About the Authors: Writing Workshop with Our Youngest Writers

This book was definitely worth the price. It was in great shape and I received it rather promptly. I was very pleased.

How do you begin implementing writing workshop when your students scribble, draw or only write one word, rather than sentences? You begin by having them make "stuff" or books. You also read About the Authors and implement Katie Wood Ray's suggestions. This book is the result of Katie Wood Ray's co-teaching experience with first grade teacher, Lisa Cleaveland as they worked together to set up writing workshop. It offers ideas for getting started as well as reflections of things that didn't go as planned and what the children AND authors learned in the process. A great summer read for primary teachers!

As indicated by the title, this book is about using writing workshops with students in kindergarten through second grade. Although writing is the point of these workshops, the students are not asked to just write anything. The workshops provide a specific goal for students: to make stuff, more specifically to make and write books. The authors thoroughly describe the hour long writing workshops, functions, and teaching opportunities that are typical of an average workshop. Rich examples of the authors' experiences, along with samples of students' work are used throughout each chapter to further develop the objectives of the writing workshops and provide inspirational ideas to readers. The chapters themselves are organized into three sections, adding structure for the many components of the workshop. The first section, titled Building a Strong Foundation, describes why writing workshops are beneficial to the improvement of students' writing; their complex operations; and the importance of avoiding the isolation of writing to the workshops through daily integration. The explanations for utilizing such a writing program make perfect sense to anyone who has ever worked with young children. Making stuff is developmentally appropriate and helps students take ownership and invest themselves in their work. To take it further, making books helps students read and even live like writers. Then, when students are saturated with writing and learning about language all day long, during the elaborate functions of the writing workshop and through the integration of writing, they don't even notice because they have a purpose and are having fun. According to Katie and Lisa, all of this shows in their wonderful approximations that they call books. Understanding the Teaching, the second section, emphasizes how teachers can instill purpose in their students as writers through mini lessons, using a predictable curriculum and methodology, so that students will carry their new understanding of how writing can work into their own creations. What is taught, such as techniques, strategies, understandings, conventions, and questioning, as well as the methods used to teach it, like studying published work and what authors say about writing or looking more closely at students' writing, are addressed and enhanced through the use of purposeful scenarios. Additionally, an entire chapter is dedicated to assessing students on their writing processes, pieces of written work, understanding of writing, and writing growth. The final part of this section, centers on the teacher's role in fostering each individual student's needs during writing conferences and share times, leaving the reader ready to implement writing workshops in their own classrooms. Finally, with a strong foundation and awareness of the concepts that are important to the writing workshop, teachers will find the last section, An Overview of Units of Study, exceptionally useful. Any teacher interest

Not only is this book chock full of sound advice, rationale, and examples (a good balance, too!), but Katie Wood Ray is a remarkable author herself and serves as a wonderful model as she writes about teaching writing. I read this book cover to cover during a pretty densely packed quarter at school and have gone back to it again and again as a rich resource.

This is a great book to help k-2 teachers implement writing workshop in the classroom. It offers ideas on how to begin, units of study, and books to incorporate into your mini-lessons. I recommend this book to anyone venturing into the writing workshop approach to teaching writing to young children.