Recommended Professional Resources.

Here are my recommendations for those new to Writing Workshop and wanting to jump in with both feet. Each of the books are recommended due to their easy organization and the impact they had on me as I guided teachers in Writing Workshop.

1. A curriculum set (choose the ONE which meets your needs). This is especially necessary if you don’t have a coach in your classroom. These guides are quite savvy and can act as your personal coach as you work through a year of pure Writing Workshop teaching.
   1. Units of Study for Primary Writing: A Year Long Curriculum, Lucy Calkins
   2. Teaching the Qualities of Writingby Fletcher & Portalupi
   3. Units of Study for Teaching Writing, Grades 3 – 5, Lucy Calkins
   4. Nancie Atwell’s Lessons That Change Writers
2. Primary: About the Authors: How to Support Our Youngest Writers by Katie Wood Ray and Lisa Cleaveland
3. Intermediate: The No-Nonsense Guide to Teaching Writing by Davis and Hill
4. Middle School: In the Middleby Nancie Atwell
5. High School: Reading and Writing Together: Collaborative Literacy in Actionby Nancy Steineke

As more comments begin to roll in, it allows us to tailor our posts to useful information for our readers. We appreciate the feedback!

Today, Shelly left this comment on Stacey’s post: The Makings of a TRUE Mentor Text.

I love this idea! I would love to learn more about mentor texts. Is there a professional book or somewhere I can go to learn about it? I did WW in 3rd for the first time last year and was just getting my feet wet, so I would love to do more this year.

Wondrous Wordsby Katie Wood Ray (published by NCTE) would be a great starting point. In my opinion, this is an all-encompassing text which focuses on learning to read like a writer. It was pivotal in my learning to become a more effective writing teacher.