Writing a Story in Writer's Workshop

In writer's workshop we are learning how to craft a fictional story. This is always fun because my mini-lessons are completely unscripted, and inspired by imagining my dog as a super hero.  Love it!  (Can you picture a Scottie dog with red cape ready to fight crime and help the world?)

Illustration by Mark Paul

The mini-lessons take place over a couple of weeks, each one no longer than 8-10 minutes.  First we make a list of ideas, such as a story about a princess, or a story about a talking cat, or a Super Dog, etc. Then we pick one to write about.  We use the list organizer that I posted here.

So once we have determined that the story will be about Super Tamas, we move directly into the problem, which is the middle part of the story.  Maybe Super Tamas sees an airplane on fire in the sky, or maybe he sees some bank robbers leaving a bank, or maybe he has to catch a car on an icy road.  This brainstorming is always fun and takes place over a couple of days.

I begin with the problem because once we have that, it's really pretty easy to go back to the beginning and lead up to the problem.  Then we can figure out an ending, explaining how the problem got solved.

Here is the writing organizer we use to collect our thoughts. Just click on the image to download, or click here.

Once we have some thoughts mapped out on the above writing organizer, we begin to write the story.  This will take about a week of mini-lessons.  After the story is written, we will edit it (more mini-lessons).

The best part of this is that it all carries over into reading as we practice retelling a story with beginning/middle/end.

Now I'm eager to read the stories my students will invent.  They are always filled with surprises!


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