Writing Workshop

Things have been going pretty well in writing workshop! 
 I see evidence of  my students using their VOICE in writing! (I'm more excited than you can imagine) 
I'm sure it has a lot to do with my devotion to
 modeling & using mentor texts,  
 (which was a personal goal of mine this year!) 
 I have to thank Kevin Henkes for creating amazing characters for me to model..I feel like LILLY has become part of my family...
I reference her about a zillion times a day!   
So..my students are generating ideas,
 using voice and now my next  
BIG dilema !!..Staying Focused! ugggg.. 
I've decided to intertwine reading test prep and writing workshop!
My class is trained to understand what the story is 
"mostly about' by looking at the title, while reading.
so.. I have begun to teach my students.... 

 "THE GOLDILOCKS RULE"-The title they use for writing should help their audience predict what they will be reading.  Titles may also help students self check their writing to stay on topic and not include irrelevant information.  They won't be able to use a title that's smaller than what they are writing about,  nor larger than what they'll address in their writing.
They'll want to choose a title thats "just right" (GOLDILOCKS RULE) 
for what they are dealing with.  

You may want to give them some examples of titles that are too big, too small,  and  just right!

                                                       Student wants to write about a lost cat:
                                                           *  Lost                    (too big)
                                                           *  My Cat               (too small)
                                                           *  Fluffy gets Lost  (just right)


I did not invent the GOLDILOCKS RULE, although I haven't heard of this before last week it is a lesson  taught for writers struggling to stay focused, from the Four Blocks Model!