What are writing partners?

Writing partners are students who are paired together for an extended period of time to explore various aspects of writing.  Students learn to share their writing with a partner so they can be part of a community of learners.

Why use them?

By having students talk to partners during the engagement portion of the mini-lesson, I can get more students involved.  When I ask a question, I will often say, “Turn and talk to your partner about…”  Each partner has time to share.  This prevents the phenomenon of a few students doing all of the talking and others sitting back and letting them.  My students know that they are all expected to think and share during the mini-lessons.  Establish writing partnerships help the writing workshop run more smoothly—when students know exactly who to turn and talk to, there is much less time off task and this ensures that every child has a partner. 

Selecting Writing Partners

I ask my students to write their names on a slip of paper and list the names of four students  with whom they might like to work.   Then I lay all of the slips out and try as hard as possible to match students with someone on the list.  I tell them that it may not be possible to match everyone,and if they do not get someone from their list this time, I guarantee that they will the next time.  I also try to match students of  fairly similar ability.

How long do they stay together?

This is up to your professional judgment.  I usually change the partnerships at the beginning of each new grading period.  I know teachers who keep the same partnerships for the entire school year.  Certainly if a partnership is not working, it is time to make the change.

Mentor Texts to Introduce Writing Partnerships

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa series by Erica Silverman
Frog and Toad Series by Arnold Lobel
Henry and Mudge Series by Cynthia Rylant

Introducing Writing Partners

I found this lesson for introducing writing partners to primary students  at this website by Jessica Meacham:  Writing Partners.  Check out her website for an entire unit on launching the writing workshop.

1. Read a chapter from Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Partners by Erica Silverman.
2. After reading the book, facilitate a discussion about how Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa helped one another.
3. Lead students to the understanding that partnerships are beneficial – we need partnerships.
4. Throughout the week, continue reading from the book Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Partners.
5. Ask students how having a writing partner can be helpful to them.
6. Discuss good ways of helping and improper ways of helping.
7. Share with students that during Writer’s Workshop, they will be sitting next to a writing buddy (partner).
8. Share that writing buddies help one another in good ways.
9. Share that if help is needed, students should ask their writing buddy for help.
10. Ask, “What are some ways we need help during Writer’s Workshop?” (crayon color, spelling, pencil, mini office)
11. Ask, “If your writing buddy doesn’t know how to help you, or can’t, what could you do next?”

Mentor Texts

What Are Mentor Texts?

Why Use Mentor Texts?

Teachers as Writing Mentors

Vygotsky’s Zones of Development

Optimal Learning Model

Selecting Mentor Texts

Importance of Read Aloud

Reading Like a Writer

Mentor Text Mini-Lessons

How Do Writers Work?

Write About What You Know

Mapping for Ideas

Name Dropping

Using Literature to Spark Ideas

Memories

Sharpening the Focus

Asking Questions

Planning Sheets

Show, Don’t Tell

Paint a Picture

Using Color

Be Specific

Fancy Words

Walk Around in the Author’s Syntax

Attention-Grabbing Leads

Satisfying Endings

Glue Words

Seesaw Pattern

Apostrophe Detectives

Narrative vs. Expository

Expository Text Features Booklet

Writer’s notebooks are filled with seed ideas, drafts, and experimentation, not published pieces of writing.  My students do not edit and revise the pieces in their notebooks unless it is part of a mini-lesson or conference .   That said, as I read through  their notebooks I often find gems that beg to be shared with a wider audience  than our classroom.  With the students’ permission, I type several notebook entries (correcting conventions when necessary) onto the back of our class newsletter each week.  We call it “Classroom Originals”.  My students love to see their work published in the newsletter, and I find that it motivates them to put forth more effort in their notebooks.

If a mini-lesson has been taught and a child is still not using the skill or strategy correctly, it is time for a one-on-one conference.  I have found it effective to use my students’ writer’s notebooks for conventions and craft conferences.  The pieces written in their notebooks are not taken through the entire writing process; that is, they are not edited and revised for publication.  Instead, I use the notebooks as a diagnostic and teaching tool for language conventions  and writer’s craft.  When I collect notebooks, I make anecdotal notes on the student’s evaluation form in my assessment notebook.  In the second column I record skills the child demonstrates s/he is consistently using correctly.  In the third column I record skills that I need to teach or re-teach.  When I meet with that child for an individual conference, I select  1-2 teaching points from that third column and work with the student on just those skills.  I then ask the student to proofread a page in his /her  notebook, looking for and correcting only the targeted skill/s.  If there are other serious errors on the page, those will become the focus of a future conference.

