Using Writers Workshop to Strengthen Writing Skills

Using Writers’ Workshop to Strengthen Writing Skills & Enhance Reading Comprehension K-4 Your Workshop Facilitator Dr. Dea Conrad-Curry Your Partner in Education

Today’s Goals • Practice organizational strategies for implementation of successful writing workshops – Time – Space – Materials • Customize assessment rubrics according to CCSS expectations • Identify a text exemplar as a “kickoff” for the writing workshop • Determine three topics for upcoming mini-lessons © 2012 -2013 Partner in Education 2

LAUNCHING THE WRITING WORKSHOP UNIT 1 3

Create a Space • Physical: writing station, desk pods • Writing: tools, storage, placement Generate Ideas • Get a picture in my head • Tell before I write Invite to Write • Using pictures • Using words (dictated or written) Showcase & Share • Student reads their writing to whole group • Partners read their writing to one another • Teacher showcases specific aspect of student work © 2012 -2013 Partner in Education 4

COMPONENTS OF THE WRITING WORSKHOP KINDER FIRST SECOND READ ALOUD 5 -7 minutes MINI-LESSON 5 minutes INDEPENDENT WRITING 15 minutes 20 minutes SHARING THIRD FOURTH 7 minutes 20 minutes 5 minutes 5 minutes © 2012 -2013 Partner in Education 5

CREATE A SPACE • COME TO THE WRITING SPACE • AVAILABILITY OF TOOLS – Assorted pens – Assorted markers – Assorted papers • DISTRIBUTION OF STORAGE MATERIALS • Folders – prepared with red and green dots – Prepared with reminders of word sounds – Prepared with reminders of what to do when… © 2012 -2013 Partner in Education 6

GENERATE & REHEARSE IDEAS Small Moments: Personal Narrative Show videotape from Resources DVD üThink of a teaching moment you have had this year üPicture the moment in your head üTell it to a partner © 2012 -2013 Partner in Education 7

INVITE TO WRITE Importance of Visualization Narrative Text • Allows for meaning making between the author and the reader • Engages reader in the text as the words become a motion picture of the mind • Personalize text meaning Informational Text • Identity and extend patterns • Work through process relationships • Formulate cause and effect relationships • Anticipate and prepare for hands-on activity • Distinguish components of part and whole Source: Miller, Cathy Puett. (2004). Opening the door: Teaching students to use visualization to improve comprehension. Education World. Retrieved 5 May 2008. http: //www. educationworld. com/a_curr/profdev 094. shtml © 2012 -2013 Partner in Education 8

Three Stages of Visualization Realizing—Understanding—Applying Realizing 1. Realize that visualization helps writers use prior knowledge to link to readers. 2. Realize that writers use his/her imagination to visualize and then makes an effort to communicate these images to readers. Understanding 3. Understand that throughout the writing process, writers consider how readers will visualize. 4. Understand that words connect the emotion, senses, and experiences of writers to readers. Applying 5. Applying visualization promotes using text (reader) as a catalyst to build new thinking and ideas (writer). 6. Applying visualization brings together writer’s purpose with the intended audience, readers. © 2012 -2013 Partner in Education 9

Types of Visualization • Sensory visualization or imaging – Typically related to descriptive narrative text • Fiction • Nonfiction • Concept visualization – Relationships between ideas or events • • In time In space Comparisons How something is accomplished – Geometric manipulation © 2012 -2013 Partner in Education 10

BEGIN WITH ASSESSMENT: GATHERING BASELINE DATA If I don’t see what they already know, I will never know what they could have done…

ASSESSMENT OF WRITING AND THE WRITING PROCESS • Assessing not only the written product but writing process. • Incorporating district level expectations into CCSS

Source: Lucy Calkins Resources for Teaching Writing CD. 13

Source: State of Delaware Department of Education. Assessment Tools. http: //www. doe. k 12. de. us/aab/English_Language_Arts/ela_assessment_tools. shtml 14

Source: State of Delaware Department of Education. Assessment Tools. http: //www. doe. k 12. de. us/aab/English_Language_Arts/ela_assessment_tools. shtml 15

Source: State of Delaware Department of Education. Assessment Tools. http: //www. doe. k 12. de. us/aab/English_Language_Arts/ela_assessment_tools. shtml 16

Source: State of Delaware Department of Education. Assessment Tools. http: //www. doe. k 12. de. us/aab/English_Language_Arts/ela_assessment_tools. shtml 17

Source: State of Delaware Department of Education. Assessment Tools. http: //www. doe. k 12. de. us/aab/English_Language_Arts/ela_assessment_tools. shtml 18

