Writer’s Workshop Kate Carlisle LSKY 2016

“You only learn to be a better writer by actually writing” By extension you only learn to be a better teacher of writing by actually writing with the students Writing… “You only learn to be a better writer by actually writing” Doris Lessing

Holistic Writing Model, K. Carlisle 2016 SHARE Authentic Integrated Experiential Synthesize / Create PROCESS   How is the writing instruction delivered? SKILLS What makes the writing good? Shared vision – common assumptions about writing I DO Modelled Teacher as writer Mechanical skills / Expressive skills Genre awareness WE DO Guided instruction Personalized responsive learning environment Student YOU DO Application Integrated holistic content across the curriculum PRODUCTS What form will the writing take? Student is the centre. Individualized learning goals and responsive instruction support each student. CONTENT What are we writing about? Holistic Writing Model, K. Carlisle 2016

Holistic Writing Model, K. Carlisle, 2016 PROCESS   How is the writing instruction delivered? SKILLS What makes the writing good? Shared vision – common assumptions about writing Genre awareness Student Engagement Differentiation Flexibility Interdependence Personalization Choice PRODUCTS What form will the writing take? Engagment, Differentiation, flexibility, interdependence, personalization and choice need to be considered in each quadrant. CONTENT What are we writing about? Holistic Writing Model, K. Carlisle, 2016

Shared vision Quality writing instruction begins with shared foundational beliefs and an understanding of how key beliefs impact instruction. http://www.ncte.org/positi ons/statements/teaching- writing Professional Knowledge for the teaching of writing: http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/teaching-writing Last spring Penny Kittle tweeted the ncte guideline document which summarized key research and foundational beliefs about writing for English teachers. The document resonated with me and I spent some time reading and summarizing it and thinking about how it applies to writing instruction in our division. This activity is designed around some of the ideas in this document. Divide into grade alike groupings) Distribute 2 or 3 questions to each group and instructions. Table talk , distribute responses and complete doc for further discussion and then share back.   Discuss the question at your table group and try to arrive at a consensus. Brainstorm potential implications for teaching. Look at the NCTE guideline research summary. Report back to large group

Implications for teaching… Opportunities to write: Variety of purposes and audiences Variety of technologies and modalities Variety of tools for thinking Variety of composing modalities (digital design, illustrated text forms) Authentic experiential learning Summary of important implications for teaching from the ncte guideline doc

Implications for teaching… Safe differentiated learning environment Holistic process Students own lives as content and process Opportunities for talk Integrate reading and writing Quality instruction and ongoing assessment

TheTraits The six traits can provide a useful focus for guided writing and formative assessment throughout the writing process. At the same time students should be encouraged to think about their writing holistically.

The traits and… What makes writing good? Content / Learning Critical thinking Creativity Authentic voice Expression

Using student evidence to set learning goals for responsive guided instruction. Use Seravallo look Fors to assess student writing samples and identify learning goals Student evidence

Students at the center… Begin with the writing samples Identify strengths and areas for growth Students with similar goals can be grouped into small pods for guided instruction during writer’s workshop Student centered model….need to look at student work to establish individualized learning goals Go to Serravallo look fors on curriculum connections Share what we are doing at BCS as a pilot intervention

Selecting writing goals Purpose and genre Craft focus F & P Writing Continuum Serravallo Look Fors Engagement Cross curricular content What tools can we use to select goals? Serravallo Look Fors are grouped into K-2 and 3-6 and take into account and roughly correspond to the developmental levels of readers: Emergent, Early, Developing and Fluent. Serravallo Look Fors are a strength based approach and are organized by genre and developmental level. Other considerations? Engagement Across the curriculum

Mentor Text …an aspect of a writer’s technique… A mentor text is a piece of writing that can be used to teach a writer about …an aspect of a writer’s technique… The ideas, the structure of the writing or the author’s craft… And inspire the writer to try out these techniques. The text can also be used to inspire an original idea based on one from the text and to demonstrate an organizational structure that the writer can attempt to emulate with their own original ideas. A mentor text can be a book, or an excerpt from a book or a sample created by the teacher.

