Lesson Plan 1

Introducing the Writers Workshop

Showing students the importance of writing, and the importance of practice to becoming a writer

Summary
1.

Subject(s): English Language Arts

2. Topic or Unit of Study: Writing

3. Grade/Level: 4
4. Objective: Orient Students to the Writers Workshop Writing Process
5. Time Allotment: 2 ELA class periods, 50 minutes each

Materials & Resources

a. Instructional Materials: Computer, Digital Presenter, Speakers, Projector Screen, Chart
Paper, Notebooks, Art Supplies, Pencils
b. Resources: Broadband Internet Access, District/School Permission to Access an

INSPIRATIONAL or ILLUSTRATIVE YouTube video, and the Writers Workshop Guide

Implementation
Learning Context
Writing is such an important part of life, especially in school and work. I am in school, like you, but
I am in school for my masters degree. Most of my school work is writing. My husband is an
attorney. Most of his work is writing. You, too, will write in school and for work because the
Internet is changing more and more the way we work and what we do in school. It is very
important to begin writing now, every day, so in the future you will always be comfortable
expressing your ideas in written words.
But how do you become comfortable writing if you not already comfortable writing? Well, you are
usually comfortable doing things that you are already good at, right? How did you get good at
doing those things? By magic or by practice? If you are good at baseball or soccer or basketball,

it is because you practice these activities, right? It is the same with writing. No one starts o a
good writer. Good writers started o uncomfortable about writing too, until they learned to
practice, practice, practice their writing every day. You will get good at writing, and comfortable
doing it too, because we will practice writing every day. Practice is important. Watch video
Practice.
All of you are comfortable talking to me, to your friends, to your family members. All of you know
how to put your ideas into spoken words, that is. You are comfortable speaking your thoughts
because you have been doing that for many years. You will become comfortable writing your
thoughts the same way: by doing it over and over until it feels natural, until you dont even have
to think about how to do it, just as you dont really have to think about how to speak.

Procedure
a. Anticipatory Set: Helping Students See Themselves as Writers Who Will Write Every Day
Sometimes it is hard to begin to write, to know what to write about, to know where or how to
begin the story. Sometimes there is just a blank page and no idea of how to ll it with words. This
is true for me. It might be true for you, too. That is OK. We are going to learn together how to start
writing, which is often the hardest part of the writing process.
It is not so hard to start writing when the subject of the writing is already well known. We are
going to learn to start writing by writing about what we know best: our own lives, our own
experiences. That means you can write about whatever you want, about any subject you want, as
long as you know that subject because you have experience with it.
For example, you can write about going to the beach as long as you have gone to the beach at
least once in your life. You would start writing about going to the beach by writing about the time
you went to the beach. You would describe what you saw, what you did, how you felt about the
experience.
Every day you are going to get to write about your own life this way. Every day you are going to
get more and more comfortable writing, more and more comfortable expressing yourself in
writing. Over the weeks ahead, we will add new writing skills. We will go slow. We will learn about
the writing process and di erent types of writing. You are all writers! You will all write every day!
b. Direct Instruction: Describing the Workshop and Its Intended Result
Now it is time to discuss the way the writers workshop works, its rules, expectations, and nal
result:

1.

Every day we will have a special time to work ONLY on writing -- our writing workshop
time.

2. During writing workshop time we will respect the teacher and every other writer in the
room; we will not use writing workshop time for any purpose other than writing.
3. During writing workshop time we write silently and do not talk so each writer can just
focus on writing.
4. Each writer may sit in any writers spot in the room, even the writers own desk; a writers
spot is any area you want to be your safe, quiet area dedicated to writing without
disruption.
a. Your writers spot may change each day or it may remain the same
b. It is up to you where to sit so long as your writers spot allows you to write without
disruption.
5. Each writer will have a writers notebook that will be used DAILY for writing entries, which
are the beginnings of a story about our experiences in life, beginnings that may be later
turned into a full story once weve practiced writing by writing many entries.
6. The writers notebook will be kept safe and secure in the same spot every day
a. This safe, secure spot should be the writers desk unless other arrangements are
made.
7. After each writer has been introduced to Google Classroom and Google Docs, and has
produced multiple entries in the writers notebook, all writers will log into Google
Classroom and type into a Google Doc all the entries in the writers notebook for review,
revision, editing.
8. As our writing skills improve with practice and with introduction to more of the writers
workshop writing process, including review, revision, and editing, we will gradually
develop our favorite entries into personal narratives, or short but complete stories about
certain events or people or places in our lives.
9. By the end of the writers workshop, we will collect our favorite personal narratives into a
portfolio to be shared with friends and family at our writers celebration.
10. Following our writers celebration, each writer will publish to our class blog ONE personal
narrative that represents our best work and shows how much has been learned about
writing
a. The blog will be accessible to friends and family unable to attend the writers
celebration.

b. Guided Practice: First, Talk about Writing

Teacher to Whole Class: Now, turn to the person sitting next to you; you are going to talk
about your past writing experiences by asking and answering the questions on the chart. Pay
close attention to how your partner answers your questions because you will be asked to talk
about your partners answers at the end of this exercise. Teacher at Chart Paper: Here are the
questions you will ask one another; ask them in the following order:
1.

Last year, did your teacher tell you what to write about?

2. Did you spend many days or even weeks writing one essay?
3. How many paragraphs should an essay have?
4. What have you liked about writing?
5. What have you disliked about writing?
6. Remember our discussion of writers workshop, which is what weve been talking about:
name two ways in which writers workshop is di erent from the kind of writing you did last
year or the year before that.
NOTE: After one partner asks all the questions of the other, have the two switch roles.
Once each writer has had a chance to ask and answer each question, provide an opportunity for
whole class discussion of sharing what was learned in the interviewing process.
c. Check for Understanding: Demonstrate Recollection of Recent Discussion of Writing
Teacher to Whole Class: When I call on you tell the class what your partner said in response to
the questions. What writers workshop rules did your partner remember? In what ways is writers
workshop di erent from other writing, according to your partner?
e. Independent Practice: Handle, Feel, Personalize the Writers Workshop Notebook
Teacher to Whole Class: Im going to hand you your writers notebook and give you fteen
minutes to decorate, color on and draw on the cover of your notebooks. You may make place
shapes, borders, colors, stickers, pictures, stamps, or any other decoration on your notebook
covers. You will use this writers notebook the entire year so it should look how you want it to
look. When time is up I would like each of you to bring your writers notebooks to the circle rug
for whole class discussion.
f.

Closing

Teacher to Whole Class: Now that you have listened and talked about the writers workshop
model for our classroom, and how it might be di erent than how you have written in the past,
does anyone have any questions? Have you taken enough time to personalize the covers of your
writers notebook, or do you need more time? Why do you think we took time today to
personalize our notebooks, before we have started to write in them? How does your cover
4

express your sense of style or design? Based on what weve talked about today, how might a
notebook help you with starting the writing process?

Assessment
1.

Determine via post-lesson discussion that each student understands the writing workshop
beginning, general process, basic rules, and the anticipated end product.

2. Determine via post-lesson discussion that each student understands that the writers
notebook will be used to create entries every day.
3. Determine via inspection of notebooks that each student has decorated and otherwise
personalized a writers workshop notebook.