Good Morning

1. Please sit at a table where you do not usually sit, with people whom you don’t usually sit (unless you are working with the interpreters).

2. Take a look at my personal artifact in one of the shopping bags that is circulating. What does it tell you about me? What questions will you ask to find out more information?

Today’s Activities

Respond to each other’s writing

Discuss readings

Participate in a Shared Writing lesson

Share writing

Develop characters

Responding to Writing

• How can you prepare students for responding to each other’s writing?

“At first children are caught up in their own thinking, finding it difficult to include the thoughts and opinions of others. Gradually, through the process of sharing their writing and showing it to others, they begin to acknowledge other ways of thinking. Understanding point of view is a lifetime journey in both reading and writing.”

Graves, D. (2004, November) What I have learned from teachers of writing, Language Arts, 82, 88-94.

Action 3.5: Writing about an artifact

• Share your writing with a partner.

• Your partner will… – Listen.– Tell you what they heard.– Ask a question.

Some other formats to consider…

1. One thing I really like about the writing is …

2. One thing I think the author can improve upon is …

3. Something I would like the author to tell me more about is …

4. One last comment is …

1. Students exchange papers.  

2. The WRITER directs READERS where help, suggestions are needed 

3. READERS read and comment.  

4. Emphasize "reader-based feedback" first; then "criterion-based feedback".

  5. The first WRITER gives a status report.

6. One of the READERS comments about the content of each paragraph.

7. The WRITER listens and takes notes.  

8. The WRITER summarizes feedback, describes possible revisions, asks for other suggestions.

9. All READERS turn over their copies to the WRITER.

10. Drafts and comments are stored.

11. Each student gets a "Critic Grade"

Components of a Balanced Language Arts Program

Reading Writing

Read aloud Writing aloud/

Modeled Writing

Shared Reading Shared and

Interactive Writing

Guided Reading Guided Writing

Independent Reading Independent Writing

The Writing Process

Shared Writing• Goal

Writing Strategies (grades 2 and 3): Students will write sentences and paragraphs to develop an ideaWritten and Oral English Conventions

1.1 complete sentences (grade 2)1.5 punctuate correctly (grade 3)1.6 capitalization at beginning of sentences, titles, initials (grade 2)1.7 correct capitalization (grade 3)

• ObjectiveGiven teacher demonstration students will independently write on topic, using demonstrated conventions as measured by completion of focused pieces containing conventions demonstrated.

• AssessmentFormative: Students will volunteer contributions for conventional spelling, correct punctuation, capitalization and word choice. While writing independently, they will stay on topic and use demonstrated conventions. SummativeStudent writing will demonstrate understanding topic focus and use of demonstrated conventions.

• MaterialsA personal artifact in a paper bag  Chart paper and markers or overheadWilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, by Mem Fox

• Introduction“The story I read to you contained some artifacts that Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge used to help Miss Nancy remember. What do you think I mean by ‘artifact’?”“Earlier today, I shared an artifact. You will be hearing about why it is important and then help me to do some writing about my artifact. What are some things I need to remember when I am writing about my artifact?”

• Procedure• Closure

“What are some things you now know about me, from hearing about and seeing my artifact?”“What are some things you will remember from today’s lesson when you go off to write about your own?”

Discussion of Readings

• Discuss chapter and standards.

• Why is fiction difficult for students to write?

• Why do they like to read it?

• What connections do you see between Graves and the standards?

• What else?

Developing Characters

Character drives plot, which gets sculpted by the setting, which, in its turn, is affected by the characters in the story.

Ralph Fletcher, What A Writer Needs

The Physical Being• Touch: “When Grandpa kissed me goodnight, his stubbly cheek felt

like a piece of sandpaper from the garage.”

