1. Teacher Writers to Elaborate
Writing Moves
Teacher Writers to Elaborate

2. Reasoning Explain Describe Justify Illustrate Connect Ideas
Compare/Contrast
Convince/Persuade

3. If…Then Vote for me for student government president.
I will make sure that vending machines are installed in the cafeteria.
What are other if…then statements.

4. Book Chat What is a book you’ve recently read?
What are some memorable scenes, favorite parts, or even criticisms of each book.
Craft an If…then statement for that book.
If you like books that deal with current social issues, then you might like Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult.

5. If….then
Why would an author use this? What can it do for writing?

6. In Other Words…./ In fact,...
According to the text, Australia has very strict gun laws.

7. In Other Words….
In fact, the murder rate, and the number of gun-related deaths has declined drastically in recent years.

8. In Other Words…
Hashimoto’s disease is when the immune system attacks the thyroid.

9. In other words….
In other words, those who suffer from this disease will suffer from fatigue and unexplained weight gain.

10. In other words…
Why would an author use this? What can it do for writing?
Think about your DEAR time book and the main character. Complete an “in other words” statement using the following outline
My main character, ____, is (character trait). In other words…. OR
My main character, ____, likes to do (activity, habit, sport, etc.). In fact,…..

11. Name an Example The ramp is an example of an inclined plane.
-David Macaulay, from The New Way Things Work
There are a great many scary stories to tell. There are ghost stories. There are tales of witches, devils, bogeyman, zombies, and vampires. There are tales of monstrous creatures and other dangers. There are even stories that make us laugh at all of this scariness. -Alvin Schwartz, from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Barbara talked about Moton’s inadequacies and Farmville High’s superior facilities. Farmville High, the school for white students, had modern heating, an industrial-arts shop, locker rooms, an infirmary, a cafeteria, and a real auditorium complete with sound equipment.
-Teri Kanefield, from The Girl from the Tar Paper School: Barbara Rose Johns and the Advent of the Civil Rights Movement
Most cowboys were not sharpshooters, yet their work demanded exceptional skills. A cowboy had to be an expert roper and rider, an artist at busting broncos and whacking bulls. He had to know how to doctor an ailing cow or find a lost calf, how to calm a restless herd in the middle of the night, how to head off a thousand stampeding longhorns. -Russell Freedman, from Cowboys of the Wild West

12. Name an Example Used when writers are teaching about a topic
Provides additional clarity
Helps the reader make sense of the idea or term by offering substantive examples

13. Name an Example Funny movies Places fun to eat and hang out
Video Games
Musical artists
Stores to get “cool” clothes

14. Name an Example
Create Name an Example sentences based on this simple idea:
In school, there are lots of rules.

15. Name an Example Let’s practice again based on this writing:
Think of a person who has made a difference in the world and write about how that person has impacted our world or their own lives.
Don’t stop with only an example of how they impacted others but to explain that example and what it means.

16. Call of the wild Read the student examples from “the Call of the Wild”
Choose one move we learned today and go through each response seeing where you could add sentences to this response using you new writing move

17. So Important History is especially important for Americans.
-Joy Hakim, from A History of US: The First Americans
Lincoln is an important man in America’s history.
-Caroline Crosson Gilpin, from National Geographic Readers: Abraham Lincoln
Each part of the Tree of Life is important.
-Rochelle Strauss, from Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth

18. So Important
Use this to explain why their topic is important using one sentence.
Explain to the reader why the content matters
Use sparingly

19. So Important
What are some things that are important for people our age to know?
Sometimes we need to let our readers know something is important. We can begin a section, paragraph, or even longer pieces by establishing that the topic matters.
What are some synonyms for important?
Craft your own So Important sentences.

20. So Important
Send students on a scavenger hunt to find actual books that use this move and record on sticky notes.
Read an excerpt that explains a process or a sequence of multiple events or steps. Allow students to read along and ask students to write two different So Important sentences that they could use to discuss the topic.

