Six Word Writer's Workshop Memoir

Kids write better when they read.

Writers aren't born, they are created.

Writers compose or they will decompose.

Build your writing muscle. Practice daily.

Mentor texts thoughtfully answer your questions.

Author's note: 

I chose to do several six work memoirs to highlight some of things I have learned through my inquiry. Most important is this: To become a great writer, you have to practice every day. There are so many ideas for stories I have running around my head and they always seem to pop up when I have no paper or any way to really get them out of me. I feel like our kids feel this way, too. They just don't know how to get the words from their brain to the page, or they feel insecure from years of receiving "bleeding papers."

I am guilty of that. I have turned a paper into a graphic crime scene where the victim bleeds pink on the stark whiteness.I thought that using a color that isn't red would help. It doesn't. It just makes the mistakes I am noting mockingly cheerful.

Kittle addresses this in her book. She says she has to take a step back, look at craft and content separately, and if mechanics are getting in the student's way, make a note of a correct sentence and have the student edit again. Or, if you can tell the student is not familiar with a certain grammar point, have them come see you for tutoring. Using either of these strategies is preferable to voicelessly cutting the student into tiny ribbons of dread for their future writing assignments.