find joy in the process - is a complex task. To grow as writers, children need explicit instruction in the craft, mechanics, and process of writing, choice in what to write about, and plenty of time to practice.

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Mini Lesson #8 Adding POP to your Journal with Buntings/Banners

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Architecture of a Minilesson Handout.pdf

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Colleagues,

In these unprecedented times, teachers, principals, coaches, and literacy leaders from across the country and world have joined together on TCRWP's social media to extend their learning communities and their thinking alongside one another. These channels host over 50,000 educators who discuss and share their best workshop and distance learning practices.

We encourage you to join these groups in order to be part of conversations with thousands of other K-8 teachers. Teachers who teach workshop in reading, writing, and phonics, are sharing their expertise and epiphanies, raising questions, and supporting one another as they grapple with distance learning and aim to support students' and families' ongoing learning and connection.

On Facebook:
Units of Study in Writing TCRWP ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/TCRWP.WUOS/)
Units of Study In Reading TCRWP ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/TCRWP.RUOS/)
Units of Study in Middle School: Reading and Writing Workshops TCRWP ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/TCRWP.MS.UOS/)

On YouTube:
Get immediate tips about distance learning for educators and parents: https://www.youtube.com/user/TCRWP/

On Twitter:
Follow us at https://twitter.com/tcrwp or #TCRWP

Lucy Calkins and the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Staff

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Teachers College Reading And Writing Project

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In response to COVID-19: Tips, Resources, and Stories from the Field on Virtual Learning from TCRWP

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Colleagues, In these unprecedented times, teachers, principals, coaches, and literacy leaders from across the country and world have joined together on TCRWP's social media to extend their learning communities and their thinking alongside one another. These channels host over 50,000 educators who discuss and share their best workshop and distance learning practices.

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At the time this post is published, we teachers and the rest of the globe find ourselves amidst a global pandemic, COVID-19. Schools, businesses, cities, even entire countries, have been, and continue to be, shuttered in an effort to mitigate the effects of an unprecedented world health crisis. As we know, one of the consequences of our national effort to contain the spread of this virus is to entertain ideas for distance (remote) learning. And while this idea hold great promise, it certainly does not provide any guarantees. If schools remain closed for long periods of time, and it looks like many will, what will the effects be on our children's academic growth? Will distance learning provide a mitigating tool that lessens the effect of losing significant amounts of in-person teaching? If schools are closed, what type of at-home learning experiences are best for kids? These, as well as dozens of other questions, may remain unanswerable for the time being.

As Stacey recently, Two Writing Teachers plans to continue working to support our community of teachers, coaches, administrators, and readers with topical posts on writing workshop and/or best practices in writing instruction. But please know: we will be navigating the uncertainty alongside you! We are not experts and do not claim to hold the answer for our readers. Nor do we stand necessarily uniform in our professional opinions regarding remote learning. We are well aware of the costs that excessive screen usage can enact upon families. I am reminded of Mary Anne Wolf's latest book, Reader Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital Age . Pointing out some of the negative effects of the current global consumption of screen time, Wolfe writes (2018),

"There are unseen costs for every age. By a calculus we largely neglect, the more constant the digital stimulation, the more prevalent the boredom and ennui expressed by even very young children when we take the devices away. Further, the more the devices are used, the more dependent the family becomes on longer periods of access to digital sources of entertainment, information, and distraction by all its members. Hyperattention, continuous partial attention, and what the psychiatrist Edward Hallowell calls environmentally induced attentional 'deficits' pertain to us all" (p. 71).

These questions I pose above have me thinking about my one little word for 2020: Balance. How can we strike a balance, a balance between device-based distance learning support and tried-and-true physical experiences in a way that supports our writers in some positive ways? While I am aware many wonderful and generous educators and authors have already compiled and curated extensive lists (thank you to them!), allow me to share just a few that you may (or may not) find helpful in your efforts to guide and support students and parents at home. This list in no way indicates personal usage or even recommendations. However, I can assure you they come from trusted sources and therefore deserve our consideration:
Digital Resources and Ideas:

- Former teacher and author of more than 35 books for kids, Kate Messner has curated a wonderful compilation of authors and artists reading aloud their original works. In Kate's own words: Kate Messner" This is a library of resources for kids, families, teachers, and librarians to make sure that reading & learning can happen anywhere this spring."