• Try to provide a time for daily notebook writing.  A consistent time works best.
• Do NOT assign  notebook writing as bell work. 
• Use bound notebooks rather than loose sheets of paper.  Do not allow students to tear pages out of their notebooks.
• When first implementing notebook writing, begin each session with a modeled writing lesson on the overhead or chart paper.  You can gradually decrease (but not eliminate!) the frequency of modeled lessons.
• Demonstrate various stages of writing for emergent writers: picture writing (drawing), scribble writing, random letters, temporary spelling, and conventional spelling. See Invitations by Regie Routman pp. 216-221 for an excellent explanation of how to introduce these stages to beginning writers.
• Teach students how to select topics for notebook writing.  See Helping Students Choose Topics for ideas.
• Always have students date each notebook entry (by writing it or using a date stamp).
• Encourage students to cross out rather than erase their mistakes.  This keeps their thinking visible.
• Allow emergent writers to use unlined paper.  Consider allowing them to use fine line markers instead of pencils.
• Have students who are writing on lined paper skip lines.  This provides space for revision and editing.
• Use the independent writing time to conduct individual writing conferences with students.  The conferences may be informal—simply walking from desk to desk to provide praise and support as needed.  Or they may be more formal conferences where the child meets you at a designated conference table to discuss his/her writing.
• Transcribe the text of writers who are in the picture writing, scribbling, and random letters stages. 
• Provide a time for oral sharing at the end of each writing session.  It works best to have an assigned number of students share each day.  Students who do not wish to share may “pass.”
• Collect notebooks periodically to monitor student progress.  Make note of skills and strategies that should be addressed during an individual writing conference or during a whole group mini-lesson.  Take anecdotal notes on student’s writing assessment and evaluation form.

Download Writing Evaluation Form

Many writers like to keep writer’s notebooks handy so they can jot down “seed” ideas whenever they pop into their heads.  I encourage students to do the same. The writer’s notebook is a staple in my writing classroom, probably our most important writing tool.  It is a place for my students to free write on mostly self-selected topics, a place for them to explore seed ideas which may later be taken to publication.  It is also a place for my students to practice revising their writing using the craft techniques we learn through mentor text mini-lessons. 

In his book Mechanically Inclined Jeff Anderson (2005) describes the writer’s notebook as a “playground for writing”. He says “I let students have recess on the page, the sweet freedom to romp with thoughts, cavort with commas, and monkey around with syntax.  What better playground do we have than the writer’s notebook?  This is the repository, the organizer, the placeholder, the idea catcher, the canvas to experiment and create , the place to be wrong and to be wrong boldly.  It is a place to return—to mine and refine, polish and relish, reread and rewrite.”

To get students excited about using the notebooks, I read aloud or paraphrase portions of Ralph Fletcher’s A Writer’s Notebook: Unlocking the Writer Within You.  Fletcher explains that “writers are like other people, except for at least one important difference.  Other people have daily thoughts and feelings, notice this sky or that smell, but they don’t do much about it.  All those thoughts, feelings, sensations, and opinions pass through them like the air they breathe.  Not writers.  Writers react.” (Ralph Fletcher, 1996).

Benefits of Notebook Writing:

• Promotes fluency in writing and reading
• Encourages risk taking
• Provides opportunities for reflection
• Validates personal experiences and feelings
• Promotes thinking and makes it visible
• Promotes development of written language conventions
• Provides a vehicle for evaluation
• Provides a written record of students’ literacy learning

A good writing program includes the use of good literature.  Before a child is ever able to independently use specific writing skills and strategies, s/he is able to listen to and identify these qualities in good literature through read- aloud experiences.  Read aloud serves more than just to entertain our students.  It is used to build a strong sense of community which is important in a classroom where children will be asked to take risks in their writing.  It also serves as a model for what good writing looks and sounds like.  By closely examining what good writers do, we and our students can begin to internalize these techniques and employ them in our own writing.  

It is important to remember, however, that first and foremost, a book should be read aloud to be enjoyed as readers first.  Only then should we begin to use the literature to teach writing.  Mentor texts should be read more than once.  According  to Jeff Anderson in his book Mechanically Inclined, “by reading a text more than once, we create a shared text that we can refer to again and again—a mentor text that can show  us craft and mechanics techniques.  This repeated revisiting, viewing all the different layers in the text, deepens students’ understanding of how to read like writers.

The following books are great resources for using read alouds to enhance writing instruction:

When we read with the eyes and ears of a writer, we focus less on what the writer is trying to say and more on how the writer is saying it. Specifically, we look at the craft moves the writer makes to get his or her message across and the way those moves affect us as readers.  When we notice an author’s intentional use of craft we have a window into the mind of the writer and we can begin to teach our students how to use these techniques in their own writing and stand on the shoulders of professional writers.

What might we notice as we read like a writer?  Here are just a few techniques used by professional authors:

• Repetition: repeating a word or a phrase
• The Power of Three: three words used in a row to create emphasis
• Onomatopoeia: sound words
• Big and Bold:  text written in bold, capital letters to express an idea
• Interesting Punctuation:  ellipses, dashes, colons, parentheses
• Figurative language:  simile, metaphor, personification
• Stretching out the print
• Intentional sentence fragments: used to create rhythm and flow
• White space
• Hyphenated adjectives

In her book Wondrous Words (1999) Katie Wood Ray outlines five steps to reading like a writer.

