Growing Readers & Writers: Resources for Teachers

Teaching the Kinesthetic Learner

2010-07-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

I just read a post from a friend who is homeschooling her kids, one of whom is a kinesthetic learner. She asked for ideas on how to help him with reading and writing. A couple of thoughts came to mind...

Sandpaper Letters - These are a Montessori resource designed to help young kids learn the shapes of letters. By tracing the letters with their fingers, they can learn how to form the letter in the correct fashion when they are ready to write. You can create your own or order them online. I suspect you could use them as you would any letter flashcards, playing Memory or Go Fish, putting letters together to spell words, and so forth.

Beads and Cubes - We used beads strung on a short string to work on blending CVC words in my first-grade classroom. Snap cubes work just as well, with students sounding out each letter separately and then snapping the cubes together as they blend the sounds into a word. The colors are visual cues for talking about beginning, middle, and ending sounds.

Word Sorts are great for building sight word vocabulary, talking about parts of speech, and learning spelling rules. You can find books of word sorts or make your own. I usually typed my own, using a piece of paper divided into 16-20 spaces. We sorted for nouns, short vowel sounds, words with "c" followed by "i" or "e," and so on. Usually we used only two types of words in a sort (for a noun sort, we would sort between nouns and verbs; for short vowel sounds, we would use CVC and CVCe words like "hot" and "poke").

Oral Retells are great for building and assessing reading comprehension and vocabulary. Students can retell any story using flannelgraph, simply drawn pictures, or photocopies of the illustrations.

Writing Non-Fiction can be done as a collaborative activity between student(s) and teacher. One year my class researched penguins. Students dictated sentences to me about what they had learned, and together (as a class) we organized the facts into categories and then into a logical sequence to create our own Book About Penguins. They then illustrated the pages and, after so much work with the text, were able to read and re-read the completed class book together.

Sight Word Flash Cards were also a big hit with my first graders, as they tried to read them as fast as they could. I would divide a handful of cards between two students and they would take turns showing the cards and reading them. The person who read all the cards shown to them first would "win." (For this to work, students were ability grouped and given only enough cards to provide a challenge without too much frustration.)

Reading independently can be made more "fun" by using pointer sticks or any creative pointing "tool." (Of course, the best motivator is having books at one's interest level that are not overly difficult to read!)

Educational Wikis - Kindergarten and First Grade

2010-07-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

There is a wonderful resource created by teachers for teachers that I have been checking out recently. Chets Creek Elementary School in Jacksonville, FL, is using a wiki to share teaching ideas, assessments, educational links and more. This particular wiki is designed for first grade teachers, specifically those working at Chets Creek, to communicate with each other about what is working in their classrooms and to build continuity within the grade level. Teachers who are not a part of the Chets Creek community are not able to contribute, but can view and download content from the site. At the kindergarten wiki I have downloaded the kindergarten vocabulary "unit of study" (Part One, Part Two) to share with some teacher friends of mine. What a lot of work has gone into this resource! It could easily be adapted to fit other grade levels and is a great template for organizing the teaching of vocabulary.

Kindergarten Writing Resource

2009-09-24T08:49:00.000-07:00

Occasionally I get e-mails from the National Writing Project that highlight what's going on concerning writing instruction in the United States. Most recently I followed one of its links to a book review of Teaching Writing in Kindergarten: A Structured Approach to Daily Writing That Helps Every Child Become a Confident, Capable Writer by Randee Bergen (available from Scholastic). Since I am interested in the teaching of writing to young children, I would be interested in knowing if you have used this text as a resource. It sounds like a step-by-step approach with some detailed lesson plans, which would be perfect for a first-year teacher, or perhaps even the veteran who desires to organize her writing "curriculum" in a more logical sequence. You can read the review here.

Poetry Books for Kids

2009-08-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

I am always looking for poetry appropriate for kids... that... doesn't... rhyme. With all of their exposure to nursery rhymes and songs, it seems children come to the classroom thinking all poetry must rhyme (which of course is the hardest kind of poetry to write well). So I was delighted recently when I found these two poetry anthologies at my library:

A Writing Kind of Day: Poems for Young Poets, by Ralph Fletcher

A Maze Me: Poems for Girls, by Naomi Shihab Nye

Both volumes contain poems written by adults, but in the voice of a child or preteen. Subjects vary, circling around the experiences of childhood, and are treated honestly with the seriousness of a child. These are not "fluffy" my-brother-picks-his-nose kind of poems; they are heart-felt and resonate with me even as an adult. And they are minefields of metaphors, similes, imagery...all of the things we try to teach kids to do in their work! A few examples:

Memory Loss
by Ralph Fletcher
It's not like losing a wallet,
or even your best friend.

Losing your memory is
losing yourself.

Each sentence Grandma speaks
makes me think of crossing a river.

She steps from word to word
until suddenly

she stops in the middle, disoriented.
Should she go back or keep going?

Mom takes Grandma by the hand
and helps her safely to the other side.

