Writing Workshop

5th Grade
Angie Rosen
Director of Curriculum and Instruction
December 19, 2014

Rubicon Atlas

Mini- Lessons

Pre-writing
Drafting
Revision
Editing
Publishing
Celebrating

What do we believe about effective

writing instruction?

What are the beliefs of the NCTE?

What are our beliefs?

How do our beliefs translate to day-to-day classroom practices?

How does a workshop model support our beliefs about writing?

Writing Workshop Time Frame

Whole group
(10-15 minutes)

Work time
(20-30 minutes)

Whole group
(3-5 minutes)

Mini-lesson
Shared writing
Plans for the day
Students writing
Teacher conferring
Mid workshop interruption
Share
Reflections
Plans for the following day

Architecture of Minilessons
Connection
Teach
Active Engagement
Link
Mid- workshop interruption
Share

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOeJIxGwpY8

Mini-lesson
Click on the video to
hear Lucy Calkins talk
about the importance of
explicit mini-lessons

What do we believe
about effective writing instruction?

Integrating
vocabulary into
workshop model

Lets See it in
Action!
Click on the picture and watch the
video
In your folder, find the Minilesson Checklist and consider
the components as you watch

Connection

Tells students about what work

we will be teaching them and
explicitly names the teaching
point
Tells how this lesson
will fit into the work they have
been doing and how it will fit
into their work as writers

Teach

Teach students a new tool or concept that we

hope theyll use often as they write
Teach in ways that move students along a
gradient of difficulty as writers
Plan the method as well as the content of
your teaching
Show writers when and why theyll use what
you teach

Active Engagement
Ways to support childrens efforts
to become actively involved in
the minilesson
Turn and talk
Do something and ask
children to be researchers,
articulating what happened
Shared writing
Ask children to try it
immediately
Ask children to plan to do it
immediately

Link
Restates the teaching point
Encourages child to apply this new learning to their ongoing work today or in
future independent work

Share
Ends the workshop
Can serve as a
follow-up to the
minilesson
Can function as a separate and
smaller mini-lesson
Can function as a model for
teacher supported conferences

Conferring
Conferring is the heart of
the writing workshop.
Conferring is hard. When
it is done well, it can
change the course of a
writing life forever.

Calkins

As you watch the brief Powtoon, jot down

the four key components that make up
the architecture of a conference.

Did you catch them all?

The Architecture of Conferences
Research: Name what the child has done as a writer and remind them to do it often in future
writing.
Compliment: Try to use words like, "I would like to compliment you for . . That's what writers
do."
Teach: Decide what you want to teach and how you want to teach it. Help the child get started
doing what you hope he/she will do.
Link: At the end of the conference, name what the child has done. Repeat the teaching point
saying this is what you have seen the child doing. Encourage the child to continue to do this
often and in many writing pieces in the future.

Let's Read and Learn Together!

Each member of the group will

read two pages from handout on
conferring.
Be prepared to share what you
read
Chart main ideas of each section

Conference Characteristics
They have an explicit point.
They have a predictable structure.
Teachers pursue lines of thinking with students.
Teachers and students have conversational roles.
We show students we care about them.

Approximation
Compliment what is done well and what you want to
continue to see. Be specific!
Research the writing and see what they are almost doing
correctly and teach to that point.

Assessment
We assess student writers everyday in our writing workshops. Assessing writers
is a habit of mind for effective writing teachers.
Assessment makes it possible for us to:
Make teaching decisions in writing conferences.
Construct individual learning plans for students that help us zero in on
students needs in conferences.
Carl Anderson

Conferences are focused on helping students

become better writers.
We need to remember to teach the writer, not the writing.
When we finish a conference, we should be
able to name what it is we did to help that student become a better writer.
Keep anecdotal records of student conferences, focuses, and teaching points.

Teachers Role: 1st part of conference

Invite the child to set an agenda for the conference.

Ask a research question.

Ask assessment questions.
Read the students writing.
Make a teaching decision.

Students Role: 1st part of the conference

Set the agenda for the conference by describing

writing work.
Respond to the teachers questions by
describing the writing work more deeply.

Teachers Role: 2nd part of the conference

Give the student critical feedback.
Teach the student.
Nudge the student to have a go.
Link the conference to the students independent

work.

Students role: 2nd part of the conference

Listen carefully to the teachers feedback and

teaching.
Ask questions to clarify and deepen understanding
of the teachers feedback and teaching.
Have a go with what the teacher has taught.
Commit to trying what the teacher taught after the
conference.

Jot down what you notice about the strategies this

teacher uses to improve the writer.
When finished, turn and talk with your partner to discuss what purposeful

Lets See it in Action

Watch the conference in action. Using the conferring

checklist, jot down notes and check off as you hear each
component addressed.

How do we find enough time to confer

with all students on a regular basis?
You should touch base with each student at least once a
week.
This can include individual conferring but also strategy
groups.
Each conference should take no more than 10 minutes,
and preferably fewer.

Preparation and Planning

Using Rubicon Atlan plan your lessons for Writing
workshop:
Use the word document link in Activities
Plan your mini lessons
use each of the structures
Whats next?

REFLECTION
On your reflection sheet, please record your thinking
about conferring with students. Use evidence from
the videos and the readings that we did today to
support your answers to the following questions:
What was an aha moment for you today?
What is still challenging for you?
What did you learn that you will try tomorrow with your
young writers?

Where do I need additional PD?