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EKC

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Choice Words: How Our Language Affects Children's Learning

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Choice Words: How Our Language Affects Children's Learning

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Peter H. Johnston

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In productive classrooms, teachers don't just teach children skills: they build emotionally and relationally healthy learning communities. Teachers create intellectual environments that produce not only technically competent students, but also caring, secure, actively literate human beings.

Choice Words shows how teachers accomplish this using their most powerful teaching tool: language. Throughout, Peter Johnston provides examples of apparently ordinary words, phrases, and uses of language that are pivotal in the orchestration of the classroom. Grounded in a study by accomplished literacy teachers, the book demonstrates how the things we say (and don't say) have surprising consequences for what children learn and for who they become as literate people. Through language, children learn how to become strategic thinkers, not merely learning the literacy strategies. In addition, Johnston examines the complex learning that teachers produce in classrooms that is hard to name and thus is not recognized by tests, by policy-makers, by the general public, and often by teachers themselves, yet is vitally important.

This book will be enlightening for any teacher who wishes to be more conscious of the many ways their language helps children acquire literacy skills and view the world, their peers, and themselves in new ways.
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In productive classrooms, teachers don't just teach children skills: they build emotionally and relationally healthy learning communities. Teachers create intellectual environments that produce not only technically competent students, but also caring, secure, actively literate human beings.Choice Words shows how teachers accomplish this using their most powerful teaching tool:

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Jennifer Serravallo

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Introduction
A Very Brief Introduction to Principles, Research, and Theory, and How to Use This Book
The idea for a book of writing strategies exists many times over. This one is possible only because of the great books that have come before it. There are books suggesting writing strategies meant for professional writers and college students, such as those by Noah Lukeman, Roy Peter Clark, and Janet Burroway, among others. There are countless examples of excellent compilations of writing strategies in books written for teachers of writing, such as Fletcher and Portalupi's Craft Lessons Series, Barry Lane's After "The End" (1993), Carl Anderson's Strategic Writing Conferences series (2008-2009), Donald Graves' many books, Katie Wood Ray's Wondrous Words (1999) and other titles, Katherine Bomer's books, Georgia Heard's books, Nancie Atwell's In the Middle (2014) and other resources, Lucy Calkins' Units of Study series, and many more. My aim in this book is to offer my favorite, most useful collection of strategies that span all aspects of the writing process, all genres and modes of writing, and that will work well with students in grades K-8. I want to offer you a little bit of everything. I streamlined the language and examples, and I present the strategies in a format that is organized so that the busy teacher can find just the right strategy at just the right moment. Of course, you'll elaborate on the streamlined language and make it your own.

But wait-before you dive in, I'm so glad you're taking the time to spend a few moments with this "Getting Started" introduction. In this introduction, you'll gain a helpful overview of the thinking that undergirds this book's ideas as well as an overview of its organization. You'll learn about strategies and all the aspects that I chose to include to elaborate on them-mentor texts, prompts, lesson language, teaching tips, and more. You'll learn how to navigate the pages of the book so you can find what you're looking for quickly and easily, for this is not a read-every-single-page kind of book (unless you want it to be). You'll get a quick crash course on some important terminology and concepts that will help you use this book to its fullest- thoughts about writing as a process, and modes and genres of writing, for example. And finally, you'll learn how to adapt what's in the book to fit your students' writing time in the classroom, no matter what form that time takes.
Click here to download more of the introduction of this book.
Goal 1: Composing with Pictures

Strategy Go back to your picture(s). Point to the part or picture that teaches something important about your topic. Touch or turn to the next part. Tell what new fact about your topic this part of the picture or this page teaches.

Lesson Language If I wrote or drew to teach, then when I read my writing back I'm going to make it sound like a teaching book. I'm going to tell my reader the facts I wrote about. Let me show you. I drew a picture of a big T. rex. I know a lot about them so I added a lot of details in my picture. I'm going to touch one part and teach what that part says. "The T. rex had very large jaws with big sharp teeth." Now I'm going to touch a new part and teach what that part says. "The T. rex had very short arms. It would only run using its hind legs."