If the Shoe Doesn't Fit
by Naomi Shihab Nye
you take it off
of course you take it off
it doesn't worry you
it isn't your shoe

Supple Cord
by Naomi Shihab Nye
My brother, in his small white bed,
held one end.
I tugged the other
to signal I was still awake.
We could have spoken,
could have sung
to one another,
we were in the same room
for five years,
but the soft cord
with its frayed ends
connected us
in the dark,
gave comfort
even if we had been bickering
all day.
When he fell asleep first
and his end of the cord
dropped to the floor,
I missed him terribly,
though I could hear his even breath
and we had such long and separate lives
ahead.

Reading Interventions: Phonemic Awareness

2009-06-23T11:51:00.000-07:00

We often had struggling readers in first grade who came to us with very limited pre-reading skills (concepts of print, phonological awareness, etc.). Our curriculum did not address their needs adequately, so the first grade team worked together with the speech and language therapist to come up with some interventions. This is what it looked like in my classroom:

At the beginning of the year, I grouped students into Guided Reading Groups based on their DIBELS scores and a brief running record (if applicable). I also used the Phonological Awareness Inventory (PAI) developed by my district (based on the Phonemic Awareness Hierarchy of Skills found below). Once I had my groups, I had a pretty good idea of who had the ability to begin guided reading and who needed work on pre-reading skills, specifically phonemic awareness. I used the PAI to determine where to start with the latter students.

Phonemic Awareness Hierarchy of Skills

1. Identifying Words in a Sentence (clap one time for each word in a sentence)
2. Identifying Syllables (clap one time for each syllable)
3. Identifying/recognizing Compound Words
4. Identifying Rhymes
5. Generating Rhymes
6. Blending (I say c-a-t, student can tell me “cat”)
7. Segmenting (I ask what are the sounds in cat, and student can tell me “c-a-t”
8. Phoneme Isolation (What is the first, middle, or end, sound you hear in “cat”)
9. Identifying letter sounds (What sound does this letter make?)

I created tabs for each of the above skills in a 3-ring binder, and then organized activities behind each tab, using ideas from the resources listed below.

Resources:
Auditory Processing Activities. Copyright 1991 by ECL Publications. www.eclpublications.com.

Irresistible Sound-matching sheets and Lessons That Build Phonemic Awareness, by J. Wagstaff. Copyright 2001 by Scholastic.

Phonemic Awareness in Young Children: A Classroom Curriculum, by Marilyn Jager Adams, Barbara R. Foorman, Ingvar Lundberg, and Terri Beeler. Copyright 1998 by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

The Phonological Awareness Kit: Primary, by Carolyn Robertson and Wanda Salter. Copyright 1995 by Linguisystems. http://www.linguisystems.com/itemdetail.php?id=28#

Word Identification Strategies: Phonics from a New Perspective, by Barbara J. Fox. Copyright 2000 by Prentice Hall.

Each time I met with a group of students (2-5 in each group), I would spend no more than 10 minutes on 2 or 3 phonemic awareness activities. They were presented as “games” and done at a quick pace. I took brief notes (30 sec) after we finished. If I still had their attention after 10 minutes, we would do some work with a few sight words, work on concepts of print, or write a simple book together. The next day we would review the phonemic awareness activities from the day before, and if each student had mastered the skill, we would move on. If not, we would try other activities related to the same skill.

After nine months of focused work on phonemic awareness, collaboration with para-educators and special education teachers (in addition to regular classroom teaching), we could see much growth in each student! Those students who were especially motivated and had involved parents made even more progress. We saw several students excel in second grade, and a few that exited the special education program after another year of work. This was amazing, considering they were far behind their peers at the beginning of first grade.

Additional Notes:
It was not unusual to spend several months on Blending or Segmenting activities.

We didn't get stuck on the rhyming sections. Rhyming is not the only indicator of reading readiness, so after I introduced it and worked with it, we moved on.

I did not wait until the last step of the hierarchy to introduce phonics. Often, my para-ed would work on letter identification using flashcards and matching or BINGO games. We also worked on sight words throughout the year and created pattern books so the children were “reading” even as they worked on their pre-reading development.

Don't Let the Pigeon Write This Book

2009-05-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

I love Mo Willems' writing. He has a number of picture books out that are just fabulous. Not only is he a creative illustrator, but his writing is imbued with his wonderful sense of humor (the dry kind, like mine!). One of his popular books is Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.

Well, I just stumbled onto his blog tonight and found this inspiring post! It led me to imagine what the pigeon would find if he came to my school... Perhaps the principal's office, the swingset, the donuts in the staff lounge, the piano in the music room, the mailbox in front of the school...

So how's this for a writing activity?

Part One: Read a couple of the pigeon books by Mo Willems. Discuss what the pigeon wants in each book and how he goes about trying to get it. Talk about how Willems ends each story. Point out the talking bubbles or discuss quotation marks as a way to show that someone is talking. Take notes on chart paper for students to reference when they write their stories.

Part Two: Zerox and cut out a copy of the pigeon. Take photos of him sitting in various places in your school (this could be done by the teacher ahead of time or together as a class). Print the photos and distribute one to each student, or to each pair of students. Explain that this picture needs to be included somewhere in their story, either at the beginning, middle, or end. Model using one of the pictures as inspiration for a story: Think out loud as you construct an idea for a story: what does the pigeon want? Show students how you would begin your story (for younger kids, you might want to demonstrate writing the whole story). Then let the writing begin!

