writing workshop

A Fresh Start (In the Middle)

Ruth Ayres

One of the things I love about teaching is the opportunity for a fresh start. No matter how the day goes, we get to start over the next morning. If one year isn’t so hot, we get to start over the following school year. Not only that, but the nature of our school year allows for us to start fresh right in the middle of everything.

Sometimes a fresh start is just what writing workshop needs. Now is a good time to evaluate how things are going…and perhaps start fresh. Here is a little procedure check list I made to help you think through the procedures and routines of your writing workshop.

Some ways to infuse a fresh start in writing workshop.

  1. Establish new writing partnerships. Why not experiment with the power of long-term writing buddies? Help your students form partnerships and talk about their writing projects with specificity and purpose. If you’ve been using writing buddies for the first half of the year, now is a good time to switch partners.
  2. Add some new writing supplies to your writing center. Sharp pencils with fresh erasers, crisp legal pads, and clean sticky notes can all add a little umph to our writing lives.
  3. Spend some time in notebooks. Encourage your students to chose One Little Word to live by and document it in their notebooks. Another notebook entry idea is a list of intentions (not resolutions). What are some things they intend to do this year? It’s also a good time to look back at their notebooks and notice what works for them as writers and how they would like to shift their notebook work in order to become more productive.
  4. Spruce up your meeting area. Get some new markers. Add a basket of inspirational books. Print off a couple of inspirational quotes. (As a place to chart, check out Stacey’s Pinterest Quotations Board or my Words Board.)
  5. Share your writing. Make it something you’ve never shared before. This experience will help you connect to your students and your energy will inspire them.

Happy new year…here’s to a fresh start in writing workshop.

 

Published by Ruth Ayres

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

6 thoughts on “A Fresh Start (In the Middle)”

  3. Going back is almost as exciting as the beginning of the year, for the students too. I’ve found them eager to get back into a routine that’s familiar, but still they want to do some interesting things at the beginning, too. Nice list, Ruth.

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  4. I must have been chanelling your thoughts today – spruced up my meeting area with a new rocking chair, new nonfiction magazines for our brand new unit of study…and new markers. All by 7:00 a.m. – and the day just had to be a good day thereafter which it was!).

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  5. Thanks – this was good to read and think about. It was just what I was thinking about this afternoon when we pulled out the old markers. We need to start fresh! Fresh markers, fresh ideas and good intentions to more forward.

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  6. Thanks for the inspiration to start fresh. I need to start fresh with some nonfiction writing, not my favorite. Any ideas on making this an interesting unit?
    I like the idea of one little word and the intentions list, rather than resolutions. Now that the celebrations are over and I am cleaning out cabinets, I am thinking about ways to bring in new life to my classroom. Thanks for keeping me thinking.

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