Writer’s Workshop Event Summary

Hi Everyone

Dr. Carmine Stewart, guest expert for our April event, notes that, “Professional writers don’t write in a vacuum.  They have peers, and editors, and agents, and proofreaders, and folks who will critique and help them improve their drafts.  Yet when we teach writing, we leave students to their own devices and then wonder why they hate writing so much! Writing is not a solitary practice.”

A writer’s workshop brings writing from a solitary to a supportive group activity. It allows the instructor to act as both facilitator and participant. A writer’s workshop is a strengths-based appreciative approach which increases student’s comfort and confidence in the writing process while being culturally inclusive. It empowers learners through a process that engages students in a continuous, repeated exposure to the writing process.

A writer’s workshop is an iterative, four-part process:

1.  Mini Lesson

2.  Writing

3.  Conferring

4.  Sharing

We’ll discuss each part in more detail in future posts.

How would writing as a collaborative process make it easier for our students?

Thanks for your thoughts,

Steve Schmidt, Moderator

LINCS Reading and Writing Group  

Comments

Hi Everyone,

Let’s go into more depth on each part of the writer’s workshop:

1. Mini Lesson

Mini-lessons should last 5 to 10 minutes and focus on one aspect, skill, or tool of writing. Topics are informed by student needs. For example, perhaps students need help writing with their reader in mind.

2. Writing

Give students a set time to write, not a page minimum. Writer’s block is very real, especially when students have a prompt they care little about using. Start with a minute of writing time and then build this to two minutes and beyond. Students will reach a point where they will want to keep writing (especially when they are being praised for their efforts).

3. Conferring

A students’ work is read and informally evaluated. Urge students on and assist those who struggle. Provide an alternative assignment if necessary.

4. Sharing and Feedback

Tell students that every writer needs feedback. Feedback may be done in a whole group, small group, or in pairs. Focus on one thing. Since this is an appreciative process, the feedback should be all positive. Give feedback in third person. For example, “I like how the writer shared personal details about their life.”

There’s more to come!

How do you give positive feedback on your student's writing?

Have a great day,

Steve Schmidt, Moderator

LINCS Reading and Writing Group 

Hi Everyone,

In the last part of the event, we participated in a writer’s workshop:

1. Mini Lesson

Dr. Stewart gave a short lesson on writing a memoir. She explained that a memoir is a descriptive story that describes a memory. She said, “As you write, help the reader feel as if they were there. Rely heavily on describing the senses involved. What are you seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, and tasting? The story should be factual.”

2. Writing

We were given instructions and an example for writing a six-word memoir. We could write about any aspect of our lives we choose. If we were stuck, we could write about how we entered the field of adult literacy. Dr. Stewart provided examples:

  • They said “It’s impossible.” It wasn’t.
  • Art is what she lives for.

3. Conferring

Several participants were invited to share their memoirs with the group.

4. Sharing and Feedback

After each share, volunteers gave their thoughts on the writing remembering the rules that the feedback should be all positive and given in third person. Dr. Stewart does not write on students’ writing with a red pen! She analyzes errors and uses them in future writer's workshops. Kristine Kelly mentioned that sometimes “students are stunned to hear something positive” about their writing.

In the next writing phase, we were given six minutes to write six bullet points that further fleshed out the memoir. Once the bullet points were created and shared with a partner, we could then move on to writing a full memoir.

Dr. Stewart shared a few final thoughts:

Flower & Hayes (1980) Research

There are three cognitive writing processes: Planning, generating, and revising. Novice writers spend 99% of their time generating. Processes like building from six words to six bullets and talking about the bullets help in generating ideas.

Deciding on Instructional Topics

Dr. Stewart first collects and analyzes writing samples. Using this data, she plans instruction that is focused on student needs, is contextualized, and is relevant.

We really appreciate Dr. Carmine Stewart for the time and effort she gave to expand our writing knowledge. She can be reached at: Aspire.educ@gmail.com

Have you done a writer’s workshop? How did it go? Please share a few thoughts.

Thanks!

Steve Schmidt, Moderator

LINCS Reading and Writing Group 

 

I actually did a workshop on Friday where I incorporated Dr. Stewart's 6-Word Memoir writing workshop example (giving her full credit, of course, on my slide!) with several 6-word mentor texts I added. I love to do activities like this during workshops where the participants are the students so they can get a real feel for the activity and how students might respond to it. In the process of adding it to my workshop, I found a great website that has lots of great examples written by actual students and ideas for topics for 6-word memoirs: Six-Word Memoirs – One Life, Six Words. What's Yours? (sixwordmemoirs.com) Check it out!