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Writing Workshop
Writing Workshop is my favorite time of the day! I have done it since day one of my teaching career. When I did my student teaching (4th grade) in Alaska, my supervising teacher gave me a huge binder from a workshop she went to. I used it as a guide and slowly developed my own system for kindergarten and first grade. I now put my students into four groups and do Reading and Writing Workshop at the same time. We have a chart on the wall to help the groups rotate. They go to Writing Workshop every other day. Each student has a pocket folder for 'work in progress'. I used the top of a copier paper box (covered with construction paper) to keep the folders. I use another box lid for Author's Chair (work ready to be shared). Each Writing Workshop session has a mini-lesson, writing time/conferencing, and Author's Chair.
Workshop Tools:
- tracers of all kinds
- markers,
pencils, crayons
- glue sticks
- regular scissors and 'fancy cut' scissors
- paper plates
- stickers
yarn
all kinds of paper (plain, lined, note pads,
cards)
magazine pictures
old greeting cards
staplers
hole punchers
old die cuts
clip boards
I keep all the materials in a plastic storage
tower with drawers. Each drawer has a label for the items inside. The drawers
come out and can be moved around the classroom. Sometimes, my students fill a
small basket with materials that they would like to use. I model how to keep the
materials organized at the beginning of the year.
Mrs. Mumpower's Article in Teacher to Teacher magazine
Scroll down to page 5. Article by Barabra Culwell, Ft.Benning Teacher of the Year 2003
Writing Workshop Links
Teacher's First
Hubbards Cupboard
Stages of Writing
6 Traits Writing
The 6+1 Traits of Writing are:
Ideas, Organization,
Voice, Word Choice,
Sentence Fluency, Conventions, and
Presentation. These traits are used to assess and inform instruction for individual student needs. When writing samples are assessed using a 6 Traits Rubric, the teacher can determine areas of weakness and strength in the writing. From that data, the teacher is able to design lessons to improve writing.
While teaching in Alaska, I had the opportunity to attend several professional development workshops on 6 Traits Writing. I started with the basic 'Instruction and Assessment' component in the spring of 2000. In the summer of that year, I attended the 6 Traits Tutor Training four day course with Vicki Spandel. In 2001, I was a team member for Planning and Restructuring the Title 1 Writing Assessment for the Anchorage School District.
A large component of teaching the 6 Traits in the early grades is to model what each Trait looks like in good literature. After my Tutor Training, I spent many hours putting small colored dots on the covers of my picture books that support specific traits. If I am trying to teach a specific trait, I look to my book shelf and I can quickly pull a book I need. When I get back to school, I will post some of my favorites.
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