TEXT TYPES & PURPOSES: NARRATIVE GRADE K 3. Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened. GRADE 3 GRADE 1 3. Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure. GRADE 4 GRADE 2 3. Write narratives in which they recount a well elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure. GRADE 5 3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. a. Establish a situation and introduce a a. Orient the reader by establishing a narrator and/or characters; organize situation and introducing a narrator an event sequence that unfolds and/or characters; organize an naturally. event sequence that unfolds b. Use dialogue and descriptions of naturally. actions, thoughts, and feelings to b. Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to show responses of characters to situations. c. Use temporal words and phrases to c. Use a variety of transitional words signal event order. and phrases to manage sequence d. Provide a sense of closure. of events. d. Use concrete words, phrases, & sensory details to convey experiences & events precisely. e. Provide conclusion that follows from narrated experiences or events. a. Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing, to develop experiences and events or show responses of characters to situations. c. Use a variety of transitional words, phrases, and clauses to manage the sequence of events. d. Use concrete words, phrases and sensory details to convey experiences & events precisely. e. Provide conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events. 19

LANGUAGE STANDARDS CONVENTIONS OF STANDARD ENGLISH GRADE K GRADE 1 GRADE 2 1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. a. Print many upper- and lowercase letters. b. Use frequently occurring nouns and verbs. c. Form regular plural nouns orally by adding /s/ or /es/ (e. g. , dogs; wish, wishes). d. Understand use question words (interrogatives) (e. g. , who, what, where, when, why, how). e. Use the most frequently occurring prepositions (e. g. , to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by, with). f. Produce and expand complete sentences in shared language activities. 1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. a. Print all upper- and lowercase letters. b. Use common, proper, and possessive nouns. c. Use singular and plural nouns with matching verbs in basic sentences (e. g. , He hops; We hop). d. Use personal, possessive, and indefinite pronouns (e. g. , I, me, my; they, them, their, anyone, everything). e. Use verbs to convey a sense of past, present, and future (e. g. , Yesterday I walked; Today I walk; Tomorrow I will walk). f. Use frequently occurring adjectives. 1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. a. Use collective nouns (e. g. , group). b. Form and use frequently occurring irregular plural nouns (e. g. , feet, children, teeth, mice, fish). c. Use reflexive pronouns (e. g. , myself, ourselves). d. Form and use the past tense of frequently occurring irregular verbs (e. g. , sat, hid, told). e. Use adjectives and adverbs, and choose between them depending on what is to be modified. f. Produce, expand, and rearrange complete simple and compound sentences (e. g. , The boy watched the movie; The little boy watched the movie; The action movie was watched by the little boy). GRADE 1 continued g. Use frequently occurring conjunctions (e. g. , and, but, or, so, because). h. Use determiners (e. g. , articles, demonstratives). i. Use frequently occurring prepositions (e. g. , during, beyond, toward). j. Produce and expand complete simple and compound declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences 20 in response to prompts.

LANGUAGE STANDARDS CONVENTIONS OF STANDARD ENGLISH GRADE 3 GRADE 4 GRADE 5 1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. a. Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and their functions in particular sentences. b. Form and use regular and irregular plural nouns. c. Use abstract nouns (e. g. , childhood). d. Form and use regular and irregular verbs. e. Form and use the simple (e. g. , I walked; I walk; I will walk) verb tenses. f. Ensure subject-verb and pronounantecedent agreement. * g. Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs, and choose between them depending on what is to be modified. h. Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions. i. Produce simple, compound, and complex sentences. 1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. a. Use relative pronouns (who, whose, whom, which, that) and relative adverbs (where, when, why). b. Form and use the progressive (e. g. , I was walking; I am walking; I will be walking) verb tenses. c. Use modal auxiliaries (e. g. , can, may, must) to convey various conditions. d. Order adjectives within sentences according to conventional patterns (e. g. , a small red bag rather than a red small bag). e. Form and use prepositional phrases. f. Produce complete sentences, recognizing and correcting inappropriate fragments and run-ons. * g. Correctly use frequently confused words (e. g. , too, two; there, their). * 1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. a. Explain the function of conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections in general and their function in particular sentences. b. Form and use the perfect (e. g. , I had walked; I have walked; I will have walked) verb tenses. c. Use verb tense to convey various times, sequences, states, and conditions. d. Recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in verb tense. * e. Use correlative conjunctions (e. g. , either/or, neither/nor). 21

Source: Lucy Calkins Resources for Teaching Writing CD. 22

Preparing a Mini-lesson • Tapping into a text exemplar • Sources for CCSS exemplars • Aligning instruction to rubric expectations

Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Little House in the Big Woods. Illustrated by Garth Williams. New York: Harper. Collins, 2007. (1932). From “Two Big Bears” The Story of Pa and the Bear in the Way When I went to town yesterday with the furs I found it hard walking in the soft snow. It took me a long time to get to town, and other men with furs had come in earlier to do their trading. The storekeeper was busy, and I had to wait until he could look at my furs. Then we had to bargain about the price of each one, and then I had to pick out the things I wanted to take in trade. So it was nearly sundown before I could start home. I tried to hurry, but the walking was hard and I was tired, so I had not gone far before night came. And I was alone in the Big Woods without my gun. There were still six miles to walk, and I came along as fast as I could. The night grew darker and darker, and I wished for my gun, because I knew that some of the bears had come out of their winter dens. I had seen their tracks when I went to town in the morning. Source: Common Core State Standards, Appendix B. (2010). Read-Aloud Stories K-1. p. 20 -21. 24

Bears are hungry and cross at this time of year; you know they have been sleeping in their dens all winter long with nothing to eat, and that makes them thin and angry when they wake up. I did not want to meet one. I hurried along as quick as I could in the dark. By and by the stars gave a little light. It was still black as pitch where the woods were thick, but in the open places I could see, dimly. I could see the snowy road ahead a little way, and I could see the dark woods standing all around me. I was glad when I came into an open place where the stars gave me this faint light. All the time I was watching, as well as I could, for bears. I was listening for the sounds they make when they go carelessly through the bushes. Then I came again into an open place, and there, right in the middle of my road, I saw a big black bear. 25

Baum, L. Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Illustrated by W. W. Denslow. New York: Harper. Collins, 2000. (1900). From Chapter 1: “The Cyclone” Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer’s wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon many miles. There were four walls, a floor and a roof, which made one room; and this room contained a rusty looking cookstove, a cupboard for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs, and the beds. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big bed in one corner, and Dorothy a little bed in another corner. There was no garret at all, and no cellar—except a small hole dug in the ground, called a cyclone cellar, where the family could go in case one of those great whirlwinds arose, mighty enough to crush any building in its path. It was reached by a trap door in the middle of the floor, from which a ladder led down into the small, dark hole. When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached to the edge of the sky in all directions. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere. Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else. Source: Common Core State Standards, Appendix B. (2010). Read Aloud Stories Grades K-1. p. 20. 26

When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her, too. They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled now. When Dorothy, who was an orphan, first came to her, Aunt Em had been so startled by the child’s laughter that she would scream and press her hand upon her heart whenever Dorothy’s merry voice reached her ears; and she still looked at the little girl with wonder that she could find anything to laugh at. Uncle Henry never laughed. He worked hard from morning till night and did not know what joy was. He was gray also, from his long beard to his rough boots, and he looked stern and solemn, and rarely spoke. It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and saved her from growing as gray as her other surroundings. Toto was not gray; he was a little black dog, with long silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose. Toto played all day long, and Dorothy played with him, and loved him dearly. Today, however, they were not playing. Uncle Henry sat upon the doorstep and looked anxiously at the sky, which was even grayer than usual. Dorothy stood in the door with Toto in her arms, and looked at the sky too. Aunt Em washing the dishes. 27

How are photographers and writers alike? Look at an image. • Imagine what is outside of the printed margins. – What is to the left or right of the image? – What is above the image? – What is going on in the atmosphere? – What causes the image to be shown as it is? • Describe what you see in your mind’s eye. • Tell the story the photographer captured in your own words. – Do we all see the same thing? – Are there similarities about what we see? – Why? © 2012 -2013 Partner in Education 28

Productive Thinking: 3 -Part Activity Step 1 In my Head • Generate a list of as many ideas pertaining to a prompt—no idea is a bad idea • Aim for 12 - 15 ideas as students become more proficient with the process • Keep in mind some topics may limit or extend the possibilities • Set a time limit for the thought process— 1 minute to 1 ½ minutes Step 2 With a Partner • Turn to a neighbor & share ideas • Since the goal is 1215, steal good ideas from your partner’s list • Continue to come up with more ideas, even those that were not on the original lists • Set a time limit for the sharing process: 2 minutes © 2012 -2013 Partner in Education Step 3 Whole Class • Designate the spokesperson of the partner (or threesome) • Each group chooses through consensus one idea to share with the entire class • Shared idea should show the best thinking: uniqueness counts • Continue to steal ideas as groups share, always aiming to lengthen the list 29