Of course, you will want to establish a teaching focus before beginning this lesson. Will you emphasize persuasive writing? Story form? Quotation marks? You also need to have a clear idea of what you want the final product to look like: individual stories? a class book? Think about how your students do their best writing: individually, in pairs, in table groups, or as a whole class? Perhaps you'll want to give out several photos rather than just one to each group.

If I were to do this in a first grade class (first half of the school year), I would take the whole class on a "field trip" around the school and have them give me suggestions on where to photograph the pigeon. We would then return to the classroom and go through the writing process together, crafting the story on sentence strips and putting them in a sequence that made sense. Then I would type up the story with the photographs and bind it as a class book to be enjoyed by everyone. The finished book would go home with each student, and once it had made it through each household, we would put it into our classroom library.

Since writing (and reading) can be so tedious for beginning first graders, this would give students an opportunity to contribute to the writing process and be creative without having to worry about the physical act of writing (we would of course be practicing this skill at other times). Also, once students have written a book together, they are immediately invested in learning how to read it!

Retells in Kindergarten

2009-04-28T11:37:00.001-07:00

The use of conversation is so important in students' writing development. Younger students especially benefit from talking about stories and ideas before actually writing them down. And because the physical act of writing is particularly demanding for these students, focused discussions can be considering a form of pre-writing.

We do a lot of retells in first grade as a way to teach sequencing (beginning, middle, end), plot development, and other elements of stories. Recently I found this post describing work in a kindergarten classroom around a retell. The book they read is called The Wolf's Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza. My favorite part about this lesson is the use of felt characters to orally retell the story. Students can do the oral retell as part of their "choices" during the literacy block. What a wonderful idea! If you click here, you can see a video of one retelling using the felt materials.

As you can see, the teachers took the students through multiple readings and oral retells of the text on to focused mini-lessons and eventually writing down their own retells. The writing samples given show remarkable work for a kindergartener!

Note: If you wish to re-create this series of lessons in your classroom, keep in mind that these kindergarten teachers used their students' interest in this story to prompt the writing and retelling activities. You may have a more appropriate picture book in your classroom that your students gravitate to that would be more suited to these activities!

Resources: Children's Books and Reading Programs

2009-03-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

I was revisiting Esme Raji Codell's website today (author of Educating Esme, the spunky diary of a first-year teacher) and found some gems:

The Best New Children's Books
Esme reviews new children's books on her blog. She provides a wonderful range of fiction and nonfiction, picture books and chapter books, read-alouds and books for independent reading. In addition to the day's featured title, Esme includes books that you might enjoy that relate to it. For instance, in yesterday's post, she highlights Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass, followed by several other "tweenage" books written by Mass and then a listing of realistic fiction appropriate for this age group.

Special Reading Programs (promoting the enjoyment of reading)
Here are several ideas for promoting reading in your school. Ranging from storytime breakfasts to weekly baking sessions to a book parade, they can be used as PTA-sponsored fundraisers, student body-sponsored activities, inspiration for an after-school class, or as the culminating activity for a school-wide literacy week.

Resources: Grammar, Punctuation, and Vocabulary

2009-02-27T10:31:00.000-08:00

Books I want to check out:

The Elements of Style by E.B. White and William Strunk
Image Grammar by Harry Noden
Mechanically Inclined by Jeff Anderson
The Giggly Guide to Grammar by Cathy Campbell
Practical Punctuation: Lessons on Rule Making and Rule Breaking in Elementary Writing by Dan Feigelson

The last book, by Feigelson, was reviewed on a new blog I found recently called Two Writing Teachers. You can read their review here. Also on their site I found a great strategy for teaching vocabulary using Sensory Webbing. You can find that post here.

First Grade Journal Entries: Incorporating Skills and Creativity

2009-02-27T08:09:00.001-08:00

Below are some excerpts from two of my first graders' journals written during our morning journal time, without any prompting. You will see that the students are experimenting with some of the skills they are learning in class: adding details, writing in sequential order, using a closing sentence, and incorporating voice.

12-9-05
On the 22nd I'm gonna go to Montana.

12-13-05
I'm excited to go to Montana! At Montana my grandma and my grandpa is living there!

12-15-05
On the 22nd I'm gonna go to Montana. My grandma and my grandpa live there. Last year my grandpa helped me build a birdhouse.

1-3-06
I'm happy when I go to Montana to see my grandma and my grandpa.

1-12-06
On the weekend I'm gonna finish my basketball hoop. My dad and I got two more things. The thing is putting the sand in and digging a place for my basketball hoop.

1-17-06
This weekend I had a basketball game. I didn't know the score.

1-19-06
Last night my dad put up a basketball [hoop]. My friends was outside. My friends is Josh and Kyle. My friend Josh played basketball.

3-6-06
This weekend I slept over at my grandma's. My grandma got a sports car. The roof goes off. I was the first kid to be in the sports car. Then I slept over at my friend's. He got a game cube. We played basketball. My friend won the first, then I won the second.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tomorrow I am going to get a new game for my PSP. It's going to be fun! You should try it. I like to play with my PSP. Why? Because it's really, really fun. Who does not like to play with a PSP? 2 people.

We are learning about Tell Me More. Tell Me More is about writing more, like this tip. Why do bears eat us? We do not taste good.