Since in any writing workshop, it is important we offer a small collection of high quality mentor texts for our writers, this site may provide support in that regard. Click here to see what Kate has put together: Read, Wonder, and Learn! Favorite Authors & Illustrators Share Resources for Learning Anywhere - Spring 2020

Writing Camp with Hoppy and Ranger- Teacher and writer Tammy Mulligan has generously pledged to support writers at home with an ongoing virtual writing camp. Tammy's lessons are engaging and intended for writers grades 1-4. She has linked a Padlet on which she posts her own writing and allows students to do the same (should they wish to do so - it is completely student-safe). Students that post writing can even receive feedback from her! Check it out at:
https://teachersbooksreaders.com/category/writingcamp/

Angela Stockman Writing Lessons for Middle School - On her webpage, author and teacher Angela Stockman writes, " This 8 lesson course is designed for middle school writers. It includes opportunities to engage in research, gather facts, and compose a personal narrative." Find her lessons here:

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's Notebooking Resource - Keeping a writer's notebook and making it part of our daily writing lives remains an essential structure to growing as writers. Each day around 1 p.m. EST (for the foreseeable future), Amy plans to post a short talk that presents an idea around notebooking. Find her site here: Sharing Our Notebooks

Melanie Meehan's Writing Workshop Resources - Author, teacher, and Two Writing Teachers co-author Melanie Meehan has generously collected, curated, and posted an impressive array of Writing Units of Study resources for upper grade writers. Melanie's collection includes both videos and charts. Find this treasure trove of resources here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B9cQI9YOa0FoNjVZdlRERzB4VnM

Author Jarrett Krosoczka's Free Webcast: For those writers who aspire to create their own graphic novels or comics, they can find a wonderful lesson posted each weekday at 2:00 on Jarrett Krosoczka's Youtube channel. Drawing tutorials will be posted for at least a couple of weeks. Check out this resource here: Jarrett J. Krosoczka-author & illustrator .
Non-digital resources:

Printable graphic novel/comic templates: From author Jarrett Lerner, writers can create conversations for characters, comic book drawings, silly illustrations, etc. on a variety of click and print images or templates. Find those resources here:

Journals: Prep some journals and write alongside kids! This idea is fairly simple and may be appropriate to suggest to caregivers who are capable of supporting writers in this way. This time is historic, and as Clare Landrigan reminded us in her slice of life , historians are now encouraging journaling, as these accounts will someday become primary sources for this time period.

Greenbelt Writing: Encourage writers to do that "greenbelt" writing students never have time to do! Not familiar with greenbelt writing? As Stacey wrote in her of Ralph Fletcher's back in April of 2017,

"Greenbelt writing is raw, unmanicured, and uncurated. In other words, it's the kind of informal, low-stakes writing kids are comfortable composing, but rarely get the chance to do in many writing workshops. Ralph wants kids to get back to powerful writing that is personal, passionate, joyful, whimsical, playful, infused with choice, humor, and voice, and reflective of the quirkiness of childhood. The whole idea behind greenbelt writing is to infuse energy into students; to spark, engage, and help kids gain their stride as writers."

Support Creativity: Provide paper and markers and give writers a chance to create. Keep it simple!

Thank you cards: Encourage and support writers in composing a daily thank you card to be written and mailed to someone who is helping during this crisis.

Screenplays: Suggest writers experiment with composing their own screenplays, beginning with storyboarding. One article perhaps worth checking out is here.

If you have not had an opportunity to read Meghan Hargrave's recent post entitled, "Rethinking Materials, Routines, and Collaboration: What Does Independence and Interdependence Look Like From Home?", I would encourage you to read it here. As Meghan so starkly writes, "The students who rely on you each day, the ones who are constantly asking questions, looking for positive affirmations, and seeking the scaffolds you provide, are now left to their own devices."

I hope today's post provides perhaps some support to you, as you attempt to navigate this unprecedented time in history. Please leave other writing resources you recommend in the comments section below. After all, we are in this together.

