Why have students keep a writer’s notebook?
- To promote daily, consistent practice and build stamina (meets CCSS Writing 10 standard)
- To create a nonthreatening, safe writing environment and climate.
- To provide students with meaningful and authentic writing choices.
- To give a voice to diverse and common experiences they have outside of the classroom.
- To get students familiar with writing language and terms that focus on specific writing traits
- To aid in capitalizing on individual interest to increase motivation.
- To serve as a tool to increase empathy for one another as writers and learners.
- To provide a safe place where seed ideas can grow and flourish depending on student’s choices!
Zumbrunn & Krause. “Conversations with Leaders: Principles of Effective Writing Instruction.” The Reading Teacher 65.5 (2012): 346-353. Print. Ranch-Burh, W. “Motivating Readers Through Voice and Choice.” Voices in the Middle 20.2(2012): 58-59. Print.
Please note: A writer’s notebook is not a journal. Make sure to differentiate the two with students.
How to start?
- Create your own writer’s notebook with a few entries. Share this with students on day 1. Continue to write when students write and share your writing frequently.
- Have students decorate notebooks with quotes, photos, drawings, words, etc. and then use packing tape to laminate.
- As a class, determine agreements regarding the notebooks and create an anchor chart to keep posted in the classroom:
- What organizational pieces should be in the notebook? (Title, table of contents, dedication, date/page #//title each entry, etc.).
- What can go in the notebook? Although students can keep what’s in their notebook confidential, they do need to show the teacher that they have been actively working in it.
- Will students have control over what they want the teacher to read/give feedback on?
- Is the notebook expected to be on student desks every day?
- Is everyone expected to write everyday?
- How will the notebooks be graded? See links below for rubric examples.
Ideas for writing for the few weeks
- Likes/Dislikes
- 100 Things I love
- Timeline of major events from your life
- Things you wonder about
These may provide seeds for future writing assignments.
Daily writing ideas
1x a week - Writer’s circle (about 15 min).
- Establish expectations - time limit, silence, sharing process, etc.
- Move chairs into a circle
- Give each student a post it note and have them write one word on it. It can be anything or you can ask them to write something around a text that you are reading, a theme you are studying, etc.
- The facilitator randomly picks a post-it and reads the word aloud.
- The circle writes non-stop for 2-3 minutes on the topic (stream of consciousness). It can be narrative, bullets, questions -- anything goes. If students don’t know what to write, they write the topic over and over until the time is up.
- When time is up, pencils are down. A participant starts by sharing a word or phrase from his/her writing (if they want) and go around the circle. Students have the option to say pass.
- If desired, students can give positive feedback, but practice using accountable talk (have sentence stems for students to use). (Sentence starters for positive feedback)
- Repeat the process until you have done this for about 15-20 minutes.
Other days of the week - mini-lessons on writing
- Teacher teaches a short lesson on writing -- habits of mind of a writer, how to write a thesis statement, figurative language, specific genre, etc. (10-15 min)
- Students are then given time to experiment with the learning in their notebook.
Helpful websites
Setting up the writer’s notebook
How to use a writer’s notebook
Ideas for writer’s notebook mini- lessons
Rubrics
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