Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes (919 words)
Primary Audience: Classroom Teachers
Welcome to the TWT Help Desk, where today’s frequently asked question is,
“What if it’s the first day of writing workshop?”
But, first- a moment. When is the first day of writing workshop? In my classroom, it’s the same day as the first day of school. That’s right- amidst the crazy routines and icebreakers of the first day, I always make time for writing workshop (even when I taught Kindergarten)! It sets the tone for the school year and communicates importance to students.
To answer today’s FAQ, I invite you to look inward and consider your philosophy of teaching writing with this question: What do you want the first writing workshop to feel like? Take a moment to brainstorm, then check out these potential responses:
- If you said welcoming: Allow kids to write freely without mandating the topic. Avoid giving prompts.
- If you said inclusive: Encourage every writer, even those who spend most of their time drawing.
- If you said attainable: Limit independent writing time on this first day to 5-10 minutes based on age and the students’ familiarity with writing workshop, gradually increasing time over the next few weeks as stamina builds. However, don’t be afraid to read the room and let writing time go longer if energy is high.
- If you said supportive: Structure conferring sessions with compliments and questions that help you get to know kids as writers.
- If you said empowering: Use intentional language, referring to students as “authors” and “writers.” Make remarks like, “You seem like the kind of writer who…” as you notice and name their actions.
- If you said joyful: Let your love for writing shine through as you lead the minilesson and explore some workshop routines.
- If you said collaborative: Tell students that writers talk to other writers. Encourage them to discuss their work with their table mates.
Getting Ready: Jumpstarting an open-ended writing workshop on the first day can be daunting if you don’t think through potential roadblocks. Consider questions students will ask and prepare your responses. Here’s what my planning looked like. You don’t have to use my responses, but I hope they inspire your own:
| If a writer says… | I could respond… |
|---|---|
| “What do I write about?” | When authors like you have trouble thinking of an idea, they might try: talking to a classmate, starting with a picture, or thinking of something that’s important to them. Additionally, for older writers with tech access, I could say, “I know you have a Google Drive full of writing from the previous grade. It could be fun to look through that and find something that inspires you. |
| “I’m done!” | The exciting thing about writing workshop is that writers are never finished! You have many options now. You can improve this piece (that’s called revising) by adding or changing what you wrote. You can make this piece even better by editing the spelling or mechanics. You can also start a whole new piece! The great part is that you’re in charge of the decision, and you don’t need to ask me what to do. |
| “Where do I find ____?” (paper, pencil, markers, post-its, etc) | To answer this question, decide which materials will be available to students on the first day. – If you’d prefer to open the writing center at a later date, offer only pencils and 1-2 paper choices. – Or, allow students to explore the writing center, granting permission to use whatever they find, with the reminder that more instruction regarding materials is coming soon. |
| “How do I spell…” | One thing to know about your new teacher is I don’t spell words for kids. Instead, you can look for tools around our room or remember what you learned last year about segmenting sounds. We will have many opportunities to practice spelling tricky words this year. You are going to learn so much! |
Keep It Simple: Your first minilesson will be a brief introduction to writing workshop. Here’s one approach: Explain that writing workshop is a time for sharing ideas, opinions, stories, and expertise. To engage students, provide pairs with books created by other young writers. Ensure these books showcase a variety of abilities and topics. Ask students to observe these young authors’ choices and discuss something they might want to try in their writing today. Other ideas include discussing purposes for writing or creating heart maps. It’s critical that this minilesson is shorter than ten minutes.
Kidwatching: While conferring on this first day can help you build your knowledge of these writers, you could simply observe. Kidwatching on the first day can reveal how kids get started, what they gravitate towards, and other writing behaviors.
One last tip: Consider how an illustration study over the first few weeks might be a low-stakes entrance to the workshop for writers of all abilities. (Check out Lisa B. Cleaveland’s More About the Authors: Authors and Illustrators Mentor Our Youngest Writers for minilesson inspiration).
I hope you have a fantastic first day of writing workshop. What tips do you have for teachers on the first day? Drop them in the comments below!
Go Deeper
- This blog post offers suggestions for the next few weeks: Writing Workshop “Base Training”
- Watch a first day minilesson in action: Ruth’s SOL: First Day Minilesson
- This wonderful book shares what the first two weeks of workshop can look like in grades K-2 and includes helpful videos: A Teacher’s Guide to Getting Started With Beginning Writers by Katie Wood Ray and Lisa B. Cleaveland
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Great post, Leah.
Purposeful talk is so critical for writing workshop. Establishing structures for partner or table talk can really set the tone for success.
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Great advice for the 1st writing workshop of the year! Actually many of my 1st writing workshops were all about “What do I write about?” The kids would make a list of all the things they loved and were interested in. And how to address the “I’m done” chant? I had a poster in my classroom that said: “If you think you are done, you’ve only just begun” and next to that saying were all the steps in the writing process. I’m sure the kids liked that saying – but they stopped telling they were done and spent a little more time on their writing.
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Love the if/then structure!
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Another great post. I loved how you opened this piece Leah. I hope our writing workshops are all of those powerful adjectives you listed. Thank you!
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