I keep asking myself why I think of this as a break-up. It could be because, initially, my thing with launching the Writer’s Workshop felt like one intense infatuation—Like the ones I was addicted to in my 20s. I fell hard for it, and this love has lasted many, many years.
I’ve paraded my sweet Valentine in front of many, and others have also fallen in love. I’ve shared my dear one with colleagues and enjoyed seeing other classrooms launch their own workshops. Following the 20-day unit to teach students about routines and systems has been one of the greatest motivators each school year. So, why break up with that unit now?
It’s not that I met someone new and I’m running towards a new infatuation; it’s just that after letting go of the hands of those who led me here, I started seeing some new ways to spend those first 20 days writing at school. I held onto my mentors for a very long time, and now both my hands are free to create something for myself with everything I took from them.
I already have the framework for this launching unit in my head; my intention with this blog post is to define what I’m dropping and see what I choose to keep from the previous units. Let’s see if George’s “3 things” format helps me again tonight:
Duration
In all honesty, I am trying to remember why 20 days for a launching unit. I know units are meant to last five weeks. And if I dig deep into my memory, I think I remember Christy saying that those 20 days are all about building hype for writing. So I guess that spending too many days doing “the same thing” would become boring for them.
What I’ve learned about unit duration is that there’s a sweet spot where most writers are really into what we’re doing, and not long after that, it turns into a forced task. The hype drops significantly when we start revising (which is a loud sign or something else to reflect on.) So, yeah, I want to maintain the idea of 20 days-ish.
Questions for Summer Ana (the one who will write this brand-new unit):
- How will those days be connected to provide ongoing opportunities for flow?
- How can we structure each session so teachers can protect daily writing time without having to sacrifice too much time?
- Should each day include a new lesson?
Genre
This one feels more like an official announcement. The launching unit I wrote last summer was about making it open to all genres and styles. For this new unit, though, I want to create a much louder and more intentional invitation for students to play with different genres.
When launching a Writer’s Workshop, I always force myself to think of children who don’t know writing can be fun, and I picture them sitting through a mini-lesson. The choice brings the engagement; that we know. The thing is, there is a difference between allowing any sort of writing and painting different pictures to draw them in.
Here are two questions for later:
- What lessons can I write to bridge the gap between literary genres and everyday life? We want them writing about what they know.
- What immersion experiences can I include (across the unit, not just the beginning) to dip our toes in different kinds of writing?
Writing Process
This is the actual break-up right here.
I’ve always known 20 days of launching the Writer’s Workshop as a journey through the writing process: we generate ideas, rehearse and plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish before we celebrate. I’ve dated this guy year after year, and it’s felt right. Not great, but just right.
I want to date a new guy who doesn’t ask that we teach the writing process in the launching unit. The new guy would instead be all about the joy of writing.
The idea is to develop lessons that lead to no published piece. No expectations other than: “Here, we all write.” Inspired by Ralph, Liz, and Roy, I want children who only see writing as a school task to ditch that notion and find joy in capturing thoughts on paper for no reason.
No one has to read it.
You don’t have to do anything with it.
We just want to catch the words before our minds forget them.
There are other exciting tidbits to consider as I start putting this together, and I’ll gather data from fellow writers who are part of launching units year after year. For now, I’ll consider this post a promise for the 2024-2025 school year.
Start with a Story 