A writing workshop is a great way to teach students the various steps in the writing process. But launching your writing workshop takes a lot of planning. So, how can you start a writing workshop during your writing block? Follow these five easy steps!

Step 1: Get Organized

The first step in preparing for a successful year of writing workshop is first to get organized. Reflect on your practices in the following areas and prepare for your first day of the workshop:

• Do you have an assessment notebook?
• Have you thought about how students will organize the notebooks? Do they even have notebooks?
• Have you created an area in your room for writing workshop materials?
• Do you have a writing portfolio for each student? 
• Have you made a plan for teaching writing to students virtually?

Step 2: Know Where Your Students Are

After organizing your workshop, you want to make sure you figure out where your students are in their writing capabilities. Administer a pre-assessment before teaching the first mini-lesson. You can determine student abilities by giving them a writing prompt before you launch your writing workshop.

The writing prompt should be a personal narrative that most students could relate to, such as when they spent the night with friends or something fun they like to do with their family. Whatever the prompt, it should not be a topic of students choosing. The assessment should be the same for everyone. For younger students, be sure students read the writing to you. Transcribe any words you may need to know once you assess the paper.

Step 3: Launch Your Writing Workshop

Before launching your first writing workshop mini-lesson, prepare students for class time expectations. For example, students need to know they are writing to build stamina. Writing workshop is for writing, and they should work on writing the entire block.

You may also want to consider a flipped classroom approach to writing by creating your own video lessons. I've created video lessons for my writing workshop lessons and they have been a hit! Students can go from start to finish when going through the writing process. I've even organized the lessons in Seesaw using a grid like the one below.

Step 4: Conferencing When Launching Your Writing Workshop

One of the most important things you can do during a writing workshop is to meet with students one-to-one during conferencing. Here are some tips: 

• When first starting, focus on stamina first before starting the conference for an extended period
• Spend no more than 5-6 minutes per student
• Do not conference with every student in one day
• Ask students to read their stories or tell their story through pictures
• Provide a glow (something they did well)
• Then provide a grow (something they need to work on)

Step 5: Encourage Students to Share Their Writing

Share time is the most critical part of the workshop, but it is often left out because of time. No matter what, allow students to share their writing even if you have to cut the writing time short. Here are some tips: 

• Students need to project their work so that everyone can see it
• If you have a classroom sound system, use it!
• Practice appropriate speaking and listening standards during this time
• Try to reinforce the skill taught during the mini-lesson. For example, “I like the way…”
• Have students provide a GLOW and a GROW to the student as well 

Bonus Feature for Launching Your Writing Workshop

The best part of launching a writing workshop is it can be in person or virtually! Some technology tips include:

• Organize your writing notebooks using digital interactive notebooks
• Use Google sheets for your assessment notebook
• Video writing mini-lessons for students to watch
• Use screencasting apps on the iPad or laptop for students to practice self-regulation
• Create an audio or video record student conferences
• You can use breakout groups on Zoom or in Google Meet to help students during conferencing
• Use apps such as Book Creator or Seesaw for students to publish their writing

Launching your writing workshop can seem like a big task, but it becomes manageable if you follow the steps above. Need some help? I've got you covered. I have a YEAR'S WORTH of writing workshop lessons for grades K-1 WITH already made video lessons! It's perfect for virtual learning.

I know how hard everyone is working right now so I wanted to offer you something special. While all of the lessons include technology integration, the video lessons are part of a GROWING BUNDLE! The first two units have video lessons already available, with unit three to be uploaded soon. Now is the time to GRAB this growing bundle because it is absolutely at its lowest price.