Teaching Writing Through

Peer WorkshoppingHow to set-up and manage a Peer Workshopping Community in your

classroom

Beth HammettGreater Houston Area Writing Project

College of the Mainlandmbhammett@aol.com

To teach writing you must:

• Be a writer!• Have a safe community• Model your process• Know where your

students are in their writings

• Use good writing models• Reinforce positive

comments

• Use students’ writings to model

• Grammar in context• Vocabulary and spelling

in context• Students help build

rubrics• Practice, practice,

practice!!!

Your goal as teacher is to serve as a…

“mentor of writing, a mediator of writing strategies, and a model of a writer at work” (page 21). Nancie Atwell In the Middle

“Writing teachers draw upon three distinct areas of expertise. We must know our students. We must know how to teach. And we must know something about writing itself” (page 2).

Ralph Fletcher What a Writer Needs

Be Passionate About Writing!“Passion remains the most important quality the mentor has to offer. When

we think back on those teachers we looked up to, we don’t always remember exactly what they taught. Above everything, we remember passion. Fire” (page 17)

“You learn to write by grappling with a real subject that truly matters to you” (page 4).

Ralph FletcherWhat A Writer Needs

Two Approaches

Traditionalists• Focus is on finished product• Writing is taught (linear

process)• Individuals work alone• Teacher’s process: assign,

collect, mark, return• Mechanics taught• Writing is done outside of

classroom setting

Process• Process of getting to the

product• Writing is learned• Writers work collaboratively• Writer’s process

– Prewrite– Rough draft– Revise– Edit– Publish

• Holistic• Peer

workshopping/conferencing

“Writers’ workshop teachers recognize that not every writer is the same….”

Visual/KinestheticDrawings StorytellingModels Webs

AuditoryTape recordingWebbing while talkingDiagrams

“Good writing teachers must avoid giving the impression that there is a lockstep pattern to success in writing.”

Kathleen and James Strickland

Teaching English, 6-12

Getting Started

• Introduce yourself as a writer– Show your own work

• Diagnostic paper—Road of Life Map– Students create map, storytell, and choose one item to write a

narrative from– This will help create your safe community

• Class list of names with strengths and weaknesses• Set up your workshopping groups using your list

– Design your groups accordingly

• Design your mini-lessons from your list– Where are your writers at and what needs do they have

• Choose meaningful topics

Introduce the Writing Process

• Holistically – Pre-write/Rough Draft:

• Not all students need a written pre-write• Freewrite can sometimes work as a rough draft

– Revise• Re-organize, re-think, re-structure

– Edit• Grammar, spelling, punctuation, word choices

– Final Copy• Ready for publishing!

The Pre-write:Think about your process as a

writer• Listing• Writer’s Notebook• Webbing• Freewriting• Clustering• Storytelling• Drawing• Any writing to get you

started and thinking• Do one as a class—

model, model, model!

A Writer’s Notebook and

Ralph Fletcher• Is NOT a diary!• What it is:

– Write about stories/poems– What do you wonder

about?– Write about the small

things in life– Seed ideas– Pictures

• In your mind

• In print

– Unusual words

Rough Draft• Can be your freewriting/nutshelling process

– Nutshelling: freewriting and giving a one-sentence summary of the exercise

• Get something on paper• Rough drafts are supposed to be bad!• Do one as a class• Model your own• Model others

– Students– Published authors

“Workshop teachers know how important it is to spend time modeling ways to respond to writing because success depends on writers learning how to help each other, how to act in a community of writers” (page 93).

Kathleen and James StricklandTeaching English, 6-12

Peer Workshopping “Our goal is to help students make decisions about their writing during conferences rather than directing them on how to proceed or how to ‘fix’ their writing” (page 95).

Kathleen and James StricklandEngaged in Learning,Teaching English 6-12

• Model in front of the class using your own writing• Two stars and a wish• Orally• Individual sheets• Peer workshopper’s name• Guided questions

Asking Questions:

• Encourage the writer: ask open ended questions– What are you trying to say with this piece?– What do you think about the piece?– What do you want the readers to realize?– How could you organize the paper?

• What specific help is the writer needing?– What part do you need help on?– What needs improving?

• BE SPECIFIC!!!– “It’s great!” becomes “I liked the description of…”– “It’s cool!” becomes “Your word choices are…”– “I liked it!” becomes “You grabbed my attention when…”– “Don’t change a thing!” becomes “Its ready to publish!”

• Only positive comments allowed

Teacher’s Role

• Practice being quiet• Listen as students read their pieces• Encourage the writer• Ask questions the student can answer rather than putting

the student on the spot– What are you doing with this piece now?– What is your next step?– What are you trying to say now?– What do you mean here?– I am confused by this. Can you explain it to me?

• Meet individually with writers• Work the room• You are the facilitator/coach

Revise

• Re-organize, re-think, re-structure• Model, model, model!

– Your own– Students– Published authors

• Mini-lessons– Organization– Voice– Tone– Mood– Beginnings, endings

• Read the work aloud to your peer group!!!

Editing“It is hard to be one’s own editor…To edit, one needs to step back from the writing and read with a fresh eye” (page 110).

Kathleen and James StricklandTeaching English, 6-12

• Grammar, spelling, vocabulary, punctuation, word choices, syntax

• Model, model, model!– Your own– Students– Published Authors

• Mini-lessons– Synonyms, antonyms– Showing not telling– Word tickets– Prepositional walk– Grammar theater

Final Copy

• Ready to be published!• Model, model, model

– Your own– Students– Published Authors

• Read alouds/Sharing• Give writing as a gift• Author’s Chair• Author’s Lunches/Nights• Barnes and Noble• Greensheet, Teenink, Merlyn’s Pen, Jack and Jill,

Highlights, Poetry.com, Seventeen, school newspaper, class anthologies, bulletin boards, hallways, etc…

Assessment

• Design your rubric with your students– They need to know how to get an A

• Assess only what has been taught• Grade the process• Rubrics should become more in-depth as the

year progresses• Students CAN do the grading!• The teacher is the coach/facilitator

– Re-read– Re-grade

Extras

• Expert groups– Students become teachers

• Peer tutoring– Those finishing early help others

• Portfolios– Visual growth

ResourcesPeer Workshopping

In the Middle: New Understandings about Reading, Writing, and Learning (Workshop Series)

by Nancie AtwellA Writer’s Notebook by Ralph FletcherEngaged in Learning, Teaching English 6-12 by Kathleen and James

Strickland.

Editing/RevisingImage Grammar by Harry NodenLessons That Change Writers by Nancie Awtell6+1 Traits of Writing by Ruth CulhamBooks, Lesson, Ideas for Teaching the 6 Traits by Vickie SpandelInside Out by Kirby and Linear

PublishingWriter’s Market Merlyn’s PenNovel and Short Story Writer’s Market TeeninkFreelancewriting.com Jack and JillPoetry.com CricketBarnes and Noble Blue MountainGreensheet School/Local

Bibliography

Atwell, Nancie. In the Middle. Boynton/Cook Publishers, Inc. Portsmouth, NH. 1998.

Fletcher, Ralph. What A Writer Needs. Heinemann. Portsmouth, NH. 1993.

Strickland, Kathleen and James. Engaged In Learning, Teaching English, 6-12. Heinemann. Portsmouth, NH. 2002.