M11: Writing Workshop vs. Writers' Workshop - Language Matters

What’s the difference between a writing workshop and a writers' workshop? Educators tend to use the two terms interchangeably, but I believe there’s a difference. In a writing workshop the focus is on the writing. Teachers hone in on what’s present on the page, what’s missing, and how the writing needs to change to meet a set of standards. In a writers' workshop, the focus is on the writer. Teachers focus on the person crafting the text—helping writers choose topics, purposes, and audiences for their writing and offering suggestions to guide the writer's decision-making process. A writing workshop provides a physical space for writers to work, while a writers' workshop provides both a physical and psychological space for writers to grow. I believe we teachers need to work towards building a writers' workshop within our classrooms.  

Writing workshop consists of writing, sharing, and teaching mini-lessons. 

Dr. Brian Kissel talks about the distinction this way, "When I first started teaching writing, I followed a guide handed to me by the district—I was teaching writing [process], but I wasn’t teaching writers. Now, I know better. I follow the writer. And my instruction is much more meaningful because I allow them to lead the way.

Here are some of my tips for creating a more writer-focused writers' workshop:

  • Know your students: Spend the first several weeks of school engaging in conversations with students about their lives outside the classroom. Use these conversations to match them to writing topics throughout the year.

  • Delay genre studies: Resist going into genre studies too early in the school year. Give students the first 6–8 weeks to explore genres on their own. As you learn about your students’ lives, you’ll also learn about their preferred genres.

  • Confer: Confer with students for a week before planning an entire genre study. Our mini-lessons should be responsive to what our students create as writers. We don’t know what to teach until we’ve had a chance to study our writers

  • Offer an author’s chair: Give children opportunities to share their writing with the class and ask them to direct feedback from their peers.

  • Leave time for reflection: Ask students to reflect daily on their learning. Reserve some time (2–3 minutes) at the end of your workshop and ask students to name something they learned. Their replies give you a snippet of authentic assessment that you can use when planning lessons.

Click here to read the Kissel's entire post from the ILA Blog. Links to an external site.

Within Writers' Workshop, you as a teacher implement the stages of the writing process:

  • Prewriting

  • Writing/Drafting

  • Revising

  • Editing

  • Publishing

Here are some pros and cons to Writer's Workshop.  As you read and reflect, think of what else you would add to this chart.

Pros

Cons

  • Students tend to be more motivated because they choose what to write about.

  • Teachers often feel a loss of control because students are working at different stages of the writing process.

  • Students work through the stages of the writing process.

  • Teachers have responsibility to teach mini-lessons on strategies and skills to students, both in whole-class groups and to individual students.

  • Activities are student directed, and students work at their own pace.

  • Students must learn to be task oriented and to use time wisely in order to be successful.

  • Teachers have opportunities to work individually with students during conferences.

  • Students must self-monitor.

  • What else do you see as a pro?

  • What else do you see as a con?