1. Writing Instruction
Kim Bowen, NCDPI ELA Consultant
Phyllis Blackmon, NCDPI ELA Consultant

2. “Good writing and writing on demand are not contradictory.”
Gere, Christenbury, and Sassi,
Writing on Demand, 2005

3. Features of Writing Shaped by purpose, audience, context
Common across all writing
NC Writing Assessment (Grades 4, 7, 10)
IPT
NAEP
Classroom writing tasks

4. Features of Writing Focus Organization Support and Elaboration Style
Conventions

5. Effective Instructional Strategies
Writing Next, Alliance for Excellent Education, 2006
Meta-Analysis of research on adolescent writing instruction
Comparing effectiveness of specific teaching strategies
11 recommendations ranked by strength of effect (statistical analysis)

6. 1. Strategy Instruction ES = .82
Explicitly teach students strategies for planning, revising, and/or editing text.
Resource: High School Writing Across the Curriculum Teacher Handbook
Specific strategies organized within features
Content area concerns and examples included
Can be used 4-12

7. 2. Teaching Summarization
ES = .82
Explicitly teach students how to summarize texts.

8. Activity
Read the assigned text and summarize on index card – no more than 25 words.
Group 1 – p. 3 top
Group 2 – p. 3 bottom
Group 3 – p. 4 middle
Group 4 – p. 4 bottom
Group 5 – p. 5 left
Group 6 – p. 5 right
Group 7 – p. 6 left + top
Group 8 – p. 7 bottom
Group 9 – p. 9

9. 3. Collaborative Writing
ES = .75
Have students work together to plan, draft, and/or revise their compositions.

10. Activity At table, each person reads individual summary aloud.
Compare summaries.
Write a new group summary of no more than 25 words. This summary will be shared with the whole group to let your peers know the information in your section.
Copy summary onto chart paper to post in room.

11. 4. Specific Product Goals
ES = .70
Assign students specific, reachable goals for their writing.
Purpose of assignment
Characteristics of final product

12. 5. Word Processing
ES = .55
Have students use word processing and related software when writing.

13. 6. Sentence Combining ES = .50
Teach students to construct more sophisticated sentences by combining 2 or more simpler sentences into a more complex one.

14. Sentence Combining Example
Writing is important.
Writing is a skill.
Writing develops.
Writing takes time to develop.

15. 7. Pre-Writing Activities
Engage students in activities prior to writing that help them generate and/or organize ideas for their papers.

16. 8. Inquiry
ES = .32
Engage students in inquiry activities that help them develop ideas and content that they use when writing.

17. 9. Process Approach
ES = .32
A writing program that involves extended opportunities for writing; writing for real audiences; engaging in cycles of planning, translating, and reviewing; personal responsibility and ownership of writing projects; high levels of student interactions; creation of a supportive writing environment; self-reflection and evaluation; personalized individual assistance and instruction; and in some instances more systematic instruction.

18. 10. Study of Models
ES = .25
Have students study and emulate models of good writing.

19. 11. Writing As A Tool for Learning
ES = .23
Have students use writing as a tool for learning content material.

20. Fool’s Gold -- Grammar ES = -.32 (NEGATIVE effect)
Explicit teaching of grammar
Parts of speech
Structure of sentences
“The answer is not eliminating grammar but teaching with relevance in the context of writing.”

21. Grammar in Context
Objectives determined by student data (observation, writing samples, etc.)
Demonstration of concept
Guided application in student writing
Independent application in subsequent writing
Assessment through continued collection of data

22. Questions or Comments