For more than 29 years, Lanny has taught, coached, presented, staff developed, and consulted within the exciting and enigmatic world of literacy. With unyielding passion and belief in the possibility of workshop teaching, Lanny has worked to support students, teachers, and school administrators around the country in outgrowing themselves as both writers and readers. Working first as a classroom teacher, then as a coach and TCRWP Staff Developer, Lanny is now a literacy specialist, working and living in the great state of Connecticut. Outside of literacy, he enjoys raising his three ambitious young daughters with his wife, and playing the piano. Find him on this blog, as well as on Twitter @LannyBall. Lanny is also a former co-author of a blog dedicated to supporting writing teachers and coaches that maintain classroom writing workshops, twowritingteachers.org. View all posts by Lanny Ball

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A Very Short List of Distance Learning Ideas

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How can we strike a balance between device-based distance learning support and tried-and-true physical experiences in a way that supports our writers in some positive ways? While I am aware many wonderful and generous educators and authors have already compiled and curated extensive lists, allow me to share just a few that you may (or...

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Leave a comment on the bottom of this post for the chance to win a copy of Charlie & Mouse Outdoors + a 20-minute Zoom/Skype Call with Laurel Snyder.

When, in January, I agreed to write this blog post, I thought I knew what I would have to say to teachers and students about writing, and my life as an author. I've written a lot of posts like this in the past, and I try to keep them distinct, but the truth is that I end up circling back to the same ideas a lot. I often talk about the importance of boredom in the creative process, or how I began writing as a kid because my life was kind of hard, and writing was a way OUT of the bad days. I talk a lot about the importance of disconnecting from technology, so that our brains have a chance to get quiet. And I talk about failure, how important I think it is to accept that being an artist means failing a little better every day. I have plenty of subjects I like to revisit...

So, yeah, I wasn't nervous about writing this post in January. I had things to say that I'd said before. Things I knew how to say. Things I believed to be true. No problem. I knew I could figure something out.

Then the world changed.

Everything changed.

Our lives and habits and homes and families turned upside down. So now I'm sitting here, trying to think of what I can tell people that makes sense, in light of the pandemic gripping our planet. Who am I to tell bored kids, stuck at home day after day, to embrace that boredom? Who am I to tell them to set down the video games and laptops and iPads that connect them to their friends, and read poetry instead? Who am I to imagine I know anything about what anyone else is going through, as they attempt to attend school at home, while their parents work in the background (if they are lucky enough to still have jobs), and (maybe) a toddler screams for more Elmo? Or if, God forbid, they're already in mourning?

So yeah, I found it hard to sit down and type this post. I found it impossible to be instructive, to sound authoritative, to imagine that the particular experiences that I, Laurel Snyder, have had... would mean anything to anyone right now. It just felt wrong.

But do you know what I realized? That my own sense of inadequacy is a really good argument for YOU writing. For everyone writing. Most especially kids.

This is a moment that calls for writing as a record. Because this-what is happening right now, today-is historic. And while each afternoon may feel dull or tired or just like yesterday, we will absolutely need YOUR stories, documents that will help us all remember and reflect on what this very weird year was like.

If you are scared, write about being scared. If you are bored, write about being bored. If you are tired of your brother's annoying screechy YouTube channel in the next room, tell the world that story. And if you are desperately craving a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Sundae, write about how good it would taste. Those details are what the future will want to know, believe it or not. The tiny things that made each day feel real.

Have you ever watched a documentary? Maybe with your parents, or in school? If you have, maybe you remember that at some point in the movie, you perked up and paid closer attention, because suddenly there was a voice speaking that sounded like you, like a KID. Because someone had found an old letter, or a diary, and the details of what that KID had to say were different than all the things the grownups bothered to write down. They talked about their favorite candy, or their uncomfortable dress clothes or their itchy long underwear, and you thought, "Ha, yeah, that sounds familiar!"

The truth is that, for much of history, kids got left out of most storytelling. Which means that what we know about the children of the past are mostly the recollections of adults, trying to reach back in time, or to guess about the thoughts and feelings of the children around them. But of course, most grownups see the world differently from kids, and that is why it's so important that you record your voice. Tell your story. So that in ten or twenty or a hundred or a thousand years, people will be able to look back and know what it was like in the Pandemic of 2020, for someone like you. What it was really like.

Beyond that, write about the things this moment is decidedly NOT. Write about the places it takes you in your dreams at night, your imaginary games, your flights of fancy. Build worlds of your own, invent people to talk to. Reach beyond your current moment, and down deep into what you have always carried inside yourself. The physical limitations of this pandemic have no power over your imagination, where you can wander anywhere you like.

How you choose to tell your story is up to you! Write it with a pencil or type it in word document. Take pictures for an Instagram post, or paint it with watercolors, or write a song and share it online (with a grownup's permission, of course). But do it. Please?

