Room2Ruminations: A Writing Workshop Round-up

8 Mentor Texts that Shine a Light on Tone & Setting

Writing Sense of Sight? Let There Be Light!

​

A scene’s light (or absence) shapes tone and setting, builds tension, and adds dimension to character.

​

What does a scene’s light expose? What does it hide? What glimmers? What fades?

​

But how do we distill something this shadowy with nuance into a middle-grade writing lesson? How does it map onto the skills we already teach? The answer, I finally discovered, is not to look at “writing light” as yet another concept to cover but as a different lens to filter lessons on rendering sensory details - something I’d already been firing shots in the dark at.

Room2Ruminations: A Writing Workshop Round-up

Unlock Authentic Learning in Your Writing Workshop with this Revision Checklist Edit

Over the years, my upper elementary writing workshop has featured dozens of revision checklists, and with each new iteration, I was sure I’d found the right chemistry. Ultimately, though, none of them ever amounted to more than a series of boxes to check. They were just too abstract for my young writers to grasp.

Typical checklist questions like, “Does my writing make sense?” or “Are my words interesting?” don’t offer much guidance to kids who lack experience translating directions like these into actionable steps.

​

It took me a while, but I finally uncovered a formula to stick with. I say “uncover” because the essential components of my early checklists - the ones that impact learning outcomes most - were buried.

They only surfaced after I’d borrowed a page from Angela Stockman of Make Writing, and finally cut away all the clutter. Eventually, I realized every version was really getting at the same interrelated three elements: sensory details, motion and tension. A compelling piece of writing can’t have one without the other two. And the glue holding them together? Action verbs.

​

The “these-3-things test” works for any genre: stories, poems, personal narratives, science writing, essays. I use the same checklist (the infographic above) as a first step to revising any of writing we do.

Room2Ruminations: A Writing Workshop Round-up

Sound Revision Strategies: Adjusting the Volume in Your Writing Workshop

Is your teacher-quest for sensory details buried under an avalanche of adjectives? If this sounds like your writing workshop, read on for a sonic-powered escape plan.

​​

With an ear to honing sense of sound descriptions, this post will share strategies for guiding upper elementary & middle school writers through the revision process. Plus links to resources you can use in your class right away.

Room2Ruminations: A Writing Workshop Round-up

Sound Revision Strategies: Adjusting the Volume in Your Writing Workshop

Is your teacher-quest for sensory details buried under an avalanche of adjectives? If this sounds like your writing workshop, read on for a sonic-powered escape plan.

​​

With an ear to honing sense of sound descriptions, this post will share strategies for guiding upper elementary & middle school writers through the revision process. Plus links to resources you can use in your class right away.