Grimmway Academy Professional Learning Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Agenda Housekeeping Aligning Existing Curriculum with the CCCSS: Discussion Readings and Films: Discussion Teaching Revision: Modeling a Mini lesson Break Developing Mini Lessons “What the Story Is About” Critical Friends Coaching Working Lunch Assessment in Writing Workshop Break Goal Setting for Fall Semester Wrap-up

What Stuck? Parking Lot

ENHANCEMENT ROADMAP

Share Out by Grades Steal good ideas! Opportunities for grade level bridging? Challenges?

Aligning Curriculum to Standards What did you learn by doing this work? About the standards? About your existing curriculum?

Chapters 1 and 2 Book flip and write for 5 minutes: What were your take-aways?

Writers’ Workshop Mini Lesson 5-15 minutes Status of the class 2-3 minutes Writing time (individual and small group conferences) Sharing

Mini Lesson 5-15 minutes

Status of the Class 2-3 Minutes

Writing Time (Individual Conferences )

Writing Time (Small Group Conferences )

Sharing

TEACHING REVISION: A MINI LESSON

Revision Is… about making (and shaping/ reshaping meanings. is RETHINKING, RE-visioning, re- seeing. often messy.

Some Revision Questions Do I have a title? Does it interest the reader? Do I have a clear and interesting introduction (topic sentence)? What else does my reader need to know? Have I included too much? What should I cut out?

Revision Strategies 5 W’s and an H The caret ∧ Two readers reading the same text for different things Colored highlighters Sentence strips

Four Key Revision Strategies Addition Subtraction Reordering Substitution

Randy Koch: Teaching Revision Give things and people the dignity of their own names. Use specific, concrete sensory details. Show, don’t tell, especially by using dialogue. Avoid weak helping and linking verbs. Use specific action verbs instead. Cut clutter. Vary sentence structure and length.

Share with a Partner

Break

Entrance Ticket List 2-3 characteristics of a mini lesson. Prepare to share. Lucy Calkin’s suggestions for mini- lessons

DEVELOPING MINI LESSONS

Grade alike groups? Share Post on wiki Template

“WHAT THE STORY IS ABOUT” Giving Writers Feedback

What Writers Need Authentic audiences – Applebee research Opportunities for low-stakes rehearsal Feedback (NOT advice) Models/ mentor texts Lots of opportunities to write Permission to ignore what their audiences tell them

Being a Good “Kid Watcher” What are kids doing? What is the teacher doing? Prepare a T-chart page in Writers’ Notebook Chat with elbow partner about what you noticed. Whole group share out

CRITICAL FRIENDS COACHING

Critical Friends Coaching For colleagues in a building to use together for support, and to improve instruction..

Bridging the Gaps What people know and can do…and what they NEED to know and be able to do.

Critical Friends Help ensure the transfer of newly learned skills from an in-service learning opportunity into practice. “In-class training by a supportive partner who helps a teacher correctly apply skills learned in a workshop” (Joyce and Showers 1982, p. 5).

Critical Friends THINKING PARTNERS: we are thinking through this and learning together as a team. Teachers should select their own partners. Should have a rule: critical friends can get a divorce.

Critical Friends Model “Inviting teacher” steers the coaching process: – Observation focus; – Form of data collection; – Agreed upon guidelines for friend’s and mentee’s behavior; – Discussion parameters; – Date and time of observation.

Focus on the Practical Effective coaching partnerships focus on the practical, not the abstract. (“It’s About the Questions” p. 76)

How To Be a Critical Friend m/watch?v=SpfGFKcguV0 m/watch?v=SpfGFKcguV0 As you watch: – What is the relationship between the partners? – What are your key take-aways?

Lunch

ASSESSMENT IN WRITERS’ WORKSHOP

Effective Ways of Thinking about Student Work What is this student doing well? What does the work suggest about areas where he or she might benefit from some coaching?

Writing with Sensory Details

Kathy and Pam model a Response Protocol

Assessing Writing Elbow Partners: Responses

Understand your Assignments What GENRE is asked for? What is the TOPIC? What is the PURPOSE of the writing? What EVIDENCE does the task ask for?

What Is the Purpose of this Task? To inform To explain To summarize To recommend To evaluate To persuade To analyze To synthesize To propose To call readers to action To change attitudes To express feelings

Importance of Task Design

Reading to Write: RAFT Role Audience Format Topic

R.A.F.T. Prompts Best as an end of lesson or unit activity. Gives students a chance to share what they’ve learned in a creative format. Students have an opportunity to make choices and invest themselves more fully in the work than they might in a standard essay. – Adapted from Content Area Writing by Harvey Daniels et. al.

Break

Writing to Read

This report provides evidence answering the following three questions: – Does writing about material students read enhance their reading comprehension? – Does teaching writing strengthen students’ reading skills? – Does increasing how much students write improve how well they read?

Writing to Read Increase how much students write. Students’ reading comprehension is improved by having them increase how often they produce their own texts.

GOAL SETTING FOR THE FALL

Writers’ Workshop Logs Try to make an entry weekly (before your Friday PDs?). Use them to identify trends, identify and solve problems, define areas of inquiry. Discuss with each other.

WRAP-UP Reflection what did you learn? What questions do you have?