Goal 2: Engagement - Independence, Increasing Volume, and Developing a Writing Identity

Strategy First, identify the problem you're having. Then, check the spot in the room, a resource, or a friend that might help you solve the problem. Try a solution. If it doesn't work, try something else.

Teaching Tip This strategy, like "Use the Room" that appears earlier in this chapter, assumes that there are things in the room that can be helpful, and that you've taught children how to use them. For example, in a primary classroom a word wall may help a writer to spell high-frequency words. If you've introduced and used mentor texts, then having these available for children to reference on their own could help them. Sometimes the problem might be that they need to work in a new spot in the room because of the amount of distractions at their current spot. Brainstorm possible problems with your students, and come up with a list of resources and solutions. Or, this strategy can be like a culmination of past teaching from this and other chapters.

Goal 3: Generating and Collecting Ideas

Strategy Decide on a new place to visit. Go there with no more than a notebook and a set of listening ears and observing eyes. Let yourself pick up on conversation and details of the person. Jot down what you observe, and also what you imagine, about the people you see.

Teaching Tip This strategy will take you outside of the classroom, so it would work well as a whole-class lesson followed by a field trip, or as a suggestion to a student, group, or class for independent writing outside of the school day.

Goal 4: Focus/Meaning

Strategy Think about a memory and all the events that are part of that memory. Think about what's important about that memory, or the big idea the memory leaves you with. Identify the one part of the memory that feels the most important. Write some ideas about what's important about it, and why it's important. Try to write just that one smaller part of the larger moment. Tell it bit by bit.

Teaching Tip The amount a writer will be able to reflect on the overall significance of a small moment will depend on her maturity level and experience with writing. For younger children, you may want to suggest choosing a small moment that will make a good story, rather than one imbued with a deep or heavy significance, or simply encourage them to narrow down the window of time

Goal 5: Organization and Structure

Strategy Before beginning to draft, visualize the shape of what you're going to make. Create some sort of quick visual, in pictures or in words, to represent the overarching structure. As you write, check back to see where you are in your plan.

Teaching Tip This is going to be most helpful after students have learned a variety of ways to structure their pieces and have been introduced to a variety of graphic organizers that would help them to organize, or shape, the information into a structure.

Goal 6: Elaboration

Strategy Think about the subtopics for which you'll want to collect information. Write each of your subtopics as a heading on a notebook or booklet page. As you find new information for your topic, think, "What page in my notebook should this go on? Which subtopic does it provide details for?"

Lesson Language I just found this interesting fact: Ballerinas really wear out their shoes. Many go through as many as 2-3 pairs per week! I'm going to look across the pages of my booklet to see where this would best fit. Would it belong in the section called "Types of Ballet Positions?" No, that's not about the positions. Would it go in the section called "Famous Ballets?" No. "What Ballerinas Wear?" Well, I do talk about pointe shoes in this section, so it might be cool to add this fact about how many pairs of pointe shoes the average ballerina needs. I'll keep the fact here.

Goal 7: Word Choice

Strategy Find all the action verbs in your piece. Focus on any that you think aren't as clear, precise, or exact as they could be. List several options for what might replace that word (use a thesaurus if you need it!). Choose the word that best matches your meaning.

Teaching Tip For this strategy to work, children will need to understand what an action verb is, so identification of verbs is a first step in this strategy. Many teachers weave in some instruction during other balanced literacy components such as word study, read-aloud, and/or shared reading. You could also plan to teach direct minilessons to the class or small groups for those who do not understand parts of speech.

Goal 8: Conventions - Spelling and Letter Formation

Strategy When trying to spell a word, try to visualize where you've seen it written and how you've seen it written before. It may help to close your eyes. Then, in a margin or on a piece of scrap paper, write how you think it's spelled. Try it a second or maybe even third way. Look back at what you've written and ask yourself, "Which of these tries looks right to me?"

Prompts

Check off the parts that look right to you.

Write the word as you think you've seen it before.

Which parts look right? Which part looks off?

Do you think there are some letters missing?

What part of that word is tricky for you?

The part you're trying to spell is also in the word _______. Does that help?