                                     5 Steps to Reading Like a Writer

1. Notice something about the craft of the text.
2. Talk about it and make a theory about why a writer might use this craft.
3. Give the craft a name.
4. Think of other texts/authors you know.  Have you see this craft before?
5. Try to envision using this crafting in your own writing.

Lester Laminack unpacks these 5 steps a bit for us in his book Cracking Open the Author’s Craft.  As we train our students to read literature through the eyes of the writer, he suggests that we use the following line of questioning with them:

Notice the Craft/Name the Craft

• What did you notice as I read this aloud?
• What do you notice on this page?
• What has the writer done with the print here?
• How is the white space used differently here?
• What I noticed next was…
• If you are like other kids I’ve worked with, you may have noticed…
• Many people who write often…

Form a Theory

• Why would a writer do this?
• How does this help you as a reader?
• Are there other places in this text where the author has done this?
• When you find other instances of this, how does that affect your theory?  Does it make your more certain?  Does it nudge you to reconsider?
• Does this help your theory grow?  If so, how?

Explore Other Authors

• Do we know other writers who do this?
• Let’s explore one of these books (anchor texts from class set) and see if we notice any other writers who do this.
• What do you notice in these books?
• Consider your theory and check it in this title.  Are both authors doing this for the same reason?
• Is there more than one reason to use this crafting technique? 
• What other possibilities are you thinking of?

Think About Your Own Writing

• How would you use this in your writing?
• Can you imagine this working for you?
• Would this work in the writing you are doing now?

Mentor Texts for the Traits of Writing
This site lists picture books that can be used to model each of the traits of good writing. Suggested grade levels and teaching ideas are included.

Picture Book of the Day
Each day this site features a new picture book that can be used to teach the six traits of good writing. Includes a one-sentence summary, an excerpt from the book, and 6-trait mini-lesson suggestions.

Book Savors: Reading Like a Writer
Every day or two the writer of this blog posts another picture book, gives a summary, and then lists several of her “noticings” or “savorings”, as she calls them, about the author’s use of craft.

Two Writing Teachers
Two writing teachers reflect and blog about the teaching of writing and bring other writing teachers together to share ideas and stretch each other’s thinking.

Writing Fix
This site features lists and lists of mentor texts for teaching the traits of writing and links to lessons for each.

Teaching That Makes Sense
This link takes you to an article entitled “Read Like a Reader, Read Like a Writer” by Steve Peha. It leads you through some valuable exercises that help you read like a writer, taking note of the author’s use of the six traits of writing. Also check out the full website Teaching That Makes Sense for many valuable resources.

It’s Always the Write Time
This link takes you to some handouts from a conference session about writing workshop. It outlines year-long curriculum ideas for grades K-2. Pages 12-15 provide lists of wonderful mentor texts for grades K-2.

Inside Writing Communities
This site is a gold mine. At this site you will find a complete 8-session online workshop complete with free video training. Session topics include Building a Community of Writers, Reasons for Writing, Reading Like A Writer, Teaching the Writing Craft, Conversations with Student Writers, Conversations Among Writing Peers, Learning to Revise, Writing Across the Curriculum. Also check out the home page at Learner.org for additional courses and graduate credit options.

Reading Like Writers, Writing Like Readers: Mentor Texts
This site focuses on the craft of structure and of ways with words. It lists many different writing crafts and mentor texts that contain examples of each craft.

As important as it is for students to be introduced to mentor authors, I think it is even more important that they see us, their teachers, as writing mentors. 

In his book What a Writer Needs  (1993), Ralph Fletcher begins with the importance of writing mentors.  He says mentors to young writers have certain things in common. 
A mentor…

• Has high standards
• Encourages students to take risks
• Builds on strengths
• Looks at the big picture
• Values originality and diversity
• Is passionate

From among these, Fletcher says passion remains the most important quality the mentor has to offer.

I would like to add one more item to Fletcher’s list:  a writing mentor models his or her own writing.  As important as it is for our students to find professional writers  to serve as their mentors, I believe the writing we do in front of our students and in our day-to-day lives can be just as, if not more, powerful. 

I used to wonder if it was okay when my students tried to borrow my ideas or even copy my writing.  Now I know that it is more than okay—this is a desired result!
As Katie Wood Ray says in Wondrous Words (1999), “Like any other craftspeople, professional writers know that to learn their craft, they must stand on the shoulders of writers who have gone before them.”   So when our students try to emulate professional writers and their teachers, we should celebrate and affirm for them that they are doing what good writers do.

If you want to become a more accomplished writing teacher, to become a true writing mentor for your students, I highly recommend Katie Wood Ray’s What You Know by Heart.