Presented by Tiffany Frierson

Dawn James-CappielloLynn Smith

Richard StatonJanice Stilwell

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Write a great deal

Read widely and deeply

Discover writing strategies

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Value originality and diversity Encourage students to take risks - Did you

take a chance? Did you try something you’ve never tried before?

Look at the big picture - young writers are deeply vulnerable to teachers’ appraisals of the writing.

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High standards - inspire the young writer not to lower his or her own standards

Build on strengths - find a place where the writing works (a sentence or phrase), identify it, and make the writer aware of this emerging skill with words

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I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in my classroom. . . As a teacher, I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.

~ Haim Ginott

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Writers love words. Words remain the most important tool the

writer has to work with. “Read like a wolf eats.” - Gary Paulsen A rich vocabulary allows a writer to get a

richness of thought onto the paper.

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In 1945 the average student between the ages of 6 - 14 had a written vocabulary of 25,000 words. Today, that vocabulary has shrunk to about 10,000 words.

Table talk - why?

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Take advantage of microtext What is the writer doing that you are

jealous of? Verbs make it more powerful than

adjectives - adjectives weaken the noun

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The Art of Specificity - Writing becomes beautiful when it becomes specific, concrete. (p. 48)

Creating a character - Young writers need help breathing life into characters. They find it easier to describe a character than to bring forth what a reader really wants: a sense of the character’s inner being. (p. 57)

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Voice - Written words that carry with them the sense that someone has actually written them.

The one character writers most consistently fail to develop is the narrator.

Journal - sustained time

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Read it back. Listen to how the writing sounds. Which parts sound most like you? Are there places where you can hear

yourself talking to a friend? Do certain parts sound stiff and awkwardly

formal?

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Teachers should spend an hour a day for at least a week reading and rereading information books that are written with voice. Students should concentrate not just on what the authors are saying but, more important, how they are saying it.

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Teachers need to take the time to help students abstract the various techniques: humor, rhyme, myth/truth, question/answer, diagrams, interview, fantasy. All of these techniques are available for students to use in their own content writing.

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Inquiry - featured of a genre (mentor texts)

Modeling - brainstorm topics, pre-write using graphic organizers, draft, revise, & edit

Shared Writing - co-write a text in the targeted genre

Collaborative Writing - two students work together

Independent Writing

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Students are more successful writing independently if they have become familiar with the features of the genre during an inquiry phase, seen the teacher model the genre, and participated in writing in that genre through shared or collaborative writing.

Sylvia Read, 2010

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“… it is essential that children are deeply involved in writing, that they share their texts with others, and that they perceive themselves as authors.”

- Lucy Calkins, author

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“Yes! I can’t wait to read your story!” – Stilwell

You need to tell this to the world… Write it down!” – Calkins

“… do nothing but listen!” - Murray “When we help children know that their

lives do matter, we are teaching writing.” - Calkins

Add your own!

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Components:

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Predictable format Built-in time for daily writing Provides succinct, structured lessons Safe environment Promotes a creative life Growth as a writer = Growth as a reader Differentiated instruction Gives tools for life

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Teacher models writing Short lesson based on Pacing Chart Writing Process introduced slowly for

mastery WOW! beginnings and endings Instruction in Grammar Introducing and understanding writing

prompts and their purpose Study of an author’s writing

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Teacher writes, then students write! Students practice writing skill introduced Timed Music – optional! Reading Aloud daily enhances this

component

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Heart and soul of the Writing Workshop Model

Teacher-directed explicit instruction On-the-spot differentiated instruction

based on student’s needs Teachers asks specific questions of

students and supports students in figuring it out

Can be individual or small group of students with same instructional needs

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What are you working on as a writer? Tell me what you’re writing about. Tell me about your characters. Can you show me? Read this part to me. What kind of details do you think are important? Why did you choose this particular detail? This is what I noticed …. Can I teach you one thing that I think will

help you as a writer?

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Individual students share daily Read specific parts of writing Whole story, when completed Divide class into Sharing Days Teacher shares, too!

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Unpacking the Prompt Teaching students how to write with the

Prompt Grading with the Rubric

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Composing 4 The writer demonstrates consistent, though not necessarily perfect, control of the composingdomain’s features. Full elaboration focuses the central idea both at the sentence level andthroughout the entire piece by providing purposeful examples, anecdotes, illustrations, or details.Narrative organization is intact; in other modes, minor organizational lapses may occur.However, any organizational lapses that occur do not significantly detract from the presentation.Several elements in the writing provide evidence of unity: a consistent point of view (e.g., notswitching from "I" to "you"), a lack of digressions, and the presence of a lead and closure.

3 The writer demonstrates reasonable, but not consistent, control of the composing domain’sfeatures; the writer may control some features more than others. Purposeful elaboration focusesthe central idea both at the sentence level and throughout the entire piece of writing. However,some thinness or unevenness in elaboration may occur. Narrative organization is generally intact;in other modes, organizational lapses may occur, but an overall plan is apparent. Unity isevidenced by the fact that few, if any, minor digressions or shifts in point of view occur; further,an opening and closing, though not sophisticated, are present.