I say this to you, as an author of books for children, as someone who strives to remember childhood, and spends lots of time with kids. As someone who has a dollhouse in her "office." There are stories that only YOU can tell. No author or parent or any other kind of grownup can capture this strange year as you can, or imagine what might spring from it.

So we need to hear that from you.

***

Laurel Snyder is the author of many books for children, including middle grade novels, picture books, and the Charlie and Mouse early chapter book series. You can find her online at http://laurelsnyder.com or on Twitter: @laurelsnyder.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION:

This giveaway is for a copy of Charlie & Mouse Outdoors. Many thanks to Chronicle Books for donating a copy for one reader.

For a chance to win this copy of Charlie & Mouse Outdoors, please leave a comment about this post by Friday, May 22nd at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Stacey Shubitz will use a random number generator to pick the winner, whose name she will announce at the bottom of this post, by Tueday, May 26th. You must have a U.S. mailing address to enter the giveaway.
Please be sure to leave a valid e-mail address when you post your comment, so Stacey can contact you to obtain your mailing address if you win. NOTE: There may be a shipping delay due to shipping-related issues caused by the novel coronavirus.

If you are the winner of the book, Stacey will email you with the subject line of TWO WRITING TEACHERS - SNYDER. Please respond to her e-mail 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.

Comments are now closed. Roselinda Ponce is the winner of today's giveaway.

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When, in January, I agreed to write this blog post, I thought I knew what I would have to say to teachers and students about writing, and my life as an author. I've written a lot of posts like this in the past, and I try to keep them distinct, but the truth is that I end up circling back to the same ideas a lot.

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access until June 30 - writing plans

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Please NOTE - Due to high volume you will receive an automated email within 60 minutes of submitting the form. Thanks for your patience - EW Team
When schools started closing in March, our creative, student and teacher focused, content team dove right into creating additional lessons and enhancing ways for teachers to support their students virtually. The results of their "can-do" attitude and support can be found in our of all our HUB guides. Distance Learning Student Assignments(We are providing free access to all of digital guides until June 30th.)
Empowering Writers is now the number one choice for distance learning writing lessons among educators.
Teachers can choose to roll out lessons "as is" or to use as a template to "make it their own". The content is dynamic, engaging and reinforces so many of the necessary writing and reading skills our students need.

For teachers that are " New To" EW, jump right in! We have instructional teacher background videos and modeled lessons that can inform your instruction.

We've added a new section at the front of the guides for easy access to these student assignments.

Distance Learning Student Assignments include:

Quick Writes - students will practice the mechanics, parts of speech, figurative language, vocabulary, and genre techniques using short answer responses. Three weeks of quick writes are provided with directions for students to complete two a day.

Skilled Focused Fun Around the House- assignments can be used for a daily writing assignment or even a week long challenge! Because of the Google format, you will be able to adjust topics, level of content, or usage of skills as needed for your grade level.

Lessons of the Month - Revised for Distance Learning - take advantage of our popular monthly lessons that have been modified for distance learning.

K-1 Distance Learning Lessons include a variety of assignments spanning a range of foundational writing skills and strategies concurrent with the Empowering Writers methodology. The lessons are stand-alone with skills presented in isolation. Every assignment can be sent to students exactly as is or separated into several lessons.

Integrated Unit - this unit includes process pieces for expository, narrative, and argument writing that connect with a selected theme or topic. You may choose to use the whole unit (all 6 weeks) or choose the genres you wish to assign.

Virtual Trip Journal - staying home has its advantages, but wouldn't it be fun to visit a few places you've never been before? Students are provided links and prompts to share their adventures.

Editing & Revising Lessons- Skill Power! instructional powerpoints and interactive digital student activities that can be assigned for distance learning. These selected lessons cover grammar and mechanics while making connections to process writing.

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The Hub | Free Access | Empowering Writers

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Please NOTE - Due to high volume you will receive an automated email within 60 minutes of submitting the form. Thanks for your patience - EW Team When schools started closing in March, our creative, student and teacher focused, content team dove right into creating additional lessons and enhancing ways for teachers to support their students virtually.

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By Lauren Heimlich Foley

"Thanks for keeping things as normal as possible and for being positive. It's helped me. I know this hasn't been easy for you either."

Kasey, an eighth-grade student, said this to me as she left one Friday afternoon in November 2019. Earlier that week, our school was rocked by the unimaginable-a student attempted to take their life in one of our school bathrooms.

