The writing program is organized around a daily one-hour Writer's Workshop. The program is built on interaction between reading and writing. During the Writer's Workshop, students learn about the techniques that authors use to make writing effective. For example, students learn a variety of techniques to draw a reader in, to sustain reader interest and ensure understanding, to create tension, and to bring writing to a close. They also learn how and why to vary sentence structure; how to embed sufficient or essential detail; and how to organize an argument. These are all elements of craft that are taught explicitly by frequently analyzing various texts and discussing authors' strategies.

Students refine their understanding of craft by participating in author studies and genre studies. For instance, students explore the works of specific authors to learn how writers craft their writing. Students apprentice themselves to an author to mimic stylistic techniques, learn organizational strategies, and develop an ear for syntactic structures. If a teacher has been teaching the use of repetition as a writing strategy, she might set up an author study to have students look at how a particular writer uses repetition. Students also read deeply in the genre that they are learning to write so that they have authentic models to use in shaping their own work.

Students examine exemplars of other student work and the standards for the genre they are studying. This examination guides them in their efforts to produce standard level work. Students then use exemplars with commentary and co-created rubrics to assess their writing.

Students work to polish at least ten original pieces of writing each year. They identify these pieces as best efforts, which they carefully revise, edit, and publish, perhaps as books for circulation among classmates or as pages suitable for display on classroom walls. The teacher acknowledges their accomplishment and helps them find an appropriate audience.