Hey everyone, how are you? Great. Fine. Give me your money or else. You have to give me your 1,000 or 100. Reese, can you buy me some money? Ok. Why don't you want my money? You want my money? Stop asking that question. You cannot do this to me. Oh great. Oh yes I can. Now do this: aaahhh.

Dominique Rhodes is number 33. He is the best on the Colts. He has a girly name. Who in the world will want a girly name like that?

The pacer test is today. I don't like it. Makes me sick. I might barf. I don't like to run and run.

It's the best day ever. I woke up and the sun smiled at me. I went outside and skipped to the crusty crab. Then he was gone.

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Though their writing isn't refined, and sometimes doesn't make sense, it reveals what is important to them and, I'm happy to say, sounds like them. Voice is the hardest thing to teach, but when you help students get into the habit of writing every day (thus developing greater facility with words and with the physical act of writing), teach them the elements of good writing, model good writing, and then give them the opportunity to write about what they care about, their voice will be very apparent!

Journal writing is not the only way for students to have choice during writing, and it doesn't work all the time with every student. Its success really depends on what your purpose in journal writing is. My main purpose was for students to write every day, at the same time, for a specific amount of time. I wanted them to develop ease with writing, so that when they had to write for an assignment, it was not such a challenge for them. I wasn't as concerned about the content, although we did talk about what was appropriate (They couldn't write about video games for days on end; no violence; no unkind words about others.) and where they could get inspiration. Because the students had much control over the content, and since they could choose to start with a drawing or text, I rarely had trouble getting anyone to write.

The most exciting thing I saw in journal writing was the application of skills I was trying to teach. Often I would encourage students to share their writing aloud and then praise the way they were using a certain skill. (And inevitably, the next day someone else would use the skill and want to share!) It was a fun way to give the students choice within writing and accomplish my goals as well!

Should My Writing Program be Skills-Based or Student-Led?

2009-02-26T21:17:00.000-08:00

Writing is an art. As such, it requires both a learned set of skills and opportunities for creative expression.

In teaching writing, then, can you successfully isolate these elements or do they need to be taught concurrently? Can you teach a set of skills without giving students an opportunity to express themselves? Can you encourage students to write creatively without equipping them with the necessary tools? Certainly we have tried to teach in one fashion or the other, but what is best?

I took piano lessons for a good part of my life and ended up majoring in piano performance in college. Practicing scales was part of my daily routine, as was practicing great literature. As I practiced, I found that my success with the literature was directly related to how diligently I practiced my scales. When the scales came easily, I no longer had to think specifically about which finger to put on which note, and was freed up to play expressively. Later, when I was required to improvise in a jazz setting, I was able to draw on my knowledge of scales to create a new musical experience. In this case, the skills (scale fingering) were taught in isolation, but in view of finding application in a larger work (great literature).

A few summers ago I took an art class for teachers, the first art class ever in which I was pleased with my art. The method of teaching was direct instruction (draw this, step-by-step) but we had the opportunity to make choices within the structure. Interestingly, every drawing was unique, even though we were taught the same method. In this case, skills and creative expression were taught and encouraged simultaneously.

Skills Practice
In my first-grade classroom, we did daily journal writing as part of our skills practice. I wanted my students to get used to the discipline of daily writing, whether they had something interesting to say or not. Every morning they would come in, pull out their journals, and write. Those who didn't know what to write about could check our brainstorming lists, look at a book for ideas, or start by drawing a picture. I also had my students copy sentences so they could get used to the look and feel of a sentence (capital at the beginning, noun, verb, period at the end). We studied parts of speech in isolation and then applied them in our writing. Our writing assignments frequently mimicked the writing of other authors as we retold stories read in class (fairytales or stories from the basal reader), copied the structure of a mentor text (Go To Bed, Biscuit! by Alyssa Capucilli or The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown), or played off the theme of a book (our worries, from Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes).

Creative Expression
I would also give students choice within assignments. When they learned how to write a thank-you letter, they got to choose their audience (someone in the school - several wrote to the principal!). When they learned about persuasive writing, from I Wanna Iguana by Karen Orloff, they wrote letters to their parents asking for pets they really wanted. When they learned about different forms of poetry, I gave the students free rein in choosing their topics. They could also choose which form to use. In their daily journals, students had complete control over both topic and genre and would often apply skills they had learned in formal writing lessons to their writing.

My suspicion is that sometimes you need to teach skills in isolation. Not everything can be taught successfully using a mini-lesson. However, a skills lesson should always be followed by the opportunity to apply the skills, be it that day or later in the year. Likewise, giving students choices in their writing should be part of your writing program - but not the whole of it. They will be better and more confident writers if they are taught the skills they need to be successful and given the opportunity to express themselves in writing.

Curriculum Mapping in Writing - Another Resource

2009-02-25T07:48:00.000-08:00

Meridian School District has provided monthly and yearly curriculum maps by grade level as well as links to the Washington State EALRs here. These give a nice overview of the types of writing that happen at each grade level.

Units of Study for Teaching Writing

2009-02-21T21:16:00.001-08:00

I am intrigued by Lucy Calkins' work in helping teachers improve their writing instruction. She has created two writing programs with her colleagues from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project in an effort to model good teaching. One is called Units of Study for Primary Writing, and the other is Units of Study for Teaching Writing, Grades 3-5. In each of these programs, Calkins lays out how to establish a Writers Workshop and then provides step-by-step instructions for teaching the many different skills involved in writing.

