Imagine not knowing what is going to happen in your day from one moment to the next? It might put you into a state of anxiety. It could even make you feel out of control and on-guard.
Nothing can erase motivation and excitement for learning faster than uncertainty and anxiety.
Therefore, in order to create a safe environment for students to learn, it is important to create a predictable sequence of events, or daily schedule, that kids can count on. This predictability helps students feel as though they have control over their day, it gives them the ability to mentally prepare for their learning, helps them build stamina for sustained tasks, and creates a sense of security that allows school to be a place where students can be vulnerable enough to take risks.
Since writing is already a stressful time of day for some students (and, some teachers...), establishing a flow for the writing block is an essential step to relieving anxiety and implementing a successful writer's workshop model in your class.
The instructional sequence is a systematic process every teacher moves through during the course of a lesson. The instructional writing sequence describes the steps that teachers and students go through during a writing lesson. It is based on the concept of gradual release, or the release of responsibility for the writing task, and is made up of four (4) components:
LESSON INTRODUCTION
I D0-WE DO
WE DO-YOU DO
CLOSURE & CELEBRATION
LESSON INTRODUCTION - 5 to 10 minutes
The lesson introduction is a quick, to-the-point mini-lesson in which the teacher presents the writing task and the learning objective. This is often thought of as the "launch" because the purpose is to get the students excited to launch into the task.
I DO-WE DO - 10 to 15 minutes
The "I do-We do" is the component of the instructional writing sequence that hinges on teacher modeling, or demonstrating, their own writing. The teacher goes through the writing task for the day as if they are a student completing the work. During modeling the teacher is demonstrating their own thought process (metacognition).
In this stage, the teacher is an actor. They are taking on the role of a writer as if this is the first time they are attempting to complete this particular writing task. In truth, this is a carefully thought out performance in which the teacher has pre-written their writing and has already decided on the teaching points that they want to present to their students. The teacher may feign working through a confusion to demonstrate where students can find solutions (ie-wondering about the spelling of a word that could be found on a word wall OR finding a piece of information in a resource and citing it in a particular way) in order to show students what they will need to do during their own writing time. The teacher may or may not choose to solicit "advice" or suggestions from the students to include them in the process.
WE DO-YOU DO - 20 to 25 minutes
The "We do-You do" stage in the instructional writing sequence is the longest part. The students are now doing the writing (the "You do) with support from the teacher. The students are probably at desks or work stations around the room working on their own writing, their independent practice that focuses on the task/skill that the teacher presented perviously. More time is allotted to the "We do-You do" because students need time to settle in and allow their thoughts to flow, and the teacher needs time to observe, take notes, and offer further instruction and one on one conferencing to students on their individual pieces of writing.
This stage incorporates the idea of "We do" because it should include small group, guided writing mini-lessons in order to provide specialized, individual support for struggling writers as well as extension support for more proficient writers.
CLOSURE & CELEBRATION - 5 to 10 minutes
The closure and celebration is the most important 5 to 10 minutes of the entire writing block! Yet, the closure and celebration portion is often the step within the instructional writing sequence that gets skipped. Sometimes it is omitted because other parts of the lesson go over time, there is an interruption during one of the other aspects of the writing block, or teachers just don't realize its power.
Leaving this closing sequence undone is a HUGE MISTAKE and is usually the reason for lackluster student engagement and apathy for writing.
The truth of the closure and celebration is that it is all about honoring students' individual hard work and reinforcing the learning objective for the students. This is where the community building and writing safe haven is harnessed and the students get their time to shine.
If you would like to download my FREE Instructional Writing Sequence guide, click the attached link.
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Happy writing, my friends,