Goal 9: Conventions - Grammar and Punctuation

Strategy Find two sentences that talk about the same topic. Think about the relationship between those sentences. Choose a connector word and try combining the sentences into one. Reread and decide if you like the combined way or original way better.

Lesson Language Here's one spot in my draft where I have two sentences that I
think go well together. I wrote: "A dog is something that can keep you company. A dog
can cheer you up." What's the relationship between those two sentences? They both have
to do with something that is positive about owning a dog, so I think they are related. I'm
adding more information on. I'll try using and to combine those sentences: "A dog can
keep you company and cheer you up." Here's another spot: "I would love to have a dog.
My mom won't let me have a dog." What's the relationship between those two sentences?
The second sentence gives more information that feels in contrast to the first. I'll combine
them with however: "I would like to have a dog, however my mom won't let me." The
new sentence I made seems clearer and more to the point.

Goal 10: Collaborating with Writing Partners and Clubs

Strategy Talk with your partner about your goals (for the writing period, for the week, and/or for writing work to take place at home, and so on). Discuss together how you might get that work done. Write the goal, and make the promise...then check in with your partner soon.

Teaching Tip Reflect on your own life and goals you've set out to accomplish. Now think about how successful you've been and whether or not you made your goals public ahead of time. I know that when I share my goals with my partner, my friends, my colleagues, my editor, I am more likely to get things done. The built-in accountability, the opportunity to celebrate together, the lifeline of support in case something does not go according to plan-these are invaluable.

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Writing Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo.

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Collection of strategies that span all aspects of the writing process, all genres and modes of writing, and that will work well with students in grades K-8. Organized so the busy teacher can find just the right strategy at just the right moment.

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Kelly Boswell

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Sometimes the hardest part about teaching writing is getting students to write at all. Kelly Boswell reminds us that every writer is reluctant to write

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Teach Writing Well: How to Assess Writing, Invigorate Instruction, and Rethink Revision!

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Teach Writing Well: How to Assess Writing, Invigorate Instruction, and Rethink Revision!

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Ruth Culham

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Any successful writer will tell you that the key to writing well is revision. Any elementary school teacher will tell you that the real challenge of writing instruction is teaching kids how to revise. Ruth Culham is both a successful writer and a writing teacher, and she's discovered how to teach writing and revision in a way that's accessible to both teacher and students: First read the writing, assess it using the traits of writing, then teach the writers and guide revision decisions using traits as a common language and map.

This book shows you how to assess and teach writing in a way that's practical and doable-and best of all, see results.

Part 1 walks you through the traits of writing and their key qualities, showing step by step how to read students' writing and offer feedback that nudges them forward through the revision process. Chapters will help you address challenges students face within each mode of writing (narrative, expository, persuasive), and provide tools young writers can use to evaluate their own writing and make revision decisions accordingly.

Part 2 dives into instruction, offering specific guidance for how to use what you've learned from reading student writing to design lessons that scaffold students toward making their own craft decisions and revisions. In addition, there's an entire chapter devoted to mentor texts that you can use to model traits and key qualities for your students.

Traits-based revision lies at the heart of this book, as it's been at the heart of Ruth's career in writing instruction. Rethinking revision is what will ultimately help you to teach writing well.
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Any successful writer will tell you that the key to writing well is revision. Any elementary school teacher will tell you that the real challenge of writing instruction is teaching kids how to revise.

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M. Colleen Cruz

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Real Strategies for the Real Classroom

Veteran teacher and author Colleen Cruz has seen it all and done it all in the writing classroom-and she's got something to admit: this is hard work. Real hard. In The Unstoppable Writing Teacher she takes on the common concerns, struggles, and roadblocks that we all face in writing instruction and helps us engage in the process of problem solving each one.

From dealing with writing workshop skeptics to working with students both gifted and challenged, and of course combating that eternal barrier-lack of time-Colleen offers tried-and-true strategies to address and overcome obstacles.

For
...
Special Offer: Save 30% off our list price automatically when you buy 15 or more.

Veteran teacher and author Colleen Cruz has seen it all and done it all in the writing classroom-and she's got something to admit: this is hard work. Real hard. In The Unstoppable Writing Teacher she takes on the common concerns, struggles, and roadblocks that we all face in writing instruction and helps us engage in the process of problem solving each one.

