WHAT IT IS:

The Writing Wallet is “a simple storage place where [students] can hold a small set of rough-draft writing pieces until they need them” (Culham). Students then leverage the writing wallet for various tasks and activities.

HOW IT WORKS:

The teacher helps students select samples from their own writing to store in their writing wallet. This may be drafts they have created for simple tasks or activities or other unpolished writings, but they should not be revised pieces that students have already submitted for a major project.

As the teacher instructs students on focus lessons, students apply the lessons to their writing wallet pieces by revising and editing the pieces to demonstrate the given focus area. Students may select which piece they use for any given lesson.

Students should perceive their writing wallet as a collection of in-progress works not necessarily intended for final submission or publishing (although they could select a piece from the wallet to use for a larger writing task from time to time).