Main Ideas / Useful Ideas
- Mini-lessons lay the groundwork for writing conferences--by using effective mini-lessons, you don't need to repeat key skills or techniques again and again because student writers have already heard those ideas
- Mini-lessons are effective because they are teaching to the intentions of student writers in the context of writing--We notice that many students need help with something and get them all together for a mini-lesson of 15 minutes. Ask "What is the one thing I can suggest or demonstrate that might help the most?"
- The 4 Parts of a mini-lesson should be
Connect (explain what you are going to teach and why it is a priority for students),
Teach (give explanations and examples or solicit them from the students),
Have-a-Go (solo or pairwork to give the technique a try), and
Link to independent writing that the students will do (encourage students to use the skill by asking for a show of hands or saying you will make them famous by putting their name on a board if they try it in this class.
- To keep mini-lessons short, avoid the main causes of going over-time: Inviting too much student talk, reading literature as an example too much, giving more than one or two examples, giving students too much time for have-a-go, repeating what we said too much, and not having our materials ready within reach.
My Reactions
- I have never thought of a general structure of mini-lessons, the "connection" and "have-a-go" are wonderful ideas I want to try to keep in mind.
- I often go over time with explanations or activities and the analysis of the causes was valuable. I want to try to monitor how I use time in lessons like Anderson does.
- Most importantly, I wish I could have access to mini-lessons by Writing Workshop masters to see on video! The poetry example in the chapter is excellent, but I wish I could experience various mini-lessons on writing craft to get an idea of what can be done in such a short time as 15 minutes!
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