Using the Workshop Approach in the High School English Classroom: Modeling Effective Writing, Reading, and Thinking Strategies for Student Success

I am getting ready to do my own Writing Project inquiry and have been wanting to do something with WW but have been struggling to figure out the practicalities of doing it with a) high school students, b) on an every-other-day Block class, and c) with AP Lang students getting ready for the test. Most books on the subject (plus my WP leadership) approach workshop from an elementary or middle school background; they show how workshop can be great for writing personal narrative, etc. Well I’ve never found that to be useful; I was always frustrated by how this could really work with advanced students working on highly academic writing. No one ever seemed to be able to “sell” me in how to do workshop in HS until I read this book. Urbanski makes a convincing case for the supporting research, but also provides oodles of practical advice and examples. She lays it out in a way that I can not only see HOW it could work in my classroom, but also WHY it’d be a good idea

I was introduced to writing workshops in a college class and have been searching for books that would help me to implement them in my classroom. We read an article in class from this book and I had to get the book so that I could read more. It has definitely changed how I have given my students feedback on their writing and I have seen the positive effects of that change in my students writing.

I LOVE this book!!!! Thank you Ms. Urbanski for writing this! Initially, my student/child hated me as we did the first free writing assignment for 30 minutes nonstop. However, a beautiful thing happened - their sense of humor made an appearance in their writing. The free writing has helped with essays and other assignments too!

Good book

As a future high school English teacher I found myself overwhelmed about how to effectively teach writing that went against the norm of teaching to the writing test. This book has so many ideas and examples of different writing techniques such as the Daybook strategy and writing workshops. I have really found this book to be helpful to thinking of new ways to get students writing.

This book helps me envision what's possible in HS workshop. It's practical and easy to read.

The text is workable for most average high school students.

This book is about teacher-student writing conferences, not writing workshops.