“The Power of Choice in the Writer’s
Workshop”
Amie Pincumbe
Lakeview Community Schools
Email:pincumbea@lakeviewschools.net
Lake Michigan Writing Project 2011
Price of a pen… $1.00
Price of a pad of paper… $2.00
The “power of choice” to write what one wants…Priceless
•Today’s Agenda
11:00-11:10 am
Group Anticipatory Set:
“I have to write about what…?”
11:10-11:20 am
“Why Won’t My Kids Write?” – Description of problem within my
Writer’s Workshop
11:20-11:40am
Prompting Choice in Narrative Writing
Strategies used to generate topics to write
11:40-12:00 am
12:00-12:15 pm
“Let’s Go Shopping for Stories!”
Choosing a topic to write a personal narrative
Share Time/ Wrap up with questions
Why Won’t My Students Write?”
•Classroom Observations
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Students having a hard time
getting started
Head down on desk
Students writing a few
sentences and then were
finished
Doodling in Writer’s
Notebook
Moaning about writing time
No matter how creative I
thought my lessons were
they still were not producing
quality samples
“In order for children to learn to write and
to grow as writers, it is absolutely
essential that they are invested in their
writing and they care about writing well.”“
Lucy Calkins
How Can I Get my Students to Write ?
•Research Used:
• Lucy
Calkins- Units of Study Writer’s Workshop
• Ralph Fletcher “Teaching the Qualities of
Writing”
“When children have opportunity and
responsibility to choose their own subjects
they are not only much more apt to be invested
in their writing, they are also much more apt to
be knowledgeable about their topics.”
Lucy Calkins
Prompting Choice in Narrative Writing
“The Concept of student choice is believing
that the best , truest topics lie deep within
each of us.”
Ralph Fletcher
Strategies to Generate Personal Narrative
Topics:
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“My Treasure Map of Stories”
My Authority List/ All About Me
My Writer’s Notebook
Shoebox of Stories Yet to be told
“My Treasure Map of Stories”
Think of a place where you have a lot of memories about or
stories you could tell
• Draw a sketch of that place
• Then place a “X” on your sketch where a memory happened
that you could tell or write about
• Let’s give it a try!
•
“My Authority List”/”All About Me”
• Take a few minutes and label
a sheet of paper “My Authority
List”
• Then list all of the things you
know a lot about
OR
• Draw a picture of yourself
• Then write words or short
phrases about things you know
a lot about
Choose one of the strategies a
and give it a try!
My Writer’s Notebook
Shoebox of Stories Yet to Be Told
Let’s Write!
First choose a a topic
from either your treasure
map, Authority List or
your All Abort Me page
• Circle it
• Then begin to write your
personal narrative story
• You will have about 10
minutes
•
Timeline to Teach Strategies for Narrative
Writing:
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Share Time
Turn to a person sitting next to you
• First, describe what strategy you choose to use
• Then, read your personal narrative piece
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Wrap Up
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Important Things to Remember:
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Giving students the choice in what they write is powerful!
Teach students the strategies to help them develop topics
to write about
• Personal
Narrative Strategies:
“My Treasure Map of Stories”
• “My Authority List”/ “All About Me”
• Writer’s Notebook
• My Shoebox of Stories Yet to be Told
•
“ You only learn to write better by
actually writing.”
Doris Lessing
If you want to get your students to “actually write”simply give them the
power of choice.”
• References