WRITING and READING WITH COMMON CORE STANDARDS Great Advantage: Grade Level Standards Build from Year to Year

Old versus New Old MCAS Open Response writing only Topic sentence, supporting details, conclusion Grade four narrative writing Reading: close text reading Inference, central idea Common Core Varied types of writing for varied purposes Idea development in writing Writing process, not formulaic Critical perspective: assess author’s point of view Informational text to learn Creative writing!

GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS CAN BE HELPFUL USE AS NEEDED

COMMON CORE: 1. Generate ideas from Mentor Texts that provoke ideas, good discussion 2. Provide children a rubric 3. Organize writing for simple rubric 4. Peer edit 5. Teacher one-on-one conferencing 6. Final draft 7. Revise until Proficient

Write from the Heart Lucy Calkins: Children write best when they write about what they know about and care about Through conferencing with children, determine what they know about and care about. Texts develop this.

Mentor Texts for Key Learning

Brief Text for Concept Learning and to Generate Great Writing Examples: Poems “In Just-Spring,” “Casey at the Bat”

Next Steps Find grade level best practices, share ideas, create common practice Teacher expertise works best Generate multiple grade level units of study in writing development based on Common Core Grade Level Standards Innovate to Ignite children’s love of reading and writing

Beware ! Same graphic organizer inhibits thinking, idea development Teacher “correcting” writing doesn’t develop children’s writing as well as possible

PEER EDITING Developing children’s ability to peer edit is a triple win: Peer learns, child learns, teacher assists win-win-win Use simple baby steps for peers to assess Children develop metacognition – thinking about thinking – through reading a peer’s writing: Is there something that doesn’t make sense to you? Invented spelling develops writing fluency

The Good News Finding what interests, engages that child unleashes great writing Development of strong writing and reading practice are the number 1 goal, not inhibiting writing with set pattern Passion for reading and writing comes from what works for that child All children can break the code to learn

Raising the Bar with Common Core Read complex text proficiently through ideas Frequent writing to become fluent in idea development and expression

RELAX ! It’s a marathon, not a sprint Ideas develop over time It’s worth doing well

Happy Spring!