Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.
-Willa Cather

Students often come to a writing task with endless stories to tell and examples to share, but equally infinite fear of not writing “correctly.” It is this fear that prevents them from exploring language and finding their voice in their writing. This fear that we help students negotiate in order not only to write, but also to compose with sophistication, style and ease.

Writing workshop is just like teaching any other skill; it takes practice, false start, mistakes, collaboration, adjustment, coaching and many more training that finally leads to speed, endurance and agility. We know coaching is good practice for learning; writing workshop applies the coaching model to the heart of the student’s writing life. The writer’s workshop is a place to generate ideas, explore thinking and play with language. It is a safe space where writing can be incomplete without the red pen’s judgment (or green, or purple, or pink as the case may be). Often when working through an idea or reflecting on their understanding, students need that space to be right or wrong or to write through an idea or reflecting on their understanding. The writer’s workshop makes a positive impact as is an integral part of the language learning journey.

The elements of writing workshop are all means of formative assessment where we are supporting the development of the writer, not simply delivering content. When we model our own writing, we are sharing our processes and showing that we value the writing we are asking our students to do.

Helping students to expand their repertoire of language skills.