A Solution to Revising and Editing Work in Writer’s Workshop!!!

During Writing Workshop I have been having my students working on writing their memoirs and working on a choice piece (a piece on any topic they choose). In my mini-lessons for the memoirs I have focused on writing effective leads,using senses in writing and revision vs editing.

The thing I love about my students is their hate relationship with proofreading, revising, editing, multiple drafts… anything that that has to do with re-reading and changing what they have written! In the past I have  found that when asked to proofread, my students have just read their partner’s paper and changed a few grammar/ spelling issues and said it was good.

I took an idea from a journal that I read about  revising work using the Focused Question Card Strategy.  It has really worked well for my students. We talked a lot about the difference between revision and editing in the writing process first.

I explained the entire process below(lengthly, I know- it was hard to sum up how it works!!)

I taught them the revision card strategy during their first quick publish piece of the year (click here to read about the quick publish piece). We went step by step through the process and we talked about good questions to ask on the card. After the students turned in their quick publish stories and revision cards (they always turn in all their drafts and revision and editing cards to me) I noticed that the students had asked good questions, but most of their answers were pretty pathetic! For example- does my ending make sense? Should I add more details. The answer: yes!- no other comments. So I need to work on how to answer the revision cards.. but we had a good start with the question part!

Here is the revision card process that I use during writing workshop:

• After the students have written for at least  20 min.  for a few days and they have some content, I tell them  that they can conference with a peer if they want.
• I let students pick their partners since they will find people they are comfortable with and someone who will give them suggestions and be honest. Remind students that they as the writer is asking for help, so they should accept comments relating to their card.
• Students must conference with at least 2 students for revising conferences and one other student for editing conference.
• When it is time for drafting. The writer needs to take a note card and write one questions or concern that they have that they would like help with. If it is a yes/no question, they need to ask why.
• They write their name on the side of the card
• When they conference- the writer reads his/her piece aloud without the partner looking at the paper.
• The listener only responds to that one question that the writer had. The listener writes the answer on the back of the note card and puts his/her name.
• No editing is done at this conference. This is only time for revising.

Students then write more.

Another Revision conference

• Same as the first, students can pick anyone to work with but it must be with a different conference partner than the first.

Editing Conference

• With peers. This time students sit side by side and are looking at one writer’s piece at a time. The writer reads the piece aloud. Make corrections and changes. The writer is the only one who writes on his/ her paper. Then they switch, writer becomes listener etc..

I, the teacher finally looks at the paper:

• The paper has had 3 people look at it before I even see  it one time. I have glanced at their work, and helped here and there, but not in-depth.
• The writer then writes on a note card one thing they want help with from me.  They attach the note card to their paper.
• At this point, the writer is giving me his/her best draft possible.
• I then looks at the piece, and responds to the student’s question and makes one suggestion.
• The piece is then returned to the student for them to make corrections and changes and turn in for their final piece to be graded.
• I needs to keep in mind that the writer can ignore the suggestions that the I suggested. I need to have the student go back to the rubric and focus on the things that they are being graded on.
• I don’t correct grammar unless it is a habit and is seen consistently from the student. If it is a habit I only comment on one thing at a time- too many and they don’t internalize it.

**The article was from September 2006,  in the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy,  written by Alexa Sandman.

The Importance of Writing Daily

It is so important to have students write daily, even if it is only for a few minutes and it is extremely important for students to see you writing and sharing with them. Writing WITH the students shows students that you value writing and it is important to you. I know it is so tempting to do all those classroom tasks while they are quietly working, but think about what that is conveying to your kids. If you have to do the classroom tasks, at least write before class and explain that you wrote earlier in the day and share some of your writing.

Every day, even on days when I don’t do writing workshop, I have them do what I call a “Warm It Up”. I give the students something to think about and then let them write for about 5-7 min. They can write about the prompt idea, OR anything else they want. {I do hate the word prompt. So many times teachers, myself included in the past, have given students a meaningless prompt and asked them to write about it. For example, write about a time with your pet. What about those of us who don’t have pets??!! } I encourage the to continue writing the entire time.

Today I showed them the book: Life’s Little Instruction Book: 511 Suggestions, Observations, and Reminders on How to Live a Happy and Rewarding Life. by Jackson Brown Jr.

I had them come up with advice, funny, witty, serious, about school, life, teenagers etc.. and share them. It was great to hear what they wrote. I even am considering having my classes write their own advice book. It may be an end of the year project that they leave for future students??

I loved that when I told them to put their writer’s notebooks away, they were still frantically jotting down more advice that came to mind as others were sharing!

The power of a read aloud

Today I read, Old Henry by Joan Blos. I stopped in a few key places throughout the book and the students sketched what they were thinking, or what the story was about. The book’s wise and witty tale is about different kinds of people learning to get along. Henry’s house is worn down and he doesn’t keep his lawn groomed. His neighbors get upset and try to make him change his ways. Henry moves away and then the neighbors realize that they miss him. At the end of the book, Henry writes a letter to the mayor of the town asking if he can come back.

I had the students write a response letter from the mayor to Henry with his decision. We then shared our sketches and letters. We also are working on theme and character type. The students had to identify the theme of the story and the type of character Henry is (round, dynamic)

It was a quick way to review some vocabulary terms we have been working with, and to have the students listen to a story and do a little writing!! I love that even with eighth graders, they still LOVE hearing a story read to them. They all listen intently and they really enjoyed sketching (a non-threatening way to practice comprehension). We also got a laugh out of which students let Henry come back and which students said stay away in their letters.