2 The writer demonstrates inconsistent control of several features, indicating significant weaknessin the composing domain. At this score point, major digressions may be present, or ideascompete and no one idea emerges as central. Even if a single idea dominates, the writing may be a list of general, underdeveloped statements or a skeletal plot. Often, little elaboration ororganization is apparent, although some attempt at a lead or closure may be present. The lack ofa logically elaborated central idea prevents unity from emerging.

1 The writer demonstrates little or no control of most of the composing domain’s features.Typically, the writing jumps from point to point without a unifying central idea. Noorganizational plan is apparent. No purposeful elaboration of any kind is present.

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Written Expression

4 The writer demonstrates consistent, though not necessarily perfect, control of the writtenexpression domain’s features. The result is a purposefully crafted message that the readerremembers, primarily because its precise information and vocabulary resonate as images in thereader’s mind. Specific word choice and information also create tone in the writing and enhancethe writer’s voice. Sentences are often varied in length and beginnings, resulting in a rhythmicflow throughout the piece.

3 The writer demonstrates reasonable, but not consistent, control of the written expressiondomain’s features; the writer may control some features more than others. On the whole, somespecific word choice and information cause the message to be clear, although there may be someinclusion of unnecessary but related information. Along with instances of successful control,general statements or vague words might be present; when they are, the tone and voice of thepiece will flatten somewhat. Typically, sentences are varied in length and structure. However,at times the rhythm of the paper may be diminished by a lack of sentence variety or by awkwardconstructions.

2 The writer demonstrates inconsistent control of several features, indicating significant weaknessin the written expression domain. While some specificity of word choice might exist, mostly themessage consists of general information written in imprecise, bland language. As a result, thewriter’s voice emerges only on occasion, if at all. A relative lack of sentence variety may makethe reading monotonous, and awkward constructions may be distracting enough to make thewriter’s meaning unclear on occasion. While a few brief rhythmic clusters of sentences mayoccur, an overall sense of rhythmic flow is not present.

1 The writer demonstrates little or no control of most of the written expression domain’s features.Both word choice and information are general, vague, and/or repetitive. A lack of sentencevariety makes the presentation monotonous. The existence of several extremely awkwardconstructions may further reduce the paper’s stylistic effect. The writer’s lack of control ofvocabulary and information prevents both tone and voice from emerging.

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Usage/Mechanics

4 The writer demonstrates consistent, though not necessarily perfect, control of the domain’sfeatures of usage/mechanics. The writing demonstrates a thorough understanding of usage andmechanics as specified in the Virginia K-5 SOL. The author uses capitalization, punctuation,usage, and sentence formation and applies the structural principles of spelling. A few errors inusage and mechanics may be present. However, the writer’s control of the domain’s manyfeatures is too strong for these mistakes to detract from the performance.

3 The writer demonstrates reasonable, but not consistent, control of most of the domain’s featuresof usage/mechanics. The writing demonstrates a basic understanding of usage and mechanics asspecified in the Virginia K-5 SOL. For the most part, the author appropriately applies both therules of capitalization, punctuation, usage, and sentence formation and the structural principles ofspelling expected of 5th graders.

2 The writer demonstrates inconsistent control of several features, indicating significant weaknessin the domain of usage/mechanics. Evidence of the author’s knowledge of features of this domain appears alongside frequent errors. In terms of both usage and mechanics, the writerinconsistently applies the rules of capitalization, punctuation, usage, spelling, and sentenceformation as specified in the Virginia K-5 SOL. The density of errors across features outweighsthe feature control present in the paper.

1 The writer demonstrates little or no control of most of the domain’s features of usage/mechanics.Frequent and severe errors distract the reader and make the writing very hard to understand.Even when meaning is not significantly affected, the density and variety of errors overwhelm the performance and keep it from meeting minimum standards of competence.

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4= consistent 3= proficient 2= inconsistent 1= no control

Domain # 1: The Composing Domain

A. Central IdeaB. ElaborationC. OrganizationD. Unity

Comments/suggestions:

Domain Score: __________

Domain #2: The Written Expression Domain

A. Precise VocabularyB. Appropriate InformationC. Writer’s Voice and ToneD. Sentence Variety

Comments/suggestions:

Domain Score: __________

Domain #3: Usage/Mechanics Domain

A. GrammarB. PunctuationC. CapitalsD. Spelling

Comments/suggestions:

Domain Score: __________

Final Score: ___________________ Grading Scale:

11 – 12 A 7 – 8 C 9 – 10 B 5 – 6 D 3 – 4 F

The Domain Scoring Rubric

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Perspectives: Understand Scoring: http://perspective.pearsonaccess.com/perspective/ appmanager/va/educator

The Writing Site: thewritingsite.org

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Writing, to me, is simply

thinking through my fingers.

~ Isaac Asimov

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