The Top 3 Ways to Boost Your Students Writing Stamina Right Now

What does your writers’ workshop look like during independent time? Do your students maintain a driven focus on their work? Or does your writers’ workshop writing time stare out strong and then fizzle into distractions and students doodling on their notebooks? The difference between a writers’ workshop with strongly focused writers and one where it all falls apart is one simple little word, stamina. Writing stamina is the sole difference between helping your students move mountains in their writing skills and barely making progress at all. Writing stamina is the key factor, the secret sauce to long-maintained writing blocks where students can hone in on their writing strategies and skills. So what is writing stamina and how do my students get it? Read more teacher friend and because I am about to share my top three tips for boosting your student's writing stamina right now!

Tip #1 in My Top 3 Ways to Boost Your Students Writing Stamina Right Now: Teach Writing Stamina.

This tip is so simple that unfortunately, most teachers blast right past it. For your students to have writing stamina in their writers’ workshop, they must first know what writing stamina is. In the beginning weeks of the school year, when you are teaching writers’ workshop routines and procedures, take time to have writing stamina mini-lessons. Discuss writing stamina in-depth, and use active modeling, and posters to show writing stamina to your students. Show them what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to have writing stamina in your class or grade level. This is an incredibly powerful step to boosting your student's writing stamina because simply put, how can they have writing stamina when they have never been taught, explicitly what writing stamina is? How can you jump and grab a bar that you cannot see? Take time and teach writing stamina to your students so they will know the goal that they are working towards.

Tip #2 in My Top 3 Ways to Boost Your Students Writing Stamina Right Now: Set a Class Writing Stamina Goal

Positive peer pressure is a powerful thing. Why not use this power to your advantage? After teaching your students about writing stamina, set your first class-wide writing stamina goal. An example could be a goal to have each student in the class participate in focused writing for twenty minutes. Have a discussion with your students about a goal that they want to set and that you feel is appropriate and achievable for your group of learners. Once you have set the goal, put it up large and in charge on a writing stamina chart or poster. Hang your goal and the progress you make on the wall. Be sure to check in on it frequently and discuss the progress made with your students. When your class wide goal is met, be sure to celebrate! Reaching a class wide goal is a big deal and should be treated as such. Honor your students who have worked on their writing stamina and collaborate to raise the bar and set your next goal. You will build a community of writers who want a long and focused writing block this way and the impacts it will make on their writing skills will amaze you! You can use a digital timer like the ones HERE to project and help students stay focused while they are working towards their writing stamina goals.

Tip #3 in My Top 3 Ways to Boost Your Students Writing Stamina Right Now: Set Individual Goals.

In the same way, you have a class wide and individual behavior management system, so should you too for writing goals. As teachers, we know that the key to tremendous student growth is to keep them inside of their zone of proximal development. If you have a student who cannot stay focused for ten minutes, the class goal of twenty will seem unachievable and defeating for them. Break this monster goal down into bite-sized pieces for them. Use visuals like bar graph charts where individual students can color in to track their progress and see the gains that they are making. Having individual writing stamina goals and conferences will not only help individual students to boost their writing stamina but your whole class's writing stamina collectively. You can use individual digital timers to help students track their writing stamina times and graph them. Soon they will start to see their writing stamina grow and their skills will improve as well.

Writing stamina is crucial for all students. Writing stamina is the key to helping our students stay focused on their work and move mountains in their writing skills and craft. Are you looking for done-for-you writing stamina teaching resources? Explore the writing stamina charts, posters, data sheets, and more that I use by clicking THIS LINK NOW!

Are you ready to rock your writing workshop this year? I've got your back and the tools you need with my epic new writing workshop FREEBIE! This writing workshop includes everything you need to get your writing block rocking, rolling, and make a massive impact with your students! I would love to share my writing workshop checklist, posters, and 5 printable + Google Classroom ready writing prompt resource with you so you can try out the tips you just read about! Simply click the button below and download your FREE writing workshop resources now! 

The 5 Best Tips for Setting up Your Writer's Notebooks This Year

“I can’t find my story!” a student hollers while ripping crumpled papers from their desk and backpack. Raise your hand if this has ever happened during your writers’ workshop. If you are Like I used to be then you may have just finished a rockin’ mini-lesson and were ready to settle into your writing conferences when that one student, or several, have misplaced their work. Groan! Nothing derails a great writers’ workshop block like when a student has missing work. Well, I’m happy to share that I kissed those writers’ workshop nightmares goodbye the day I said hello to writer’s notebooks. Now I use those little blessings for every single writing unit that I teach, and guess what, no missing work! On top of that, my students reach incredible heights as writers. Honestly, from easy organization to more lightbulb moments, I could sing the praises of writer’s notebooks all day! Want to know the very best way to set up your writer’s notebooks for maximum success and impact with your students this year? Keep reading to explore my top 5 tips for setting up your writer’s notebooks this year.

