Teaching writing in the primary classroom is a plate-spinning circus act! How can we meet the needs of all of our young learners who need so much support without going mad? These tips will help you launch a manageable writing program that will make your kids excited to write everyday!
1. Allow enough daily writing time. Ideally you should block out 45 minutes to an hour for writing. Plan on 5-10 minutes for your mini-lesson, 30 minutes for independent writing and 5-10 minutes for sharing. If your schedule is too jam-packed to allow for an hour, prioritize a 30 minute block for writing. This may mean that your mini-lesson is taught earlier in the day or even the day before. You can modify by having sharing time at the beginning of your next writing block. Be creative!
2. Begin by teaching the steps young writers use: think, talk, draw, write and share! Throughout your day, drop writing idea hints. On the playground whisper to a student, "That would make a great story!" Encourage your students to find writing ideas after school and start your day with a talking circle about their ideas. Before writing have students tell a partner about the story they will write. If they can talk about it, they can write it. Use whiteboards to practice drawing pictures using basic shapes. Then model labeling pictures with initial sounds or sounded out words as ready. Save time at the end of writing time to share!
3. Implement writing conferences. During the independent writing time, plan to meet with students one-on-one to talk about their writing. Start by saying, "Tell me about your writing." Look for a strength to share first. Then choose 1 teaching point. (Carry a record keeping system to write down future teaching topics.) Carry with you mentor texts, student work and your own writing that can be used to show the teaching point. Have the student practice the teaching point and support as needed. Set a goal to conference with each student once a week and map out the days you will meet. For more about implementing writing conferences check out Katie Wood Rae and Matt Glover's ebook Sit Down and Teach Up.
4. Share writing each day. Use this opportunity to reinforce the learning done during that day's writing conferences. Prearrange to have a few students (whom you just conferred with) share their writing. Reinforce the teaching point, "Timmy now writes labels in his drawing. Show us one of your labels and read it to us." After the student reads, ask him to tell about how he did that and have him or her try doing it in front of the class if applicable and willing. This will spread that new skill through the class like wildfire!
6. Try new genres. Before you start a new genre, gather books from the genre that will serve as mentor texts. Spend a few days up to a week reading and enjoying the stories. At this point you aren't using the books to teach writing. Just love the stories! Then you can refer to the books again during writing and show how an expert does it. Genres can include: picture books, how to books, all about books, personal narrative, etc. The Lucy Calkins Units of Study- Writing is a fantastic resource!
7. Celebrate! When you are wrapping up a writing genre plan a simple writing celebration with your class. Have them pick a few of their favorite pieces to share.This is a great time to have them reread and do some fixing up. You could invite parents to come for a publishing party or read your stories to a buddy class. The kids love showing their work and it is a great way to have closure on the unit.
For a guide to setting up your writing workshop that includes teaching posters that outline the writing steps, how to think of ideas, how to sound out words and more check out this product: Launching the Writing Workshop.
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