The content of this post has been lightly adapted from A Guide to the Writing Workshop, 3–5, a component of the Units of Study in Writing, 3–5 sets.
Writing workshop minilessons are meant as intervals for explicit, brief instruction in skills and strategies that then become part of a writer’s ongoing repertoire, to be drawn upon as needed. That is, every day in a writing workshop, you gather the learners and say, “I’ve been thinking about the work you are doing, and I want to give you just one tip, one technique that I think will help with challenges some of you are encountering, or will soon be encountering.” Then you demonstrate the new technique and help children get a bit of assisted practice trying it in miniature ways, all within a ten-minute minilesson. After this, you send learners off to continue their important work, reminding them that from that day forward, they can always draw on the strategy they learned that day, as well as those they’ve learned on previous days.
I’ve often said that the most important words of any workshop are the words that come at the end of the minilesson, when you say, “Off you go.” In any workshop, it is important that the kids know that after the minilesson is over, they can resume the important work they were doing the day before, drawing on all they have learned across the year and, especially, the recent days. Then, at the end of each day’s workshop, you’ll gather your writers once more, bringing that day’s work to a close with a brief time to share. The focus of the share often refers back to the focus of the minilesson, creating a sense of closure to the workshop.
The completely updated Units of Study in Writing for Grades 3–5 provide an even more powerful curriculum for growing confident writers. With a classroom-tested and research-based trajectory to support skill development, discovery, and practice in the craft of writing, teachers and their students are both set up for success.
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The Reading & Writing Project at Mossflower was created out of the pioneering work that Dr. Lucy Calkins began over forty years ago. Inspired by her research, she developed innovative curricula and methods that transformed the way children learned to write, adapting the collegiate and professional-level “writing workshop” model for elementary-age students. Today, RWP-M remains deeply rooted in this experience, where Dr. Calkins and her team of experienced educators author the Units of Study in Reading, Writing, and Phonics for grades K through 8, and several series of engaging decodable texts. More than authors of curriculum, at its core, the Project is a community of practice, a think tank, and a professional development organization dedicated to working with schools and educators to empower students to become what we have always known them to be: proficient and enthusiastic writers, readers, and thinkers.