Tip #1 of the 5 Best Tips for Setting up Your Writer's Notebooks This Year: Get Setup on the Right Foot

Before we begin, let's chat about what on Earth a writer’s notebook even is. A writer’s notebook is an amazing writing tool that will house all of the writing materials your students will need for each writing unit (personal narrative, opinion, informational, and so on). These notebooks will hold onto everything that each one of your students needs to increase their vocabulary and craft as writers. But before we get too far into the components of a writer’s notebook, let’s discuss setup and storage. The first thing you need to decide when creating your writer’s notebooks is which format you are going to use to create them. You can use a three-ring binder, a composition notebook, or plastic binding combs. My personal favorites are three-ring binders and composition notebooks. Before you decide which system you are going to use, think about what is the most practical and easy for you and your students. Once you have weighed the pros and cons and chosen your format, you are ready to move on to storage. 

Do you remember at the beginning of this post when we chatted about students losing their work? That is something to consider when creating your writer’s notebooks. How will you store them? This will be entirely dependent on your organizational style in the classroom as well as the age of your learners. I have had years where I have my students store their journals in their desks, and then other years where I keep all journals in a big tub/ bin on the shelf at our writing center (CLICK HERE to learn all about how to set up your writing center). All options will work for writer’s notebook storage, just pick a plan and get ready to write!

Tip #2 of the 5 Best Tips for Setting up Your Writer's Notebooks This Year: Build a Growing Dictionary

One of the key reasons that growing dictionaries are so impactful on your students is because of the growing dictionary section. This is the very first section in a writer’s notebook and it is the spot where students will improve their spelling and vocabulary every time that they open their notebooks to write. A growing dictionary is a place that lists many commonly used words in alphabetical order but also includes blank spaces for each letter. These spaces allow students to write in new words that they learn throughout the unit and want to use in their work or remember the spelling of. For example, I never wanted my students to simplify their word choice for a lack of spelling skills. I would always keep a sticky notepad on me and any time a student wanted to know the spelling of a word I would jot it down and hand them the sticky note. They were then responsible for writing that word down in their growing dictionary and spelling it correctly in their writing moving forward. I have to tell you, this simple trick improved my students' writing by leaps and bounds every single year! 

Tip #3 of the 5 Best Tips for Setting up Your Writer's Notebooks This Year: Use Graphic Organizers

Graphic organizers are often a topic of debate. I hear some teachers say they only use graphic organizers as a differentiation tool for students who need additional support. Other teachers attempt to teach students to draw their own graphic organizers (if you have ever tried this, you are cringing with me right now). I am on the team of graphic organizers for everyone. You get a graphic organizer, and you get a graphic organizer. I am the number one fan of team graphic organizers because I see the amazing impacts they have with every single student that I teach. Your students that are below benchmark will thrive with the visual-spatial aspect as well as the breakdown of a challenging skill. Your reluctant writers will feel that the task is more appealing due to its engaging visual nature. Your benchmark and above benchmark writers will grow in their skills as writers because the graphic organizers will have them slow down and pause to put their best effort into each phase of the writing process instead of just blasting through and writing a subpar piece. So yes, when setting up my writer’s notebooks (or when my students are setting up their writer’s notebooks) we include graphic organizers for each and every part of the writing princess for each and every student. This is a game-changer in your writers’ workshop and writing notebooks! If you want to explore the graphic organizers that I use, CLICK THIS LINK.

Tip #4 of the 5 Best Tips for Setting up Your Writer's Notebooks This Year: Use Dividers

A growing dictionary and amazing graphic organizers can only get you so far if your students lose track of their work. When setting up your writer’s notebooks, create a section for each important component and separate them with dividers. I create sections for a growing dictionary and each of the three stories/ writing pieces that we will write in each writing unit. Do not skip on the dividers! This is an amazing way to keep students' work organized and also for them to look back and see their growth from story one all the way through to the end of the unit with their final piece. 

Tip #5 of the 5 Best Tips for Setting up Your Writer's Notebooks This Year: Leave Space for Drafts, Editing, and Final Copies

When you and your students are creating your writer’s notebooks be sure to leave room to work through the entire writing process. Use your writer’s notebook as a one-stop shop that will take your students from brainstorming all the way through final copies for each story section. When I set up writer’s notebooks with my students I help them count out extra pages that they will need for drafting and then pages for final copies with their editing checklist in between. The goal with writer’s notebooks is to help students push and grow throughout the entire writing process, so be sure to leave room between your dividers for drafting and all of the wonderful revisions they will work through before crafting their final copy at the end of their story section.

Well, teacher friend, you made it! You have now heard my 5 top tips for setting up your writer's notebooks. Writer’s notebooks were the ultimate game-changer in my writing workshop. If you want to explore the writer’s notebooks that I use and love then CLICK THIS LINK now.

Are you ready to rock your writing workshop this year? I've got your back and the tools you need with my epic new writing workshop FREEBIE! This writing workshop includes everything you need to get your writing block rocking, rolling, and make a massive impact with your students! I would love to share my writing workshop checklist, posters, and 5 printable + Google Classroom ready writing prompt resource with you so you can try out the tips you just read about! Simply click the button below and download your FREE writing workshop resources now!