Teaching Writing Graham

7/25/2019 Teaching Writing Graham

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Teaching Writing


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How are we doing teaching writing?

Still some work to do, according to the National Assessment ofEducational Progress (The Nations Report ard!"

Good news: 1998-2002 showed some improvement of writing skillsin grades 4-8

Bad news: no improvement for grade 12


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Serious consequences of poor writing

#riting is thinking with a pencil!

#riting is a premier wa$ in which children think and e%press

their ideas

#riting is a wa$ children e%press creati&it$, uni'ueness, and

indicate what the$ want

#riting well and succinctl$ is increasingl$ important aschildrenget older


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Is there a best way to teach writing?

No consensus

Process is important

hildren need a time, place, and reason to write

)ood instruction is crucial

The key to children learning to write well is good instruction.


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Elements of good instruction

An en&ironment that supports writing (with space forchildren towrite and the tools to do so"

Teachers who read with a *writers e$e (so the$ can pointout strategies that $oung writers used e+ecti&el$"

Teachers who model good instruction (so children will seehow one goes aout writing"

-ots of opportunities to practice, accompanied $ correcti&efeedack (praise the e%pressi&e aspect of the task, whilehelpingthe child form letters and write accuratel$ and well"


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Current challenges in the field

Schools of education need to o+er pre.ser&ice teacherse%perience in learning what good writing is, how to teachwriting,

and knowledge aout the genres of writing (e/g/, e%positor$&s/ narrati&e writing "

Schools need a greater focus on e&aluation, so we canidentif$

good writing and support children as the$ de&elop theirskills


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Techniques teachers can use

0orning messageTalk about what is happening in the class, providing anopportunity for children to write about itSay something really exciting or ask a thought-provoking question

about a timely issue or event (e.g., the upcoming election)1escrie this

Children want to learn, they are knowledge seekers. Provideopportunities for children to absorb information and then writeAsk them to describe this and they will come up withwonderful language and ideas

2nno&ationsTake a favorite text likeBrown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?and create a new text using the same language modelStudents integrate new words and make stories their own


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Across the curriculum

#riting is important in e&er$ su3ect

In math, students can make their own math books and measure things

Field trips offer an opportunities to summarize and put words and

pictures together in interesting ways

In science, even at the pre-K level, lab notebooks allow children toparticipate in an experiment and then write about what they observed

In all areas of the curriculum, give children the opportunityto realize that writing is an expressive, meaningful act thathelps them learn about any subject.


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Writing instruction before indergarten

E%ample5 A 3ournal $ a four.$ear.old in which she writes 3ustwhat

she wants to

The teacher captions each page with the childs words

Over time, the child begins to see the difference between what she iswriting and what the teacher is writing

This exercise provides the child with an opportunity to write, and

also an opportunity to learn from corrections


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Writing in early childhood

Earl$ on, children want to use writing to communicate ideas

2n the &er$ earl$ $ears, pro&ide children e&er$ opportunit$to write 6letters, recipes, lists, ideas

The writing ma$ e uncon&entional, ut it will con&e$ theidea that writing has a function and is &er$ important


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Writing is different than handwriting

7oung children will dale with a lot of interesting wa$s ofwriting

2ts important to focus on the meaning, on what the$retr$ing to sa$

omposition and handwriting has a place in the earl$childhood curriculum, ut sometimes hand muscles are notde&eloped

enough to write &er$ small letters/

8e encouraging and supporti&e9


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Children with learning disabilities and writing

:ids who struggle with writing often ha&e a hard timelearning informall$ or incidentall$/ ;or e%ample, the$ dontlearn as much aout spelling correctl$ 3ust through reading

and


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Children with learning disabilities and writing !cont"#

Some kids with learning prolems often ha&e an incompleteor fragmented knowledge ase/ ;or e%ample, if the$ dontha&e knowledge of the stor$ genre, then the$ are at a

disad&antage in constructing a good stor$

Another issue for kids with learning disailities ismoti&ation/ 2f $ou struggle with writing, its eas$ to de&elopan intense dislike for it/ And the longer that goes on, themore di=cult it is to deal with

Often, all these things are interconnected.