If you click on one of the above links, you will be taken to a page that lists the units of study. From there, you can click on a specific unit of study to view its annotated table of contents and a summary of the unit. You may also view sample lessons by following the links.

When I was teaching, I proposed buying the Units of Study for Primary Writing to my principal. I thought that one of my colleagues and I could pilot it as a potential writing program for our grade level. He didn't see that there was money in the budget for it (It costs $159), and I didn't have the time to write a grant to obtain funding.

In reviewing the tables of contents again today, I saw some similarities between the progession of my writing program and what Calkins has put together. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised - organizing a Writers Workshop certainly follows some standard "steps," as many books can attest. I wonder, then, if her progression of the units of study might also be a standard progression, and if one might consider her tables of contents as mini-lesson topics and a guideline for developing one's own writing program. After all, as teachers we all borrow each other's ideas and adapt them to fit our teaching style and preferences! Just a thought...

Organizing by Genre, Part 2

2009-02-19T21:18:00.000-08:00

The following is a way to organize your writing instruction by genre, based on suggestions from Ken Hyland's article in the Journal of Second Language Writing 16 (2007) 148-164.

The possible stages involved in designing a genre-based course from a text-focus perspective have been outlined by Burns and Joyce (1997) as follows:

1. Identify the overall contexts in which the language will be used.
2. Develop course goals based on this context of use.
3. Note the sequence of language events within the context.
4. List the genres used in this sequence.
5. Outline the sociocognitive knowledge students need to participate in this context.
6. Gather and analyse samples of texts.
7. Develop units of work related to these genres and develop learning objectives to be achieved.

My First Grade Writing Program, using the above framework

Contexts: Classroom (Reading, Science), Home (Letters), Future Schooling (Reports, Essays), Personal Expression (Poems, Journals)
Goals: Students will write in appropriate forms to communicate to their intended audience. Their writing will be legible and will make sense.
Sequence of language events?
Genres: a. Book Recommendations
b. Lab Reports
c. Friendly Letters
d. Thank You Notes
e. Report
f. Recounts (personal narratives)
g. Poetry
h. Journals
Sociocognitive knowledge (as related to above genres):
a. We can recommend books to our friends that we enjoy, and learn of interesting books from them as well
b. Scientists keep track of their learning by writing about their experiments (This also enables them to recreate their experiment later.)
c. We can communicate with others by writing letters
d. We can show our appreciation through thank-you notes
e. We can summarize what we have learned and give information to others through a report
f. We can explain how an event happened through a recount/narrative
g. We can express ourselves creatively through poetry
h. We can express ourselves creatively and explore our thoughts and feelings through journals
Samples of texts (use previous students’ work, my own personal writing and correspondence, and published work)
Units of work & Learning objectives
a. Book Recommendations – Students recommend books to their friends using a “white board” chart during independent reading centers
b. Lab Reports – Taught during Science, written together after every Science lesson (In first grade, we copied the day’s learning objective in question form, then the students had to answer it in their own words and illustrate their answer with a picture of the experiment, labeled of course!)
c. Friendly Letters – Taught initially in the Fall: students write letters to their parents telling them what they are learning in school (parents read during Curriculum Night). Review in Spring: students exchange letters with students in another class
d. Thank You Notes – Written periodically through the year as we appreciate the volunteers in our classroom
e. Report – Taught in Winter along with unit on penguins: shared writing, students offer facts they’ve learned and class puts them together into a logical sequence, then students illustrate facts in pairs. All students receive a photocopy of the penguin “report” book.
f. Recounts – Taught Fall, Winter, and Spring (this skill is assessed in first grade and is an important reading and oral language skill as well): students retell stories as well as personal experiences (Field Day, family traditions, losing and finding an object, what they ate for breakfast, Kite Day)
g. Poetry – Taught in Spring: students are introduced to many forms using mentor texts and keep a working poetry portfolio. At end of unit, teacher and student collaborate to choose best pieces to put into a student poetry anthology
h. Journals – Taught in Fall, Winter, and Spring: students write in journals as entry task after learning spelling strategies, where to find ideas, different forms of writing, etc.

Organizing by Genre

2009-02-19T20:38:00.000-08:00

There is a lot of emphasis these days on teaching Writers Workshop, which is a process driven approach to teaching writing. This method capitalizes on student choice and, I believe, requires a very knowledgeable teacher to ensure learning objectives are met. In its strictest form, it is an inquiry model, heavy on student discovery and light on teacher-directed or "authoritative" instruction. It's the old "traditional" versus "constructivist" argument. I think this is why I had so much trouble inititally trying to implement it into my classroom. It seemed an "airy fairy" approach without much structure, and I am very much a structure kind of girl! I think students learn better when the teacher has a defined set of objectives and a reasonable way of assessment. Perhaps "learn better" is not the right wording. I do acknowledge that much learning can take place from the simple act of discovery; indeed, I am seeing this happen daily in the life of my almost 1-year-old! But teaching in a school setting requires certain structures to be in place in order to prepare students for further academia and the workplace.

