Building Writing Stamina Outside the Workshop

School hasn’t started quite yet here in the Pacific Northwest, so I am still anticipating all the things I will need to do the first weeks of school. At the top of my mind: building writing stamina!

A Backstory: I always have big plans for all the writing my own kids will do over the summer: daily journals, letters to out-of-state family, lists of materials needed for projects, fiction stories we compose together. Somehow, it never actually happens. Not long ago I asked my son if he had written anything this summer, typing not included. His shrug confirmed what I already knew.

Very few of our students write as much during the summer as they were during writing workshop at the end of the school year. Low stamina is frustrating for teachers and students alike and must be intentionally rebuilt. 

Here’s a Secret: We can help build stamina for writing workshop by providing more opportunities for students to write outside of writing workshop.

How It Works: I like to make a chart with my students about all of the real-world reasons that we write. I often have students survey family and neighbors outside of school to discover all of the reasons they write at home and in their jobs, and then add what they find to our chart.

Then, I incorporate as many of these quick writing opportunities into the day as possible to give students “bonus” writing practice. For example, students can:

• Jot down reminders like where to stop reading, a strategy to remember for math, or the lunch number they keep forgetting
• Make lists of materials they need for a project, things to think about when reading a text, what they want to do during choice time, new words they encounter when reading
• Write a compliment or thank you note as an entry task or part of a class meeting
• Keep a journal as a morning entry task, an end of the day reflection time, or during a specific subject or transition point in the day

The Bottom Line: Writing stamina is a muscle that needs regular exercise. The more students write, the stronger it becomes. Students can feel defeated before they even begin writing when they think about having to write for extended periods of time, especially at the beginning of the year when they haven’t been in a regular writing routine. Completing short writing tasks gets them back in the habit of writing regularly without being overwhelmed. It also helps students feel successful, which does wonders for increasing stamina.

How do you build writing stamina with your students at the beginning of the year? Share your ideas in the comment below!