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How parents can support writing

>elp kids get their thoughts together and organi?e whatthe$want to sa$

Plan an approach to the assignment

1ont 3ust lea&e them to sit at the tale and agoni?e@ if the$seem stuck, help them get started


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$astering writing is a life%long process

Rememer, writing is the most complicated language skillthatan$ of us ha&e to learn

Parents need to empathi?e with kids, knowing that the$work&er$ hard to accomplish their writing assignments


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&'ront load( the process

>a&e the child talk aout what the$re going to write aout

#rite down the words the$ want to use ut dont know howto spell

>elp them organi?e the main points that the$re writingaout

Re&iew the goal of the assignment5 know where $ouregoing and how $oure going to get there

Plan something fun for afterwards/

)i&e a time limit@ put the timer on and do the hard thingrst


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VIDEO

Invented Spelling

0ar$ T/ 0urph$ Elementar$ School, 8ranford, onnecticut

A first grade class makes a party list using invented spelling

The teacher works with students to see what their invented spellingtells her about the students knowledge of word structure, speechsounds, and how they use letters to represent those sounds

The teacher allows students to practice their phonemic awarenessabilities, while providing teachable moments about accuratespelling


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Spelling

Too often seen as the poor relation! of language artsinstruction

Accurate spelling is a courtes$ to the reader

Spelling knowledge is &er$ closel$ associated with readingcomprehension/ Spelling is a wa$ of eing *word conscious,which is associated with knowing word meaning andcomprehension 6 which results in etter writing

Those who spell well are more likel$ to write longer andetter structured compositions as the$ mo&e into the higherle&els ofwritten e%pression


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In)ented spelling

Also called in&enti&e! spelling

2ts a enecial step for four. and &e.$ear.olds who ha&e

not $et entered into formal instruction ;rom kindergarten on, kids will learn spelling etter and

faster ifthe$ are taught it e%plicitl$


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*honemic awareness and in)ented spelling

The est kindergarten writers ha&e teachers who5

teach kids how to spell the highest-frequency words accurately rather

than relying on invented spelling, andstudy the structure of words from a phonological (sound) andorthographic (spelling) perspective


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In)ented spelling as diagnostic tool

2f children can put together a logical representation for all of

the sounds in a word, it is &er$ likel$ that the$ ha&e goodworddecoding skills/

8eing ale to segment the sounds in a word and correlatethem

with letters is ke$ to oth decoding and spelling/


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Teach ids directly how to+

form the letters

identif$ the speech sounds

spell high.fre'uenc$ and pattern.ased words accuratel$

and they will write longer compositions with moredetail

and structure


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Automatic operations of writing

#riting is like 3uggling a lot of alls in the air

2f $ou ha&e automatic master$ of some of the asics,

$ou can focus more attention on the demanding comple%reasoning skills


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How to use in)ented spelling as a diagnostic tool

2f a child writes the word ump! as 8 B P!

Thats pretty good inventive spelling for kindergarten. Leaving outthe M is understandable, because linguistically the mmm sounddisappears in the articulation of bump. A little more instruction is

needed to get that point across

But, if the child wrote P E P for the word bump, that would indicatethat that child was not segmenting the sounds in that word

A good in&enti&e spelling of the word alloon! might e 8 -B N!

But, by first grade, wed want to see the student break it into sounds(ba ah la oo un) and know something about how each ofthose sounds is typically spelled


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$o)ing from in)ented writing to standard writing

7ou need a se'uence of lessons thats planned out/1ont lea&e it to chance

A good writing program should encompass5 Time to develop the component skills

A fostering of fluency and accuracy with the component skills

Application of those skills to inventive, expressive writing


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Spelling supports reading

Cne of the most e+ecti&e wa$s of teaching kids decoding istoteach it through spelling, through phoneme


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When do spelling errors denote a problem?

2ndi&idual aptitude for spelling &aries/ >owe&er, poor spellingis a hallmark of d$sle%ia/ #atch for5

difficulty beginning to emerge from first grade on inability to spell thehighest-frequency words

continued invented spelling even after good instruction and practice

spelling words in a dysphonetic way (with little correspondence betweenthe sounds that are in a word and the spelling)

inability to remember a letter sequence and difficulty with speech sounds

lack of strategies for thinking about words

hen spelling is a problem, it can!t be allowed to interfere with

learning to compose, which is a fundamental tool for academicsuccess.


