This is a foundational unit that lays the groundwork for writing workshop. This unit is based on the belief that writing begins with oral telling of stories. It begins with building on what children already know how to do: talk.
Teachers begin with books and their own storytelling to give the message that authors, teachers and even students have a story to tell about something they know and can do. When students begin telling stories, they learn about each other and become members of a learning community. By creating a formal time for storytelling, teachers create opportunities to support young students’ storytelling. Through talk, writers can think about what to write and how to write. As students orally tell stories, they learn that talk can help you think your way through a story and lead to more detailed stories.
This unit will have a different structure than typical writing workshop units. For example, this unit is centered on oral language, and may begin taking only ten minutes for the entire workshop. As the lessons progress, workshop time will lengthen. The teacher will need to build in time in this unit and throughout the year for oral storytelling.
Much of this unit will consist of oral composing and whole group work. This unit was created in such a way that some noted lessons could be repeated over a few days to allow more practice and experience for students to orally storytell.
The teacher’s role in this unit will be to develop and facilitate the students’ oral language. The teacher will model what a storyteller is, how storytelling can be about ordinary things we do, and that stories teachers tell are ones that students can tell as well. The teacher will need to model how to respond to storytellers, showing how listeners might ask questions about the story, organization, and sequence to clarify understanding. As additional stories are talked about, it will be important for the teacher to create classroom experiences to help students identify more story ideas.
Lists of possible mentor text are included in the resource section. It is suggested that when selecting additional mentor text for this unit, the teacher should consider selecting text in which the characters are human and the topics are about ordinary things. Since students are being asked to talk about ordinary, everyday things they do and to tell stories of their lives, it will be important to read books that exhibit these characteristics as well.
Please note: This unit plan does not follow the typical writing workshop structure of mini lesson, independent writing and share. Due to the time of year and young students’ limited experiences with many aspects of writing workshop (and school); there is not an independent writing time. Students will practice the teaching point during active engagement while the teacher observes select students on each given day. Teachers may add an independent writing time if appropriate to their students’ needs.
