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Kyra Teis

Imagining Stories

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WritingWorkshop Residency

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Back to Talks & Workshops
  • Geared for 1st – 8th grades.
  • Group size of approx. 20 – 25 students.
  • Ongoing 30 - 40 minute visits over several weeks of a unit.
  • NY Capital Region Area only.
  • Fees depend on number of sessions. Minimum 4 sessions.

 

Workshop Description

 

This workshop is designed to deepen the experience of Lucy Calkins’ Writing Workshop. The host teacher and I discuss his or her goals and classroom methods, and then we team-teach sessions over the course of several weeks. I lead units with the students on:

 

  • Finding small moments
  • Stretching out a moment
  • Ingredients of a story
  • Digging for details
  • Great endings
  • Celebrating and sharing our stories

 

Throughout, I meet with students in small groups and individually as they develop their ideas and stories.

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All images and text copyrighted by Kyra Teis 2010. Please do not use or clip for any reason.

New York Learning Standards

  • Visual Arts, Standards 1-4
  • English Language Arts, Standards 1-4
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I am a big fan of the Columbia Writing Workshop, and I look for opportunities to work with students on enlarging their understanding of the concepts behind it.

What interests me about the program is that it acknowledges that the skill of writing involves so many individual processes: narrowing one's focus, articulation of ideas, planning a narrative, sequencing, visualization, modeling, listening to mentor texts, and technical skills like spelling and grammar.

It also brings to the fore a more subtle point, which is the validation of personal stories -- something that I have long held to be critical in self esteem and self confidence.