From dealing with writing workshop skeptics to working with students both gifted and challenged, and of course combating that eternal barrier-lack of time-Colleen offers tried-and-true strategies to address and overcome obstacles.

For the struggles unique to you, she includes a " Name Your Monster " section that helps you identify your own individual roadblocks and even offers sustainable support through her blog, colleencruz.com. "We can't solve all the problems we're faced with in writing instruction," Colleen promises, "but we can choose how to respond to them. And our responses will make all the difference."

What makes you unstoppable, or what's stopping you? Connect with Colleen on her blog at www.colleencruz.com/blog.htm or on Twitter, #unstoppablewritingteacher.

(click any section below to continue reading)

Contents

1. A Teaching Mindset

2. "I don't know what to teach this student. He's a much better writer than I am."

3. "I can't seem to get my students to stay writing unless I'm sitting beside them."

4. "I'm not sure how to work with students who are new to English."

5. "I'm finding some student writing repetitive and boring."

6. "I don't feel prepared to work with a student with such great challenges."

7. "I never have enough time."

8. "I need more resources."

9. "I teach grammar but my kids don't learn it."

10. "I feel alone in my work. No one else I know teaches using the writing workshop model."

11. "I have trouble getting families to understand writing workshop."

12. "I want students to write about what they care about, but so much of what they care about seems brainless and artificial to me."

13. Name Your Monster

14. Five Shockingly Easy Ways to Constantly Outgrow Yourself as a Teacher of Writing

Companion Resources

Reviews

"Writing is struggle. If we want our students to become strong writers, then they have to become brave ones. We have to model that bravery in how we teach writing by naming the monsters that challenge us and facing them. Once you finish this book, you'll be well-prepared. You'll know more about the teaching of writing. You'll be braver. You'll be unstoppable. &ldquo from the Foreword by Lucy Calkins

"Hold the phone! Colleen Cruz has given us much more than a writing book here. The Unstoppable Writing Teacher descends into the proverbial trenches and shines a realistic light on the daily life of teachers everywhere. Each chapter addresses universal questions that teachers ponder every day. In the end, teaching writing is rocket science. Read this book and you will learn a great deal about teaching writing, and even more about kids, teachers and life in general." Stephanie Harvey

"The beauty of Colleen Cruz's The Unstoppable Writing Teacher is that it anticipates and addresses the many barriers that writing teachers face and, in doing so, offers smart and practical steps to building strong, independent writers. I love Cruz's notion that good writing teachers are both scientists and artists. It is her mix of science and art that makes this an important book for anyone who teaches writing. I highly recommend it. Kelly Gallagher

Would you benefit from having a literacy coach on-call to help you solve pressing writing workshop-related problems? Colleen Cruz tackles teachers' most predictable workshop-related issues in The Unstoppable Writing Teacher. It's a must-read this summer so that you'll be the unstoppable writing teacher you want to be when school starts this fall. Stacey Shubitz for Two Writing Teachers

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Veteran teacher and author Colleen Cruz has seen it all and done it all in the writing classroom-and she's got something to admit: this is hard work. Real hard. In The Unstoppable Writing Teacher she takes on the common concerns, struggles, and roadblocks that we all face in writing instruction and helps us engage in the process of problem solving each one.

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Jennifer Serravallo

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Strategies and lessons for teaching writing in Kindergarten through elementary to seventh grade with differentiation and inquiry. Complete guide with ideas for small group guided, shared, and interactive writing. Improve engagement and independence though social support and teacher feedback.

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Danling Fu, Xenia Hadjioannou, & Xiaodi Zhou

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Translanguaging for Emergent Bilinguals is a thorough examination of the development, evolution, and current realities of educating emergent bilinguals in U.S. classrooms. Through engaging vignettes,...

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Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain

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Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain

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Zaretta Hammond

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From math, literacy, equity, multilingual learners, and SEL, to assessment, school counseling, and education leadership, our books are research-based and authored by experts on topics most relevant to what educators are facing today.

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Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain

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In this book, Zaretta Hammond draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to offer an innovative approach for designing and implementing brain-compatible culturally responsive instruction.

