IMPLEMENTING WRITER’S WORKSHOP IN
KINDERGARTEN
Alyssa Phillips
My biggest challenge as a kindergarten teacher has always been to figure out the best method to
effectively teach young children to write meaningful, interesting, age appropriate stories. How can
kindergarten teachers help students increase their confidence and desire to grow into writers? Research
indicates that Writers’ Workshop is one way to effectively motivate and challenge young writers to improve
upon their craft (Dierking & Jones, 2003). Writing is a social practice that provides a way for messages to be
communicated to others. Children learn how to become writers by interacting with more experienced writers-a learned skill that is molded through feedback and practice. According to Dorn and Soffos (2001), a selfregulated writer is one who understands how to monitor and direct his or her writing to make improvements.
Self-regulated writers understand the writing process of “planning, generating, organizing, and revising the
writing process” (Dorn & Soffos, 2001, p. 2).
Writers’ Workshop provides time for students to concentrate on improving their writing during minilessons and conference times, but also allows them time to get their thoughts on paper during their
independent writing time. Independent writing and conferencing is followed by a sharing time where the
author reads his or her work to the class. Writers’ Workshop also helps prevent an atmosphere filled with
“frustration and confusion” and teaches stud [