Writer's Workshop
Our Writer's Workshop is a time for students to work on real writing at their own pace. There are 2 Writer's Workshop blocks per week and each block starts off with a mini-lesson that builds essential writing skills or introduces/builds on a current writing project. After the lesson, students have time to work on a writing project, whether it is personal writing project or the project that the whole class is working on. In our class, we frequently have a couple pieces of writing going on at once, just like professional writers. We believe that by Grade 6, we should release responsibility to the students. One of their most important responsibilities is time management. To read more about the Writer's Workshop method for teaching writing, click here.
Goals:
Goals:
- Explicitly teach writing strategies and techniques, including finding a new topic.
- Help students develop a consistent and stable process for writing including planning, pre-writing, conferring, editing, revising and publishing.
- Promote fluent and appropriate use of computers during the composition, editing, revision and publishing process.
- Encourage students to engage with real, authentic writing as often as possible in order to help them identify as writers.
Ontario Curriculum Connections
Balanced Literacy Food Groups: Writing Processes & Strategies, Text Structures & Genres
Balanced Literacy Food Groups: Writing Processes & Strategies, Text Structures & Genres
Language Arts: Writing
Developing Ideas
1.2 generate ideas about a potential topic and identify those most appropriate for the purpose Revision
2.7 make revisions to improve the content, clarity, and interest of their written work, using a variety of strategies |
Word Choice
2.3 use some vivid and/or figurative language and innovative expressions to enhance interest Producing Drafts
2.8 produce revised draft pieces of writing to meet identified criteria based on the expectations |
Sentence Fluency
2.4 create complex sentences by combining phrases, clauses, and/or simple sentences Proofreading
3.6 proofread and correct their writing using guidelines developed with peers and the teacher |
Preparing for Revision
2.6 identify elements in their writing that need improvement, selectively using feedback from the teacher and peers, with a focus on supporting details and precise language |