How to Facilitate an Adult Literacy Writing Workshop

Let's face it, writing is a lonely occupation. It's great to get together with other writers, to get feedback, ideas, and just to get away from the keyboard. This article will help you facilitate a successful, productive and fun writing workshop.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Passion
• Patience
• Paper
• Pen
• Desire

1. Of course you'll want and need a group of writers, or at least people who enjoy writing and want to get better at it. Sometimes, even people who never knew they were writers find they enjoy it and are good at it when lead and given good prompts.
2. Good prompts. Some writers will come with pieces ready to be work-shopped, others will need that gentle lead. Since this is not titled a "poetry" workshop, you'll give prompts that will generate story ideas.
   
   a. Think of a place you'd like to be -- see it, smell it, hear it, now tell it to the paper.
   
   b. Think of a dream you've had, tell it, even if you don't remember all of it, make it up and tell it to the paper.
   
   c. See a person, a boy, girl, man or woman, and give them a story, starting with a moment of action ask 'then what,' and tell it to the paper.
3. Allow time to discuss prompts. Allow time for writers to bounce ideas off of each other. Allow time for suggestions and brainstorming help for writers who want the help.
4. Read the writing. Let each writer read aloud what they've written. The general rule is 2-3 pages of double-spaced writing will take approximately 5 minutes. Remind the writer to read slowly and with emotion. This may seem obvious, however not all writers are terrific speakers.
5. Find something good about the piece. Hopefully, this won't be difficult depending on the level of writers in the group. Sometimes, it may be a stretch. Whichever, it will lead to a more productive group with quality feedback if negativity is not the first voice. Encourage everyone to give and receive feedback. The feedback needs to be constructive rather than destructive or attacking. "There was good imagery." "I got lost along the way because..." Try to stay away from and discourage "This is garbage," or "I don't like this and you can't write."
6. Encourage everyone to take notes on the paper about the feedback. Ideally, copies can be brought for everyone, so comments can be made and then returned to the writer for edits and rewrites.
7. Close the group with encouragement for the writers to complete those edits and rewrites and to work on additional prompts. Leave additional time at the end to discuss any publishing opportunities.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure you set guidelines such as no talking over each other, etc.
• Make sure everyone adheres to the reading time, so everyone is included.
• Don't lose sight of the goal -- adult literacy.