1. And kick butt on the WIDA test!!!
Leveling Up in Writing: Tools & Strategies to Help Students Develop as Writers
And kick butt on the WIDA test!!!

2. Rita & John & Jana ritaplatt@hotmail.com | @ritaplatt
Rita Platt is a Nationally Board Certified teacher. Her experience includes teaching learners of all levels from kindergarten to graduate student. She currently is a Library Media & Reading Specialist for the St. Croix Falls SD in Wisconsin, teaches graduate courses for the Professional Development Institute, and consults with local school districts.
John Wolfe is an Itinerant ESL Teacher in the Multilingual Department at the Minneapolis Public School District. He has worked with students at all levels as well as provided professional development to fellow teachers. His areas of expertise include standards-based instruction, literacy, and direct language instruction.
Jana Hilleren, is a former Executive Director of a large ESL department. Jana believes that each school represents a unique web of relationships--which can be strengthened when educators feel a strong sense of connection, a shared vision and a coherent set of strategies.

3. Relax … Everything (and more) is on The Wiki http://www. mplsesl

4. All About the Benjamins

5. Our Road Map … Your Journey
The 3 C’s of PD:
Collaborative, Conversational, & Continuous!

6. Leveling Up: Ground to Cover
1. Why it’s okay to Hack the ACCESS Writing Test
2. How to Hack the ACCESS Writing Test
3. Prepare for Implementation

7. Discussion (Colored Sticky Notes)
What do you hope to accomplish?
What do you have in place already?
What are your concerns? What are your hopes?

9. Walk Away With … Deep understanding of the WIDA Writing Test
How it’s scored,
How to use that knowledge to help students be better writers (and score higher!)
2. A set of two or three actual prompts that can be used for practice.
4. A consistent tool to provide students with feedback.
3. A “practice cycle plan” that includes orientation, writing, feedback, revision (and then more practice).

10. To Hack or not to Hack?

11. Why it’s okay.

12. John Hattie on … 1. Success Criteria
Success criteria relate to knowledge of end points – that is, how do we know when we arrive?
“Just Drive.” Imagine if I were simply to ask to get in your car and drive; at some unspecified time, I’ll let you know when you’ve arrived (if you arrive at all). For too many students, this is what learning feels like.

14. 2. Discrepant Scores (Writing as a Lever for Leveling Up)
Think of this as the Iron Law of High-Stakes Testing: What’s tested is taught; what isn’t tested is neglected.

15. 3. big win! advocate for team esl!

18. Basic Law of Learning: 5. Deliberate Practice
Visible teaching and learning occurs when there is deliberate practice aimed at attaining mastery of the goal, when there is feedback given and sought, and when there are active, passionate, and engaging people (teacher, students, peers) participating in the act of learning.

19. 5. Avoiding “Chameleon Pedagogy”

20. Part II: How to Hack the Writing Test

21. 1. Understanding the Scoring (study the anchor papers)
If how the writing is scored isn’t clear to us, how can we support our students in high achievement?
Download all the W-APT stuff at

24. Key Idea: It’s all about the 3 Criteria
Word Level (vocabulary)
Sentence Level (grammatical structures & idioms)
Whole text (length & complexity of discourse)
Key Idea: It’s all about the 3 Criteria
Complexity
Vocabulary
Control
=Cohesion
=Organization

25. Proof: The WAPT Anchor Papers & Scoring Rationales
The Prompt
Now it’s your turn to write!
Study the pictures. They show the steps Martha used to figure out that Tank 1 was the largest fish tank.
Now write a paragraph of at least 6 sentences describing how Martha solved her problem.

