The "Ebonics Resolution" was passed by the Oakland, California, school board in 1996. The proposal called for "imparting instruction to African-American students for the combined purposes of maintaining legitimacy and richness of such language...and to facilitate their acquisition and mastery of English language skills." The…

This book dares educators to rethink their beliefs about how they design writing workshops, use writer's notebooks, choose appropriate genres, teach spelling, help students connect their reading to their writing, and even edit and publish students' writing. Filled with stories and work samples of real children in a diverse urban setting, the book…

States that, for one instructor, professional inquiry in a graduate education program has led to a critical examination of day-to-day practice in the classroom, especially regarding the writing process in the grade 7-9 writing workshop he formerly taught. (PA)

Contends that in order to have a successful writing workshop, teachers need to model writing for their students through interactive writing. Outlines a writing workshop which includes: a drawing stage; guided phonics-based spelling; adult underwriting and individual minilessons; large-group focused minilessons; "minisharing"; and the publication…

Examines processes and models of professional development that effect change in teachers' practices. Describes the study group process, the role of reflection, goal setting research, and collaborative writing workshop project results. Presents findings that support the research relative to the critical need for collegial collaboration. (SG)

Considers how the Meadow Brook Writing Project's summer institute provides a fertile field for reflection because it involves experienced and successful teachers in a process of critical review of what works and what does not, and how to bring about change. Discusses the power of personal writing. Considers teachers of old and young, and teachers…

Describes the author's experiences over four years in teaching writing. Notes how several Summer Writing Institutes influenced her teaching. Suggests the teaching of writing really takes place in the small connections the teacher helps the students make in their own words on the paper in front of them. (SG)

Describes the phenomenon of the writing workshop as it developed in the early days of the British adult literacy campaign. Discusses the history of the workshops, how a writing event works, organizational concerns, educational implications, and contrasts with other methods of teaching adult literacy. (RS)

A teacher-researcher provides ideas for creating a writer's workshop and encouraging written expression. Suggestions include letting the children create the room arrangement, providing a variety of writing tools, establishing a predictable writing time, becoming partners with students in the writing process, and encouraging students to be active…

Presents writing warm-up activities to help elementary students develop and polish their language skills. The warm-up activities focus on detail, descriptive dialog, memory writing, titles, punctuation, and vocabulary enhancement. The activities provide choices, present important ideas, and foster collaboration, responsibility, and trial and error…

Describes three primary parts of the Tenderloin Reflection and Education Center's writing workshop for women: workshop, performance, and publication. Discusses how this program helped to break down isolation, empower participants, and challenge social oppression. (MG)

Describes how a fourth-grade teacher applied Nancie Atwell's "formula" for teaching writing via writing workshops. Notes that, a year later, the teacher realized that nobody else's approach could work in her classroom, after which she developed her own structure. (SR)

Describes how one sixth-grade teacher of English/Language Arts stopped teaching from grammar texts and instituted a writing workshop. Describes flak he received from colleagues and parents, encouragement he received from students and from his principal, and how, over time, writing workshops have spread in his school. (SR)

Explains the need to think of curriculum as consisting of units of study across a writing year. Outlines a predictable structure for genre study and helps teachers think about how to choose literature to support these studies. Appends a sample year-long curriculum chart and a blank chart to use for planning. (RS)

Discusses what four teachers and their staff developer (each of whom wrote an article for this themed issue of this journal) learned over their two-year journey, a journey in which the goal was to improve their writing workshops. (RS)