And kick butt on the WIDA test!!! Leveling Up in Writing: Tools & Strategies to Help Students Develop as Writers And kick butt on the WIDA test!!!

Rita & John & Jana ritaplatt@hotmail.com | @ritaplatt john.wolfe.mps@gmail.com janahilleren@gmail.com http://3cconsultingeducat.wixsite.com/3cconsultinged Rita Platt is a Nationally Board Certified teacher. Her experience includes teaching learners of all levels from kindergarten to graduate student. She currently is a Library Media & Reading Specialist for the St. Croix Falls SD in Wisconsin, teaches graduate courses for the Professional Development Institute, and consults with local school districts. John Wolfe is an Itinerant ESL Teacher in the Multilingual Department at the Minneapolis Public School District. He has worked with students at all levels as well as provided professional development to fellow teachers. His areas of expertise include standards-based instruction, literacy, and direct language instruction. Jana Hilleren, is a former Executive Director of a large ESL department. Jana believes that each school represents a unique web of relationships--which can be strengthened when educators feel a strong sense of connection, a shared vision and a coherent set of strategies.

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All About the Benjamins

Our Road Map … Your Journey The 3 C’s of PD: Collaborative, Conversational, & Continuous! http://tiny.cc/3cs

Leveling Up: Ground to Cover 1. Why it’s okay to Hack the ACCESS Writing Test 2. How to Hack the ACCESS Writing Test 3. Prepare for Implementation

Discussion (Colored Sticky Notes) What do you hope to accomplish? What do you have in place already? What are your concerns? What are your hopes?

Walk Away With … Deep understanding of the WIDA Writing Test How it’s scored, How to use that knowledge to help students be better writers (and score higher!) 2. A set of two or three actual prompts that can be used for practice. 4. A consistent tool to provide students with feedback. 3. A “practice cycle plan” that includes orientation, writing, feedback, revision (and then more practice).

To Hack or not to Hack?

Why it’s okay.

John Hattie on … 1. Success Criteria Success criteria relate to knowledge of end points – that is, how do we know when we arrive? “Just Drive.” Imagine if I were simply to ask to get in your car and drive; at some unspecified time, I’ll let you know when you’ve arrived (if you arrive at all). For too many students, this is what learning feels like.

2. Discrepant Scores (Writing as a Lever for Leveling Up) Think of this as the Iron Law of High-Stakes Testing: What’s tested is taught; what isn’t tested is neglected.

3. big win! advocate for team esl!

Basic Law of Learning: 5. Deliberate Practice Visible teaching and learning occurs when there is deliberate practice aimed at attaining mastery of the goal, when there is feedback given and sought, and when there are active, passionate, and engaging people (teacher, students, peers) participating in the act of learning.

5. Avoiding “Chameleon Pedagogy”

Part II: How to Hack the Writing Test

1. Understanding the Scoring (study the anchor papers) If how the writing is scored isn’t clear to us, how can we support our students in high achievement? Download all the W-APT stuff at http://tiny.cc/3csWAPTs

Key Idea: It’s all about the 3 Criteria Word Level (vocabulary) Sentence Level (grammatical structures & idioms) Whole text (length & complexity of discourse) Key Idea: It’s all about the 3 Criteria Complexity Vocabulary Control =Cohesion =Organization

Proof: The WAPT Anchor Papers & Scoring Rationales The Prompt Now it’s your turn to write! Study the pictures. They show the steps Martha used to figure out that Tank 1 was the largest fish tank. Now write a paragraph of at least 6 sentences describing how Martha solved her problem.

Organization discourse Sentence Complexity Vocab Word Organization discourse

Organization discourse Sentence Complexity Vocab Word Organization discourse

Organization discourse WIDA likes “academic verbs” Sentence Complexity Vocab Word Organization discourse

The gift of time With a partner, download and examine the prompt, anchor papers, and rationales for a grade level you support. [ http://tiny.cc/3csWAPTs ] Use the CVC & SWS (the criteria sheets) Read that against or with the anchor papers and rationales for your grade level. Do the rationales for the anchor papers make sense? HINT: Periodically return to the anchor papers

Step 2: Provide practice opportunities http://tiny.cc/3csPrompts

Would it be useful to them to do similar, content-related tasks? The WIDA Prompt We know what the prompt looks like … a 15-20 one-page writing task on a bizarre academic challenge. How often do students have a chance to practice this over the course of the year? Would it be useful to them to do similar, content-related tasks? Download all the W-APT stuff at the ELL2 Google Apps Site https://sites.google.com/a/mpls.k12.mn.us/ell2/w-apt

Anatomy of a WIDA Prompt Often a “narrative frame” (the task will “ride on a story” to avoid the huge syntactic complexity of decontext-ualized language) Academic Language Graphic & visual supports Prompt supports language about thinking, reasoning Note: In WIDA, “graphic” means “written information radically stripped down” A “solved problem” Vocabulary box (which Level 1 to lower 3 will ignore – as they should.)

Are our prompts harder than a typical WIDA prompt? Maybe … because this was designed to do “double-duty” as a content assessment. Going forward … could you ask the math teachers to toss in a “worked problem” writing task like this once a month?

Anatomy of a WIDA Prompt Often a “narrative frame” (to avoid the huge syntactic complexity of decontext-ualized language) Academic Language Graphic & visual supports Prompt supports language about thinking, reasoning Note: In WIDA, “graphic” means “written information radically stripped down” Vocabulary box A “solved problem”

Anatomy of a WIDA Prompt

Teachers say they need multiple prompts …

The Pre-Writing Section

The Pre-Writing RULE If your students always do pre-writing, have them do it. (They’ll understand it.) If pre-writing isn’t a standard, frequent part of student writing practice, teach them to skip the pre-write.

Consistent Tools to Give Students Feedback in the Service of Goals

Olive

Bonus: Meaningful Peer Editing! Olive Bonus: Meaningful Peer Editing!

A Simpler Goal Setting Sheet

Look at/Modify the Tool Which criteria do you anticipate to be your key focus? Can you think of students for each criteria? Decision: Differentiate Focus or Common Focus? Modifications?

And for everyone … Desktop Checklist Taped to the student notebook or writing folder? Taped to the desk? Posted large in the classroom? As students hand work in, you say “Did you go through the checklist?”

Leaving Here with a PLAN FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Checklist for Implementation Proposed schedule how much time will you need? Why should you take that time? Generic vs. content-related prompts? Grading (content teacher having standards-related evidence available for grading …) Make plans, including list of materials to be copied

Remember … you have to teach the three criteria.

3 Grad Credits for less than $400 Professional Development Institute (PDI) www.webteaching.com 3 Grad Credits for less than $400 Reading Foundations for Emergent and Early Readers (PK-2) Best Practices for a Successful 4th – 6th Grade Classroom (4-6) Best Practices for a Successful Middle School Classroom (6-8) Designing and Creating WebQuest (3-12) Mastering the Text Complexity Challenge (4-8) Reading Interventions for Middle Grade Students (4-8) Reading Workshop Approach in the Middle Grades (4-8) Response to Intervention in Reading (K-6) The Fundamentals of Teaching ELD Instructional Strategies for ELD & SDAIE NEW ESL COURSE COMING SOON!!!! EMAIL RITA FOR DETAILS & DISCOUNT CODE FOR ANY COURSE!

Leveling Up: Ground to Cover 1. Why it’s okay to Hack the ACCESS Writing Test 2. How to Hack the ACCESS Writing Test 3. Prepare for Implementation

Discussion (Colored Sticky Notes) What do you hope to accomplish? What do you have in place already? What are your concerns? What are your hopes?

Hack or not? You decide