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Systematic assessment

Assessment is di=cult ecause reall$ good, widel$ usedtools ha&e not $et een de&eloped/

8est practice is to5

decide on a rubric

talk to kids

organize around explicit expectations


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English language learners

#riting and spelling are e&en more complicated when thereis an o&erla$ of the rst language on a second language

Sound.s$mol constructions ma$ carr$ o&er from rst

language to second (e/g/, the di+erence etween thepronunciation of the letter D! in English and Spanish"

0a$ learn to ll in the slots! of a sentence with correctspelling without knowing what the words mean


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Writing instruction for E,, students

)ood instruction for E--s should include5

dialogue and vocabulary instruction

oral language modeling

oral language expression (saying sentences aloud)

talking about the words

interactive instruction


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-ifferentiated writing instruction

1i=cult, ut it reall$ makes a di+erence

8est to work from a common framework for the whole class,

then adapt from this framework for indi&idual students

Need the structure to make the adaptation possile


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Teachers as writers

2f teachers dont en3o$ writing themsel&es, the$ will5

shy away from it

provide too few opportunities for students to do it

not evaluate childrens writing carefully

not be able to teach children the characteristics of genre


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Why genre is important

The stor$! genre has5

a beginning

challenges

eventsa problem and a resolution

hen children write a story, teachers should evaluate itagainst

the conventions of that genre.


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The red pen

0arking all o&er the page can lead kids to think that writingis onl$ aout capitali?ation, punctuation, and spelling

2ts important for teachers to pro&ide feedack on content

as well/ 1ig deeper than word count and grammar

0odel good writing, so children can learn $ e%ample

;ocus on oth the mediumand the message. 1iscern wherechildren are doing well or need additional help


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VIDEO

Writing Poems

Poe Elementar$ >ouston, Te%as

Using a Columbia University program called The Writers Workshop,second graders learn to become lifelong writers

The program connects literature and writing

It is a structured approach, in which the teacher explicitly teachesthe processes of writing


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Tools to encourage creati)ity

A pleasant en&ironment where kids feel free to take risks

A clear connection etween reading and writing (what $oureadcan e a model for what $ou write"

Process the opportunit$ to plan, draft, re&ise, and edit

Cpportunities to share writing with peers and teachers


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Encouraging young writers

0odel the process/ The work that goes into writing 6planning, drafting, re&ising, and editing6 all goes on insidethe mind/

0ake it &isile to students

>elp make handwriting, spelling, and sentence constructionroutine (automati?ed, so students dont ha&e to stop andthink of each word"

Pro&ide grammar and &ocaular$ instruction


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.egati)e consequences of

poor handwriting and spelling

2f $ou cant read the message, $ou cant get it

2f the message is illegile (ecause of spelling miscues, fore%ample" people will de&alue what $ou sa$

1i=culties in this area interfere with other writing processes


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E/tra attention to the fundamentals pays off

As a students handwriting impro&es and their spellingimpro&es,there is a carr$o&er e+ect in5

improved sentence constructionincreased amount of writing

increased quality of the writing


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How to model sentence formation

Take small, kernel sentences

Show how to make those into more comple% sentences

>a&e kids work with $ou to do the same thing, then workwitheach other

>a&e them appl$ the practice in their own writing


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$echanics )ersus content

Cften interrelated/ ;or e%ample, if $ou struggle writing thewords $oure going to produce less content

2f a kid struggles with mechanics, pro&ide focusedinstruction inletter formation and spelling to help kids mo&e past thatpoint/-ook for alternati&es to help the student keep up (e/g/, wordprocessing software, speech s$nthesis software"

2f a kid struggles with content, sometimes its a structureissue ora knowledge issue/ 2nstruction should center on how to getideas and wa$s to organi?e ideas


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Writing difficulties

0an$ children rst show di=culties with te%t transcription(e/g/, handwriting and spelling"

