January 15, 2013

Writer's Workshop




We've spent most of our writing time writing about our reading, responding to questions about what we've read and learning how to write an effective letter.  
We're moving on now to writing of a more creative nature.  For the next few weeks, we're going to spend a lot of time in the "Writer's Workshop".  

Like many of my colleagues, I use the resource called, The Write Traits.  The photo below is not my own, but very effectively explains the six traits lickety-split. 

Six Traits

Our first lesson focused on ideas. The big ideas were: 


  • all writing needs to have a main idea
  • using a web helps the writer stay focused on their main idea 
  • after making a brainstorming web, the writer should choose 2-4 ideas from that web to use in their writing piece 
  • if the writer is having a hard time coming up with ideas for their web, the topic they've chosen may be the wrong one. In other words, as much as you love the colour blue, it can be hard to write an interesting paragraph about why you love it. 
Our first workshop ended with students generating a web and then writing a paragraph based on their favorite pet, best friend or favourite food. 

Not my photo, but a good example how how we use webs to generate ideas 

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