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Connect with educators around the world!

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Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

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Chris Gadbury

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EKC

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EKC

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Prioritize at least 2/3 of your class time for kids living the work with you responsively teaching and coaching. What is the impact on learning and teaching? Post your victories, challenges, wonderings, and/or examples below.

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Maria is wondering about reading journals. 

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Maria is wondering about reading journals. 

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🌈 To promise the pleasure of writing and the sharing of THEIR own ideas
🌈 To allow them the freedom of languages to express themselves and convey their thoughts
🌈 To find the joy in the writing process and help them be freed from fear.
🌈 To find their authentic authorial voice-their choice and voice.
🌈 To work with them to remove the barriers they feel/ we see in their writing.

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📍 Opportunities to read and write
📍 Exposure to new topics and genres
📍 Exposure to strategies to improve writing
📍 Give them time and proper environment to read and write
📍 Read more class books
📍 Model how to read and write
📍 Learn how to shop for appropriate books to their ability
📍 Book talks - sharing favourite books in different ways in groups, across classes
📍 Read aloud in class and individual reading
📍 Read to younger classes in pairs (reading buddies)

Debs, Ronnie, Michelle

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🌱 Ample opportunities to write!
🌱 Variety of writing experiences!
🌱 Authentic writing experiences!
🌱 Choice, Voice, Ownership!
🌱 Chance to push boundaries and take risks!
🌱 Question what you see and experience new books!
🌱 To enjoy writing and reading!

Justin, Vivien, Jonathan

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Our Promises:
To feel confident about writing
To feel supported about writing
To feel excited
To feel connected
To be interested
Thinking time
Purpose

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By: Matthew, Celeste, Natasha, & Caitlin

🌍  Opportunity to write & time to really get into their craft
🌍  Exposure to mentor texts of a wide variety and genres
🌍  Genre and text type freedom - and a commitment to exposure to different writing styles throughout the year as a class
🌍  Set time for sharing and reflection
🌍  Honest and timely feedback/feedforward during conferring sessions (moving away from just 'grammar' focuses - move onto creativity, voice, etc.)
🌍   Conferring sessions that are catered whether for the individual or the group
🌍  Being encouraged to take a piece of writing to the published stage and celebrating being an author
🌍 To be able to celebrate success with writing

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🌺 I got that 🌺
- mini lessons are not the be-all and end-all and I should not have been overly stressing about how to 'fit everything in' like I was before
- keep it simple
- many angles and ways to add in ATL skills, LP attributes, & Language expectations

🌺 I want 🌺
- more examples of mini-lessons
- to learn how to confer in a timely manner
- how to go through their writing work in a timely manner and give valuable feedforward with examples

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Got: mini lessons should not be the main focus
Want: Writer's workshop lesson structure and examples

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I got that:
- Gets the pupils engaged in the lessons
- Exposes them to explorer different ways of writing
- Involving the LP's and ATL's in these

I want to know
- A skeleton plan of what to cover over the year
- Mini lessons examples?
- How much grammar should we be teaching the pupils?

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Gots: I got that
- minilessons should consist of 1 clear question and 1 clear teaching point.
- It is not the most important/only teaching moment

Wants: More of the same... It will be great to be able to observe what it looks like through each stage. I look forward to seeing how we can provide feedback to feedforward to groups of varying ability.

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Got:
🌈 that mini-lessons need to be punchy and we as educators need to have our clear focus in our heads so that we can protect the all important writing time when we as teachers can go deep in the small group/conference/1:1s
🌈 that it is a seamless way to weave in ATLS, skills and the language aims into a session
🌈 that it gives children chance to explore the field before diving into writing by e.g. giving text prompts
🌈 promotes joint construction (me and Viv collaborated on wording that!)
Want:
🌈 would LOVE to see examples of collaborative planning between a class teacher and a LE specialist and would love to buddy up with teachers to do this here.

