Happy Wednesday! I am in the middle of getting my classroom ready for my 5th graders this year, and am so excited to start Writer's Workshop this year!
So, this morning I thought some quick tips for conducting a writing mini lesson might be a help for me to think about and for you as you're planning, too!
(These Quick Tips come from my Quick Guide to Implementing Writer's Workshop in the Elementary Classroom, which can be found here.)
The Mini Lesson
I think of the Mini Lesson as the
“Heart and Soul” of Writer’s Workshop.
This is where the teacher imparts his/her knowledge about writing to the
students. It’s in a very small chunk of time, so the mini lesson has to be
specific, succinct, and immediately applicable.
Here’s some tips:
1. The Mini Lesson should not be
introducing a writing prompt for everyone to complete.
There should be choice in the
writing topics for students, which allows them to own their writing. Yes, a teacher has specific writing genres to
cover.
2. Mini Lessons focus on one
specific skill.
3. Mini Lessons many times depend
on student needs.
What your students do in Writer’s
Workshop drives your topics for your mini lessons. Having a line up of Mini Lessons always helps
for those times! (I’m busy creating an
Anthology of Mini Lessons just for those moments!)
4. Mini Lessons can be related to
others.
They can be sequels to each other.
Many times, I begin by reviewing what we talked about the day before and build
on those ideas.
5. Mini Lessons must have teacher
modeling involved.
I
know… that’s what many of us DON’T like doing. But it’s essential. Sometimes I’m teaching the new skill/concept
AS I’M WRITING.
I love keeping these tips in mind as I'm planning out my mini lessons. The key is SHORT, INTENTIONAL, and SPECIFIC TO STUDENT NEEDS. I have more details about each of these tips, as well as a long list of mini lesson ideas in my Quick Guide to Implementing Writer's Workshop in the Elementary Classroom. Grab your copy today! There's a free mini lesson included in the guide, too!
A Quick Guide to Implementing Writer's Workshop
Happy Teaching!
Martha from "The Owl Spot"
1 comment:
Good ideas: I agree!
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