Some kids ha&e self.regulation di=culties which make ithard toplan, organi?e, monitor, and e&aluate their own writingprocess

0an$ kids ha&e troule with oth

C&erla$ing transcription and


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E/plicit instruction

E%plicit 2nstruction helps all students 6 those with andwithout learning disailities

2nstruction should e e%plicit aout5

Process planning, revising, and helping kids learn to monitor whattheyre doing

Goals why kids are being asked to do the writing assignment andwhat they intend to give the reader


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How technology can be moti)ational

The ease with which one can mo&e te%t

The aatement of transcription di=culties

2n searching for ideas for writing


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0ther effecti)e strategies

E%plicitl$ teach children how to form sentences

Bse reading as a model for writing

>a&e kids do research and ask 'uestions to get ideas forwriting

"ut nothing beats a well#prepared, knowledgeable,dedicated

teacher in helping kids become good writers.


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Ad)ice for teachers

Teachers will ha&e to self.teach themsel&es in man$ aspects ofwriting instruction/ Some wa$s to do this5

Take time to write

Join with peers and create a regular time to write and talk about writing

Talk with colleagues and share effective strategies and ideas

Provide time every day to have children write


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Is there a specific sequence

of sills children should master?

No full$ de&eloped, specic scope and se'uence of writingskillsfor all :.FG students e%ists $et/ Each state has its own, and

e&en districts can di+er within a state

Teachers will need to create a se'uence for their ownclassrooms/2t is critical for teachers to de&elop a se'uence and plan forhow to teach writing

-ook at asal readers for ideas


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Writing on paper )ersus writing on the computer

Some kids approach the word processor much like the$approach their written te%t5 2m going to change a littlesomething here@

2ll tr$ to get this spelling error there/! 2n these cases,writing ona computer is &er$ much like writing on a piece of paper

Some kids come at word processing with *ig ideas/ The$make man$ more re&isions upfront and during drafting, than

kids who are writing $ hand


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-oes te/t messaging ha)e a deleterious impact?

7es, in a wa$/ 2t is essentiall$ a di+erent form of languageand communication

2t cant replace academic writing skills

Some teachers are using te%t messaging 6 and theenthusiasm students ha&e for it 6 as a starting point forwriting, then working with the ideas to transform the writinginto something more formal/ This strateg$ demonstrateshow to switch codes! from &er$informal to formal


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'rom product to process

Educators originall$ thought of writing as a product, andgoodwriting e'ualed a lot of te%t on the paper

Educators then switched to thinking of writing as a process,focusing on thinking, planning, re&ising, and editing

Now is the time for a alanced approach, so that thewonderful process of childrens writing e&entuall$ results in

correct formand good nal product


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Automaticity is )ital

The automatic operations of writing (spelling, grammar,structure" dont restrict creati&it$ 6 the$ actuall$ enhanceit/

The ke$ to de&eloping automaticit$ is a complete programof instruction/ ;or e%ample, in a HI.minute writing lesson,de&ote the rst FJ or GI minutes to skill de&elopment andthen the ne%t half to the more creati&e aspects of writing (ofan$ kind 6 e%positor$, narrati&e, poetic, sentencemanipulations"

"ut we must get away from dichotomous thinking that skillsinhibit creativity. They do not.


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Writing is not solely creati)e

2ne&ital$, good writing also is informational in nature

1escription and accurac$ are important and need to e

emphasi?ed


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1eading and writing are connected

The National Reading Panel (NRP" rought a sharp focus toreading and as a result, reading instruction has impro&ed

Separating reading and writing in the NRP report was amistake/#e need to ring them ack together and help educatorsunderstand the unit$ of these language functions, theirinterrelationships, and common denominators


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Writing is all about writing

2t is not enough for teachers to post K e%plain K e%pect(P/E/E5 dont do it in the classroom"/

Rather, teachers must present and model writing withstudents/8ring students to master$ so the$ can write well $themsel&es

hildren ha&e to write in order learn to write/ At e&er$ grade

le&el, writing narrati&e te%t, e%positor$ te%t, or on topics oftheir own choosing, we want them to e e%cited aoutwriting


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Teaching Writing Graham