Writers' Workshop K-6 - Minilessons Mini Lesson Basics5-10 minutes longmulti-levelprecedes independent writing timeexplicit instructionassessment basedfocus on procedures and organisation (routines), strategies and processes, skills, craft and techniquescomposed of four major parts: Connection (teacher puts today's work in the context of children's ongoing work as writers and explicitly names what they'll be learning about today); Teach (explicit teaching of one important concept that will make their writing better, often drawing upon own writing, children's literature or student's writing); Active Engagement (students talk to a partner or examine their own writing for evidence of the concept); Link (encouraging students to try out the strategy in their writing that day or to add it to their toolkit of strategies)Mini Lesson Challengeshandling student participationkeeping minilessons briefteaching with clarity and purposemaintaining student engagement Examples of Mini Lesson Topics Mini Lesson Planning Sheet
The 2 Sisters Joan and Gail modeling The Daily 5™ Do you love teaching but feel exhausted from the energy you expend cajoling, disciplining and directing students on a daily basis? Are you questioning the value of busy work but afraid that ceasing from such activities will lead to chaos in the classroom? Have you heard the phrase, “work smarter, not harder” but don’t have a clue how to start? If so, you’ll want to read this book! We set about designing a structure that would ensure all children were working at their level of challenge while taking responsibility for their learning and behavior, and that would provide meaningful instruction blocks without extensive preparation time for teachers. Based on literacy learning and motivation research, The Daily 5™ has been practiced and refined in our own classrooms for 10 years and shared with thousands of teachers throughout the United States.
How to Start Writers Workshop So Now You Know What To Do, What Next? Knowing where and how to start Writer's Workshop can be very difficult It is hard to know how to organize the students if the teacher isn't sure how they want to organized!! Before I ever start teaching the Writing Process (Brainstorm, Draft, Revise, Edit, Final Draft and Publish) I spend the first few weeks setting up Writers Workshop routines in my class. These are all my beginning of the year writing workshop routine lessons in the order I teach them. I have recently revised these lessons. Books Used for Mini Lessons Starting Writers Workshop Mini Lessons Printable Copy of Mini Lessons Books Used for Mini Lessons Starting Writers Workshop Mini Lessons Here is a copy of my beginning of the year mini lessons. Printable Copy of Mini Lessons All Graphics are From
Choice Literacy - Articles & Videos - Full Article As I continue to think about word study and what it means in the upper elementary grades, I can't help but remember David. I had David as a 4th grader. He was a great speller. My job was to support David where he was as a speller -- in his case, at the Derivational Stage. David's writing was always very linear. This thinking led me to wonder where grammar instruction fits into a reading and writing workshop. by Jeff Anderson, I am working hard to embed this part of literacy instruction more authentically. In writing workshop, my students have always been comfortable listening to words and phrases we love. Beginning with Sentences As I continue to think about expanding my word study program to include a broader perspective of how we use words beyond just spelling, I've realized I've never taken it a step further to think about how authors craft sentences or phrases. Jeff Anderson, author of Mechanically Inclined, inspired me to think about the best way to use sentences. Beach References .
Writing Mini-Lessons This year’s writing instruction will focus on the pursuit of good writing, with explicit instruction to help students begin to master some of the complex and nuanced qualities of exceptional writing. The goal is for students to improve their writing and simultaneously develop myriad approaches to writing that empower students to effectively evaluate and improve their own writing and thinking. To this end, students will participate in writing workshops of at least forty-five minutes three to five times a week. The writing workshop begins with a mini-lesson of five to thirty minutes and continues with independent writing, during which time I circulate among writers and meet with individuals or small groups. The writing workshop mini-lessons provide a writing course of study. During the daily mini-lesson, students will take notes in their writing binders so that throughout the course of the year, they may refer back to what they’ve learned to inform their writing in an ongoing manner.
Choice Literacy - Articles & Videos - Full Article When I began teaching, Mark McGwire was breaking the home run record in major league baseball. We sat in the stands and cheered homeruns 67 and 68, awed by the consistency of the record-breaking power hitter. A few months later I began my student teaching experience. I remember feeling frustrated because things didn’t always go as smoothly as I planned. My practical husband said, “It’ll just take some time to gain experience.” “But I want everything perfect now.” He chuckled. “McGwire hit 70 homeruns last season.” “And he struck out 155 times. More than a decade later, his words still replay in my mind. , Stacey Shubitz and I identified components of a successful workshop. Many components need to work together in order for writing workshop to run like a well-oiled machine. Instead, begin with reflection. Complete the third column by considering the things you are curious about when it comes to the pillars of writing workshop. These are all solid goals for writing workshop. How about you?
