Teach Primary Students to Write

Posted by Megan Sheakoski Aug 6, 2008

No one is more excited to write a story or create a book than elementary students. They can’t wait to compose something and share it with others. Teachers can use this excitement as motivation for a variety of language arts lessons during a Writer’s Workshop.

A Writer’s Workshop is a teaching model during which students create stories, poems, paragraphs, and reports by going through the writing process. They go through the steps of prewriting, writing, revising and editing, and publishing at their own speed with the help of their teacher and peers. Instruction is planned to meet student needs in the context of their work, not because it is the next lesson in the English book.

The teacher uses mini-lessons to instruct the whole class, small groups, or individuals. For example, she may use the Sandwich Paragraph Writing Strategy to teach all students how to write a complete paragraph. Then after the lesson the students write a paragraph during the Writer’s Workshop. Then if a teacher finds that one or more of the students are having trouble writing a closing sentence she can re-teach closing sentences to just that group.

Another way to use the Writer’s Workshop is to have the class work together to create a How-To Book. The teacher can choose an encompassing topic, like making Thanksgiving dinner, and have the students write how to do one component of the topic such as decorating the table. During Writer’s Workshop the students work together to revise and edit each other’s work and then publish their writing as a class book.

The Writer’s Workshop approach allows students to develop writing skills at their own pace with individualized instruction from the teacher.