Writerly Life

What do we want students to get out of the Writerly Life unit? What are the most important things for students to leave this unit knowing?

The Writerly Life unit is built around the following goals, and all of our teaching in this unit should support them. This is a starting point for the year, so we shouldn’t expect mastery by the end of this first unit. Rather we should consider it the introduction for students. It is, perhaps, most important to keep in mind that this initial unit of study will lay the groundwork for all other units in the school year.

• Students will learn the rituals and routines of writing workshop.

• Students will engage in lots of talk about the stories of their lives.

• Students will think about what they have read that is like what they are trying to make.

• Students will read like writers and see craft in the texts around them.

• Students will see themselves as writers who are capable of using writing to communicate meaningful messages with real audiences.

• Students will learn about authors’ habits and what writers “do” as a basis for developing their own habits as writers.

• Students will become active members in a writing community who share their writing and give/receive feedback.

• Students will develop a repertoire of strategies that will lift the quality of their writing.