Sample Guided Writing Lessons
Vignette I
Guided Writing during Writers Workshop
John, Alecia, Alvarito, Shandrea, and Alad lean in closely as I show them the leads in four of my favorite informational picture books. As the students observe, I point out the way the authors have tried to pull me into their texts with first person language such as: Please notice that… Did you know that…or opening with a question.I had presented several whole class minilessons on strategies for pulling the reader into your informational writing, but these five students continued to develop pieces which read like lists of facts. It was clear to me that they would benefit from the increased intensity of a guided writing group on this topic.
As I continued to point out strategies used in these books, I noticed that Alad kept leaning in closer and that Shandrea was totally focused on the language I was sharing. These are students who are easily distracted and often sit at the back of the sharing circle, yet in the small guided writing group, they were totally connected.
My next step in the Guided Writing lesson was to show the students a piece of my own informational writing which I had placed on a sheet of chart paper. I read it and did a think aloud about how to improve the lead and make it more appealing to a reader. While thinking aloud, I explored the use of questions to open paragraphs and showed the writers how I could change my piece by beginning with a question. Ultimately, they assisted me in drafting my new, far more inviting draft and were eager to dive into their writing folders to add some life to their work.
The group lasted about ten minutes, but we accomplished a great deal. As they left the table, I made a note to meet with them again the next day to check on their progress and invite them to share their changes with each other. I also made a note to be sure these students had an opportunity to share what they had learned and their ensuing changes during our sharing circle for writing.
Vignette II
Guided Writing as an Extension of Guided Reading
Marcella, Stephanie, Malo, Joey, and Megan have been reading about Westward Migration during guided reading. Their discussions have been rich with connections to the social studies unit we are studying as a class. I decided to shift them from guided reading to guided writing to take advantage of the rich descriptors in the text we have been using for guided reading. The language of this particular text is laden with colorful descriptions, and interesting sentence patterns which much needed in the writing of these students.I explained that we are revisiting the book they have read, not to look at content, but rather to look at the craft of this writer. I requested that they reread page 4 and be prepared to make observations about the writer’s craft, especially the descriptions and the way sentences are structured.
Malo volunteered to share first. From page 4, last sentence, he read:
"They created maps, charted rivers, identified plants and animals, and
brought back tales of harsh weather and beautiful land." Malo observed that one of the reasons he had really liked reading this book was that he could imagine the activities. The book was written so that he could make a movie in his head and understand what was happening.The other students agreed and set about finding additional examples of places in the book where the author had used lists of actions and interesting descriptions to stimulate visualization for the reader. They concluded that the sentences which listed actions, separated by commas, were very powerful.
Our next step was to turn to the writing they had been doing on westward migration. Each student had a different topic under development. Our challenge in guided writing was to apply what we learned from this author to our own work. They started in pairs helping each other to look for spots in their writing where this listing strategy could be used and ultimately settled into working independently.
As I closed the guided writing session, I asked them to summarize what they had learned and how they would use that understanding in their writing.
As in the previous vignette, I made a note to myself to check with them the next day and invite them to present a group minilesson for the rest of the class as this writing strategy was one not yet covered for the class at large.
Vignette III
Guided Writing with Emergent Writers in Writers Workshop
Six eager kindergarten faces shone with excitement as they joined me for guided writing. I had selected these students as a temporary guided writing group because they were still focusing on drawing and were producing very little writing even though I was continuing to do modeled and shared writing every day, as well as invite these students to write about math, science, and so on throughout the day.I started by modeling how to stretch out a word and say it slowly while writing the beginning and ending sounds. I also them again to use alphabet cards which were on the table so they could find the picture clues to match the sounds they could hear. We practiced stretching several words.
Next, I passed out photos I had taken the day before of these students doing cross section drawings of pears and oranges. I asked each of them to place their photograph on a piece of writing paper and create labels for the things they could see in the photograph. It worked! They were each able to label several items from their photograph and drawings using at least beginning and ending sounds. Thanks to guided writing and the boost in confidence it provided, these students were now writers.