21. What Do You Notice
Bur our successes have not come without consequences. John Johnson, Jr., from Living Green
In every century, black discoverers and inventors have made their marks on history. Yet their inventiveness and ingenuity are known only to a few. Otha Richard Sullivan, from Black Stars: African American Inventors
In thee arly 1930s, Jews made huge contributions to the industrial, social, and artistic life in Germany. But Adolf Hitler, who became chancellor in 1933, blamed them Germany’s defeat in the First World War and its economic crisis. Ruth Thomson, from Terezin: Voices from the Holocaust
Did you know that Albert was a peace-loving person who hated war? Well, he was. Yet, his work led to the creation of the most destructive bomb ever. Jess Brallier, from Who Was Albert Einstein

22. Sweet and Sour Use this to add or remove emotion.
Add positive and negative details about a subject.

23. What Do You Notice?
It took years of struggle for women in the United States to be granted suffrage, a new term coined during the Civil War meaning the right to vote.
- Frieda Wishinsky Profiles #4: Freedom Heroines
In many places in the United States during the 1950s, black and white people were forced to stay separated. This separation was called segregation.
-Belinda Rochelle Witnesses to Freedom

24. Define It Use to clarify the meaning of a term or concept.
Common in science, social studies, and content writing

25. Good Question and Imagine This
Details That Convince
Good Question and Imagine This

26. Good Question
What is the point of studying history? Who cares what happened so long ago? After all, aren’t the only people in history books dead? -Joy Hakim, from A History of US
And what is interesting, anyway, about a slim few acres of trees? -Natalie Babbit, from Tuck Everlasting
What forces drive the ocean currents? What boundaries, if any, guide their path through the ocean? Can understanding ocean currents help us to preserve the marine environment and the creatures that live in it? These are just a few of the questions that occupy the minds of modern-day oceanographers. -Loree Griffin Burns, from Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion

27. Good Question Readers make this move to:
Establish context that may drive the development of the writing
Connect with readers
Inject style, voice, or point of view
Provoke emotion, examine different viewpoints, etc.

28. Good Question The United States is a country of fifty states.
Sometimes America is called a melting pot.
America is often considered the land of opportunity.
English is the most commonly spoken language in America, followed by Spanish.

29. Good Question
Have you ever considered how challenging it is for fifty different things to function as one?
The United States is a country of fifty states.
Why do so many people want to live in the United States? They want a chance to improve their lives.
America is often considered the land of opportunity.
What is a melting pot? A pot where things and materials are mixed and melted together. Sometimes America is called a melting pot.
English is the most commonly spoken language in America, followed by Spanish.

30. Good Question
Come up with a question that would make a reader curious about your school. Why would it make a reader curious? How effective were the questions in drawing out the emotions the students were aiming for?
Students select one piece of writing to revise. Challenge them to fine places that could benefit from this move.
Share examples of writing that are boring or dry. Have students revise using this move and share to highlight how this move can be used in different ways.
Ask students to write an argument paragraph appealing to a specific audience. Was it able to show point of view? Was it to question the status quo? Was it to establish the point of the writing?

31. Imagine This
Picture this: It’s late at night. You’re asleep in bed, with lots of blankets covering you. Suddenly, you wake up all hot and sweaty, so you kick off the covers. -Laurie David and Cambria Gordon, from The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming
Imagine yourself slurping a soup full of tadpoles or finding a stuffed frog nested in your rice James Solheim, from It’s Disgusting and We Ate It! True Facts from Around the World and Throughout History
Imagine. You are a paratrooper suiting up for a jump. Guys on either side of you are doing the same. One jokes about having a dream that the chutes didn’t open. Another one says he’s glad everyone paid their insurance Tanya Lee Stone, from Courage Has No Color, The True Story of the Triple Nickles: America’s First Black Paratroppers.

32. Imagine This
Use this to manipulate a reader’s emotions rather than appealing to the reader’s sense of reason.
Used in real world arguments quite frequently.

33. Imagine This
Have students close their eyes and share a writing excerpt that includes a hypothetical story.
Ask students to draw out what they pictured.
Discuss similarities and differences among illustrations and cement the idea that the move is all about creating a world or scene for the reader to stimulate and play off of the reader’s senses and emotions.

34. Imagine This
Share a set of hypothetical changes such as an end to world hunger. Invite students to illustrate what one of the changes would look like.
Have students caption their images by writing Imagine This statements.
Select an argument text and have students use this move to write a rebuttal statement.