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Michelle's G&W's                                                                                  I got... the structure of mini-lessons and the importance of small groups. Like that it is driven by questions, not topics, so a nice connection to PYP as well.                                                                                   I want... simple streamlined planning ideas to save time, elaboration on specific skills, and conference ideas. I feel I need this esp at revising stage. (I guess the driving questions are created by targets and need, will be in our curriculum of course too, but in your experience in this age group, what would you say are the key focus areas that often get 'overlooked' as you go through the writing process, including the editing phase. Thanks! :)   

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Michelle's G&W's                                                                                  I got... the structure of mini-lessons and the importance of small groups. Like that it is driven by questions, not topics, so a nice connection to PYP as well.                                                                                   I want... simple streamlined planning ideas to save time, elaboration on specific skills, and conference ideas. I feel I need this esp at revising stage. (I guess the driving questions are created by targets and need, will be in our curriculum of course too, but in your experience in this age group, what would you say are the key focus areas that often get 'overlooked' as you go through the writing process, including the editing phase. Thanks! :)   

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Gots: Positive impact and research findings on writer's workshop; students use various levels of books working on different aspects; skill + strategy + relevance

Wants: case study

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Got:
- aims to encourage pupils to be proactively thinking about their writing
- how ATLs and Attributes can be incorporated into lessons
- reading rich texts to inspire learners
- changing the frame of speech during minilessons to promote joint construction (Knowles, 2021)

Want:
- different examples of minilessons

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Prep 5's are wondering how to set up a successful writing environment.

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Prep 5's are wondering how to set up a successful writing environment.

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Prep5's are also wondering about differentiating mini lessons.

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Prep5's are also wondering about differentiating mini lessons.

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Prep 5's are wondering if there are any examples of conferencing templates to provide timely and meaningful feedback. 

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Prep 5's are wondering if there are any examples of conferencing templates to provide timely and meaningful feedback. 

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TCRWP

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Whole Class Instruction: Analyzing Point of View in Persuasive Texts (5-8)

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TCRWP

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Assessing Endings to Persuasive Essays in Order to Clarify Expectations and Inform Essay Revisions (5-8)

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Advancing Literacy (formerly TCRWP) is a research think tank and staff development organization based at Teachers College, Columbia University. The videos in this...

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Jennifer Serravallo

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EKC

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Malvern P5-P6:  PYP Lesson Planning Sheet

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EKC

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Cultivating an Agentic Environment and Ecology

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Cultivating an Agentic Environment and Ecology

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EKC

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The LE Team are wondering what  differentiation looks like in a mini-lesson even from outset of the connection stage when you have broad spectrum of need?

Particularly when you are e.g. incorporating the ATLs which some of our LS need children find incredibly hard to connect to-is the ATL is to be observed in the process or are we expecting to see it in the product.

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When grouping students, I automatically think of levelling for small groups. What about interest groups? What other types of groupings could I try?

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When grouping students, I automatically think of levelling for small groups. What about interest groups? What other types of groupings could I try?

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Strategies for building writing stamina, developing independence and conferencing

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Great tips on anchor charting and the reminders about all that agency is. I liked seeing the overview of lessons over a 4 week period and that it was not a completely linear process but based on student needs and text type emphasis too. I definitely have ideas of where we need to go, so need to apply them to this writing process. I also want to make a 'heart map' your version of the writing bank. I like to give students lots of time to think and write, so feeling good about that. As you shared, I agree, I am also looking forward to conferencing tips. Also, I have a few students who read and comprehend literature fairly well but are truly struggling with ideas and the words/vocab to get going... even adding ideas to graphic organisers to get it all started. It could be structuring ideas, lack of vocab, confidence, and even lack of this type of experience, esp for new students. Will try heart map, modeled pre-write, diff graphic organiser options, have TP scribe ideas with them, translanguaging, more and more modeling, and having peers share their ideas. I know the kids are motivated enough but can see that this is quite new being in a new school or after the summer and need to build up their focus and rigor. Any tips would be helpful. (Thanks for chatting with me about potential grouping ideas too- interest, differentiation, etc.) Thanks.

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How to differentiate mini-lessons? Conferences templates?

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How to differentiate mini-lessons? Conferences templates?

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Smoothing transition from mini-lesson to writing?

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Smoothing transition from mini-lesson to writing?

