I (Cathy) teach Writer’s Workshop in my university literacy class by having my student teachers participate in one.  They engage in the entire process from selecting a genre, to peer editing, to learning from descriptive feedback, to publishing their work.   I am amazed every year how much the student teachers gain from the experience.  They often begin the process terrified of being a writer and of  teaching writing.  The Writer’s Workshop structure helps them overcome much of that fear.   One of the biggest challenges they must overcome is selecting a genre to write in.  Every year several students are completely stymied by this.  To aid these students I provide wordless picture books for which they must write the words.  They love it and swear they will do this for their own students when they are teachers.

The other day I came across a new source for stimulating writing.  It made me laugh out loud.  Would you write it from the sea gulls point of view, or the cat’s?