Exploring Inquiry as a Teaching Stance in the Writing Workshop

This article begins with a “snapshot” of a fifth grade writing workshop and its study of op-ed writing to show an inquiry in action. The framework for this inquiry involves immersing students in reading multiple examples of the kind of text the teacher would like them to write, studying closely how the texts are crafted, and writing their own finished pieces under the influence of this study. Then, after a brief explanation of how this inquiry approach to teaching writing differs from other approaches, the reasons for an inquiry stance in the teaching of writing are discussed: it teaches students to read like writers, it keeps the content of the teaching grounded, it expands the teacher’s knowledge base, it helps students write with vision, it requires a different understanding of teacher modeling, and it emerges from very purposeful planning.