Building a Community of Writers: Implementing Writer\u27s Workshop in a First Grade Classroom

The approach to writing instruction for first graders often involves giving rigid prompts to complete, inhibiting the creativity and imagination that young writers are more than capable of exercising. In an attempt to avoid such a practice, I implemented a writer’s workshop in a first grade classroom during my student-teaching experience. By explicitly teaching the writing process through mini-lessons and offering authentic writing experiences, I examined the effectiveness of writer’s workshop on student motivation and writing quality. Using descriptive field notes and student work samples, I provide a narrative account of my three-month self-study and the positive response of my students. The results suggest that the writer’s workshop was effective in motivating students to write as well as improving writing quality. Implementing this framework as early as first grade can help to instill a passion for writing, a skill that is increasingly necessary for academic success as students get older