Weekly Writing: The Writer's Notebook

"If a painter needs an easel to play with painting, and a basketball player needs a gym to play with the basketball, then it reasons that writers--especially developing writers--need a place to play with writing. In my class the place to play with writing is the writer's notebook." Kelly Gallagher

Require each student to write regularly in a writer's notebook.

-At the beginning of the school year have each student bring a spiral notebook to class (minimum 200 pages)
-Have students number the pages.
-After the pages are numbered, give students sticky notes to serve as tabs and have them block out sections of their notebooks as follows:

Pages Section Title Purpose

1-3 Table of Contents Students keep track of mini-lessons.
4-10 What should I write? This section is for brainstorming activities
10-12 Writing/Literary Terms Defining terms like "simile" as reference
13 Spelling Demons Students personal spelling demons
14-40 Craft "Craft" - things good writers do
41-65 Editing Section for editing mini-lessons
66+ Writing Where the writer plays with writing on a
daily basis.