With increasing school mandates and pressure to perform well on standardized tests, writing instruction has shifted to more accountability, taking the focus away from the writer. In his engaging book, When Writers Drive the Workshop: Honoring Young Voices and Bold Choices , author Brian Kissel asks teachers to go back to the roots of the writing workshop and let the students lead the conference. What happens when students, not tests, determine what they learned through reflection and self-evaluation?In When Writers Drive the Workshop, you'll find practical ideas, guiding beliefs, FAQs, and Digital Diversions to help visualize digital possibilities in the classroom. Written in an engaging, teacher-to-teacher style, this book focuses on four key components of writing workshop: Student-led conferring sessions where the teachers are the listenersThe Author's Chair-, where students set the agenda and gather feedbackStructured reflection time for students to set goals and expectations for themselvesMini lessons that allow for detours based on students' needs, not teacher or curricula goalsAll students have the powerful, shared need to be heard; when they choose their writing topics, they can see their lives unfold on the page. Teachers are educated by the bold choices of these young voices.

In this practical, engaging book, former elementary school teacher and university professor Brian Kissel asks teachers to go back to the roots of writing workshop. What happens when students, not planned teaching points, lead writing conferences? What happens when students, not tests, determine what they learned through reflection and self-evaluation? Writing instruction has shifted in recent years to more accountability, taking the focus away from the writer. This book explores what happens when empowered writers direct the writing workshop. Through stories from real classrooms, Brian reveals that no matter where children come from, they all have the powerful, shared need to be heard. And when children choose their writing topics, their lives unfold onto the page and teachers are educated by the young voices and bold choices of these writers. Written in an engaging, teacher-to-teacher style, this book focuses on four key components of writing workshop, with an eye on what happens when teachers step back and allow students to drive the instruction: Conferring sessions where students lead and teachers listen Author's Chair where students set the agenda and ask for feedback Reflection time and structures for students to set goals and expectations for themselves Mini-lessons that allow for detours based on students' needs, not teacher or curricular goals Each of the chapters includes practical ideas, a section of Guiding Beliefs, a list of Frequently Asked Questions, and some Digital Diversions to help teachers see the digital possibilities in their classrooms.

Presents tips for elementary and middle school teachers on how to use writing notebooks to help students develop skills and habits associated with good writing.

Shows a new generation of teachers how the systems, structures, routines, and rituals that support successful workshops combine with thinking, planning, and conferring to drive students' growth, inform assessment and instruction, and increase teachers' professional satisfaction. And it shows those already using the workshop how to increase its instructional power by seeing its big ideas and its component parts in fresh, dynamic ways.

With these words, written long before his Iowa Writers' Workshop became world famous, much imitated, and academically rich, Paul Engle captured the spirit behind his beloved workshop. Now, in this collection of essays by and about those writers who shared the energetic early years, Robert Dana presents a dynamic, informative tribute to Engle and his world. The book's three sections mingle myth and history with style and grace and no small amount of humor. The beginning essays are given over to memories of Paul Engle in his heyday. The second group focuses particularly on those teachers—Robert Lowell, John Berryman, Kurt Vonnegut, for example—who made the workshop hum on a day-to-day basis. Finally, the third section is devoted to storytelling: tall tales, vignettes, surprises, sober and not-so-sober moments. Engle's own essay, "The Writer and the Place," describes his "simple, and yet how reckless" conviction that "the creative imagination in all of the arts is as important, as congenial, and as necessary, as the historical study of all the arts." Today, of course, there are hundreds of writers' workshops, many of them founded and directed by graduates of the original Iowa workshop. But when Paul Engle arrived in Iowa there were exactly two. His indomitable nature and great persuasive powers, combined with his distinguished reputation as a poet, loomed large behind the enhancement of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. This volume of fine and witty essays reveals the enthusiasm and drive and sheer pleasure that went into Iowa's renowned workshop.

In this practical, engaging book, former elementary school teacher and university professor Brian Kissel asks teachers to go back to the roots of writing workshop. What happens when students, not planned teaching points, lead writing conferences? What happens when students, not tests, determine what they learned through reflection and self-evaluation? Writing instruction has shifted in recent years to more accountability, taking the focus away from the writer. This book explores what happens when empowered writers direct the writing workshop. Through stories from real classrooms, Brian reveals that no matter where children come from, they all have the powerful, shared need to be heard. And when children choose their writing topics, their lives unfold onto the page and teachers are educated by the young voices and bold choices of these writers. Written in an engaging, teacher-to-teacher style, this book focuses on four key components of writing workshop, with an eye on what happens when teachers step back and allow students to drive the instruction: Conferring sessions where students lead and teachers listen; Author's Chair where students set the agenda and ask for feedback; Reflection time and structures for students to set goals and expectations for themselves; and Mini-lessons that allow for detours based on students' needs, not teacher or curricular goals. Each of the chapters includes practical ideas, a section of Guiding Beliefs, a list of Frequently Asked Questions, and some Digital Diversions to help teachers see the digital possibilities in their classroom -- Provided by publisher.

"Writing allows each of us to live with that special wide-awakeness that comes from knowing that our lives and our ideas are worth writing about." -Lucy Calkins Teaching Writing is Lucy Calkins at her best-a distillation of the work that's placed Lucy and her colleagues at the forefront of the teaching of writing for over thirty years. This book promises to inspire teachers to teach with renewed passion and power and to invigorate the entire school day. This is a book for readers who want an introduction to the writing workshop, and for those who've lived and breathed this work for decades. Although Lucy addresses the familiar topics-the writing process, conferring, kinds of writing, and writing assessment- she helps us see those topics with new eyes. She clears away the debris to show us the teeny details, and she shows us the majesty and meaning, too, in these simple yet powerful teaching acts. Download a sample chapter for more information.