The Writers Workshop Framework

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Why writers workshop in middle school?

Very early in my teaching career, I noticed that many of my middle school students didn’t really like to read or write at school, but they did like to express themselves. Notice I said “at school” because some of the children read a lot, (like the entire Harry Potter series) but they didn’t necessarily read what I put in front of them. I also noticed that students didn’t want to write because they’d never been given a real reason to write about what matters to them personally. They also enjoyed making up stories, so I decided that my way to “hook” kids into reading and to practice writing skills was to teach them how writers actually write in real life situations. That was 20 years ago.

Guess what? Kids haven’t changed much in 20 years about their distaste for reading and writing in middle school. It’s much more fun to talk to friends and be on their cell phone, and yet kids love to learn about the things that interest them. Motivating middle schoolers to write and read is a daunting task, but if you allow students to express themselves and connect with each other, you’ll be surprised by how much they will write and read.

Writers Workshop Framework allows students the connectivity they crave

Preteens and teens spend most of their time online. According to a survey conducted in 2018 by the Pew Research Center which collected data on teen consumption of social media, 95% of all teens have access to a smartphone, and this is “nearly universal among teens from different genders, races, ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds. ” Additionally, 45% of students are online “almost constantly”(Pew Research). 40% of 13-17 year olds surveyed said that their main reason for being online is their need for human connection with family and friends.

All human beings crave connectivity, and a writers workshop framework in an ELA or other writing classroom can do this for them. A writers workshop provides a mix of both interactive connections as well as independent work time.

Master teachers of the writers workshop in middle school

Also early on in my teaching career, I read Nancie Atwell’s book, In the Middle and Linda Rief’s book, Seeking Diversity: Language Arts with Adolescents where I learned about the writers workshop method of teaching. After reading and studying both books, I realized that I wanted to use writers workshop to teach my students, too. It also helps that I took a course that used both of those books, thank you to my secondary English language arts curriculum professor, Dr. Daniel, for introducing these books to me in her course.

Student voice and choice in workshop

What I learned from these excellent mentor teachers and from my own students is that voice and choice matter. When we just give students assignments day in and day out, they don’t really feel motivated to complete those assignments even with a grade attached. Pride and hard work are overshadowed by getting tasks completed, so getting students to revise can be difficult, too. However, with a workshop approach, students are much more engaged in their learning because in a writers workshop, students are given a voice where they can often choose what they read and write about.

How writers workshop is structured

Writers workshop needs to have moments where kids can have some movement and discussion time, especially in middle school. A true writers workshop has three components: mini-lesson, independent work time as teacher conferences with students, and share time. Atwell and Rief both seem to give share time at the end of the workshop. I have whole class share time after the mini-lesson and partner share time at the end of the workshop(end of class).

A typical 50 minute day in my writers workshop looks something like this:

• 5-10 minutes Students enter, gather in front with journals and complete a bell ringer.

My bell ringers are always a review of the previous day or getting them thinking about the day’s mini-lesson topic. For example, last Tuesday, when students came back from break, I had them write down a writing goal. Then, I taught them about SMART goals during the mini-lesson.

• 10 minutes I teach an interactive mini-lesson and students share with each other and whole class

(Students are never forced to read aloud their writing in my class.) This is where I teach grammar, vocabulary, model writing or reading skills. I don’t have a set schedule as to when I teach each type of skill because it depends on what we’re working on. However, I do make sure students are exposed to all of these types of skills and I keep track of them in my lesson plans.

• 20 minutes Students go to their seats to write or read, and I conference with them and/or grade

• 10 minutes Students share with nearby neighbors, pack up and log out of computers, clean up and that sort of thing. I don’t review at the end of the class period, I do that the next day during the mini-lesson.

In my creative writing courses, most students read and complete reading workshop assignments on Fridays; however, when students finish a piece of writing before others, they default to reading.

With so much writing, do you grade everything?

No way do I grade everything students write. I don’t read 130 daily student writings either. There’s no way I could possibly do that. This is why students share with each other.

When I do grade, I’m looking for very specific things - whatever I taught during the mini-lesson should be applied to their current assignment. My mini-lessons are based on the skills I know they need to master content related standards.

I’ve also learned to have students turn in ONE assignment per week, and during their bi-weekly conference, I grade their journals as well. I assess according to whatever standard I taught that week. Students are given a student-friendly, standards based rubric. I only focus on one standard per week with my assessments.

Assignments lead to projects. Therefore, each assignment is part of a larger project. These projects lead students through much of the writing process. I assess their projects as well, but I also have students self-assess as part of that grade. Generally, my gradebook contains 15 grades by the end of each 9 week quarter. I do ALL of my grading at school because I grade as we go.

How you can try out a writers workshop week in your classroom

I have something for you to be able to try out a writers workshop for a week in your classroom to see if you and your students like this learning framework. Use the START WRITE NOW GUIDE.

Click the link here: Start Write Now Guide