Using the Workshop Approach in the High School English Classroom: Modeling Effective Writing, Reading, and Thinking Strategies for Student Success

Everybody wins when you practice the workshop approach in high school English!

Do you find that preparing for standardized tests interferes with teaching advanced thinking, reading, and writing skills in a meaningful way? Do you want to balance test preparation with more creative activities? Success in school and beyond depends on one′s ability to read fluently, write coherently, and think critically. This handbook uses the workshop model for exponentially increasing adolescents′ abilities in these three key areas.

This practical guide addresses the daily running and practice of a workshop-based classroom, using research and the author′s own experiences to illustrate how to establish a workshop that:

• Fosters lasting learning while reinforcing the skills needed for standardized tests
• Teaches audience and purpose as a vehicle to style and structure
• Provides a supportive and lively environment in which students are comfortable enough to take risks and share original ideas

Try Urbanski′s approach to teaching literacy analysis and mentoring student writers, and discover just how rewarding the workshop experience can be! 

Cynthia D. Urbanski is a Co-Leader of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte Writing Project, where her focus is teacher research, summer institutes, and structuring professional development for surrounding areas. Since graduating from the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1995 and while completing a master′s of English education at UNC-Charlotte in 2000, she has worked with writers from middle grades through the undergraduate level. As an instructor at North Mecklenburg High School since 2000, she has worked with student writers in the International Baccalaureate Program as well as standard-level English courses. Her mission has been to help all students improve their literacy skills by making their writing, reading, and thinking meaningful to them. She continues to run regularly and considers it an integral part of her writing process and her life. Currently she is working to develop the concept of her second book project and spending time with her family in Charlotte, North Carolina.