...the two biggies that come to my mind is that I had kids keep
binders with daily entries that were a bit more like drafts, then they kept their
little incidentals in their jotpads.....and I also start my kids out doing
absolutely NOTHING other than writing in their "I" voice....it is how I hammer
the concept of fiction vs. nonfiction into them at first, and it keeps their
writing REAL......one single little year I thought I might try letting kids do
more fiction writing from the get go, and it was not anywhere near a success as
when I stuck to my guns.......

Keep in mind that the writer's notebook is the BACKBONE and GLUE for my
writing workshop, and after a long period of time doing this, I then transition to
fiction writing in which they use ideas/concpets/etc. from their notebooks and
what they have seen in picture book minilessons to start developing fictional
pieces.....I start my fourth graders out doing highly structured fiction
writing and then gradually release them to doing total self generated fiction
writing....but even while fiction writing, which they do SEPARATE from real
writing workshop, they continue to write daily entries.....virtually every day in
class....most of the fiction writing I did minilessons in class, then their
fiction writing was done at home/study times/etc.

That is the main difference in my approach.....I developed it to meet the
requirements of my administrators, state standards, my teaching style, kids'
needs, fourth grade curriculum, etc..........

Robert A. Redmond Teacher/Writer
Owner/Moderator: realwritingteachers@yahoogroups.com
"Inspiring Change One Student Writer at a Time"