How to use a mentor text Read it like a reader Read it like a writer Write like the writer with your own ideas  When you read like a writer you are reading to learn about the writing and to identify the choices the author made to better understand how you might improve your own writing.

Draft, Craft, Edit, Publish Writer’s Workshop The Writers workshop model can be used to integrate writing with the content areas and allows seamless integration of content and process with emphasis on deeper levels of thinking and speaking. Read, Think, Talk Draft, Craft, Edit, Publish How do we define writer’s workshop? Why should we do it?

LSKY Curriculum Connections Writer’s Workshop plans Writers workshop planning template Talk about importance of experiential learning, thinking and talking Workshop model incorporates mall group instruction focused on the needs of the students identified with strength based assessment. Talk here about setting up a place in the library for mentor text for teachers…purchase two copies of the same book

Mentor Text The mentor text is used as a stimulus for the writing task. Highlights qualities of good writing specific to the genre. An example of using When I was Eight as a mentor text with an emphasis on craft would be to study the author’s voice in the text. Fatty legs is written in first person and is a memoir so after reading and analyzing the text students might experiment with writing from Olemaun’s point of view, or from the point of view of someone else in the book. A variety of craft techniques in a text such as When I was eight or Fatty Legs could be highlighted with students: descriptive emotive language, metaphor, literary allusion to Alice in Wonderland Metaphor: You could analyze the text for the use of metaphor and then apply that skill to another piece of writing. (Swan and the Raven) Duplicate excerpts from the text and analyze how the author used to metaphor to enhance the meaning Compare and contrast Alice in Wonderland with fatty legs and then write about some of the themes. The book is written by Margaret’s daughter in law. Potential writing tasks based on writer’s craft might be to interview someone about their school experience and then write their story from their point of view.

READ Mentor text: Analyze a text for the qualities in the lesson focus and specific to the students Teacher as writer: teacher pre-writes and thinks through the steps … Ideally both! The writers workshop planning template can be used to create integrated writers workshops that integrate cross curricular contnet.

THINK Include a visible thinking strategy Talk about the Making thinking visible book and list of strategies in it http://www.visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_files/VisibleThinking1.html

Six hats thinking routine Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ8vF8HRWE4 Source: Edward DeBono, Parallel Thinking. He is most known for his 6 hats activity – In which you explore and problem solve an issue from a variety of perspectives. I think it would help with thinking and talking before writing persuasive pieces. The hats can be real (for younger students) or metaphorical…white hat – provide information about the topic, yellow hat –positive thinking, Green hat – creative thinking, red hat – emotional responses, black hat – judgment / evaluation and blue hat – guiding the process and think about the thinking. There are quite a few video clips on youtube that explain it…here is one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ8vF8HRWE4. There are some funny ones as well that students might like.

TALK Talk about the importance of talk

Drafting- write an initial draft Drafting- write an initial draft. During the drafting phase students can be grouped according to the “Look Fors” assessment and immediate guided instruction can be provided

CRAFT Revise the text based on the learning goal / craft technique from the lesson…substantive changes at this stage Revise again : based on formative assessment ….individual support from teacher and / or peer suggestions

EDIT Polish your writing Final edit involves polishing the writing…final copy editing

On-line resources Writing mini lessons using mentor texts http://www5.sd71.bc.ca/literacy/ 6 Traits lessons on Writing fix.com http://writingfix.com/about_us/books.htm http://writingfix.com/ LSKY curriculum connections

Penny Kittle http://pennykittle.net/index. php?page=home Middle years and high school Resources – mentor texts

Assessing Quality North East School Division: http://curriculum.nesd.ca/Pages/default.aspx The SPDU website: https://www.spdu.ca/resources/english_language_arts.html The Stevenson scale 6 + 1 Traits of Writing contains K-5 exemplars, descriptors and rubrics: http://www.sjsd.net/~mckiel/FOV1- 000447C0/main.htm Take 6 traits Stevenson continuum