Using the Notice & Note Signposts as a Framework for Writing Presenter: Tammy Anfang Contact Information: tanfang@crestwoodschools.org

Presenter: Tammy Anfang CMS teacher and Power of the Pen coach for 24 years, National Writing Project at Kent State University Teacher Consultant (TC), NWP participant in 2010, current member of the TC Council, conference presenter at Write Here! Write Now! and the Annual Reading Conference at KSU, and an instructor for graduate credit at KSU. tanfang@crestwoodschools.org

Want to earn a credit for today’s workshop? Ask me about the College, Career, and Community Writers Program Workshop: Sharpen Students' Argumentative Writing With Engaging Strategies

Do your students Notice & Note the “Signposts” as they read Do your students Notice & Note the “Signposts” as they read? What about when they write? Encourage your students to Read Like Writers to focus on the author’s craft and to use the Notice & Note Signposts as a framework for writing everything from narratives to argumentative essays.

How can we help our students develop style and voice in their writing?

W.7.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences. a. Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically. b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters. c. Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence and signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another. d. Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events. e. Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on the narrated experiences or events.

“...activities that bring the invisible process of comprehending to the visible level” (175). “It is critical that my students be able to move beyond simply telling me what a text says; I want them to begin to recognize how the text is constructed” (20).

Using the Notice & Note Signposts in Writing: Quick Writes / Journals Narratives Literature Letters / Literary Analysis/Responses Source-Based Arguments

Focused Free Write/SSW (Sustained Silent Writing) Prompt: “Something Unexpected” Write about your reaction to a surprising event in your life.

Print Labels

Read Like Writers Notice & Note the Signposts! Recognize the images. Examine the sentence structure and paragraph format. Student Example

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Resource: “How to Teach Memoir in the Middle Grades”

► Every story must have an understory. There are many reasons – both academic and social-emotional –why it is so worthwhile to teach memoir writing to adolescents, but here I want to focus on the how. How do I help students who say they don’t remember anything well enough to write about it? How do I get them to dig deep and uncover the themes in their lives? How do I help them elevate the craft of their writing? For teachers embarking on a memoir writing unit, there are three fundamental ideas about the genre that I find myself returning to again and again. ► Memoirs do not need to be factually accurate, but they need to be truthful. ► Every story must have an understory. ► Memoirs should move seamlessly between the sea and the mountain. By Jake Wizner

Oreos and Arguments: Using Kelly Gallagher’s “Who Is to Blame?” PBS Nonficiton Article: "The Drought" Analyzing an Author's Use of Nonfiction Signposts Student Example "Who's to Blame?" Double Stuffed Oreo Checklist Oreo Labeled from Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling & Mentor texts