Effective Writing Instruction for All Students A Principals Role

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Effective Writing Instruction for All Students
A Principals Role

• Developed by
• Region IV Education Service Center
• in collaboration with the
• Texas Education Agency

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Student Success Initiative
Third Grade Reading
2003
Positive Impact on Student Achievement
Fifth Grade Reading and Math
2005
Eighth Grade Reading and Math
2008
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Professional Development for Writing
Effective Writing Instruction for All Students
Effective Writing Instruction for Struggling
Writers
Effective Writing Instruction for English
Language Learners
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Professional Development Impact
Several days of formal study throughout the
school year that focuses on a curriculum area or
a teaching strategy that is useful across
curriculum areas
Regular focus on implementation and student
learning impact
Student Achievement Increase
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Role of the Instructional Leader
Supporting Implementationand Student Learning
Impact

• Curriculum initiatives that are aligned
  vertically and tied to campus improvement plans
• Basic knowledge base of the curriculum content
  and appropriate practices
• System that allows the study of
  curriculum and instruction all the time
• Specified targets and data collection
  systems to monitor implementation

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Curriculum Initiatives
Successful Curriculum Initiatives
Vertically Aligned
Tied to CIP
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Curriculum Initiatives
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Determining Curriculum Initiatives
Writing Data
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Components of Effective Writing Instruction
Focus on Established Standards
Teach the Writing Process
Monitor Progress
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TEKS-Based Instruction

• Vertical Alignment of the TEKS
• Horizontal Alignment of the TEKS
• TEKS Strand Connection
• TEKS/TAKS Connection

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Vertical Alignment of TEKS

• Vertical alignment provides continuity
  of instruction across grade levels.

District and campus vertical teams of teachers
must meet regularly and have purposeful
grade-level overlap.
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Horizontal Alignment of TEKS
Purposeful horizontal alignment ensures that all
classroom instruction at a particular grade level
is planned from a unified, connected curriculum.

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TEKS/TAKS Connection
Writing Grades 4 and 7 English Language Arts
(ELA) Grade 10 and Grade 11 Exit Level
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TAKS Grades 4 7 Writing
Objectives 3, 4, 5, 6 Revising and
Editing
Objectives 1 and 2 Composition
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TAKS Grades 4 7 WritingComposition
Objective 1 (focus and coherence, organization,
development of ideas, voice) The student will,
within a given context, produce an effective
composition for a specific purpose.
Objective 2 (conventions) The student will
produce a piece of writing that demonstrates a
command of the conventions of spelling,
capitalization, punctuation, grammar, usage, and
sentence structure.
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TAKS Grades 4 7 WritingRevising and Editing
Objective 3 The student will recognize
appropriate organization of ideas in written text.
Objective 4 The student will recognize correct
and effective sentence construction in written
text.
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TAKS Grades 4 7 WritingRevising and Editing
Objective 5 The student will recognize standard
usage and appropriate word choice in written text.
Objective 6 The student will proofread for
correct punctuation, capitalization, and spelling
in written text.
Revising and editing objectives are accomplished
within the context of peer editing.
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TAKS Grade 10 Grade 11 Exit Level ELA Test
Objective 6 Revising Editing
Objectives 4, 5 Composition
Objectives 1, 2, 3 Reading
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TAKS Grade 10 Grade 11 Exit Level Reading
Objectives
Objective 1 The student will demonstrate a basic
understanding of culturally diverse written texts.
Objective 2 The student will demonstrate an
understanding of the effects of literary elements
and techniques in culturally diverse written
texts.
Objective 3 The student will demonstrate the
ability to analyze and critically evaluate
culturally diverse written texts and visual
representations.
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TAKS Grade 10 Grade 11 Exit Level Composition
Objective 4 (focus and coherence, organization,
development of ideas, voice) The student will,
within a given context, produce an effective
composition for a specific purpose.
Objective 5 (conventions) The student will
produce a piece of writing that demonstrates a
command of the conventions of spelling,
capitalization, punctuation, grammar, usage, and
sentence structure.
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TAKS Grade 10 Grade 11 Exit Level Revising and
Editing
Objective 6 The student will demonstrate the
ability to revise and proofread to improve the
clarity and effectiveness of a piece of writing.
The revising and editing objective is
accomplished within the context of peer editing.
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How Do We Teach Writing?

• Teaching writing is no different than teaching
  any other subject. The teacher has to know the
  subject, the process, the children, and the means
  for the children to become independent learners.
  Graves, 1983

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The Writing Process

• Promote effective writing instruction
  in the classroom
• Teach writing as a process
• Understand the stages of the writing process

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Promoting Effective Writing Instruction in the
Classroom
Sufficient Time

• Writing Conferences
• Teacher/Student Conferences
• Peer Conferences

Modeling
Mini-lessons
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Sufficient Time

• Elementary students should write a minimum of
  four times a week, for at least 35 to
  40 minutes. (Graves, 1983)
• Secondary students should write
  as much as possible each day
  during English class and
  across the
  curriculum.

