The best intervention is good instruction! Writing like a STAAR The best intervention is good instruction! Whether it is 4th grade, 7th grade or English I EOC, you now have some writing data to work with. Based on that data could be thinking about summer school interventions celebrating current instructional practices that worked or contemplating changes that need to occur in instruction.

Prompt Please grab a piece of paper from the middle of the table and a pen or pencil. You can see that you have a writing prompt scaffolded just like the STAAR prompts. Please take a few moments to write to this prompt. Be sure to put your name and district info on your paper so we can mail you feedback. PAUSE for a few seconds

We are just kidding! But take a moment to reflect on how you felt when posed with the task. Some of you were excited to have the opportunity to write, some of you thought “really…writing…UG?” , some of you thought “I have to write to THAT?”. That is how many of our students feel when posed with a prompt.

Assign vs. Instruct? In this instance we “assigned” the prompt. It was clear we planned on providing feedback, but didn’t teach you what we were looking for or what the qualities of good writing were. Many teachers feel overwhelmed when it comes to teaching writing.

So they look for a formula.

When we know that formulaic writing doesn’t produce authentic pieces of writing.

As a side note-we know that starting with a rigid GO can help our struggling writers, but it is not considered best practices. That is a conversation for another day and another time.

Searching for “the answer” Susan “I felt frustrated teaching High School English, and thought…surely there is ‘an answer’. So I went to grad school, majored in rhetoric looking for the answers.

The Answer………. And I found out that there is no answer…writing is messy!

Best Practices Writing Process Strategies Mentor Text Modeling the Writing Process Increase Writing Frequency and Duration Setting Goals and Using Rubrics Collaborative Writing Grammar in Context Writing Across the Content Areas Word Processing Programs One of “the answers” was research-based best practices that should be used K-12. You can find these in the middle section of your brochure.

Instruction Author’s Purpose Thesis (Central Idea/Controlling Idea) Organization Sentence Variety Transitional Words and Phrases Word Choice Figurative Language Tone Sensory Language Introduction and Conclusion Grammar and Conventions  Another “hint” at the answer is the list of instructional elements that need to be taught and modeled for students K-12. But it’s still messy! We all know many teachers who have found a way to uncover the “mess” and use the best practices to make the instructional elements visible to students as they being to slip into the skin of a writer.

The best intervention is good instruction Summer School The best intervention is good instruction So what do these practices and instructional elements have to do with summer school intervention? <CLICK> What we know is “the best intervention is good instruction.” There is no magic program, no matter how much publishers want us to believe that.

BOOT CAMP But time is of the essence, so this good instruction needs to be run almost like a boot camp! It needs to be intensive, based on building stamina as quickly as possible and it will take a lot of sweat (on both the teachers and students parts)!

Summer School Intervention Recommendations Genre based Informed by the philosophy of Writing Workshop (writing process) Based on 4 day week 2 hours of daily writing instruction We have a few recommendations for summer school: <CLICK> Each week should be genre based. Look at the data to see what genres students struggled with. <CLICK>Look to the philosophy and research on using the writing workshop (also know as the writing process) approach. Students need to see writing as a process and be given the opportunity to learn revision and editing techniques. This is help them become better writers. <CLICK>We based out suggestions on a 4-day week. <CLICK>We presumed that in a summer school situation, there are 4 about hours of instruction. We presumed that ½ the day would have to be spent on reading instruction and the other ½ on writing instruction.

Day 1 Genre Immersion Students select topic Prewrite Teacher models drafting Students draft DURING WRITING TIME (after the mini-lesson) teacher is moving about the room and conducting mini-conferences with each students every day. Students should be immersed in the genre they are studying that week. They need to be shown professional and student models of the particular genre, NOTICING the moves the writers are making within the genre. Topics students write about should be student-selected, allowing them choice and voice. Then we begin to pre-write. Students need to be shown various ways of pre-writing, adding tools to their toolkits. Different writers approach topics differently! Some may choose to web or outline. For others, drafting is their pre-writing. After repeated exposure to various pre-writing techniques, students will begin to self-regulate their own writing. Teachers need to be writing alongside their students, doing think alouds, so students “see” how the mind of a writer works. This also shows students that even experienced writers struggle with the process.

