A key concept guiding the workshop is that whoever is doing the reading, the writing, the talking, the thinking is the one doing the learning, so the majority of the class time is designed so that students are the workers.

A common practice during the opening -- the first 5 -10 minutes of class -- is to invite students to do notebook work. Often that begins with a quick write.

Often following the quick write or notebook write, the teacher presents a mini-lesson that's 5 -15 minutes long. The purpose of the mini-lesson is to teach the students what they need in order to accomplish the work in work time. (See the next page for more information about the mini-lesson.)

Planning typically begins with the work time: what is that students will be doing during this big chunk of time? From there, the teacher plans the mini-lesson. During work time, the teacher circulates around the room, conferring with individual students or working with small groups.

The end of the workshop is a time for reflection or debriefing. In a writing workshop, a common practice is for students to share their work. This might be done through reading "a golden line" (a phrase, sentence, or paragraph from their writing that is "golden"), symphony reading (during work time asking a couple of students to read a section of their work), or reading to a partner.