In the Beginning, There Was Writing Workshop

Jill Griffith, Elementary Teacher, Tuckaseegee Elementary School

Abstract(PDF)

Unit (PDF)         

Abstract

This unit will focus on introducing young writers from grades kindergarten through 8th grade to the idea of a writing workshop. Students will use a writer’s notebook on a daily basis to collect ideas that they will turn into projects. This unit contains strategies to use when first teaching students how to use their writers’ notebooks. Students will learn how to create great beginnings and endings to the stories they write. Examples of mentor texts are included to use when teaching beginnings and endings as well as when beginning a unit on personal narratives. There are also details about how to go through the writing process, from brainstorming to publishing, using the ideas that students collect in their writers’ notebooks.