Writing Workshop

1. Students learn the essential elements of the writing workshop.
2. Students participate actively in a classroom based writing workshop.
3. Students understand the relationship between writing and thinking.
4. Students demonstrate understanding of the essential elements of writing workshop by developing and documenting a classroom based writing workshop in their classrooms.
5. Students facilitate and encourage the writing of others and share the results of their efforts with colleagues in formal and informal contexts.

Assignments

1. You will receive 5 points each week for active class participation if you (a) are present, take part in the chapter discussion, do the assigned writing, share your writing, and respond to the writing of others.
2. The book report is oral. It should be 5-10 minutes in length. Choose a book about writing or writers (not grammar or teaching writing). Bring your book to class with you on the day reports are due.
3. The Project Portfolio consists of 6 writing projects primarily completed (in part) during the writing portion of class. Each project must relate in some way to writing, writers, teaching, learning, or learners and must include at least one of each of the following:
   1. Personal Narrative
   2. Fictional Narrative
   3. Descriptive Essay
   4. Persuasive Essay
   5. Poem
   6. Book or Movie Review (unrelated to class)

You will present your portfolio to the class and then read your best project aloud in its entirety.  Projects do not have a length requirement. They will vary. Some you may finish in a day, and others may take several days. The Implementation Plan is a brief explanation of how Writing Workshop will be integrated into your classroom.

Content and methodological standards for this course are held by West College of Education (WCoE), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the International Reading Association (IRA), and the Midwestern State University Graduate Catalog.  Course outcomes are aligned with the WCoE Conceptual Framework and the following NBPTS Propositions:

WCoE Master’s degree candidates

• are committed to students and their learning;
• know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students;
• are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning;
• think systematically about their practice and learn from experience;
• and are members of learning communities.

1. Weekly Participation                                                80 points (total)
2. Book Report                                                                10 points
3. Portfolio/Implementation Presentation               10 points

Grade Scale: 90 – 100 = A, 80 – 89 = B, 70 – 79 = C, 60 – 69 = D, below 50 = F

All work must be submitted on time on the dates indicated in the class calendar. The Book Report and Portfolio Documents are submitted electronically and in paper form.

Late work is not accepted.

Students are expected to attend every class. No class participation credit may be earned when students are absent.

1. In class writing may be done using any convenient media: pen(cil) and paper, laptop, iphone, etc. When you share your writing, you must read the text verbatim, not just tell what you wrote.
2. The book report and portfolio must be submitted electronically as MS Word® files. No credit will be awarded for papers not submitted in this manner.
3. Written assignments must be carefully proof read and edited.
4. As the faculty of the West College of Education, we are dedicated to helping meet the needs of our students with disabilities and are eager to provide the accommodations to which such students are entitled.  If you have a documented disability and are registered with the Office of Disability, please let your instructor know to expect a letter from that office describing the accommodations to which you are entitled.  If you have a documented disability but are not registered with the Office of Disability, please contact that office immediately to register.