As a teacher and as a human, this November experience was one of the most difficult things I have ever faced. And, something I never thought I would deal with. As an educator, I had to figure out the best way to help my students cope with the situation while at the same time continue teaching. "Keeping things as normal as possible" helped me and helped my students.

Now, in March 2020, I am faced with another unimaginable teaching experience: distance learning. While I feel more prepared and less rocked than in November, I again needed to figure out how to keep things "as normal as possible." When our school closed, my classes were in the middle of drafting their text dependent analysis core, a district requirement. Luckily, the day before we left, I told my students, "If we move to distance learning, our core will be put on hold until we return, and we will move into our next unit, Self-Selected Writing (SSW)." For more information on SSW, click here.

In this post, I want to share how I have moved my writing-reading workshop and our self-selected writing to an online course through Canvas (my district's learning management system). Below are the main components of our workshop that I am implementing this week in order to keep things consistent:

Time to read and write

Mini-lessons

Quick write inspirations

Choice

One-on-one conferencing

Student sharing and collaborating

Daily Plans

To streamline directions, my district asked teachers to post daily updates with the date, topic, overview, tasks, estimated time, and links. While I have swapped out learning targets and agenda to overview and tasks, the overall look of my daily page has stayed intact.

I am also trying to keep our weekly schedule similar even though students should be working on English for only 30 minutes each day. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I allotted time for reading, writing, mini-lessons, and quick write inspirations. Thursday is dedicated to reading workshop, providing students with additional independent reading; time to work with their books in various ways; and the opportunity to share their ideas with classmates. I wanted to digitally replicate our workshop feel as best as I could.

Friday always focuses on SSW with style, craft, and grammar mini-lessons plus workshop time for students to write, conference, and collaborate. Because of distance learning's limited time, I took out the minilesson. However, if students wanted to read for 10 minutes, they were welcomed to do so. For student conversations, I created discussion board groups based on their table groups in class. They could share their work with their classmates and collaborate through Canvas. At the end of their 30 minutes, students were invited to complete two tasks: submit your weekly quick writing (or SSW) to the assignment for feedback and share your current independent reading book title and page number.

(Since my district went offline on Friday, our SSW day will be moved to Monday, March 23 rd)

Below are pictures of my lesson plans for March 17 th, March 18 th, March 19 th, and March 23 rd.

Mini-lessons and Directions

PowerPoint has always worked to share text excerpts and mini-lesson notes with my students. I like how easy it is to add and move pictures, and the recording option comes in handy. With distance learning, PowerPoint has helped me compile and share materials. As per our district's directions, all lessons should review and enrich student knowledge. This approach supports Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher's "laps" and "spiral back" practice in 180 Days since we are returning to and extending previously learned concepts.

In our Tuesday mood mini-lesson, I selected a passage from The Children of Virtue and Vengeance (you should read this series!) that illustrates a change in time and mood. For Wednesday, I selected another passage from The Children of Virtue and Vengeance that used imagery. While we analyzed mood and imagery earlier this school year, we have not done so in this capacity. Thursday's PowerPoint reviewed discussion board expectations and directions. I offered two possible post topics and included student examples of posts and responses. See some of the mini-lesson slides below.

Conferences, Assignments, and Discussion Boards

Reading and writing conferences are vital to our classroom. Being at home, I am missing chatting with my students. To help solve this issue, I turned to Canvas; however, any learning management system, online sharing platform, chat feature, voice recording app, email, etc. will work to digitally conference with your students. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I invited my eighth graders to submit items between the hours of 7:30 am to 2:00 pm for optional feedback and conferencing. Some topics that we discussed were reactions to their independent reading books, their quick writes, answers to or questions about the mini-lessons, and book recommendations.

On Monday's SSW day, I will ask students to share their writing progress for the week and their book titles and page numbers. In school, I check student reading progress weekly through conferences and page numbers. During distance learning, Thursday's discussion board replaced my one-on-one and table group conferences so that students and their peers could also talk about books and swap ideas.

With non-graded distance learning assignments and the uncertain circumstances students are facing at home, I cannot control who submits and who does not. Although I have not had one hundred percent participation, 48 students posted to the discussion board on March 19th, and 49 students shared their work during the optional submission days on March 17 th and March 18 th. Regardless of participation, my main goal is to offer a "normal" space for students to interact and enjoy their reading and writing.

