Writing Mini-Lessons

Students have been assigned a memoir assignment – A Personal Memoir – Writers Workshop. During Independent Practice, they are to brainstorm ideas, write outlines, and first draft ideas for their memoirs.

Writer’s Workshop

Goal – I will understand the expectations of the Writing Workshop

Writer’s Workshop should not be a new concept to these students, but a review of how it works and the expectations of it will be helpful.

Every writing class, you will be expected to write. This could mean pre-writing, revising, etc. Any stage of the writing process. Sitting and thinking isn’t writing.

Do not erase or throw out anything. You never know when a god idea is hidden in doodles or a bad first draft. It’s all part of the process.

Keep everything in your folder. Process.

Experiment and explore. Do not be afraid to fail.

Date and label each stage of the process. Draft 1, Revision, etc.

Quickwrite : This Summer I . . .

Writing Territories

Goal – I will brainstorm a list of topics about which I can write.

Writing Territories are areas of interest and ability for the students about which they can write. Anything they can write a paragraph about should go into their writing territories. Use the powerpoint of categories to help students brainstorm. It also helps for the teacher to brainstorm their own territories. This is Lesson 1 in Nancie Atwell’s Lessons That Change Writers

Quickwrite – I am an expert on . . .

Independent Practice - Memoir Heart Mapping

Goal – I will brainstorm a list of topics about which I can write.

Heart Mapping is another way of brainstorming ideas. Students draw a heart on a piece of paper and then fill it in with things/people/places that are close to their hearts. The closer to the centre, the more dear it is to them. Use the powerpoint to help students brainstorm. It also helps for the teacher to create their own heart map.

This is Lesson 1 in Nancie Atwell’s Lessons That Change Writers

Quickwrite – The 2 most important people in my life are . . .

Independent Practice – Memoir

Pre-Writing

Pre-Writing is the first stage in the writing process. There are many ways to pre-write. Not every way works for every student. Once a student pre-writes, they should either be ready to write their complete first draft, or they will know that they need to do research to get more information.

Students must use 3 different types of pre-writes for their memoir.

Webbing Goal – I will learn to use webbing to pre-write.

Students start in the middle of their page with their big idea. Draw a shape around the idea. Around the main idea they write other smaller details about the main idea and put them into shapes. Students can connect the details to the main idea. If there are more specific details about the detail, students write those details in the same way. Quantity over quality. Don’t think, write.

Quickwrite – My favourite way to waste time is . . .

Independent Practice - Memoir Listing

Goal – I will learn to use listing to pre-write.

Listing is similar to webbing. Students write down everything they can think of about their topic straight down the page. Anything goes, quantity over quality. Then students can organize their lists into categories such as people, places, events, etc and make new lists which prove more useful.

Independent Practice - Memoir

Quickwriting

Goal – I will learn to use quickwriting to pre-write.

Once students select a topic, they start writing a first draft as quickly as possible. Don’t think, just write. Don’t worry about grammar, spelling, or punctuation. Just get it on the page. They can quickwrite multiple topics if they want and then web or list them.

Storytelling

Goal – I will learn to use storytelling to pre-write.

Following the oral tradition, students can tell a story to 1 or more classmates and get some feedback. Then the student can proceed to write the story down. Individually, students can think of a story to tell, then form groups of 3-4 to share their stories. Then they return to their desks to write them down.