Writing Workshop

If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.~ George Orwell The qualities of good writing are comple and nuanced. !ut they can "e named, and I#m con$inced they can "e taught. Of all the arts, writing should "e among the most democratic% all one needs is paper and a pen & and I would suggest, a teacher or two along the way who work to make the intangi"le tangi"le, so e$ery student might know the 'oy of writing well. ~ (ancie )twell in *essons That +hange ,riters, -..-

 CHE COSA E' IL WW COME ORGANIZZARE IL WW ESEMPIO PRATICO

CHE COSA E' IL WW

The Writing Workshop, similar to the Reading Workshop, is a method of teaching writing using a workshop method. Students are given opportunities to write in a variety of genres and helps foster a love of writing. The Writing Workshop allows teachers to meet the needs of their students by differentiating their instruction and gearing instruction based on information gathered throughout the workshop .This page gives a basic overview of the Writing Workshop. Read Aloud of Touchstone/ entor Te!ts ini"#essons$sually, when teachers use Writing Workshop, they teach using genre studies. %!amples are personal narrati$es, information writing, procedural writing &how/to', and so forth. (f students are e!pected to produce writing in these genres, then they need to be immersed with books based on those genres. These te!ts are known as touchstone te ts or !entor te ts. Read alouds are a way to use authors as mentors for writing styles and genres .Students can see how writers use different styles and literary elements to create pieces of writing. Teachers are not re)uired to read the entire te!t. The mini"lessons for Writing Workshop teach concepts, strategies, and techni)ues for writing while encouraging students to write in different genres or styles. The *+"*, minute mini"lessons gives teachers the opportunity to give direct instruction to students and model the lessons using authentic literature or teacher-s own writing. 0ample mini/lessons can include. writing strategies and skills literary elements literary techni)ues &i.e. voice, descriptive words, etc.' genre studies te!t features #ucy /alkins discusses the architecture or format of a mini"lesson. 0ou can read about it in the site 1Architecture of a inilesson2 . The ma3ority of time of Writing Workshop is devoted to independent writing. 4uring this time, students are prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing their pieces. 4epending on the age and abilities of your students, independent writing can be as short as *, minutes or as long as 5,"6+ minutes. (t helps to build stamina with your class, beginning with a short amount of time and building that time until they can work for up 7+ minutes or more. According to 8atie Wood Ray &The ,riting ,orkshop, 9++*', students can also do other activities during their writing time, such as writing in their schema notebooks 3ournal writing

writing e!ercises to e!periment with language and style conducting peer"conferences reading to support writing 4uring independent writing time, the teacher confers with students about their writing. The teacher should keep anecdotal records which include the date of the conference, observations, discussion, and teaching points.Teachers should keep conferences short. The purpose is to ask students how their writing is going and to teach them something that makes sense at the time. Websites on /onferring. :uided Writing Sharing. 4uring independent writing time, the teacher can gather a group of students to work on guided writing. Similar to guided reading, the teacher works with a group based on their needs. This is particularly helpful if a group of students is having difficulty with a concept and you want to avoid repeating the same conference with a number of students.Sharing is an e!tremely important component of the writing workshop that many teachers tend to dismiss due to time constraints. 4uring the share portion, students contribute what they did during their independent writing time, either with the whole group or with a peer. This gives students the opportunity to observe and learn from each other. anagement of the Writing WorkshopSchema/Writer-s ;otebooks or <olders. Writer-s notebooks, also known as schema notebooks, are a place for students to write notes, practice their writing, and other various activities. /heck out the sites below for more information. Writing =rocess >ulletin >oard =ieces" 0ou can use them to remind students about the writing process or you can use them as headers for a management system. =lace a plastic cup under each header and students place a wooden stick or clothes pin with their name in the cups to keep track of where they are in the writing process.#aunching Writing Workshop. The first unit of study #ucy /alkins recommends is the launching of the Writing Workshop. This establishes the rules, procedures, and practices for running the writing workshop in your classroom.

COME ORGANIZZARE IL WW

This year?s writing instruction will focus on the pursuit of good writing, with e!plicit instruction to help students begin to master some of the comple! and nuanced )ualities of e!ceptional 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 ( circulate among writers and meet with individuals or small groups. At any point during the writing workshop, students may share their written work in progress and receive constructive feedback from their peers and me. The writing workshop may conclude with this oral student sharing of written work, with a group discussion of what writers accomplished or what problems emerged, with my observations, or with a follow"up to the mini"lesson. The writing workshop is a )uiet and productive period. Writing is thinking so silence is needed to help all writers think and write well. The only noise besides pencils moving across paper is the )uiet talking that occurs during writing conferences. 4uring the writing workshop, students develop most of their own writing pro3ects, even during genre studies, writing passionately about what matters most to them. The writing workshop mini"lessons provide a writing course of study. They draw on a combination of impromptu lessons based on student need and lessons that incorporate key writing instruction critical for every si!th grade student. This year?s mini"lessons have been amassed from a wide variety of sources over the past two decades, but the core of most of the lessons has been informed by ;ancie Atwell?s work with 3unior high school writers and generously shared in her books, In the 1iddle% (ew 2nderstandings a"out ,riting, 3eading, and *earning and *essons that +hange ,riters, and by the work of @ld Adobe $nion School 4istrict?s writing liaison group, with whom ( worked to help enhance our ,onders of ,riting program. The mini"lessons fall into four distinct categories. lessons about topics, lessons about principles of writing, lessons about genres, and lessons about conventions &please note that sometimes conventions will be taught out of the conte!t of writing mini"lessons as separate grammar lessons'. %ach day?s mini" lesson is akin to a group writing conference, where students share problems they are having as writers, determine solutions to writing problems, evaluate e!amples of outstanding writing, learn strategies for developing topics, learn and try different genres of writing, develop and e!periment with literary techni)ues, and gain a better mastery and understanding of conventions .4uring 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. Students will also create a mini"lessons table of contents for ease of later reference.