Closing Thoughts

Even if you have not previously implemented a writing-reading workshop in your class, I believe that this structure or an adapted version of this structure could help you and your students share writing pieces, talk about books, and encourage conversation.

During this past week, I kept returning to Kasey's words: "Thanks for keeping things as normal as possible." As I implement distance learning, that is exactly what I am striving to do.

I would love to hear how you are implementing an online writing-reading workshop and what tools you are using to make distance learning a success!

Next week I will share how I am maintaining other classroom practices during distance learning: a moment of pause, daily inspirations, and student leadership.

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By Lauren Heimlich Foley "Thanks for keeping things as normal as possible and for being positive. It's helped me. I know this hasn't been easy for you either." Kasey, an eighth-grade student, said this to me as she left one Friday afternoon in November 2019.

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With students currently at home because of the pandemic, it's helpful to provide learning opportunities that get them talking about what's happening in the world with trusted adults and peers.

These ideas for home assignments build connection and help our young people process this difficult experience while developing their writing skills.

11 Writing Assignments for the Current Moment

1. Interview senior members of the community: With our older community members at higher risk, hearing their stories has increasing significance. Generate interview questions with your students, and conduct a sample interview as a model.

Students can interview family members, senior members of the school staff, or others through handwritten letters, phone calls, or video chats. When students write up and share their interviews with the class, they will get a broader, more nuanced view of older generations' experiences.

2. Folding stories: In the traditional version of this activity, one person writes a sentence or two on a piece of paper and then folds the paper so that only the last word or phrase can be seen. The next person continues the story for a few sentences before again hiding all but the last word or phrase and then passing the paper on.

To do this remotely, set up a randomized list of all of your students. The first student sends you their contribution, and you send the last phrase of that to the next name on the list. Compile all the contributions in order in a Google Doc to create a single story. Once everyone has contributed, share the whole story with the class.

The format may allow students an imaginative outlet for anxious thoughts and predictions about the future, and the result is almost guaranteed to be hilarious and inspiring to both eager and reluctant writers.

3. Dialogue journals: A journal in which a teacher and student write back and forth to each other is an ongoing communication that helps teachers build relationships with each student while they model writing and observe students' progressing skills. Start this off by writing a first short entry for each of your students in separate Google Docs, choosing topics you already know they're interested in and offering personal details about yourself.

You can ask each student to write something once a week-and you'll respond to each entry, so this does entail a time commitment on your part. The benefit in relationship-building, so difficult to do in distance learning, makes this worth the work.

4. Student-to-student letters: Organize pen pals or small letter-writing groups. Ask students to write back and forth to one or more peers using provided prompts and sample questions. Teach students to consider their audience and to keep a written dialogue going over several letters as they write to different peers. Encourage students to include self-created activities in their letters to peers: They might make a crossword puzzle using the class vocabulary words, create a maze, or share a recipe or a silly joke.

5. Write to an author: A professional writer may be a great correspondent for a young fan, offering insight into key aspects of a favorite book. Follow #WriteToAnAuthor on Twitter for access to mailing addresses of authors who are standing by for letters from young readers. Provide your students with prompts, templates, samples, and feedback to support them in writing thoughtful letters.

6. Adapt a text to reflect current conditions: Lately any story we read or watch can be a painful reminder of how much is changing. Characters are dancing, hugging or shaking hands, and talking to each other in public places. Some students find it comforting to be immersed in that world, but others find these moments upsetting. Assign students the task of rewriting a scene from a story, show, or movie, considering what needs to change for it to be realistic in our current situation but still retain the original essential themes and meaning.

7. Letters to the editor: What do students think about our leaders, policies, and proposed solutions to this pandemic? Guide them through the art of writing a well-crafted letter to the editor, and post submissions on your district, school, or class website, if privacy policies permit that. Give your students guidelines that specify word count, style, and topics, just as official publications do.

8. Student-created blog: Begin by sharing strong examples of student journalism as mentor texts. Invite students to brainstorm ideas for articles and columns. Some students can assume the role of section editors-News, Features, Arts-and others can write articles, take photos, and work on the design and marketing of the website, which students can build using Edublogs.

9. "Slow looking" documentation: Shari Tishman describes "slow looking" as prolonged observation that occurs through all the senses. Students can use a variety of slow looking strategies to observe their setting and sketch or write about their observations. There are seasonal changes to observe, among other things. By practicing slow looking, students may learn to see things they never noticed before. When they share their observations with the class, everyone gains a broader perspective of how the larger environment is changing.