I was delighted to find this piece from the Journal of Second Language Writing that illustrates this same point and further suggests the need for structures as a necessity for functioning in society (communicating within social norms). The author, Ken Hyland, explains that genre literacy pedagogy was the answer in the 1970s to the process writing approach (what's old is new again...). His lengthy article espouses the merits of teaching genre sequentially while allowing for student choice and authentic writing experiences. Though Hyland is a little wordy and focuses his research on English Language Learners (referred to as L2), his is a very informative and relevant article for inclusive classrooms and a great defense against the current wave of process driven writing. He argues:

By making explicit what is to be learnt, providing a coherent framework for studying both language and contexts, ensuring that course objectives are derived from students’ needs, and creating the resources for students to understand and challenge valued discourses, genre approaches provide an effective writing pedagogy.

He explains that genre pedagogy is:
Explicit – Makes clear what is to be learnt to facilitate the acquisition of writing skills
Systematic – Provides a coherent framework for focusing on both language and contexts
Needs-based – Ensures that course objectives and content are derived from students’ needs
Supportive – Gives teachers a central role in scaffolding students’ learning and creativity
Empowering – Provides access to the patterns and possibilities of variation in valued texts
Critical – Provides the resources for students to understand and challenge valued discourses
Consciousness-raising – Increases teachers’ awareness of texts to confidently advise students on writing. (Hyland, 2004, pp.10-16)

Whether or not you choose to read the article in its entirety, I encourage you to try the following approach to genre study:

Introduce the genre by reading many examples. Invite students to list common elements between examples. Add to the list important elements that might not have been mentioned (You need to know what elements characterize the genre in order to do this).
Model writing in the genre (can use a mentor text here).
Do a shared writing with your students.
Invite students to write independently in the genre using the elements listed in #1.

If you do choose to read the article, you will find that Hyland suggests a way to organize your writing instruction through genre study. You can see how I used his method to frame my teaching in first grade in my next post.

PROJECT WRITE: A Look at Children's Writing, K-5

2009-02-18T07:54:00.001-08:00

Here is a look at a writing "continuum" at one elementary school in Massachusetts. In this short essay, you can see what genres students study and when, as well as examples of writing at each grade level.

Below is an excerpt. Please click here for the whole article.
In this essay, I will focus on an examination of students' writing (kindergarten to grade five). All of this writing was completed by children who attend the Hardy Elementary School in Arlington, Massachusetts, and who participated in Project WRITE, which was sponsored by the Hood Children's Literacy Project. As I share these children's writing, I will point out the different purposes for which these children wrote. I will explain what classroom teachers and college professors who were associated with the Hood Children's Literacy Project learned from these students' writing, and I will describe the criteria we used to evaluate these students' writing. Finally, I will share with you the conclusions we drew from Project WRITE.

Integration of the Six Traits in First Grade Writing

2009-02-17T22:32:00.000-08:00

The following is a suggested schedule to help the teacher organize mini-lessons so as to “cover” the assessed Six+1 Traits during the school year. It is merely a guide. Student work should play the primary role in determining the direction of instruction.

First Trimester: September-December
Week 1 Ideas: Generate ideas
Week 2 Organization: Generate personal idea list
Week 3 Conventions: Spelling strategies
Week 4 Presentation: Define audience and purpose

Week 5 Ideas: Written and illustrated ideas match
Week 6 Organization: Sentence is complete (contains a noun and verb)
Week 7 Conventions: Begin with a capital, end with a period
Week 8 Presentation: Letters formed correctly, legible handwriting

Week 9 Ideas: Identify main idea
Week 10 Organization: Main idea is followed by supporting details
Week 11 Conventions: Punctuation review
Week 12 Presentation: Generate “Criteria for Excellent Writing”
Week 13 Ideas: Writing stays on topic

Second Trimester: January-March
Week 14 Organization: I’m beginning to expand on my 1 main idea
Week 15 Conventions: Expected words are spelled right
Week 16 Presentation: My friends can read my writing

Week 17 Ideas: Idea + 2 supporting details
Week 18 Organization: Beginning, middle, end are present in writing
Week 19 Conventions: Dialogue – quotation marks
Week 20 Presentation: Illustrations show detail and add interest to writing

Week 21 Ideas: My reader gets the general idea
Week 22 Organization: Beginning, middle, end are clear in writing
Week 23 Conventions: Capitals are in the right place
Week 24 Presentation: Paper is easy to read

Third Trimester: April-June
Week 25 Voice: The writing sounds like you, topic matters to you
Week 26 Word Choice: Opening words “hook” the reader
Week 27 Sentence Fluency: Sentences begin in different ways
Week 28 Presentation (Oral): Writing is read to peers

Week 29 Ideas: Idea + 3 supporting details
Week 30 Organization: Beginning, middle, end make sense in writing
Week 31 Conventions: Variety in punctuation – (. ? !)
Week 32 Presentation: Writing is read confidently to peers

Week 33 Voice: It sounds like you’re excited about this topic
Week 34 Word Choice: This shows your imagination
Week 35 Sentence Fluency: Paper is easy to read out loud
Week 36 Organization Ending ties it all

Scope and Sequence for Writing Instruction

2009-02-17T21:47:00.001-08:00

For several years I have been looking for a scope and sequence for teaching writing, specifically for a first grade classroom. Unfortunately, I have come up with next to nothing. I have found developmental guides that show the progession from writing scribbles to representing ideas in words, but nothing that suggests how a year of writing should look in the classroom.

