Hey y’all! Many of the schools and teachers I work with are safe- but trapped in their homes. This will give you something to read! Prayers to everyone in the Houston area and all those affected by Hurricane Harvey!
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If you are anything like me, when trapped inside, you might find yourself snuggled up on the couch listening to the sound of the rain and browsing the world wide web for lesson plan ideas.
Look no further! You’ve come to the right place.
Today I want to talk about how I incorporate partners in my Writing Workshop classroom.
Have you ever used writing partners?
There are so many different ways to incorporate writing partners into your routines and procedures. And now is a great time to set up those expectations.
I always start by assigning writing partners and teaching them to turn and talk to that partner during the Mini-Lesson portion of the workshop time.
I teach my students when it is appropriate to talk with your writing partner. We model, model, model talking with our writing partners.
Once students are comfortable during the workshop with partners, I introduce the writing conferring tables. Around the classroom, I have paired desks or tables (usually two) that are set aside for partner conferences. During writing time, these spots are ‘off limits’ unless you need to confer with your partner.
My students learn that good writing doesn’t happen in isolation, but rather in collaboration with others.
I teach my students how to respectfully ask their partner if they will conference with them (and what to do if their partner says no…sometimes you just need to keep your own pencil moving because you have that writer’s flow!)
If both partners agree they are at a stopping point and would like to conference, they bring their writing and a pencil to the conference table.
I have copies of this conference checklist to help guide my young writers through the conference.
Here’s how it looks:
One writer decides to share first (or sometimes only one writer needs to conference and the other student is only the listener).
The writer reads the piece of writing.
The listener then gives the writer a compliment. Students are encouraged to use the sentence stems to guide them.
Next, the listener gives a comment or suggestion.
The writer then asks the listener for help.
The conference ends when the students sign the form and return back to their own writing.
I’ve provided the conference form as a freebie HERE!
Snag it while you can and comment below with your plans for incorporating writing partners.