10. Covid-19 comics: The genre of graphic medicine-which uses comics to explore the physical and emotional impacts of medical conditions-shows that comics can be a good way for students to explore troubling experiences. Share comics related to Covid-19 that engage with the wider implications of the pandemic, such as feeling increased isolation, processing conflicting news, and coping with social distancing or unemployment.

Invite students to explore their experiences through an intentional combination of words and pictures. Make it collaborative by having students write text for a peer's drawings. Students can use Canva to make comics, or draw them on paper and then take photos to upload to the class learning management system.

11. Pandemic journals: A pandemic journal invites students to process their feelings and document their experience for future generations. To structure the assignment, provide prompts and templates. Suggest to students that they layer in artifacts such as news reports, a note received from a friend or neighbor, a copy of an online school schedule for a day, a snippet of an overheard conversation, or a sketch of a parent hunched over a laptop.

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11 Meaningful Writing Assignments Connected to the Pandemic

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With students currently at home because of the pandemic, it's helpful to provide learning opportunities that get them talking about what's happening in the world with trusted adults and peers. These ideas for home assignments build connection and help our young people process this difficult experience while developing their writing skills.

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Essential Questions/Enduring Understandings and more...

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Blog "Say what you mean and mean what you say, it's that simple."

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A Collection of Writing Resources_May2020

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K-2 Write around the Room at Home

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Learn All Year Long

Kids and teens should read and write even when they are out of school. Why is this so important?
Download the flyer (PDF)
ReadWriteThink has a variety of resources for out-of-school use. Visit our Parent & Afterschool Resources section to learn more.

Activity Description Why This Is Helpful

Grades

K - 2

Activity Time

20 minutes

Activity Author

Publisher

Activity Description
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Encouraging kids to write around the room focuses their attention to environmental print in their very own home, and it is a great way to get kids writing, looking closely at letters, and learning some new words. All you need to write around the room is a notebook or clipboard, a pen/pencil/marker, and a room in which to write!
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Why This Is Helpful

Environmental print is text that is found anywhere and everywhere in the environment. Environmental print includes the words on the cereal box, labels on the boxes in the toy room, brand names on clothes, messages on billboards, the text on posters, magnets, or food labels. Pointing out and reading environmental print to young children emphasizes the importance of literacy and can get children excited about learning to decode the world around them.

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Take a Closer Look: Write Around the Room - ReadWriteThink

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Kids and teens should read and write even when they are out of school. Why is this so important? Download the flyer (PDF) ReadWriteThink has a variety of resources for out-of-school use. Visit our Parent & Afterschool Resources section to learn more.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Reading and writing texts online are basic skills that students need to be literate citizens in today's world. Teaching with blogs provides the opportunity to engage students in both of these literacy activities, and the strategy has the additional benefit of enabling students to publish their writing easily and to share their writing with an authentic audience.

When students write entries and comment on the entries of their peers, blogs become an integral part of a lively literacy community. Students can post on such topics as journal/diary entries, reflections on their writing process, details on their research projects, commentary on recent events or readings, and drafts for other writing they are doing.

Once a student posts an entry, others in the class can respond, provide supportive feedback, and offer additional suggestions or perspectives. By writing and commenting on blogs, students write for real readers (not just for their teachers). As a result, students focus on clear communication and get immediate feedback on whether they communicate effectively.

Check out these additional resources for teaching with blogs:

Weekly Writer's Blogs: Building a Reflective Community of Support
Students explore the conventions of blog writing while using it to self-reflect on their writing and communicate with classmates about one another's reflections.

Creating Character Blogs
Students view examples of blogs, learn the basic elements of blog creation, and then create a blog from the perspective of a fictional character.

Using Microblogging and Social Networking to Explore Characterization and Style
Students use social networking sites to trace the development of characters by assuming the persona of a character on a class site and sending a set number of tweets, or status updates.

What Would Ben, Tom, and George Think? Blogging about the American Revolution
After researching famous people of the American Revolution, students take on the identities of these Patriots and Loyalists. Students then participate in a blog, writing responses about events leading up to and during the American Revolutionary War.

Blog about Courage Using Photos
Engage teens in this activity in which they use photographs to examine and write about courage on a blog.