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Support Provided Through Teacher Modeling
Modeling or demonstrating is an important part of
all good instruction, including mini-lesson
instruction.
Writing Instruction
Examples of Good Writing
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Mini-Lessons in Writing
Procedural Matters
Literacy Concepts
Strategy and Skill Lessons
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Teacher/Student Writing Conferences Purposes

• The teacher
• Helps the writer, not the writing
• Identifies instructional needs to be used as a
  basis for planning mini-lessons
• Learns how the writer is progressing in his/her
  application of the writing process

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Types of Teacher/Student Conferences
On-The-Spot
Writing Process Stages
Instructional Mini-lessons
Assessment
Portfolio
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Purposes of
Peer Conferences
Help develop effective communication skills
Give students real and immediate audiences for
their work
Assist students in becoming self-evaluators
Improve student writing
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Why Teach Writing as a Process?

• Shifts emphasis from a product-driven approach to
  a process-driven approach
• Provides effective writing instruction
• Enforces the process all writers go through as
  they develop their compositions

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Stages in the Writing Process
Prewriting
Reflective
Recursive
Publishing
Drafting
Revising
Editing
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Prewriting
Prewriting

• Helps create ideas and organize the writers
  thoughts
• Focuses a writers attention on a particular
  subject, purpose, audience, and form
• Motivates a person to write

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Prewriting Goals
Prewriting

• Explore the possibilities in the writing task
• Stimulate and enlarge the writers thoughts
• Move writers from the stage of thinking about a
  writing task to the act of writing
• Develop a plan to help choose the topic, purpose,
  audience, and form or structure

Do not overlook prewriting activities!
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Strategies for Topic Selection Problems
Prewriting
Teacher/peer discussion
Teacher modeling
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Prewriting Activities
Prewriting

• Brainstorm and quickwrite
• Use graphic organizers
• Concept maps
• Venn diagrams
• KWL
• Interview
• Research

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Drafting
Drafting

• As the first version of writing, the purpose of
  drafting is to put the thoughts onto paper.
• Writings recursive nature means that drafting
  will be revisited
  again
  
  and
  again
  
  and
  
  again.

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Drafting Goals
Drafting

• Write with the following in mind
• Topic
• Audience
• Purpose
• Make decisions on
• Organization
• Voice
• Development

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Organization in Writing
Drafting
Ideas
Sentences
Paragraphs
Linked Text
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Voice in Writing
Drafting

• The imprint of the writer on his/her writing
• The driving force of the writing process

Writing with voice is writing into which someone
has breathed. It has that fluency, rhythm, and
liveliness that exists naturally in the speech of
most people when they are enjoying a
conversation. . . . Writing with real voice has
the power to make you pay attention and
understandthe words go deep.
Peter Elbow, 1973
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Development
Drafting
Ideas that are interesting and not contrived
The writer must develop
Focus and Coherence
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When Drafting Is Difficult
Drafting

• Big Picture note cards
• Think sheets
• Freewriting
• Focused writing

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Revising
Revising

• Improves the composition so that the product is
  more interesting and understandable to the reader
• Clarifies meaning and expands ideas
• Helps writers learn the craft of writing

Revising means seeing again.
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Revising Goals
Revising
Students need to think again about

• Purpose
• Audience
• Form
• Development of topic
• Word choice
• Evidence of voice

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When Revision Is Difficult
Revising
The student may not
Know enough about the subject
Have a clear sense of audience
Have enough time to write
Be familiar with the form or structure
Know when to stop writing
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Editing Goals
Editing

• Make corrections to errors in the conventions of
  writing, including spelling, grammar,
  capitalization, and punctuation
• Understand that conventions help the writer
  convey meaning

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Editing Activities
Editing

• Exchanging papers during
  peer conferencing
• Working with the
  teacher during a
• teacher/student
• conference

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When Editing Is Difficult
Editing

• Focus on one aspect at a time
• Engage in multiple rereadings

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Publishing Goals
Publishing
Help focus on the communication of meaning to a
real audience, thus giving a purpose for writing
efforts
Making Publicly Known
Acknowledge that writing is genuine communication

Practice the highest level of revision and
editing skills
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Informal Writing
Helps students learn from their reading
Lists
Notes
Diagrams
Summaries
Helps students understand ideas better
Journals
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Types of Journal Writing
Response
Personal
Dialogue
Learning Logs
Double-entry
Simulated
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Assessing Student Progress

• What should be assessed
• What is used to assess
• Formal instruments
• Informal measurements
• How data should be used
  to drive instruction
• How to continually monitor progress

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What Should Be Assessed?
Conventions
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Formal Assessment

• Formal assessments
• Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS)
• State Developed Alternative Assessment (SDAA)
• Additional norm- or criterion-referenced tests

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Holistic Rubric
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Analytic Rubric
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Informal Assessment

• Observations
• Conferences
• Writing Samples
• Anecdotal records
• Checklists

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Using Assessment to Inform Instruction
Conferences
Mini-lessons
Portfolio Observations
Student Observations
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Using Assessment forGrouping Practices
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A System for Continual Professional Development
Build permanent structures for collaborative
planning that target instructional practices and
student progress
Provide not only guidance but involvement in the
whole-school action framework
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Setting Targets and Data-Collection Practices
Set specific targets
Collect data to support achievement of targets
Combine targets for greatest impact on student
achievement
Evaluate data to promote the greatest impact on
student achievement
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Establishing a Plan of Action

• What can you implement tomorrow?
• What can you implement next week?
• What can you implement in a month?