K-5 Writing Units of Study Training

1. K-5 Writing Units of Study Training September 13, 2013 Presentation Link: http://nwgaresa.com/resources/

2. Housekeeping Reminders B R E A K S L UNCH LOT

3. TCRWP NUGGETS as we begin… • A “think tank” for the past 30 years that is committed to continually researching and improving their practices. • Project staff that “stand on each other’s shoulders” each Thursday to study together and gain shared knowledge. • Long-lasting partners with schools in the US and the world (500 schools now to 25,000 overall). • Staff development organization founded and directed by Lucy Calkins (also Professor of Children’s Literature, Teachers College, Columbia University).

4. Introductory ActivityTable Talk about Writers Workshop(5 min.) Gravel Pig Trail Paved Freeway

6. Activity: 4 Corners • Instruction: Choose the corner that best fits your current belief. Discuss and select a person in the group to report out. • I believe that children need to learn to read first. • I believe that children need to learn to write first. • I believe there is not an empirical order to the acquisition of reading and writing. • This thinking is new to me so I am not sure I know what I believe and would like to know more.

7. Research Base • Writing to Read • Write First!

8. Recommendations • Have students write about the texts they read. • Teach students the writing skills and processes that go into creating text. • Increase how much students write. Funded by Carnegie Corporation Advancing Literacy Yellow HANDOUT

9. Writing First! by Peter Elbow (5-7 min.) • At your table, read the article and find “why’s” for the author’s belief statement that “children need to learn to write first.” • TTYP to compare your findings and prepare to share as a whole group. Yellow HANDOUT

11. Instructional Shifts: CCGPS (ELA) • Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction and informational texts • Reading and writing grounded in evidence from text • Regular practice with complex text and its academic vocabulary

12. Shift 1: Content and Nonfiction

13. Shift 2: Evidence (Reading and Writing)

14. Shift 3: Practice and Language

16. Navigating and Using the Series Unit 1

17. CD-ROM Folders Assets (+ 14 folders) Resources (301 files)

18. Digging Into the Materials(Take 15…) • How is the material organized? • What do you like? • What features will (already do) assist you in teaching?

19. Writing: Bottom Line Conditions • Writing needs to be taught like any other basic skill, with explicit instruction and ample opportunity for practice. • Children deserve to write for real purposes, to write the kinds of texts that they see in the world and to write for an audience of readers. • Writers write to put meaning on a page. Children invest themselves in their writing when they choose topics that are important to them. Kit Source: A Guide to the Common Core Writing Workshop Chapter 3 – p. 23

20. Writing:Bottom Line Conditions • Children deserve to be explicitly taught how to write. • Children deserve the opportunity and instruction to cycle through the writing process. • To write well, children need opportunities to read and to hear texts read, and to read as writers. • Children need clear goals and frequent feedback.

21. Understandings…Digging Deeper • Teach the WRITER, not the WRITING. • Study and emulate REAL writers. • Teach kids to EXPLODE the moment. • Keep multiple pieces of writing “in progress” (flash drafts). • Don’t sweat the small stuff.

22. Understandings…Digging Deeper • Start each year with Narrative Writing. • Teach students the power of VOLUME and INDEPENDENCE. • Write with students. • Write for REAL purposes. • Don’t expect significant impact unless writing is a SCHOOLWIDE PRIORITY.

23. Whole Group Discussion What do you think?

25. Reflection Activity: Take a few…(5 min.) • Create a timeline of memorable points from your life…asa WRITER! • Using phrases or key words, place the + points above the line and – points below the line.

26. Now write…(5 min.) • Using your timeline, choose one + or - point from your timeline and begin a personal narrative piece of writing. • Quick Talk with a Partner – Write – Pair/Share • EXPLODE the moment!

27. Be a Ski Instructor! Importance of the Teacher’s WNB “Write with Students” Let the children see you as an author as well. * DOING * Enthusiasm * Language (failure/strengths) * Tools Writing Workshop The Essential Guide By Fletcher & Portalupi page 4

28. Let’s take a peek inside a teacher’s writing notebook… • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZE3_j6a59w

29. Approaches to Writing Activity • Instructions: Read about the three approaches listed below. Then remove graphic organizer from handout (last page) and do individually for a “turn and talk partner” discussion at tables. Volunteers to share out. • “free to be me” approach • “assigned task” approach • “demonstrate, scaffold, release to write” approach Pink HANDOUT

30. DSR Emphasis • Helps students develop repertoire of skills for each stage of the writing process: • Demonstrate process writers use depending on type of writing studied • Scaffold students to practice steps in the process • Release students for independently using repertoire of strategies by writing without support • Provides opportunities for differentiation.

31. Harvesting Info to DifferentiateWriting Pathways, Chapter 4 • Collect baseline data (on demand assessments) to study where students are and where they need to go. • Have norming meetings to assess student work and use what is learned to inform teaching. • Adjust teaching based on data and know that minilessons are “already multilevel.” • Teach responsively to address problems (conferring and small group instruction).

32. The Writing Process (3-5 min.) • On a sticky note, create YOUR visual of the writing process. • Then table share. • Prepare to whole group share.

33. The Writing Process (3-5) • Rehearsal/Prewriting • Drafting • Revision • Editing • Publishing • Celebrating Kit Source: A Guide to the Common Core Writing Workshop Chapter 4 – pp. 32-37

34. Rehearsal and The Writing Process • Vary approach by genre and focus: • Literary (read with questions in mind) • Narrative (think of a person, place, or thing) • Teach strategies for generating ideas. • Weigh possible structures: • Narrative: mentally replay event and capture initial action or dialogue • Informational: tour guide of topics with overview to help readers anticipate where tour will lead • Can become writing recycled from revision.

