Writer's Workshop Sample 3

Writer's Workshop Sample 3

Stage 1 Pre-Writing

To achieve our writing goals, we spent a little bit of time planning during our Pre-Writing stage.

The best writing comes from 1) strong feelings and/or 2) personal experiences. So choose one small moment that stirs up strong emotions or that you personally experienced.

We also completed a Draw-Label-Caption. Draw for 1 minute, Label for 5 minutes and write a Caption in 1 minute. If you run out of things to label then it's a great idea to use our Paint strategy.  Also your caption can become the title of your piece.

Stage 2 Drafting

Voice and Word Choice.

Write, write, write. Give yourself the gift of silence and use your Draw-Label-Caption to guide you.  Let your imagination create sentences in your mind.  Use our Word Bloom strategy to make the best word choices.  If you think of better word choices after you have completed your first draft (black pen), then don't worry, just re-draft (blue pen) by adding or swapping the words you would like to use instead.

Stage 3 Sharing

This a time for you to share your work with a partner. Ask them for feedback about what was good writing and what traits of your writing need improvement. It is also a time for you to listen and provide feedback on their writing. You can also learn and collect ideas from others when you are listening to or reading their piece.

Stage 4 Revising

I was proud of my sentence beginnings. I used a variety of words to begin them. 

However, when I checked the number of words in each sentence I found most of my sentences were very very long. 

To fix this, I decided to split the first 2 long sentences in to 4 shorter sentences. Now my sentences are more fluent.

Stage 5 Editing

This is a time to focus and analyze.

Remember to read through your piece for each item on the bookmark.  This may seem repetitive but it is very important because you will be more accurate.

I wanted to check I spelled "patiently" correctly. I was proud of myself that I did but I the Spelling Inquiry helped me to learn more about the spelling of the "sh" sound in this word.  What I discovered will help me spell other words with the "sh" sound in my future writing.

Stage 6 Publishing

I am using the skills I have learned in Handwriting to apply them to my Published piece.  I am trying to write all my letters the correct way and size. I also want to join them correctly for my cursive style.

Remember when Publishing that you need to write on every line.  You do not need to skip a line like you do during Drafting.