A writing workshop is not an easy thing to establish, but when it is established, writing becomes so much more authentic to students.

My history with writing workshop and my beef with writing programs: I am lucky to have worked as a full-time teacher only at schools where if I said, "I'm interested in setting up a project-based environment for writing...a version of writer's workshop," the administrator or department head replied with a firm handshake and a, "Welcome to our school!" I always have counted my blessings in this regard.

I have plenty of teacher friends who are not so lucky. They are stuck at schools that have adopted school-wide writing programs that don't allow for the freedom a teacher needs to maintain a genuine writer's workshop. I worked with over 120 schools as a professional development mentor for many years, and I understand why this happens at some schools (thankfully not at mine...not yet...still counting blessings here); there are teachers who are truly teaching the tar out of writing in every school, and then there are teachers who either refuse to do it with any type of energry, or who expect it to be easy, which it isn't. When a school's writing test scores plateau (which they always do when there is an uneven balance of teaching quality with writing), then the school is talked into buying and mandating a writing program (Step-up-to-Writing and Blowing Away the State Writing Test, I'm talking to you, among others!) that--let's face it--is designed to structure writing time so that more students aim to meet the standards (not exceed them), usually with a focus on organization and conventions skills, which are kind of the two least-interesting of the writing traits. The teachers who were teaching the tar out of writing suddenly find themselves mandated to lower their standards or workshop techniques so that the whole school can be teaching with the same worksheet or the same mandated lesson on or about the same day. These programs assure teachers who were behind in their teaching tactics are again assured that writing instruction is easy, even though it's not, and basically the whole morale of the school about writing lessens thanks to the uninteresting lessons provided by these program-peddling, higher-test-score-promising companies.

During my last year in the professional development program, I was finishing a two-year focus/mentorship program at a really interesting Title I school. The kindergarten, first, and fifth grade teachers were all establishing writer's workshop components (thanks to dedicated Lucy Caulkins and Ralph Fletcher study groups), and the energy in those classrooms during daily writing time was dynamic; those writers really wanted to show you what work they were doing in their journals and their portfolios. The other grade level teachers were still teaching writing with--mostly--worksheets, and their students' works never went through the revision process; rough drafts became edited drafts, which the students mostly had no memory of writing when I'd ask them about them. There were definite gaps in good writing instruction every student at that school received. The two years I worked with that school, the test scores shot up significantly (which can easily happen when close to 50% of your staff is excitedly teaching writing authentically), and my suggestion--upon leaving--was to have those energetic teachers start leading cross-grade study groups and for the school to set-up a program where the less-than-stellar teachers could spend some quality time watching a writer's workshop in action in the thriving classrooms. Sadly, as I left professional development to return to the classroom, that school's wise and capable administrator left as well, and my prediction for that school that was on its way to really making a difference is now this: in three to four years, because of the grade level gaps, the writing scores will plateau, and the school will be mandated begin using one of the teach-to-the-middle programs. The worksheets will continue and the teachers who were experiencing an authemtic energy about teaching will be squleched by the school or they will wisely find a school that allows good teachers who learned and tried new things with writing to continue to do good teaching.

Writing workshop takes focused work to establish. I knew this going in when I returned to the classroom in 2012. I had certainly experienced the hard work before. I generously give myself from September to December to establish all the routines needed. Once established, it becomes truly student-centered environment. Now that I am entering the student-centered era of writing workshop, I will begin posting the materials I