“Filling in the Gap” Middle School Writing vs. High School Writing Luther Barnett Veronica Bradley SSWWP 2014

Professional Development Project Topic: Transitioning from the Five Paragraph Essay to Analytical Writing Time Frame: Once a year Audience: Middle/High School Outline: (45minutes)

What are Middle School Teachers Preparing their students for? Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (PASS) Characteristics of the Test Not Timed Students are expected to brainstorm, complete a rough draft, and final draft Students are given a non text based prompt (Describe your favorite holiday)

Synopsis of the Middle School Writing Process Types of Writing (Personal Narrative, Expository, Descriptive, Persuasive) Writing Prompt (Deciphering the prompt) The Writing Process (Brainstorm/Outline, Rough Draft, Edit, Revise, Rough Draft, Final Draft) 15 point Scoring Rubric

15 Point Scoring Rubric

Your Turn Take 5 minutes to write on the Prompt Below Many people believe that television violence has a negative effect on society because it promotes violence. Do you agree or disagree? Use specific reasons and examples to support your response.

Switch papers with your neighbor and use the 15 point rubric to assess only the voice category. Be sure to give feedback

Now… Read the given essay and assess the student using the 15 point scoring rubric. 15 = 100 14 = 95 13= 90 12 = 85 11 = 80 10 = 75 9 = 70 8 = 65 7 = 60 6 = 55…...

High School Teaching Upper Level English: Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate

IB Paper 1 1. Students take Paper 1 in May of the senior year. 2 IB Paper 1 1. Students take Paper 1 in May of the senior year. 2. Students are provided with poem and a passage of prose. They are not given a prompt. They have 2 hours to read and analyze either the poem or the passage and then compose a well-organized and sophisticated literary analysis essay. 3. Therefore, students need to be able to read a text that they have never seen before and demonstrate the ability to comprehend it and then write about it immediately.

Paper 1 Practice In your handout, you will see Sylvia Plath's “Mirror Paper 1 Practice In your handout, you will see Sylvia Plath's “Mirror.” Take ten minutes to read the poem and start an essay. The activity you're doing right now is one that I use regularly in both the IB and the AP class. It helps the students become faster and more efficient readers and writers.

The IB Rubric After listening to me share a couple of student essays and explain how and why I scored them in the way that I did, use the IB rubric to score your partner's writing. Remember that you are trying to grade in the way that you would expect a completely objective party to grade. The evaluators often are in other countries, and they don't know my kids personally. All they know is the essay that they are reading. After five minutes, we'll discuss the evaluation process as a group.

3. Read and Write Independently Closing the Gap What can middle school teachers do to meet state standards and prepare students for analytical writing? Mentor Texts Kelly Gallagher used pieces of the book Columbine to help students “recognize how writing can move beyond simply summarizing and into areas (in this case, analysis and interpretation) that sharpen the writer’s ability to think and the reader’s ability to understand” (Gallagher, p.137, 2011). 2. Read and Re-read Reading the text several times “teaches students that asking questions is essential if they are to have any chance of moving beyond shallow interpretation” (Gallagher, p.148, 2011). 3. Read and Write Independently “People who read more write better….Readers write papers that have longer development, more mature vocabulary, and better and more diverse sentence structure” (Gallagher, p.188, 2011). Practice writing each day.

Activity Read the poem, The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. 2. Use the handout to complete the first, second, and third reading of the poem. 3. Answer the questions below: a. Formulate an idea of what you think the road may represent. Explain why you think that. b. Propose a reason for the ―sigh” the speaker has at the end of the poem. What are some of the reasons he may be sighing? Explain your answer. c. Propose a meaning for the line ―that has made all the difference.‖ What are some of other meanings of that line? Which interpretation do you prefer? Why

Writing Prompt We all have roads in our lives we decide not to take. Tell about a road in your life you chose not to take. Looking back, do you regret not taking that road. Why? Why not? How might your life be different today had you taken that road?