Writer’s WorkshopEUPISD

August 15-17, 2011

Lindsay Brindley, EUPISD ConsultantTan-A Hoffman, JKL Bahweting TeacherAmanda McCabe, EUPISD ConsultantBarb Rogers, JKL Bahweting Teacher

WRITER’S WORKSHOP

Objectives• Gain a clear understanding of the components

of writer’s workshop• Identify ways in which we already facilitate

some of the components in our classrooms• “Amp up” the most successful pieces of our

current classroom practice• Move deeper into the process of facilitating

writer’s workshop in our classrooms

Our Group Norms

Demonstrate respect for one another and for our mutual learning.

Listen fully with the intention to understand.

Participate actively in learning and seeking possibilities.

Set aside judgmentalness.

Share “air time.” Use the parking lot.

Grounding Exercise

The purposes of a grounding:

•To establish relationships•To gather information

•To establish a model for listening with respect and for knowing that each

person will be heard

Grounding Exercise

• One minute• Name• School/grade/subject area• What are you hoping to take away from this

session? (Maybe a good time to start taking notes in your journal!)

• Agenda review/homework reminder

MEAP Writing

40% proficient

So, where are we now?

MEAP Writing 2011-12

40% proficient!

MME Writing

45% proficient

So, where are we now?

MME Writing 2011-12

45% proficient!

We can fix this!• “When teachers receive the education we

deserve in the teaching of writing, and are therefore able to provide children with clear, sequenced, vibrant instruction in writing, we make a dramatic difference in children’s abilities to write.”

• “Lifting the level of writing instruction matters because writing matters.”

• And so…you’re here!

When we embrace reform in the teaching of writing…

• “…we become invigorated…renewed…”• “…we tap new sources of energy within

ourselves…”• “…reminding us why we went into teaching in

the first place.”

Calkins, Lucy. A Guide to the Writing Workshop. Heinemann, New Hampshire: 2006. tc.columbia.edu

• Create your foldable (you can do it!)• Read your assigned section individually and

take notes in the “notes” column (4 min.)

• Share the notes with your partner and add any new insights in the “partner” column (4 min.)

• Agree on a four-sentence(ish) summary of your sections and write it in the “summary” section (5 min.)

FOUNDATIONS

In the words of Ernest Becker, Pulitzer Prize-winning cultural anthropologist…

“What human beings fear is not growing old, but growing old without things adding up.”

And so…we write.

Calkins, Lucy. A Guide to the Writing Workshop. Heinemann, New Hampshire: 2006.

Your turn…

• Think about yourself as a writer, now and/or in the past.

• What aspects of your personal “writing process” are working well? Why?

• Which aspects are not working so well? Why?• Record your thoughts in your journal

Foundations

• Mini-lesson– Connection– Teaching– Active engagement– Link

• Writing and Conferring• Share

Management Systems

• It’s not only novice teachers who struggle!• Not more difficult when leading a workshop• “Manuel is the teacher he is because although

he is new to the profession, his methods are not new. This is how it should be!”

Management Systems

• Full of specific examples regarding instruction• Directly applicable to the classroom

immediately

• Objective: experience the level of detail to which Lucy expands your knowledge of each area, thereby gaining additional understanding of the structure of the component you’ve chosen

Management Systems

• Management throughout the mini-lesson• Management at the start of work time• Management during work time (extensive)• Managing one-to-one conferences• Managing the share time

(Remember: you will be covering additional chapters specific to each of these areas. Also, there’s a PowerPoint available with expansion info…)

Management Systems Continuums• Consider the list of possible topics within the

chapter and your comfort level/expertise as you relate to each.

• Visit the continuums on the walls around the room and place your stickers appropriately.

• Return to your seat and spend around ten minutes reading your two most “uncomfortable” sections.

• Keep the objective in mind; you may want to take notes in your journal.