When I was teaching first grade, I implemented a modified Writers Workshop in my classroom. I worked with diverse learners (at one time I had 7 English Language Learners in my classroom speaking 4 different languages) and had multiple classroom management issues. Besides the challenges of working with young children (short attention spans, limited life experiences from which to draw, physical difficulty in forming letters), I had students in special ed, students taking first grade for the second time, students with ADD and ADHD, and students with a wide variety of home situations. I did not feel like a Writers Workshop in which students had complete control over their topics, genres, and revision process would be successful in my classroom. So we did more of a Guided Writers Workshop, where I taught mini-lessons and presented many teacher demonstrations and shared writing lessons, and then students were given an opportunity to write on a topic or in the genre of my choice. During their independent writing time, I would walk around and provide scaffolding for students as needed (writing for those who were in the "tracing" phase, encouraging more advanced writers to elaborate, etc.). We always celebrated each other's writing at the end of our writing time. Sometimes we took our writing through the entire writing process, but many times we did not. Students were free to explore topics and genres of their choice during their journal writing time (their entry task each morning), and often I was pleased to see them experimenting with what they had learned in our more formal writing lessons.

Because I chose the mentor text, topic, or genre for the day/week/month, I was able to come up with my own scope and sequence for the year:

First Trimester
Generating Ideas for Writing (2 weeks)
Basics of Writing (6 wks)
Narrative Writing I (5 wks)

Second Trimester
Expository Writing (6 wks)
Retell (4 wks)
Generating Ideas for Writing (1 wk)
Friendly Letter (2 wks)

Third Trimester
Research Report (3 wks)
Narrative Writing II & the Writing Process (5 wks)
Poetry (4 wks)
How-To Writing (1 wk)

I used this outline in combination with a skills-based sequence (My Integration of the Six Traits) to help organize my teaching. It is vague enough to allow for varying mentor texts, author studies, and across-the-curriculum links, yet structured enough so that I knew when I would "cover" each of the required genres. It also follows somewhat of a developmental sequence (My first graders were not ready to do a research report or write thoughtful poetry at the beginning of the year, although I know several first grade teachers who have been successful with teaching poetry first.). Additionally, it allows me to select anchor papers throughout the year from each genre to put into student writing portfolios and to guide in assessment.

I know not all teachers like following such a structure, but there is something to be said for teaching the same thing at the same time. When everyone at a grade level is teaching narrative writing, for instance, it makes collaboration that much easier: sharing ideas, discussing grading, forming and assessing rubrics.

I don't think a strict writing curriculum is the answer, but I also don't think Writer's Workshop in any form can succeed without specific teacher training and tools such as a writing scope and sequence so that teachers are knowledgeable about the process of teaching writing and have the support of their colleagues as they teach.

Mentor Texts, Part 2

2009-02-16T09:56:00.000-08:00

Here are some links from WritingFix.com to lesson plans using mentor texts. I have organized them by form.

Friendly Letter, Persuasive Writing
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
Focus Trait: Voice (persuasive writing)
Support Trait: Organization (friendly letter form)
http://writingfix.com/Picture_Book_Prompts/ClickClackMoo1.htm

I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff
Focus Trait: Voice
Support Trait: Word Choice
http://writingfix.com/Picture_Book_Prompts/IWannaIguana1.htm

4-5 paragraph essay
How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long
Focus Trait: Organization
Support Trait: Sentence Fluency
http://writingfix.com/Picture_Book_Prompts/HowPirate1.htm

Short Story, roughly 2 pages
A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
Focus Trait: Idea Development (strong details: show, not tell)
Support Trait: Voice (using emotional words)
http://writingfix.com/Picture_Book_Prompts/Bad_Case_Stripes3.htm

Writing Exercise: Forming a Good Sentence
Hooway for Wodney Wat by Helen Lester
Focus Trait: Sentence Fluency
Support Trait: Varying Sentence Beginnings
http://writingfix.com/right_brain/Who_What_When_Where_Recess1.htm

I think that once you have taught several successful lessons using mentor texts, you will find a teaching style that works for you. When you have found your rhythm, it becomes easier to develop a lesson from scratch using a mentor text. At that point, you can use books from your existing library to form the basis of your writing “program.” (And once you know how you best organize a writing lesson, you can use the plethora of lists found on the Internet and elsewhere of good mentor texts.)

One Way to Organize a Mentor Text Lesson

1. Present the text to the students
a. Give a brief summary of the plot (don’t give away the ending!)
b. Explain what the students should be listening for as you read (your teaching point or “Focus Trait”)
c. Read the text
d. Discuss how the text illustrated your teaching point
i. Discuss as a group OR
ii. Do a Think-Pair-Share OR
iii. Make a list together OR
iv. Give examples on your own (Unfortunately, this allows for no student interaction but can be used if you are short on time.)
2. Explain writing assignment
a. Model writing the assignment yourself OR
b. Model writing the assignment with student input OR
c. Give students a graphic organizer or list of steps and model following that format OR
d. Bring up a student and guide him/her in modeling the assignment
(You don’t have to model the whole assignment, but at least model how to start. Often, the first sentence is the hardest to write.)
3. Write teaching point on board. This is your look-for, or your objective.
4. Students begin writing!

