Writing Lessons

Writing instruction in the Upper Montessori classroom is going through an evolution this year! What and why…

Always interested in improving my skills in the teaching of writing I signed up to take a class through the OAISD in the Lucy Calkins Writing Workshop model. This class is a year-long commitment; that commitment includes two day-long sessions as well as monthly evening sessions. Luckily I am able to receive graduate credit for my participation and work in the class! As you know, writing is one of the basic subjects in elementary school and its importance continues to grow as standardized tests, college, and employers demand writing samples as evidence of one's ability to communicate effectively. In our classroom, there is a great emphasis on writing well. Let me tell you more about what I'm learning and putting into practice.

In our classroom we set aside time almost every day for writing. This time is called writing workshop because it's a term used by published authors. It makes sense to use this term because the children are following the writing process; and we use published authors from many different genres as our mentor writers.

Writing workshop lasts between 45 minutes to one hour. Our time begins with 8-12 minute writing lesson (we call it a mini lesson) in which I explicitly teach the skills of good writing. During this time students are sitting in a large group for direct instruction. The focus during this time is a strategy or method that students can use to make their writing stronger, clearer, and more correct. After the mini lesson, students individually work on their own writing for 35-40 minutes. As the students work I am doing small strategy group instruction or meeting with writers for individual writing conferences. At the end of our workshop time students return to the large group for a teaching/sharing time. This is an opportunity for children to share with each other what they've accomplished.

Throughout the school year we are working on writing in multiple genres: personal narratives, short fiction, essays and literary essays, and poetry. Each unit of study is taught in approximately four to six weeks. Students are and will continue to be required to publish every few weeks. However, publishing in our classroom doesn't necessarily mean students need to "publish" at the Waukazoo publishing center. It means that the writing is shared or posted as a final piece. During each unit students will study the work of published authors, plus learn about the qualities of good writing and the writing process. They'll also learn a variety of strategies to draw upon in each step of the process.

You may wonder how you can help your child to prosper as a writer throughout the year. The first thing I want to remind you is that writing can be seen as frightening or difficult for many children. Please encourage your child by helping him or her realize that daily life brims with stories that deserve to be told. A walk in the woods, sledding on Saturday, the squirrel you discovered living in your garage…remind your child that these would make a great entry in his or her writer's notebook! When you get the chance to see some of your child's writing, for now it would really help if you give him or her what every writer needs most of all: an interested, appreciative reader. Read the child's writing not as a judge, but as a reader, paying attention to the content. If you do this, you will make your child feel like an author, and you'll make it much more likely that your child will care about writing and will be ready to invest in the hard work required to grow as a writer. To encourage your writer, compliment his or her ability to paint a picture in your mind. Does the writing make you laugh out loud? If so, please share this with your writer!

The children and I are partners in the writing process. Furthermore, I consider the parents as partners in the incredibly important work of helping the children become strong and confident writers. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.