The Blog of Anne Frank?: Taking on Social Roles through Online Writing
Anne Frank shared her experiences through a private diary that became public as a book. In this lesson, students will consider how writing creates social identities as they blog about a political issue.

Create a Career Blog
This activity invites children and teens to explore various careers and then write about what they might want to be when they grow up in a blog.

Blogtopia: Blogging about Your Own Utopia
Students work together to create their own utopias, using blogs as the primary source of publication.

Blogging in the Primary Grades? Yes, Indeed!
Give students an authentic reason to read and write by researching blogs written by their peers around the world and then writing their own.

How else do you use blogs with students?

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As students return to the classroom, they need to feel that they own the space and the learning that takes place in it. Foreground such ownership for students by collaboratively writing an owner's manual that describes the classroom's areas and procedures. The ReadWriteThink.org lesson Our Classroom: Writing an Owner's Manual has everything you need to get started.

Younger elementary students who are just learning to write can build community as they collaborate to establish classroom guidelines. The ReadWriteThink.org lesson Creating Class Rules: A Beginning to Creating Community focuses on a simple shared-writing activity to bring students together as they decide upon the structures for the classroom.

Getting to know one another is a fundamental step for community building. Check out the ReadWriteThink.org lesson plan Introducing Each Other: Interviews, Memoirs, Photos, and Internet Research for a get-acquainted activity that invites pairs of students to learn about each other and share their findings with the rest of the class.

For a similar activity for older students, try the ReadWriteThink.org lesson The Feature Story - Fifteen Minutes (and 500 Words) of Fame!, which asks students to write a newspaper profile of a classmate, with a particular focus on a talent, interest, or passion of that classmate.

To learn more about students as writers, try the ReadWriteThink.org lesson Writing about Writing: An Extended Metaphor Assignment , which uses Richard Wilbur's poem "The Writer" as an inspiration for students' own descriptions of their writing practices. The activity can be adapted for the college classroom as well.

For even more activities and resources, check out the Back to School Resources, which includes lesson plans and additional resources to help get your year off to a great start.

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As students return to the classroom, they need to feel that they own the space and the learning that takes place in it. Foreground such ownership for students by collaboratively writing an owner's manual that describes the classroom's areas and procedures. The ReadWriteThink.org lesson Our Classroom: Writing an Owner's Manual has everything you need to get started.

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Historical Fiction Writing Celebration - May 2020

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Split Screen Hack for Recording Virtual Lessons (for Mac Users)

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On this day in 1928, Mickey Mouse made his movie debut in Steamboat Willie, one of the earliest animated cartoons. This seven-minute film, directed by Walt Disney, was the first to combine animation technology with synchronized sound. Animated cartoons were a medium that grew from comic strips and Sunday funnies. From this short film, based on a cartoon drawing, Disney created one of the largest media empires in the world.

Invite your students to experiment with cartoon and comic strip drawings by collaborating to create a short, humorous story, with at least one main character that performs an action. When students have completed the short sequence, have them use the Comic Creator from ReadWriteThink.org.

Students can also use this online tool to make a flipbook. Students choose one background and repeat it multiple times as they draw their characters' actions from one frame to the next. When they've completed each sequence of drawings, they print out the pages, cut the frames, and staple them together to create a flipbook. By stapling all the pages together in one corner or along one side, students are able to flip the pages of the book quickly, simulating animation.

Multidimensional, challenging, and popular with students, comics provide an excellent way to introduce the concept of genres. Learn more in the lesson plan, " Comics in the Classroom as an Introduction to Genre Study."

In " Book Report Alternative: Comic Strips and Cartoon Squares " students must think critically to create comic strips highlighting six important scenes from a book they have read.

Students explore stereotypes in the media and representations of race, class, ethnicity, and gender by analyzing comics over a two-week period and then re-envisioning them with a "comic character makeover" as described in this lesson plan.

" The Comic Book Show and Tell " invites students to craft comic scripts using clear, descriptive, and detailed writing that shows (illustrates) and tells (directs). After peers create an artistic interpretation of the script, students revise their original scripts.

How can you use comics and cartoons with your students?

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On this day in 1928, Mickey Mouse made his movie debut in Steamboat Willie, one of the earliest animated cartoons. This seven-minute film, directed by Walt Disney, was the first to combine animation technology with synchronized sound. Animated cartoons were a medium that grew from comic strips and Sunday funnies.

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Mini Lesson #1 A Menu of Options to Write In Your Journal While We are Away from School