26. Organization discourse
Sentence Complexity
Vocab Word
Organization discourse

27. Organization discourse
Sentence Complexity
Vocab Word
Organization discourse

28. Organization discourse
WIDA likes “academic verbs”
Sentence Complexity
Vocab Word
Organization discourse

29. The gift of time
With a partner, download and examine the prompt, anchor papers, and rationales for a grade level you support. [ ]
Use the CVC & SWS (the criteria sheets)
Read that against or with the anchor papers and rationales for your grade level.
Do the rationales for the anchor papers make sense?
HINT: Periodically return to the anchor papers

30. Step 2: Provide practice opportunities

31. Would it be useful to them to do similar, content-related tasks?
The WIDA Prompt
We know what the prompt looks like … a one-page writing task on a bizarre academic challenge.
How often do students have a chance to practice this over the course of the year?
Would it be useful to them to do similar, content-related tasks?
Download all the W-APT stuff at the ELL2 Google Apps Site

32. Anatomy of a WIDA Prompt
Often a “narrative frame” (the task will “ride on a story” to avoid the huge syntactic complexity of decontext-ualized language)
Academic Language
Graphic & visual supports
Prompt supports language about thinking, reasoning
Note: In WIDA, “graphic” means “written information radically stripped down”
A “solved problem”
Vocabulary box (which Level 1 to lower 3 will ignore – as they should.)

33. Are our prompts harder than a typical WIDA prompt?
Maybe … because this was designed to do “double-duty” as a content assessment.
Going forward … could you ask the math teachers to toss in a “worked problem” writing task like this once a month?

34. Anatomy of a WIDA Prompt
Often a “narrative frame” (to avoid the huge syntactic complexity of decontext-ualized language)
Academic Language
Graphic & visual supports
Prompt supports language about thinking, reasoning
Note: In WIDA, “graphic” means “written information radically stripped down”
Vocabulary box
A “solved problem”

35. Anatomy of a WIDA Prompt

36. Teachers say they need multiple prompts …

37. The Pre-Writing Section

38. The Pre-Writing RULE
If your students always do pre-writing, have them do it. (They’ll understand it.)
If pre-writing isn’t a standard, frequent part of student writing practice, teach them to skip the pre-write.

39. Consistent Tools to Give Students Feedback in the Service of Goals

40. Olive

41. Bonus: Meaningful Peer Editing!
Olive
Bonus: Meaningful Peer Editing!

42. A Simpler Goal Setting Sheet

43. Look at/Modify the Tool
Which criteria do you anticipate to be your key focus?
Can you think of students for each criteria?
Decision: Differentiate Focus or Common Focus?
Modifications?

44. And for everyone … Desktop Checklist
Taped to the student notebook or writing folder?
Taped to the desk?
Posted large in the classroom?
As students hand work in, you say “Did you go through the checklist?”

45. Leaving Here with a PLAN FOR IMPLEMENTATION

46. Checklist for Implementation
Proposed schedule
how much time will you need?
Why should you take that time?
Generic vs. content-related prompts?
Grading (content teacher having standards-related evidence available for grading …)
Make plans, including list of materials to be copied

48. Remember … you have to teach the three criteria.

49. 3 Grad Credits for less than $400
Professional Development Institute (PDI)
3 Grad Credits for less than $400
Reading Foundations for Emergent and Early Readers (PK-2)
Best Practices for a Successful 4th – 6th Grade Classroom (4-6)
Best Practices for a Successful Middle School Classroom (6-8)
Designing and Creating WebQuest (3-12)
Mastering the Text Complexity Challenge (4-8)
Reading Interventions for Middle Grade Students (4-8)
Reading Workshop Approach in the Middle Grades (4-8)
Response to Intervention in Reading (K-6)
The Fundamentals of Teaching ELD
Instructional Strategies for ELD & SDAIE
NEW ESL COURSE COMING SOON!!!! RITA FOR DETAILS & DISCOUNT CODE FOR ANY COURSE!

50. Leveling Up: Ground to Cover
1. Why it’s okay to Hack the ACCESS Writing Test
2. How to Hack the ACCESS Writing Test
3. Prepare for Implementation

51. Discussion (Colored Sticky Notes)
What do you hope to accomplish?
What do you have in place already?
What are your concerns? What are your hopes?

52. Hack or not? You decide