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What would the writing process (steps) look like in prep 6

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What would the writing process (steps) look like in prep 6

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I have a basic 5 step writing process display on the white board so pupils can move their name magnet to where they are in the writing process. The steps are: Pre-write, drafting, revising, editing and publishing. According to the writing strategies book this process can look different depending on the year level of the pupils. There was reference to the K-2 writing process, and the grade 3 writing process. Could we use the grade 3 example in Prep 6? Are there tweaks and changes we'd need to make?

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EKC

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Conferring to Amplify Inquiry & Honor Agency

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Conferring to Amplify Inquiry & Honor Agency

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EKC

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EKC

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Common Conferring Patterns & Possibilities (If...Then...)

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Common Conferring Patterns & Possibilities (If...Then...)

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Carl Anderson

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Common Conferring Patterns | Carl Anderson

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Carl Anderson

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Common Conferences (3-8) | Carl Anderson

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EKC

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Hammond (2015) based on Kleinfeld (1975)

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EKC

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Co-planning & Co-teaching During the Work Period

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EKC

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I used the lean-in strategy to listen to kids sharing during the mini-lesson and then used those when bringing them back together. The mini lesson then flowed and the children had longer during independent time.

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Hi! Have the same 'pencil display artifact' as Natasha posted? i see this process as a base with bits added to it. I notice that it's basically the same with ALOT more elaboration on the pre-writing process: generate, choose, develop and rehearse. Have been elaborating more on this section for sure - heart mapping and some more long-term pre-writing.

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Pupils were VERY excited to get writing. From giving them time to start it appeared that many needed a structure. P6 created a folder which has a selection of planning and writing templates to help them move through the process.

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Prep 5 - Mini-lesson on elements of a story

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Prep 5 - Mini-lesson on elements of a story

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We brainstormed different elements of a story in Prep 5 the other day. All the ideas written were thrown in by the pupils. It was a mini-lesson towards the key elements of writing a narrative story. We then narrowed down to characters, setting, possible problems and solutions, and generated ideas for each.

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Want: An example of the Conferring Loop- Maria

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Want: An example of the Conferring Loop- Maria

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How to keep track of the conferring loop with a big class.

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Got- conference process and strategies and reminders of best practice 'feed forward' and what it looks like in the classroom
Want- creating loads of anchor charts, advice? Also, we have personal narratives and made great connections about character traits to our stories from our read- aloud novel. I like to mix my reading and writing up quite alot to stengthen both. Any interesting ideas for mixing these or 'killing 2 birds with one stone'?

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How often should you be conferencing with pupils? We do not always have a TP with us so it is a lot harder to get around all the kids.

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What strategies can you use when providing individuals feedback after a small group conference? Particularly if you have pupils who need to develop different areas.

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Confer with writers in your care. Post pictures, videos, reflections, and insights here.

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Pupils struggling to get started and remembering the process.

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🎃What could a balanced workshop schedule look like?

🎃How could we balance Reader's and Writer's workshop over 6 50 minute lessons a week? Weekly rotation or daily rotation? Blend them together? Do they both need to happen every day?

🎃What could a balanced conferring schedule look like? Would this also be a daily or weekly rotation? Do what works best for for class/year level/school?

🎃Any advice on year level appropriate conferencing forms and cheat sheet/guiding questions we could use whilst conferring?

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I've got the structure down of what writing and reading workshop can look like, and pupils can work through the process successfully, but have not yet been successful in conferring with each pupil within a week. I have not yet achieved consistency and balance of Writer's and Reader's workshop within a given week in order to focus on all of the language expectations. I might be overthinking this and making things more complicated than they need to be, but I'm really eager to 'squeeze it all in' and have the process run seamlessly.

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Chartchums

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Kate Roberts & Maggie Roberts

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About Curriculum Clinics Blog Videos Speaking Calendar Work With Us Event Registration Contact

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Kate Roberts & Maggie Roberts

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Teaching Tools for Differentiation, Rigor, and Independence

What's DIY Literacy? It's making your own visual teaching tools instead of buying them. It's using your teaching smarts to get the most from those tools. And it's helping kids think strategically so they can be DIY learners.

Special Offer: Save 30% off our list price automatically when you buy 15 or more.