You can follow this format for any type of writing. The most important element is teacher modeling. Students need to see you write in front of them (This is what you require of them, right?), and they need to see that sometimes writing comes easily and sometimes it does not.

**Rarely do you teach using a mentor text, model the assignment, and have students bring writing to completion in one session. (There are occasions when you can do this, however, especially with younger students who are required to write only a sentence or two.)

When I taught writing to first graders, I tried to divide my writing time (45-60 minutes) in thirds, so that I taught a mini-lesson at the beginning, had them write in the middle, and had students share their writing at the end (Whether they were finished or not, a few students would read their writing aloud and we would clap. I would take notes on who I needed to work with the next day during independent writing time, or what I saw as a common error that needed to be addressed in a mini-lesson).

Below is a sample week using a mentor text.

Day One: Mini-lesson (Read mentor text and discuss)
Day Two: Review mentor text and discussion briefly; model writing; students begin writing
Day Three: Mini-lesson (Bring up 1-3 students independently to share writing with class - validate what they have done well and give them a few suggestions to make their writing better); students continue writing
Day Four and following: Mini-lesson (Model developing ideas, working on transitions, or tying it all together; model revision; or repeat Day Three)

As students bring their writing to completion they can read their writing to a peer, take it through an editing checklist (If you do this, make sure you have introduced this at the beginning of the writing assignment so students don’t feel like you’re making them do “extra” work!), or write in an independent journal. Try to keep the focus on writing rather than on catching up on other assignments or busy work.

Please recognize that this way of teaching is very organic. It is not something where you can plan out specific mini-lessons ahead of time. You can, and should, have an idea of what your teaching points are, but you also need to take into account the pacing of your class: how much time you have for writing (some days, none!), how much guidance your students need (direct instruction as a whole group? small group support? one-on-one?), and how much time they can actually write independently (10 minutes? 20 minutes? 0 minutes?) Good writing takes discipline (writing every day) and constant reflection and revision. You can guide students through this process using the mini-lesson format (and please let them share!) so that there is always some collaborative effort, the feeling that we’re all in this together. Too often I imagine students feel isolated as writers, and when writing is hard, they give up. If you celebrate their writing as they write, and help solve some of their problems (not knowing what to say next, how to organize their thoughts, or how to conclude their writing) as they go instead of at the end by marking up their paper with red marks, I think they have a lot more fun at it! (And you have less to grade, since you have been guiding them all along!)

Mentor Texts

2009-02-15T20:40:00.000-08:00

What is a mentor text? How is it used in teaching writing? Is it a realistic and effective way to teach writing?

My understanding of a mentor text is a piece of writing, typically a book, that is used by a teacher and/or a student as a model for how to write a certain way. Because a book can be such a long form, picture books tend to be recommended for this type of teaching.

Some ways mentor texts are used:
1. Formally (the teacher reads the text and tells the students what to look for or imitate)
2. Informally (students are given a variety of texts to study independently during writers workshop)
3. To model form (poetry, short story, etc.) or trait (organization, word choice, etc.).
3. To serve as inspiration for a topic
4. To open a writing lesson
5. To illustrate a teaching point (strong ending, varied sentence openers, transitions)

ReadWriteThink has a lesson on using mentor texts to teach organization within a comparison/contrast paper. This is an "inquiry" lesson where students are to discover their best method of organization as they read and study their mentor texts. (I think you would need some highly motivated and focused students in order to have success in this manner of teaching.)
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=974

Corbett Harrison, Director of the Northern Nevada Writing Project, often uses mentor texts to illustrate teaching points: sometimes at the beginning of a lesson to inspire kids to write or give them a form to mimic, and sometimes right before they are to revise. Here he lists his top ten mentor texts and gives a brief description of how he uses them in the classroom (very helpful!):
http://corbettharrison.com/mentortext.html

More mentor texts and lesson plans can be found at Corbett Harrison's other website, WritingFix.com. The lessons are listed alphabetically by mentor text, not skills focus, although at the bottom of the page there are mentor texts organized by the Six Traits (no lesson plans listed for these though).
http://writingfix.com/About_us/books.htm

I think that mentor texts are often presented to teachers as a way to have students learn by being exposed to great writing, but without a "how-to" and having the mentor texts in hand, this method can easily be dismissed. It would be helpful to have teachers or coaches demonstrate how they use mentor texts since they can be adapted to so many teaching styles (Teachers, can you ask your principal to cover your class while you visit a colleague's classroom, with their permission of course?).

Mentor texts are one tool for teaching writing; they are not an established writing "program." I think to be most effective, a teacher should look at an entire year of writing objectives (considering the teaching of form as well as "the six traits"), sketch out a sequence in which to teach them (or use the one provided by the district, if available), and then plug in mentor texts as mini-lessons to illustrate teaching points.

Surely you can teach mentor texts as isolated writing lessons, and I did this very thing my first year or two of teaching, knowing nothing else (I didn't call them "mentor texts" though!). As I taught each lesson I saved student writing samples along with an index card listing my objective and the steps in which I taught the lesson, and put them into a plastic page protector. I filed the lessons in a 3-ring-binder with monthly dividers. Then in following years, I was able to organize the lessons into a scope and sequence that made sense.