• Sound: In the morning, I listened to my mother trying to clear her lungs. Some days she’d hack away for a half hour or forty minutes. She had two distinct kinds of coughs. The wet one sounded like each lung was snarled in long wet strips of cloth. The dry cough sounded like the last few nails being pounded into a block of wood, or a coffin…”

• Sight: “She had long arms and boney elbows. When she cut her meat, she reminded me of one of those big sea birds trying to gain altitude…”

• Smell: She worked in a candy store, and the smell of fudge was soaked into her; my mouth watered whenever she gave me a hug.

The Telling Detail• “Sometimes Miss Maggie rode to the grocery story with Nat and his

grandfather. Nat would wait in the truck when Miss Maggie went into the store, because she always had a wad of tobacco in her jaw and she’d spit it just anywhere she pleased. Nat was afraid people might think she was a relative.”

• “He was a well-dressed young man, and he wore cufflinks reputedly made from human bone.”

• “George’s grandfather was a formal and fastidious dresser. Even on a summer day of 80 degrees, he would come downstairs wearing a clean white shirt, tie, light jacket, with every hair in place. One day, during a visit with his grandfather, George noticed that the old man was as impeccably dressed as usual, except for one thing: the belt was outside one of the loops in his pants. George didn’t say anything. But two mornings later, he noticed his grandfather's belt had missed two loops on one side, and one loop on the other.”

A Visual Plan1. Visualize your character. Draw a picture of

him/her.

2. Make brief notes about the character. Consider:• attributes• features• personality traits• motivations

3. Draw in a setting.

Sharing Writing: Action 18.4

1. Writer reads a piece.

2. Listeners: tell what piece is about; writer tells what piece is about.

3. Listeners ask questions.

Organizers that Elicit Character

“….character is all. What occurs in the plot is a result of the nature of the characters themselves.”

Graves, p. 304

Quick Frame for ___________________

I love porridge.

I like a warm soft bed.

I put up with bears as neighbors.

I dislike broken chairs.

I hate being awakened by bears.

Quick Frame for ___________________

I love the way my stepsisters dress.

I like to hear them talk about the parties they go to.

I put up with doing their work.

I dislike it when they leave me at home.

I hate it when they tease and laugh at me.

…we can use the good writing in trade books they are reading to show children how professional authors set the scene, flesh out the characters, and handle dialogue.” Graves, p. 304

Somebody

Wanted

But

So

Next TimeHelp Children Read and Write Poetry• Read: Graves, Ch. 20; Review all ELD/ELA

standards for your grade level – where does poetry come in? (be prepared to discuss)

• Bring: Poem (may be on videotape, transparency, or electronic format) suitable for children for presentation during in-class activity

• Write: Actions 20.1, 20.2, 20.3 (these writings will be shared in class)

Picture Books with Strong Characters

The Two of Them by AlikiThe Song and Dance Man by Karen AckermanGranpa by John BurninghamMolly’s Pilgrim by Barbara CohenMiss Rumphius, by Barbara CooneyThrough Grandpa’s Eyes by Patricia MacLachlanMr. Grigg’s Work by Cynthia RylantAmos and Boris by William SteigCrow Boy by Taro YashimaWilliam’s Doll by Charlotte ZolotowPaper Bag Princess by Robert MunschWilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox

Novels with Strong Characters

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie BabbittThe Stories Julian Tells by Ann CameronRamona books by Beverly ClearyCharlie and the Chocolate Factory

and Matilda by Roald DahlThe Outsiders by S.E. HintonBunnicula by Deborah and James HoweGreat Gilly Hopkins and Bridge to Terabithia by

Katherine PetersonManiac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Writing Resources

• Teaching Young Writers: Strategies that Work by Lola M. Schaefer

• Scaffolding Young Writers: A Writer’s Workshop Approach by Linda J. Dorn and Carla Soffos

• Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide by Ralph Fletcher and JoAnn Portalupi

• Craft Lessons and Nonfiction Craft Lessons by JoAnn Portalupi and Ralph Fletcher

• What a Writer Needs by Ralph Fletcher