We will be using the Writer’s Workshop process to teach writing at Wilkerson Elementary. As in a professional writer’s workshop, each student in the class is a working author. The teacher is a writing professional and peer coach, guiding authors as they explore their craft. Writer’s Workshop is designed to emphasize the act of writing itself-students spend most of their time putting pencil to paper, not just learning about it over time, students learn to choose their own topics and to manage their own development as they work through a wide variety of writing projects in a sustained and self-directed way.
Using Mentor Texts
We study mentor texts (work by published authors).
We learn to model and get ideas from their published pieces. Some of our celebrated authors include Kevin Henkes, dr. Suess, Mo Willems, Tomie dePaola, Beatrix Potter, Avi and Paticia Polacco. Their lives and writing inspire us.
Launching the Writers Workshop
Currently we are Launching the Writing Workshop.
Launching with Small Moments Students enter first grade having spent last year writing about important moments from their lives. Now, it's time for them to revisit and re-energize these small moment stories. The overall goal of this unit is for these students to lift the level of their personal narratives to more fully engage and inform an audience. They'll learn to incorporate a variety of strategies to write more focused and compelling pieces. They will utilize a storyteller's voice to show, not tell; to paint pictures in readers' minds through the use of details. They'll learn to bring the heart of a story alive! We will review routines in order to develop a community of independent writers. Lessons are designed to teach writers how to navigate through the process: generating story ideas, rehearsing for writing, drafting, rereading, revising and then starting on another piece. At the end of the unit, children will choose their best work and revise this more deeply and extensively to share with an audience.