Effective Writing Strategies and Resources Training

1. Effective WritingStrategies and Resources Training Dr. Vaughn G. Rhudy, Coordinator West Virginia Department of Education Office of Assessment and Accountability

2. “Writing today is not a frill for the few, but an essential skill for the many.” National Commission on Writing

3. Writing -- Vital Component of Literacy • Helps students organize • Extends and deepens information, ideas and insight gained from reading • Vehicle for informing, persuading, and inspiring others

4. Writing -- Vital Component of Employment Survey of 120 Major Corporations • 80%+ assess writing during hiring • Writing – ‘threshold skill” • Can make or break chances for employment and promotion

5. Writing -- Vital Component of Employment Writing Remediation • Employers spend billions of dollars each year on remedial writing training • Writing remediation wide spread on college campuses • Half of high school graduates are not prepared for college-level writing

6. Effective Writing Instruction • 1. Writing strategies – Teach students how to plan, revise, and edit their work • 2. Summarization– Provide explicit and systematic instruction in how to summarize texts • 3. Collaborative writing – Develop ways for students to work together to plan, draft, revise and edit their compositions

7. Effective Writing Instruction • 4. Specific product goals – Give students writing goals that include a clear purpose for the assignment and specific characteristics of the finished piece • 5. Word processing – Use computers and word processors as instructional supports for writing assignments

8. Effective Writing Instruction • 6. Sentence combining – Teach students to craft more complex, sophisticated sentences by linking basic sentences • 7. Prewriting – Provide activities that help students plan,gather information, and organize ideas

9. Effective Writing Instruction • 8. Inquiry activities – engage students in analyzing immediate, concrete data to help them develop ideas and content for a particular writing assignment • 9. Process writing approach – Interweave a number of writing instruction activities in a workshop environment

10. Effective Writing Instruction • 10. Study of models – Give students opportunities to read, analyze and emulate models of good writing • 11. Writing for content learning – Use writing as a tool for learning content material Taken from Writing Next, a 2007 by Graham and Perin

11. Ineffective Writing Strategy • “Traditional grammar instruction did not help improve students’ writing. In fact, it produced a small, but statistically significant, negative effect.” Graham & Perin, 2007

12. Writing Roadmap 2.0

13. Writing Roadmap 2.0 • Provided by WVDE at no cost to counties • Available to all students • Grades 3 – 12 • Available to all counties, schools, teachers • Unlimited practice • Sept. – June

14. Rationale • Improve student writing • Emphasize writing on all grade levels • Writing Assessment -- grades 4, 7 and 10 • Prepare for 2009 WESTEST 2 • Grades 3 – 11 • RLA Standard 2 : Writing (30 pts.) • Participation Rate and AYP • Practice for national assessments • 2011 NAEP

15. Product Features • Shelf prompts • calibrated prompts • practice prompts • Instructor-created prompts • Unlimited • Customize interface • Iterative writing mode • Single or multiple sections • Enable or disable instructional hints

16. Access to Writing Roadmap 2.0 • Website address: www.writingroadmap2.com • Site code • Username • Password

25. 2009WESTEST 2 ONLINE WRITING

26. WV Writing Rubric • ORGANIZATION • DEVELOPMENT • SENTENCE STRUCTURE • WORD CHOICE/GRAMMAR USAGE • MECHANICS

27. GENRES • NARRATIVE • DESCRIPTIVE • INFORMATIVE • PERSUASIVE

38. Support/Contact Information West Virginia Department of Education Office of Assessment and Accountability Vaughn Rhudy, Coordinator vrhudy@access.k12.wv.us 304-558-2546

39. Support/Contact Information CTB/McGraw-Hill Technical Support: 866-282-2250

40. KEY WEB ADDRESSES • http://wvde.state.wv.us/ West Virginia Department of Education • http://osa.k12.wv.us Office of Assessment and Accountability • http://www.ctb.com CTB/McGraw-Hill • http://www.writingroadmap2.com Writing Roadmap 2.0

41. THANKS!