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Multigrade Writing Workshop: Everyone Learns!

October 24, 2024

Third grade teacher Hayley Merat had an idea to give her young writers an opportunity to share their stories with a new audience. Ms. Merat reached out to secondary English teachers to invite collaboration. Could the older students offer helpful feedback to the third graders?

High school English teacher Annie Sandoval immediately replied yes. Her own creative writing students were finishing their latest draft and ready for comments before revision too. What if the third grade writers offered their own feedback to Ms. Sandoval’s writers too?

Organizing collaboration can be a little complicated but Ms. Merat, the other third grade teachers, and Ms. Sandoval were determined to give a multigrade writing workshop a try. Third graders were learning how to describe a place with sensory detail so high school writers chose excerpts from their own writing that focused on setting. Before beginning, everyone reviewed a few expectations. 

Once partnered, writers took turns reading aloud. They referred to a rubric but kept responses simple: two stars and a wish. Sometimes the best writing feedback is kind and helpful – too much critique can overwhelm a writer. 

You may think that the younger writers learned more from the workshop than the older writers. Ms. Sandoval asked her high school writers what they took away from the experience. Among the responses: surprise that elementary school writers use a similar process and strategies to draft work. High school writers also noted renewed confidence in their own voice and an appreciation for third graders’ creativity. Both groups inspired each other. Third grade writers reflected on the workshop feedback and chose specific goals to guide their revision. 

Near the end of the workshop, writing conversations wandered. That’s part of the delight of multigrade collaboration too. Students from totally different grade levels get to learn something new about one another – and about their school community. “The more crossover we can do, the better to build our community,” says Ms. Merat. A few weeks after the writing workshop, her third graders still spot their high school workshop partners on campus.