Reimagining Revision: Fostering a Writer’s Mindset in Our Students

July 22-26, 8:15am-2:30pm in person 

Instructor: Chris Hall

Do you groan when you hear your writing students utter the words, “I like it the way it is” about their drafts? We all want our students to embrace revision, but perhaps it should be no surprise, this revision resistance. Revision is messy, challenging, and can feel threatening and frustrating for any writer. So how can we help our students – and ourselves – be more open to it?

In this course, we will explore the idea of revision not as a single stage in the writing process – a step right after “drafting” and just before “editing” – but as a mindset that’s present through every part of our writing. We will actively cultivate our own mindset stances – including metacognition, perspective-taking, flexible thinking, and risk-taking – as we draft and revise different pieces throughout our week. Chris will share practical approaches teachers can use to make revision engaging, meaningful, and fun for their students, at any level. Participants will develop practices they can weave into their classes’ minilessons and pre-writing, drafting, conferring, and sharing structures. Along the way, we’ll make some manageable but powerful shifts that can foster a writer’s mindset in our students and help them move beyond revision resistance.

Writing With and For Your Students: A Workshop-Based Approach

922.01 (2 credits) 

July 8-12th, 8:15am-2:30pm in person

Instructor: Ryan Bani Tahmaseb

In this immersive workshop, we’ll explore the transformative impact of modeling and sharing our own writing process with our students. Through writing exercises, selected readings, and collaborative discussions, we’ll navigate the balance of being both a mentor and fellow writer in the classroom. Throughout the workshop, we will select and complete writing assignments from our own curricula and immerse ourselves in drafting and sharing our progress and final copies. We will craft both exemplary and intentionally subpar examples of writing in the specific genres that we teach, creating ready-to-share mentor texts and corresponding lessons. This approach will also help us demystify the drafting and revising processes for our students and model the vulnerability required to share original writing in a group setting. This workshop is designed for educators who are excited to embark on, or continue, their own writing journeys while embodying the creative process for and with their students.

Reading Through Inquiry for Comprehension and Conversation: Letting Students Lead Learning

922.03 (3 credits) 

July 22-26, 8:15am-2:30pm in person.

There will be two additional classes online TBD.

Instructors: Ashley Healey, Isabelle O’Kane, Whitney Forbes

“To be a reader is to live the world in a thousand ways.” - Pernille Ripp

Reading is a call to action. When we immerse our students in engaging literature and invite them to ask thought-provoking questions, we allow them to lead their reading journey down an authentic path. What excites you when you are reading? Where do your questions about the world take you when you are reading? How does your thinking grow through reading experiences? Together, let’s discover, investigate, and celebrate these inquiries. 

Join us as we take a deep dive into reading through an inquiry lens. Together, we will:

• Immerse in rich, diverse children’s literature
• Intentionally explore the relationship between metacognition and comprehension
• Discover how reading and writing inquiry work supports deep cross-curricular learning
• Curate text sets and plan a reading inquiry to support an individual unit of study
• Create a demonstration of learning to share at a culminating celebration!