ESEMPIO PRATICO
Propose" #riting #orkshop sche"u$e% Mini&$esson. *,"9+ minutes Stu"ent #ork perio". 9,"7, minutes Sh'ring. ,"*+ minutes E'ch !ini&$esson is co!pose" o( (our p'rts )Connection* te'ch* 'cti+e eng'ge!ent* $ink,% Connection. The teacher puts today-s work into the conte!t of children-s ongoing work as writers and e!plicitly names what they-ll be learning today. %!ample. AWriters, (-ve been very impressed as (-ve read over your informational articles lately. 0ou-ve been doing a great 3ob of writing creative leads to capture your reader-s interest. Today (-m going to teach you how informational authors also use headings to make their writing more organiBed and interesting to their readers.A Te'ch% The teacher e!plicitly teaches students @;% concept that will make their writing better. (t is important not to teach too much here, and to be very e!plicit in the instruction. The teacher might use her own writing, an e!cerpt from children-s literature, or a student-s writing to teach the target concept. %!ample. A#et me show you what ( mean. #ook at my writing about sea turtles from yesterday Cshow students a sample writing that is not divided into sections with headingsD. ( have a lot of good information here about sea turtles. >ut if someone were reading my article, they might have a hard time finding the information they want because it-s not divided into sections. (f you look at this book about sea turtles Cshow students a book or magaBine article that (S organiBed into sections with headingsD you can see that the writer has decided to group all the information about sea turtles- food into one paragraph, and to title it AWhat do sea turtles eatEA. Another section is about sea turtle babies, and it also has its own heading. (-m thinking ( need to do this to my writing also, to make it easier for my readers to find the information they want. Watch as ( underline all the information in my article that has to do with where sea turtles live using a red marker. ;ow ( will be able to rewrite this information in my ne!t draft with a heading, such as AWhere do sea turtles liveEA. Acti+e Eng'ge!ent. This section of the mini"lesson allows students the opportunity to briefly Atry outA the strategy you 3ust demonstrated within the safety of the group. All students should be actively engaged by turning and talking to a neighbor or by e!amining their own writing.

%!ample. A;ow ( want you to try it. What other information could ( group together in my articleE Turn and talk to your writing partner about sentences that you feel would go together, and also think of a good heading title that summariBes that information. C:ive students 9", minutes to talk. As students discuss, listen in on discussions to see if students understand the idea. 4ecide on one partner group who understand the idea of headings to share with the groupD. Writers, let-s come back together. ( heard some good discussion going onF Gose and Walter, would you please share with the group the information you think should go together and the heading that you feel would fitEA CAllow 3ust this pair to share " there-s no need to let multiple students share, as this takes up time and can turn your mini"lesson into a Ama!i"lessonAD Link. The teacher restates the teaching point and either tries to ensure that every students applies this new learning to their ongoing writing today &if applicable' or encourages children to add today-s teaching point to their repertoire of strategies. %!ample. AWriters, today we learned that informational authors often organiBe their writing by grouping similar information together and putting a small title, or heading, at the beginning of that section. Today, ( want you to e!amine your article " even if you-re not finished yet " and work on grouping similar information together. 0ou may use different colored markers like ( did. (f you still have )uestions about how authors use headings you may stay behind on the rug. @therwise, off you go " happy writingF AT-pes o( Mini&Lessons% Org'ni.'tion'$/Proce"ur'$% Rules for Writing Workshop How to set up your writer-s notebook How to locate materials How to have a conference with the teacher What to do if you think you-re done Str'tegies% How How How How How How Cr'(t% How How How How How to to to to to to to to to to to revise for meaning add details narrow your topic eliminate unnecessary information reread organiBe your paper create a good lead add figurative language Ashow, not tellA use the Arule of threeA use strong verbs

Ski$$s% How How How How How to to to to to use closing punctuation correct spelling errors use commas in a series use pronouns correctly use )uotation marks

<@;T( http.//busyteacherscafe.com/literacy/writingIworkshop.html http.//msmcclure.com/EpageIidJ7K7L http.//www.hallco.org/literacy/inde!.phpEviewJarticleMidJ9*N9, $n graBie particolare alla prof.ssa Genny =oletti, senBa la )uale non avrei iniBiato )uesto fantastico percorso.