Launching Writers’ Workshop The newly updated (August 2015) 19 mini-lesson free launching unit is available here: Launching Your Writing Workshop An amazing launch unit is the key to a successful writing workshop in your classroom! Use the lessons we’ve laid out below to help guide you through setting up a great workshop. Because this unit is designed to build the foundation of your writing workshop, not all lessons cover common core standards. Many of our lesson are based on the work done by Katie Wood Ray in About the Authors. Another component of this writing workshop is using real books by real, published authors to teach children what authors do. Like all writing workshops, ours begins with a mini-lesson, gives children time to write while the teachers conferences with individuals or small groups and ends with sharing. Writers Have a Process for Writing a Book This beginning lesson encourages students to look at the first steps to writing a book. Simple Story Plan Story Plan Box Story Board Nonfiction Plan
Online - Fifty Writing Tools At times, it helps to think of writing as carpentry. That way, writers and editors can work from a plan and use tools stored on their workbench. You can borrow a writing tool at any time. And here's a secret: Unlike hammers, chisels, and rakes, writing tools never have to be returned. They can be cleaned, sharpened, and passed on. Each week, for the next 50, I will describe a writing tool that has been useful to me. I have described most of these tools in earlier lists, first of 20 and then 30. As you study and discuss these, please remember: These are tools and not rules. My friend Tom French, who won a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing, told me he liked my tool list because it covered writing from the "sub-atomic to the metaphysical level." With that as both introduction and promise, let us begin. {*style:<a href='
The Reading & Writing Project - Reading and Writing Performance Assessments If you are experiencing difficulties viewing the PDF documents below we recommend that you download Foxit PDF Reader. Common-Core-Aligned Performance Assessments These performance assessments were created by the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project for NYC Department of Education and some are owned by NYC Department of Education. The NYC Department of Education has agreed to allow Teachers College Reading and Writing Project to post the performance assessments online to support your students' academic progress. Performance Assessments engage students in authentic, high-level work that is aligned to curricular standards so that teachers can more carefully plan for instruction that meets students where they are and moves them forward. The overarching goal of assessing students is to provide a clear sense of what students have internalized and what still needs support in regards to the standards-based skills at hand.
Choice Literacy - Articles & Videos - Full Article As children walk over the threshold into the school each morning, they are greeted by Jason with a smile. Next to him is a dry erase board and easel. There is a new handwritten message on it from Jason, cataloging simple things like the day of the week, an upcoming event, or a reason for the school community to celebrate. Just as important, students are invited to start the day reflecting on their literacy with a question or prompt at the end of the board, with space to write about it so that their ideas can be read by other children as they enter the school. "It took awhile for students to become comfortable writing in that blank space on the message board, especially since the question changes every day," Jason explained to me later. These two girls are responding to the day's prompt: I admire the character ______ because _______. The concept of "first fruits" is powerful for me. I'm glad you're here. Important things are often written down. One other first fruit message was potent.
Subtext – Engage Readers and Deepen Understanding The next session I am attending is about Subtext, a tool I have been wanting to learn and explore. Check out their presentation materials here. “Subtext is a free iPad app that allows classroom groups to exchange ideas in the pages of digital texts. You can also layer in enrichment materials, assignments and quizzes—opening up almost limitless opportunities to engage students and foster analysis and writing skills.” Subtext allows students to engage deeper with reading material both individually as well as collaboratively. Subtext allows you to personalize your reading experiences in the same way we see with other tools (change font size, highlight and tag, use a dictionary) but it also allows broader application – access your Google Docs, Search Google and copy to your Drive, etc. Finding content is more flexible using Subtext (Using digital books and content) as well as through tools like Newsela (that you can use to tweak levels of reading). There are different ways to use subtext:
Try Wikibrains for Brainstorming Wikibrains is a neat brainstorming website that I tried out a few months ago. Since then it has been revamped to make it easier to navigate and organize ideas. The concept behind Wikibrains is this; when you brainstorm on Wikibrains you're also performing a basic Internet search at the same time. To create a brainstorm web on Wikibrains start by entering one word or phrase. Wikibrains has private and public brainstorm webs. Applications for EducationsWikibrains could be a great tool to have students use as a story starter.
Teaching Authentic Writing in a Socially Mediated World Email Share June 28, 2012 - by Susan Lucille Davis 122 Email Share I need to confess. As an English/Language Arts teacher with nearly three decades of experience teaching writing in her professional backpack, I am supposed to know what I am doing. What I Know and What I Don’t Know I know that a focus on building skills to communicate effectively in our media-driven, socially-networked world is more essential than ever. I should say, actually, that the problem is that I don’t know where to start. What about the Common Core State Standards? As I understand them, the Common Core standards still generally address writing in very traditional ways: as exposition, as narrative, and as analysis. My List of Contemporary Writing Activities Note that the Common Core emphasis on traditional rhetorical modes can be employed in many of these arenas. A Conundrum and a Sign of Hope Yet, attending a second day of ISTE Unplugged introduced me to the Global Education Summit , where I found some hope.