writing workshop

The Magic of Workshop

Ruth Ayres

Today I was working with a group of primary teachers (Hello North Webster Elementary School!) and we were talking about the silly things kids share during writing workshop. Sometimes their stories are outrageous and they laugh about the strangest things, like a character turning into a Booger Head, as one teacher shared.

I laughed and said, “Think of how they are learning the power their words can have. If they can make kids laugh because of something they’ve written, what else can they do with their words?”

We paused and considered this. It’s been lingering in my mind all day.

Too often we get caught up in the serious business of writing that we forget the power and magic of it all. We get so consumed with ending punctuation and proper capitalization, that we forget to laugh when a third grade boy creates an absolute hideous beast of a character. We forget to be struck by the cuteness of a first grader’s new puppy.

Other times we are so concerned with a new paragraph that we miss the powerful dialogue a fourth grader captured about a fight with her parents. Sometimes we’re overly consumed with staying on topic that we miss the ending a student needs to write.

How long has it been since you’ve seen magic happening in writing workshop? How long has it been since you’ve been astounded by the work of the writers in your room?

I’m learning something about this particular magic of writing workshop. It only happens when we empower writers to work independently. The writers in our classrooms are remarkable. As they gain confidence in themselves and begin to take risks with their words, amazing things happen. Instead of being so hung up on getting it right (whatever that means), we should spend more time figuring out how to empower students to believe in themselves as writers. This is where the magic begins.

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Published by Ruth Ayres

Unhurried. Finding the magic in the middle of living. Capturing a life of ridiculous grace + raw stories.

9 thoughts on “The Magic of Workshop”

  1. Ruth,

    Your words capture the essence of writing that makes it my favorite part of the day! Thankfully in the midst of all the seriousness and stress, we can stick together and continue with what we know is the right thing to so for our learners. I am jotting down the last couple of lines from your post…such words of wisdom! Cheers to the magic of just the right words! ~ Theresa

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  2. Thanks for the post! I am in a whirlwind of frustration. Students who think pencils are for throwing at each other. We are oh so slowly stepping into writing and the writing workshop. I am watching and waiting for the time when they peek into the power of their own words. It will come but not for awhile yet. It is hard to wait, push a little and listen to their needs as writers. I want to leap forward but they are on shaky ground and need to find safe footing. So we will slowly put words to paper, listen and wait until the magic of writing slides into the room and into their souls. Thanks again for the reminder that writing needs to be and should be fun!

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  3. Yes, yes, yes! This is a powerful, important post Ruth. When kids truly see themselves as writers, that’s where the magic of workshop begins. Today during workshop one little guy came up to me and announced he had to go down to the library to get a bar code to put on the book he is working on, so the rest of the school can read his writing. Pure magic!

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  5. I remember watching a young boy in a classroom last year working on a comic story. Every once in a while, he’d stop, hold his paper up & just smile & smile. His teacher & I were delighted because finally we could see he was having fun-writing! You’ve said it exactly, Ruth. Thank you!

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  6. Amen and amen!!! Rock on Ruth…I love to write, I love when I know that they love to write. The belly laughs in a workshop bring joy to the reader and the writer, what could be better? What could be more beautiful. xo

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  7. “The writers in our classrooms are remarkable. As they gain confidence in themselves and begin to take risks with their words, amazing things happen. Instead of being so hung up on getting it right (whatever that means), we should spend more time figuring out how to empower students to believe in themselves as writers. This is where the magic begins.” –Ruth Ayres AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    It’s not all about the test scores for the year (although, I realize they are important, too)–but about developing our little people (or not-so-little people) into lifelong learners who value reading and writing, value themselves, and value the fact that we believe in and support them……

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  8. I love it when student make up crazy characters! One of my students told the silliest story last year about a bunny named Foo Foo. I shared it with her parents at conferences, and they were astounded at how creative she was because they didn’t see any evidence of her writing capabilities at home. I was happy to see that her parents weren’t concerned with the spelling mistakes or lack of perfect punctuation as well.

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