Make Writing Studios

Visit our studio in western New York, or work with Angela to create a Pop-Up Studio in Your Own Classroom, School, or Community.

 

Make Writing Studios, formerly the WNY Young Writers’ Studio, is a makerspace for writers and a welcoming place for teacher leaders, adult writers from all walks of life, and education researchers who are eager to improve their practice.  We use loose parts to play with language in all of its forms, and we know that all writing is multimodal. Founded in 2008, Studio is a learning community that positively impacts what happens inside of classrooms, schools, writing workshops, and studios within and far beyond western New York.

That’s because those who learn and make writing with us consistently use their words to make a difference there and in so many other places, too.

Looking for testimonials? I’ve added them to this page.

Want to PEEK inside some of our spaces? Have a peek here, here, and here (photos shared with permission).

So what’s a Pop-Up Studio?

In 2015, school and community leaders from other corners of the world began inviting me to consult with them on the development of their own writing studios shortly after the publication of my first book, Make Writing. That book was the result of action research that I conducted in Studio and inside of the classrooms where I’ve served as a professional learning facilitator for writing teachers over the last two decades. That learning continues, and additional books have followed. If you’re someone who has read them, then you may appreciate how my thinking and practice continues to deepen over time. You may want me to visit your school, studio, or workshop to facilitate Make Writing sessions there, as well.

Pop-Up Studios are held in school districts and through different community-based organizations who invite me in to work with kids and teachers too, if they choose. These events unfold over the course of single days or entire weeks. Once they end, I make myself available for return site visits and virtual conversations, as needed. Sometimes, these experiences are designed for K-12 writers and designers alone. More often, they’re also learning labs for teachers and leaders who have an interest in seeing best and next practices for teaching multimodal composition in action. We do lesson studies there.

19Every experience I create is unique to the organization I serve. Some organizations have established makerspaces. Others have classrooms, libraries, or community rooms that I’ve been invited to transform temporarily, and I am more than happy to. Some run pop up Studios as summer camp experiences, and others offer them during the school year, within or adjacent to the writing workshops that English or ELA teachers facilitate.

Need a consult?

Are you eager to start your own writing studio, evolve an already established makerspace or writing workshop, or bring me in to host a pop-up studio for teachers, young writers, and designers? I’m happy to simply consult with you, too.

Contact me.  I’d love to help.

Here’s how that could look.