35. Drafting and The Writing Process • Is an “early” product. • Is less strategic. • Is “playing in clay, not inscribing in marble.” • Impacts powerful writing when “full of one’s subject and keeping one’s eye on that subject.” • Is a trial effort and when written quickly, fosters a writer’s willingness to revise.

36. Revision and The Writing Process • Is an “improved” product. • Means to “resee and reconsider” through various lenses. • Look at writer’s goals. • Look for qualities (from studying a mentor text) brought into writing. • Note: Not much productive revision in grade 3 but by grade 5 students mull over questions and use graphic organizers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBKqgOvmJ8w Revision Video Link:

37. Editing and The Writing Process • Is a “final” product. • Is done along the way via minilessons, mid-workshop teachings, share sessions, and homework assignments.

38. Publishing and The Writing Process • Calls for decision making by teacher • Am I a copy editor making all corrections? • PRO: easier for others to read • CON: not a reflection on writer’s independence • Reminder: Put “next-to-final draft” in portfolio Teaching Channel Video Clip: “Making Students into Better Writers” https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/improving-student-writing

39. Celebrating and The Writing Process • Make public by spotlighting • Gallery Walk • Small Group Fridays (students as teaching experts) • Use precise and specific compliments Can you think of other examples?

40. The Writing Cycle “I want children to plan and draft their writing, anticipating the day they’ll revise it and, better yet, anticipating the day they’ll send the text out into the world. …I look for indications that the version of the writing process that I imagine for them matches what they can do with only a little support. I want to see that children are productive, engaged, and purposeful throughout the entire process.” Lucy Calkins A Guide to the Common Core Writing Workshop, Intermediate Grades, p. 37

41. Writing Pathways: Assessment Tools“a powerfully practical resource” • 13 chapters about the Assessment System (important guidance) • On-Demand Assessment Prompts • Writing Checklists • Student Writing Samples • Learning Progressions

42. Speaking of Learning Progressions… An Activity • Refer to pp. 178-181 in Writing Pathways (Grades K-5) from your kit (also as a handout) z . • At your table, read the sample student writing and use the Narrative Learning Progression Chart (handout or in Writing Pathways’ book) to: • assess the student’s writing development • Answer the question: “How are learning progressions different from scope and sequence documents?” • Prepare to share with table partners. Narrative LP Chart/Sample Student Writing Handout

43. Why learning progressions? “What students are expected to know and be able to do at a given grade and content area describes learning horizontally. Learning progressions, on the other hand, describe learning vertically and show a sequence along which students can move from beginning learner to advanced learner. Consequently, student learning is viewed as a progression along a path that connects knowledge, concepts, and skills or the big ideas—the essence of concepts/processes.” Bellwood-Antis School District Bellwood, PA http://www.blwd.k12.pa.us/district_info/curriculum/Shared%20Documents/SAS%20Resources/SAS%20Learning%20Progressions_6-02-10%20(2).docx.

44. As compared to Scope and Sequence Scope is defined as “a clearly stated set of K-12 learning objectives that reflects local, state, and national expectations. Sequence is the order in which those objectives are taught.” (Nichols, Shidaker, Johnson, & Singer, 2006) Often scope and sequence will provide information as to what students should master at each grade for a given content area; however, scope and sequence charts do not always provide information designed to help teachers understand where students are in their learning relative to the curricular aim or goal. In addition scope and sequence charts may not always be organized in such a way that teachers can clearly visualize the intersections along the road to learning.

45. LP Continued . . . Take Home • Information (pp. 124-127) • Opinion(pp. 82-85) http://vimeo.com/55951746 Kit Source: Writing Pathways (Grades K-5), Performance Assessments and Learning Progressions

46. LUNCH

48. Provisioning a Writing Workshop“Routines and Rituals” • Dedicated Writing Time • Four days a week for 45-60 min. • Room Arrangements • Meeting Area : “Huddles” on the rug for mini-lessons (with chart paper and anchor charts) • Work Area (writing and conferring): • Teacher teaching (10 min.) • Students writing (40 min.) • Supports “long stretches of writing” by students; movement among each other to confer; tables forgo chairs; clustering to leave space; partners sitting beside each other • Writing Center: Resources (i.e., books on writing well, grammar guides, dictionaries, thesauruses) A Guide to the Common Core Writing Workshop, Chapter 5

49. Provisioning a Writing Workshop (cont.) • Materials • Notebooks:vary and leave choice to children, steer away from spirals (“required” feel), personalize (collages) • Folders and Paper: 2-pocket for storing materials, first half of unit writing in notebook and second half on draft paper, use one side of paper only, white lined paper, after celebration clean out folder for next unit study • Writing Utensils: pens but have pencils around and toolboxes to replenish on tables, date work and have stamps on hand, post-it notes, colored pens, staples, stapler, tape

50. Provisioning – Materials (cont.) • Partners: not ability based, designate Partner 1 and Partner 2 (or Buddy 1 and Buddy 2) as audience for each other’s work, new partner at start of new unit • Exemplar Texts: “Writers need to read widely, deeply, ravenously, and closely.” • Read aloud can be used for dozens of minilessons. • Word Walls: encourages spelling correctly, add 5 new words each week, can be moved on/off, source of phonetic lessons • Charts:anchor charts (teaching points), one day charts, make with students, use big skill or goal as “heading” names, use visuals, keep charts current and up for reference by students