Using THE word in class… Writing workshop!!

I finally introduced the word writing workshop to my students. We went through what a typical writing workshop day will look like:

Warm Up
Minilesson of some kind
write
share

We are doing writing workshop two days a week, sometimes three. Every Monday and Tuesday is writing workshop (WW) day. The students have been writing in their writer’s notebook their writing territories heart map ( a heart shaped paper that they wrote the things they cared about, memories, trips, people who are important to them etc..) and their “piggy bank” of writing ideas ( a piggy bank printed on a paper that they write genres they want to try and pieces they want to write and audiences they want to write to).
I made a powerpoint of how writing workshop will work- what our days will be like,what to write, where to get ideas etc… Every other Friday is going to be open mic. in which the students will be able to share pieces they have written, or book reviews that they have. If they want, I will record them and put it in a podcast on the website for them to listen to later.

I anticipated them not being sure what to write, so I in order to help them with what to write I started with writing memoirs. I read them, The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant. We talked about what memoirs are, and looked at some previous student’s work. I then had them create a timeline of their lives to try to pick an event that is meaningful to them and that they want to always remember. I also read When I was Young in the Mountains by Patricia Polocco. As we are working on memoirs I keep trying to show them different examples of memoirs and get them to think of something to write about that is important to them. As a warm up I also had them write 25 random things, facts, goals and dreams about themselves. After all of these different ideas I gave to them- I figured they all had to have something to write about!

During writing workshop- I am letting them either work on their memoir, OR any other piece they want to write. The students LOVE this time to just write. They seem very interested in writing letters to their favorite bands, actors, people and companies asking for freebies! An awesome moment was when they asked me if I could show them the correct letter format!!! It was great to see them care about writing correctly because they are writing authentically!!!

After the first week of WW, I went through the revision and editing card strategy that we practiced with our short stories at the beginning of the year. More on that to come…. (click here to see my post on revision and editing)

First few weeks into the school year…..

Time flies when you are having fun reading and writing with the kids. At the beginning of the week I read The Important Book to the students and they created an important page about themselves. We then bound it in a class book and put it in our library.

I have been having the students do what I call a Warm It Up at the beginning of class every day. I either read a picture book and they respond, show them an object or picture and they write. This week I used a ceramic doorstop that was a fish as a writing prompt. I also used a Time Picture of the week as a writing prompt. The only thing I told the students was to write about the object/ picture etc.. in any way they want. They can write a story about the prompt, create a poem or describe what they see. I then had each student share one line from their writing as we went around the room.
So far I haven’t mentioned the word writing workshop to them. I am just showing them that I value reading, writing and sharing in our classroom.
The first writing assignment I am currently working on with them is writing what I call a quick publish. This is for me to see their writing skills and to gage what they are struggling with, and what I need to focus on. We read The Old Woman Who Named Things wrote and discussed what the story elements were. We discussed what writers do when they start a story ( I wanted them to realize that writers brainstorm before just writing), The students then picked a picture from The Mysteries of Harris Burdick or a person from a 1948 graduating class photo frame that I photocopied when they were hanging in our school. The students were told to create a graphic organizer and brainstorm their ideas for their short story. Next week we will work on writing the short stories and editing them with our new writing workshop editing procedures that I hope to use.

Starting the year out reading and writing….

From the first few weeks of school:

Although I am not completely doing writing workshop, I am working them into it. I am reading and having them write and share every day. I am setting the expectations now that I value reading and writing. When they write- I do too.
Writing Notebooks: For their writing notebooks, I have them write what I call the Warm it up part ( at the beginning of class). The back half of the notebook will be used for reading response and the very last five pages will be for their writing territories that I will work with them on next week.

So far, I have read to them:
One: I read aloud, The Way to Start a Day by Byrd Baylor and had them write about their ideal way to start a day, or school year. Then I had them pick a word, quote or phrase to share with the class.

Day Two: I read aloud, I’m In Charge of Celebrations by Byrd Baylor. I had them create a celebration and explain what they would celebrate. Again, I did a quick quaker share-each person shared their celebration and one thing they would do during that celebration.

Day Three: I read aloud, The book, Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox. I stopped periodically throughout the book and had the students sketch whatever they want related to the story when I tell them to. The sketches don’t have to be detailed, or well done. At the end, I had the students share with someone around them their sketches and explain why they drew what they did.

Beginning Writing and Reading Workshop….

I am an 8th grade Language arts teacher. I am just starting my 8th year of teaching (how time flies). My hope is that this is a place where I can write about my experiences conducting writing workshop in my classroom. I just completed the most valuable professional development I have ever taken this past summer! I was part of the National Writing Project at Kent State University. I learned so many new ideas and am going to try writing and a little reading workshop in my class this year.

I had tried writing workshop a few years ago, but it failed because I didn’t have the right resources, knowledge or support to make it successful. I tried to make my classroom look like the room of a teacher who has conducted writing workshop for many years. I have learned to start small and build on what I am doing each week, month and year. It is going to take me a few years to have my class run exactly as I would like in a complete reading and writing workshop.

I hope to document my experiences- the good and the bad from the trenches- here in this blog.