How To Lead a Writing Workshop

Leading and instructing a writing workshop is an honor and a responsibility of high proportions, for it is a job that if done well, can inspire students to write quality and professional work.

So, before delving into this field, be sure to do some reviewing of other workshops to find out what topics are being covered and how the work is presented. This will help you to avoid topics already being covered and give you some fresh ideas on how to lead and instruct a writing workshop.

Then, stay with what you know; and that means accentuating your strengths and knowledge you have in particular writing areas. The topic or topics you choose should be in areas where you excel. This will help greatly when it comes to teaching the class, because your confidence in the subject will be high and help to keep your nerves at bay.

The next step is to set some ground rules. Within these ground rules, it is important for you, as the leader of the workshop, to state that everyone in the group needs to be treated with respect and that insults on ones’ work or character, will not be tolerated. Constructive criticism can be allowed but only upon discussion with the class on how it should be approached.

When planning your workshop writing, ensure that you will be presenting material that will fulfill the time allotment that will be allowed for your course. You want the writing material that you offer to last the appropriate amount of time. So, take time plan your workshop lessons.

One of the best ways to begin and lead a writing workshop is to have the students prepare a topic list; that is a list of topics that they find interesting and would like to write about.

Then, introduce several small lesson plans that will help stimulate their minds on how to proceed with their writing such as How to Write a Story, or The Importance of a Theme. These small lessons will help them be more disciplined and organized when writing.

Next, once the lesson plans have been given to the students, then give them the needed time to work on the project. This time period should last between 30-40 minutes, with you as the instructor checking on them individually once the project is done; to see how they are progressing and if they have any questions or concerns about the project.

Once the writing period has ended, then allow the students to share with you and the rest of the class what they have accomplished. By giving each student time to share their writing experience, you will be able to find out how each one is doing and where they need additional help and instruction.  In addition, allowing students to comment on the other student’s work can be helpful in many ways if done in a constructive and helpful manner.

In addition, during the sharing of the student’s writing to the instructor and done in private, the instructor can explain to the student in written or oral form, what he or she liked about the writing and what areas need improvement.

Note: Your students will be more eager to share their writing with others if they don’t feel forced to do so.