[LIT] lit Digest, Vol 10, Issue 4

[meg krause]

"Will you combine this with the workshop models, or are you making a
complete change?"

Lori,

I will definitely combine this explicit teaching of writing skills into the
workshop model. Kids can still have some choice in topics but the program is
definitey heavy on expository writing (over memoir, fairy tales, poetry,
etc) based on the fact that 90%of the writing done in this world is
expository.  The idea is that kids start writing work at the sentence level
(learn about fragments, run-ons, sentence expansion, conjunctions) and then
move to the paragraph level (topic sentence and supporting ideas) and then
learn how to use kid-friendly outline to organize their ideas.  This work
can be simultaneous with keeping a writing notebook and developing topics to
write about.

I realize that this is a shift away from what many on this list serve do and
I have been doing for the past 5 years; I am in the midst of a paradigm
shift with regard to teaching philosophy - even if that means writing
instruction may at time look a little formulaic.  We will still use the
wirting process (genre immersion with read-alouds, quick writes to develop
ideas, mini lessons on craft and mechanics, drafting, conferencing,
revising/editing and publishing).

I also had a workshop on "Type Writing" this week and I will intergrate this
too into writing instruction.

-Meg