Day 2 Revision mini-lesson(s) Students share their drafts with peers Students Revise Students share their revised essays with peers DURING WRITING TIME (after the mini-lesson) teacher is moving about the room and conducting mini-conferences with each students every day. Teachers need to demonstrate what good revision looks like for students. This can be done in a mini-lesson. If we don’t provide students guidance for revising, they will revert back to editing. Time for peer revision needs to be allowed. Again, students should be provided directions for peer revisions. And peer revisions should happen on multiple occasions—not just once.

Day 3 Continue revision mini-lesson(s) Students Revise Students share their revised essays with peers Editing mini-lesson(s) Students to share their revised and edited drafts with peers Final revisions and edits. Publish DURING WRITING TIME (after the mini-lesson) teacher is moving about the room and conducting mini-conferences with each students every day. Revision mini-lessons as time permits, as dictated by the genre and based on student need(such as word choice, figurative language, sensory language etc) Editing mini-lessons (Conventions and grammar) Encourage students to share their drafts and revise and edit with peers. Final revisions and edits. Publish

Day 4 Share with authentic audience Mini-assessment Providing authentic audiences for students’ compositions is important for several reasons. It helps students realize that writers write for real purposes and real people. Students need to understand that we teach these genres not only because they are tested on STAAR but because they are important to real life situations! Finally, at the week’s end, we need to administer a STAAR-like prompt with the two-hour time constraint as a mini, formative assessment. We need to use the results not as a final grade, but as an opportunity to analyze errors, misconnections and inform our instruction for the upcoming week.

Resources New York Times Knowledge Network Content Repository http://projectsharetexas.org/ A+Rise Read, Write Think readwritethink.org Instructional Planning Tool http://store.esc13.net/ The Writing Adventures of Nelda and Erwin: Discovering Narrative and Expository Writing National Writing Project http://www.nwp.org/ Writing Next http://www.all4ed.org/files/WritingNext.pdf The Neglected “R” http://www.californiawritingproject.org/ Documents/neglectedr.pdf Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter110/index.html

Planning for 2012-2013 Questions to think about Amount of time in schedule Teacher proficiency Teacher confidence Administrative support Vertical alignment Common vocabulary Relationships

Professional Development TALA Writing Expository Writing The ABC’s of Writing Workshop Expository TAO English I, II, III STAAR EOC Expository Writing—I don’t think my students are 4’s Preparing Students to Write REALLY short stories Teaching the Art of Persuasion Informational Reading and Writing Reading and Writing Persuasive Text Coming in Fall 2012: Expository Reading and Writing in High School Expository Writing Mini-Lessons: Nelda and Erwin Reading and Writing Literary Texts STAAR Distinguished Speaker Series

How were the phase-in cut scores determined? Math, Science and Social Studies English Phase-in 1—Level II 1.0 SD Below Recommended .5 SD Below Recommended Phase-in 2—Level II .2 SD Below Recommended Phase-in cut scores were determined empirically for each STAAR EOC assessment based on the recommended Level II and Level III cut scores. Phase-in 1 cut scores for Level II were set at 1.0 standard deviation (SD) below the Level II recommended cut scores for the STAAR mathematics, science, and social studies assessments and at 0.5 SD below the Level II recommended cut scores for the STAAR English assessments. Phase-in 2 cut scores for Level II were set at 0.5 SD below the Level II recommended cut scores for the STAAR mathematics, science, and social studies assessments, and at 0.2 SD below the Level II recommended cut scores for the STAAR English assessments.

Phase I Raw Scores Level II—Satisfactory English I Writing Phase I—64.5% of the total possible points (40 out of 62 points) English I Writing Recommended—72.6% of the total possible points (45 out of 62 points) An 8% increase from Phase I to Final Phase Algebra I Phase I—37% of the total possible points (20 out of 54 total points) Algebra I Recommended—63% of the total possible points (34 out of 54 total points) A 26% increase from Phase I to Final Phase http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/staar/

Recommended Raw Scores Level II--Satisfactory http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/staar/

Planning for 2012-2013 Questions to think about Amount of time in schedule Teacher proficiency Teacher confidence Administrative support Vertical alignment Common vocabulary Relationships

Professional Development TALA Writing Expository Writing The ABC’s of Writing Workshop Expository TAO English I, II, III STAAR EOC Expository Writing—I don’t think my students are 4’s Preparing Students to Write REALLY short stories Teaching the Art of Persuasion Informational Reading and Writing Reading and Writing Persuasive Text Coming in Fall 2012: Expository Reading and Writing in High School Expository Writing Mini-Lessons: Nelda and Erwin Reading and Writing Literary Texts STAAR Distinguished Speaker Series