WRITER’S CRAFT What I see in my head What I feel, hear, smell or taste © 2012 -2013 Partner in Education Details and words the author used to make me see or feel 30

WRITER’S CRAFT What I see in my head What I feel, hear, smell or taste Details and words the author used to make me see or feel © 2012 -2013 Partner in Education 31

WRITER’S CRAFT I read… I imagine sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, emotion © 2012 -2013 Partner in Education Author’s message 32

NAME ____________ TEXT _________ PAGE _____ DATE _____ The Precise Nature of Language Directions: Place two words that are opposites at the top and bottom of the continuum. Along the continuum line, write words that better describe each point along the way. The first one is done for you. Happy __________ __________ joyful blissful sunny cheerful pleased content blue cheerless glum heartsick Sad © 2012 -2013 Partner in Education 33

Understanding the Precise Nature of Language Fear q There many different words that express the distance between two emotions. Enter today’s date into your writing notebook and copy the continuum on the left beneath the date. On the continuum, place as many words on that continuum to describe varying degrees of bravery. q Now choose one of those words that reminds you of an experience you have had or can imagine. q Beneath the continuum, begin writing about your experience without using the word you chose. Use sentences that will help the reader picture what you want them to see or feel. q Trade writing notebooks with a peer. Read one another’s sentences and try to match the situation you described with a word written on your continuum. q Discuss and compare your thinking. Reflect on your Valor conversation. © 2012 -2013 Partner in Education 34

WORKSHOP EVALUATION: WHAT AREAS OF THE TEACHING PERFORMANCE RUBRIC HAVE I LEARNED MORE ABOUT… About what do I need more information & ideas?

Writing Workshop Professional Development Continuum Novice Developing/Intermediate Master/Advanced Writing workshop is held at least four times a week. A mini-lesson should be taught every day. During every workshop students write 30 minutes. During every workshop students write for at least 30 -40 minutes. Each student has a writing partner Students have frequent Writing partners draw on a growing and have frequent opportunities for partner talk during repertoire of “Ways Partners Can classroom shares. mini-lessons, mid-workshop Help Each Other. ” Talk is aimed to interruptions and classroom shares. reintroduce the writer to vital questions, ‘What is this piece really about? ’ and ‘What do you want your reader to feel? ’ The volume of writing in writer’s Teachers and students will monitor notebooks increases steadily over and track pages produced per unit. time. Teacher will monitor and Entries are labeled and dated Students set goals for themselves track pages produced per unit. every day. around volume. Entries and labeled and dated every day. Students produce at least one Students engage in on-demand published piece per unit. Unit of writing, a formal published piece, writing, revision of the on-demand, Study lasts 4 -5 weeks. * and a post-unit on-demand. Unit of unit publication, a second essay, study lasts 5 weeks. * and possibly a final on-demand. Unit of study lasts 6 weeks. * Planning should be done in a Students frequently refer to Students use writer’s notebooks to writer’s notebook and application of previously written entries to build mine for new ideas, self-assess, mini-lessons are evident. upon their writing repertoire or to and set goals. Notebook should inform their work. Notebook should contain a range of applied 36 contain a range of applied strategies across genres.

Beginner/Novice Developing/Intermediate Master/Advanced Students write at least one elaborated Students write at least one entry a day or a series of short entries. elaborated entry a day such as There should not be days in writing long on a topic, a series workshop when writers produce of entries, or intentional strategy nothing but a list of topics. work. Students write at least one elaborated entry a day such as writing long on a topic, a series of entries, or intentional strategy work. Teacher administers on-demand Teachers use on-demands to assessment before a unit to determine collective strengths and weaknesses and have students self-assess and revise. Teachers use on-demands to establish predictable problems and design small group experiences within the unit. Teaching points from the mini-lessons There are 4 -5 charts posted at are complied onto charts and posted in any one time as a way for the classroom. teacher to keep previous teaching at play within the classroom. There are 4 -5 charts posted at any one time as a way for the teacher to keep previous teaching at play within the classroom. Teacher will model the writing process Teachers work on their own and utilize mentor texts in every unit. writing across the sequence of the unit, writing a few lines, not much more within a mini-lesson. Teachers work on their own writing across the sequence of the unit, and write a collective class piece with students. Teacher generally holds a few Teacher generally begins the Teacher has a deep repertoire of conferences with students within one writing conference by learning strategies to respond to student day’s workshop, studying the writer’s what the writer has been working needs during the writing work over time to notice how the writer on as a writer, how the writer has conference, to shape midis progressing. been changing, what the writer workshop interruptions, and looks has tried to do, and what for patterns across the class to strategies the writer has used. design small group experiences 37