Familiarity with the practice of teaching is essential to effective teacher development. Witnessing meaningful teaching first-hand, observing master teachers, and reflecting on the actions, decisions, and artistry behind good teaching can bring you further along on your journey toward becoming a better teacher yourself than simply reading and researching ever could. 

In each of these four classrooms, you’ll see the three components of Writing Workshop — writing, sharing, and teaching minilessons — in action. You’ll see how the ages and developmental stages of your students impact the process and outcome of a writing workshop. You’ll witness the motivation, learning, and development that writing workshop encourages in young writers. 

On this CD you’ll find more than just video, though. You’ll also find a notepad feature that allows you to take notes, copy and paste material from other sources, and save your ideas and insights. Links to the Internet provide connections to related websites. The Study Builder allows you to rearrange specific clips from the CD to focus on a single idea: classroom management, strategies and skills, special needs, or whatever topic you find most compelling.

But it is the classroom footage that will fascinate you as you witness master teachers developing writing skills in 1st through 6th grade. The special focus on English learners will be invaluable to you as you stock your own toolkit for best addressing the needs of these writers.