Writer’s Workshop: Teaching Strategy for All Students.

Are you a reader? Are you a writer? Were you able to truthfully answer, “Yes!” to both questions? Although both reading and writing are taught in school, most adults today identify themselves as readers, but not writers. Through the writer’s workshop, student writing is valued; students learn to write well and become comfortable thinking of themselves as writers. As they see the power of their writing, students of all writing skills levels desire to work earnestly in order for their audience of readers to appreciate their writing. The kind of motivation possible for student performance is rarely found in standard classrooms utilizing teacher led writing instruction.

Students are initiated into writer’s workshop by noticing how writers write. The teacher shares wonderful books and other texts, letting the students know that a writer wrote the text the students was reading. As students begin to appreciate the reading/writing connection, they begin to see reading and writing as complementary activities.

Students find that the workshop environment inspires them to want to write well. Writers have autonomy; they choose their own topics, writing instruments, and seating arrangements. Students who are hesitant to write can enter the process from many routes. The workshop holds many motivations: books, animals, natural objects, conversations with a friend, all could be utilized as part of the prewriting stage, as the writer researches a topic—just as “real” writers do. Once the students selects and researches a topic, the student may choose a preferred place to sit: at a table, on the floor with a pillow and clipboard, or near a secluded corner with earphones to muffle distracting sounds. A writing center provides the student with more choices: pencils, kinds of paper, pens, staplers, clipboards, and reference texts such as charts, dictionaries, word banks, and thesauri.

Lastly, writer’s workshop dignifies the student’s efforts. Naming the student a “writer”, the teacher listens with respect and she engages in dialogue with the student about his writing. “What did you mean by…” “I’d like to know more about…” “What will happen after…” The teacher demonstrates an honest interest in the student’s writing; the writer wants his reader to understand his writing. The relationship built by the teacher’s respect for the writer allows the teacher to shape the skills that develop within the student’s writing while the student works hard to create writing worth publishing…the last step of the writing process!