1. EQ: How do I use author’s craft to guide my writing instruction? Researched….read….talked to Marianne….researched….read some more! What I learned: Students can’t get inside writing one day a week. “We need to tap their experience as readers if we really want them to soar.” “Writing without reading is a little like seesawing alone.” It is effective when you create conditions where students can work/play with language. 5 Parts to Reading Like a Writer: 1.Notice something about the craft of the text. 2.Talk about it; make a theory about why the author might use the craft 3.Give the craft a name 4. Discuss if you’ve ever seen this “craft” before used in other texts? 5. Try to envision using it in your own writing. Weighting of the Domains on State Assessment: Ideas- 40% Style (Language)- 20% Organization-20% Conventions- 20% So I…. 1.Determined the goal to be: To add to their repertoire key strategies students could apply to all genres to enable them to “write well on purpose” in order to improve the quality of their writing. 2. Created a “Rate Your Writing” checklist (compiled from Ralph Fletcher’s kit) and used the students’ responses to structure the focus of the mini-lessons. 3.Designed catchy titles for key strategies/elements of writing. 4. Structured lessons 5. set up a “wall” blog (wallwisher.com)

2. Rate Your Writing Think about a typical example of your own writing. What challenges do you face when you are asked to write? Look at the list of challenges below. What areas do you feel you need to improve? IDEAS: Too little information: provides only a skeletal telling of an event; not enough details to “paint” a clear picture; introduces an idea but doesn’t fully develop it; leaves out information the reader needs to understand Includes information the reader doesn’t need Your fiction stories aren’t believable Characters are underdeveloped; just a necessary part/detail of the story ORGANIZATION: Lacks focus: writing is too general; reader may be confused as to the “point” is you are trying to make or what the story/paragraph is really about Sloppy ending: runs out of steam; ending seems “stuck” onto the end like you ran out of time or ideas; ending doesn’t seem “to go” with the rest of the story Lacks organization: has no clear beginning, middle and/or ending; ideas do not flow logically or are not grouped together well in paragraphs STYLE: Limited word choice: writes with ordinary language; uses limited vocabulary Text is inconsistent: some lines are much stronger than others Flat Voice You repeat yourself or carry on too long! CONVENTIONS: Sentence problems: complex sentences are not punctuated correctly; uses short sentences; sentences lack variety; includes run-on sentences Paragraphs: sentences do not “stick to” or develop a common topic Dialogues: not properly punctuated Capitalization Spelling Record your name beside your top areas of challenge you think you typically face in your own writing.

3. Wallwisher.com: a “safe” blog site………. www.passyworld.com/passyPDFs/WallWisher.pdf

5. Jack and Jill writing : Give students a copy of the poem Jack and Jill and have them read it. Discuss the poem. Tell students that they are to use the information found in the poem to write about the situation from a different point of view. A few suggestions are: Medical personnel- doctor, nurse, EMT, etc… Lawyer (suing someone for the accident….the student would write the legal brief) An eyewitness account An opera (the whole account would be in a song) Parent’s lecture to Jack and Jill about the incident A television anchor reporting the story After writing about Jack and Jill in a new and different way, the students could present their accounts dramatically using props and costumes.

6. Mind Mapping:

7. Revision Metaphor Cards: http://www.writingfix.com/Process/Revision/Metaphor_cards_Activity.htm

8. Revision Rummy …. http://www.missionliteracy.com/page15/page6/assets/revision% 20rummy.pdf (sample page)

9. Internet Links: Build A Safe Blog: http://www.wallwisher.com/ A simple How -To guide: www.passyworld.com/passyPDFs/WallWisher.pdf Direct Link to Revision Metaphor Cards: http://www.writingfix.com/Process/Revision/Metaphor_cards_Activity.htm Direct link to Teacher Home Page: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/home.jsp Direct Link to “Make More Time for Writing: 15 Minutes or Less”: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3755224&FullBreadCrumb =%3Ca+href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.scholastic.com%2Fbrowse% 2Fsearch%2F%3FNtx%3Dmode%2Bmatchallpartial%26_N%3Dfff%26Ntk% 3DSCHL30_SI%26query%3DMake%2520More%2520Time%2520for%2520 Writing%26N%3D0%26Ntt%3DMake%2BMore%2BTime%2Bfor%2BWriting %22+class%3D%22endecaAll%22%3EAll+Results%3C%2Fa%3E Revision Rummy Cards: http://www.missionliteracy.com/page15/page6/assets/revision%20rummy.pdf http://www.missionliteracy.com/page15/page6/assets/revision%20rummy.pdf