By Jamie Elliott and Ellaysa Newton

Literature Education 6212

“Literacy is not a luxury, it is a right and a responsibility. If our world is to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century we must harness the energy and creativity of all our citizens.”

- President Clinton on International Literacy Day, September 8th 1994

A philosophy of writing instruction where students explore topics of interest, confer with a teacher and other students, revise their ideas and then publish their work.

Most writer’s workshops have a similar plan.

First, the workshop begins with detailed instruction from the teacher.

Next the students engage in independent writing.

Afterward and during independent writing, there is a conferencing period where students get input from other students and also teacher can give creative criticism to make the student think.

Finally, the students PUBLISH their work and share with their peers the final product. (10-30 minutes).

Most writing workshops last between 45minutes-1hr and 30minutes.

The detailed instruction given at the beginning of the workshop is often times referred to as mini-lessons.

These lessons focus on a specific writing technique and lasts only about 5 – 10 minutes.

The four major types of instruction are:

1.Routines (Procedures and organization for the classroom)

2.Skills3.Strategies4.Craft and Techniques

After giving instruction at the beginning of the workshop, the teacher’s role becomes one of facilitator.

What does that look like? Circulating the room Creating the atmosphere and providing the

resources to encourage risk taking on the part of the students.

Constantly monitoring Conferencing with students who need it Encouraging students on the right path and

helping other students who need assistance

Students are allowed to choose what topics interest them and pursue them by writing about them.

Students are responsible for organizing their writing in a designated place.

Students don’t have to try to keep up with others. They work at their own pace within the guidelines given by the instructor.

Conferencing takes place during independent writing time and can extend a few minutes beyond that time, if the time is used productively.

Teachers may take this time to work with students on a individual basis.

Critical to this time, is peer evaluation. Students seek responses and input from their peers.

This should not extend more than 10-20 minutes beyond the independent writing time.

Students love being able to share their final product with their peers.

This allows students to practice public speaking and reading aloud and also learn from each other about topics they may never have explored.

Be creative! Create a book from the submissions Have stories published online on a class blog

The sky is the limit!

Consider a writing workshop online. This theory simply expands upon the

traditional premise and allows students to create their own online content.

They still conference with other students

And PUBLISH their final project online for everyone to see.

Gives students the opportunity to use the multimodal communication tools available through computers and the internet.

The students will engage in researching, planning, and composing, all with the tool of computers.

• Children develop a love for writing as they are allowed to have the power to determine topics.

• Addresses the needs of varied instruction.• Puts writing instruction in an order and

terms that students can understand.• All the time used during the workshop is

used productively. The students don’t have “’down” time.

• Students develop independence and motivation to be more engaged writers.

• Students learn to evaluate their own writing in order to improve it

• Helps establish an atmosphere of collaboration in the classroom.

They are allowed an opportunity to engage in the writing of texts that reflect their own interests and choices.

“Literacy arouses hopes, not only in society as a whole but also in the individual who is striving for fulfillment, happiness and personal benefit by learning how to read and write. Literacy... means far more than learning how to read and write... The aim is to transmit... knowledge and promote social participation.”

- UNESCO Institute for Education, Hamburg, Germany