This document outlines the structure and components of a typical writing workshop, including a mini-lesson, independent practice with teacher conferring, and a sharing period. It provides examples of possible mini-lessons and teaching points for individual student conferences. It also discusses the importance of setting student learning standards and monitoring progress.

1. Jennifer Evans
Assistant Director ELA
St.ClairCounty RESA
Evans.jennifer@sccresa.org
http://www.protopage.com/evans.jennifer#Untitled/Home

3. Mini-Lesson
(10-15 min.)
Independent
Practice with
Conferring
(30-40 min.)
Sharing
( 5-10 min.)

5. Connection
with
Yesterday’s lesson
Ongoing unit of
study
Mentor Text /
Student work
An experience
Teaching
Point
Explicit Instruction
Model
Create anchor
charts
Active
Engagement
Try out the new
strategy
Watch /
Participate in
demonstration –
Shared Writing
Plan work out loud
Link
To ongoing work
Practice
To – With – By Model

7. 30-40 Minutes
Students work independently while the teacher
meets with small groups or individual students
•Conferring Talking Cards
Possible mid-workshop teaching point
• Occur naturally when the teacher notices something that
needs clarification or further explanation to help students as
they write

8. “What are you working
on as a Writer?”
Find “Teaching Point”

9. From: Writing
Workshop The
Essential Guide
by Ralph
Fletcher and
JoAnn Portalupi
p. 96

10. • He knows to include dialogue
inside quotation marks
• He uses commas to set off a name
in the middle of a sentence
• He knows how to write simple
sentences
• He understands that proper
names require capital letters
First,
notice
the skills
the
student
uses
correctly:

11. • He knows that proper names need capital
letters, but he’s inconsistent in applying this
rule.
• He also seems confused when a name
stretches across more than one or two
words (ie. Pear of Aces is written “Pear of
aces”)
• He understands that dialogue needs
quotation marks, but he doesn’t understand
how to use the comma to identify who is
speaking.
• It appears he isn’t aware of paragraphing at
all, either in terms of dialogue or as an
organizational tool in writing.
Second,
think
about
what his
errors
teach
us:

12. • Since he has partial knowledge of the rules of
capitalization, it makes sense to start there. (Show
him how you decide which letters need to be
capitalized when a name includes a collection of
words. You’ll be talking about titles as well since the
same rules apply.)
• He is also ready to learn about combining two short
sentences. (Show him how he could do this with a
number of places in this piece he could apply this
skill.)
• Because he shows an understanding of comma use
in a sentence, he’s probably ready to expand his
knowledge of other ways commas can be used.
Next,
select one
or two
skills to
teach him
when you
confer.
What shall
it be?

13. 5-10 Minutes
 Notice
 Question
 Personal Connection
 Compliment and Suggestion (glow & grow)
Partner
Small
Group
Whole
Group

14. Working together as a
team, make a list of
the essential
standards you expect
your students to learn
by the end of the year
or by the end of each
unit.
Create a checklist to
monitor progress and
for student use.
(examples appendix K
and L)
Determine how your
team will
accommodate the
various skill levels in
your classes.

17. “Assigning writing
is easy. Teaching
writing is really
hard.”
“We need to teach our
students to read like
writers and write like
readers.”
Kelly Gallagher, Author and Teacher
http://www.kellygallagher.org/index.html

18. Look at
Writing
Workshop
Teacher
Reflection
Continuum.
Discuss
what each
box means
with your
team to
acquire a
common
understandi
ng of the
expectation.
Highlight
what you
already do.
Select one
area you
want to
focus on this
year.
Write Action
Plan to help
you
accomplish
this goal.

22. Day 1:
Review/Introduce
the concept
Day 2: Model
Choice Lesson
Mini
lesson
Conferring
Sharing
Day 3:
Observe/support
in classroom

23. October 21 Scoring Clinic at Staff Meeting

24.  Reading Strategies Flipbook