Spontaneous Co-Composing

in a Writing Workshop

- Joseph Donovan -
Writing Workshop

- Model that foregrounds student choice and agency

- Allow students to follow their own interests and work
with peers, who were supportive of those interests
- Choose to work anywhere in the room
- Students get complete control of genre and topic choice
 This led to…
- Student-Student Conversations
- Teacher-Student Conversations
- Teacher mini-lessons based on observations of these workshops
- Encouraged writers to read aloud at the end of the workshops
- Stories being based on their own interests and experiences
Interactions

- Planning
- Negotiating
- Narrating
- Communicating via Nonlinguistic Modes
- Conducting process decisions
- Heteroglossic
Benefits

- Improved writing processes and produces to more

effective decision making and positive affect
- Written produces tended to be stronger
- Greater lengths
- Promotes Group cohesiveness
- Cognitive and Social Development
- Develop a sense of care and concern for their peers
- Positive working relationships and more creativity
Challenges

- Less likely to complete the text (Length)

- Some people may get a “Final Say” over someone else
based on who they are in the group
- Keeping track of all the ideas
Work Cite

Jaeger, E. (2021). Friends and authors: Spontaneous co-composing in a writing workshop.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 21(2), 177–207.
https://doi-org.libproxy.library.wmich.edu/10.1177/1468798419833096