Writers' Workshop

The Reading and Writing Project’s approach to instruction recognizes that “one size fits all” does not match the realities of the classrooms and schools in which they work. When you walk into a workshop classroom at any given moment, you’ll see instruction that is designed to:

• help teachers address each child’s individual learning,
• explicitly teach strategies students will use not only the day they are taught, but whenever they need them,
• support small-group work and conferring, with multiple opportunities for personalizing instruction,
• tap into the power of a learning community as a way to bring all learners along,
• build choice and assessment-based learning into the very design of the curriculum,
• help students work with engagement so that teachers are able to coach individuals and lead small groups.

The routines and structures of reading and writing workshop are kept simple and predictable so that the teacher can focus on the complex work of teaching in a responsive manner to accelerate achievement for all learners.