"We have never seen teachers work harder than we do now. These tools inspire kids to work as hard as we are."
-Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts

What's DIY Literacy? It's making your own visual teaching tools instead of buying them. It's using your teaching smarts to get the most from those tools. And it's helping kids think strategically so they can be DIY learners.

"Teaching tools create an impact on students' learning," write Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts. "They help students hold onto our teaching and become changed by the work in the classroom." Of course, you and your students need the right tools for the job, so first Kate and Maggie share four simple, visual tools that you can make. Then they show how to maximize your instructional know-how with suggestions for using the tools to:

make your reading and writing strategies stick

motivate students to reach for their next learning goal

differentiate instruction simply and quickly.

Kate and Maggie are like a friendly, handy neighbor. They offer experience-honed advice for using the four tools for assessment, small-group instruction, conferring, setting learning goals, and, most important, helping students learn to apply strategies and make progress without prompting from you. In other words, to do it themselves.

"It is our greatest hope," write Kate and Maggie, "that the tools we offer here will help your students to work hard, to hold onto what they know, and to see themselves in the curriculum you teach." Try DIY Literacy and help your readers and writers take learning into their own hands.

(click any section below to continue reading)

In Depth

As literacy consultants, we have never seen teachers work harder than we do now. And we have watched teaching tools help them feel as though all of their hard work is worth it. In part, the tools help get traction going with teaching and learning. In larger part, the tools inspire kids to work as hard as we are. These tangible, colorful, personalized offerings of our teaching are individual gifts to students. They communicate the message of I see you. I see your next steps. Let me help you. Here is this. These teaching tools invite kids in on the work of the class in a way that is tailored to them, allowing students to take control of their learning and do it themselves.

When we take on DIY projects, from remodeling a bathroom to making a new teaching chart, we know that part of the joy in this project is going to come from our own efforts. And while many times the hallmark of a DIY project is it's imperfections, these flaws often become marks of character, points of pride, and evidence of learning.

One key to experiencing joy is working hard and seeing that hard work pay off. When mathematicians solve a problem they've been grappling with for months, when a musician perfects a performance of a complicated piece, when a learner masters a difficult concept, joy arrives.

It is our greatest hope that the tools we offer here will help your students to work hard, to hold onto what they know, and to see themselves in the curriculum you teach.

Onward to joy!

- From Chapter 1

Companion Resources

Reviews

"After reading DIY Literacy, I felt like I had been given a superhero cape. I felt armed and ready to teach writing. I knew I could use my newly created demonstration notebook or a micro-progression or a chart to help me teach my students. Really, I felt empowered."
- Dana Murphy, at Two Writing Teachers
Read the entire review
" DIY Literacy is not only a "how-to" book on designing visual tools but a source of advice on implementation in the classroom. Students' learning is changed by concrete ideas that push them forward into independent problem solving."
-Sandy Wisneski, at MiddleWeb
Read the entire review

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DIY Literacy by Kate Roberts & Maggie Beattie Roberts.

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Make visual teaching tools instead of buying them. Use your teaching smarts to get the most from those tools. And help kids think strategically so they can be DIY learners. Get the traction going with teaching and learning to inspire kids to work as hard as we do.

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Jeff Anderson & Whitney La Rocca

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Possible Lesson Sequence (adapt to YOUR kids!)

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Possible Lesson Sequence (adapt to YOUR kids!)

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Free resource from Stenhouse

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This blog is both a forum for collaboration and a resource for language arts teachers to use. Please use the sentences you find here as models for exploration and imitation in your classrooms, and add to them as you find strong examples through your personal and class readings. Use the sidebar to the left to view or add to the collected sentences.

The idea for the blog grew from a conversation at one of Jeff Anderson's workshops. Jeff is the author of Mechanically Inclined: Building Grammar, Usage, and Style into Writer's Workshop , a very practical and valuable exploration of grammar and writing instruction. Through discussion of how to promote positive development of students' grammar knowledge and writing style, Jeff encouraged us as teachers to find powerful model sentences in the stories and books we read, and to present these sentences to our students as models for discussion (what he calls "noticing") and imitation. When teachers asked if there is a collection of these model sentences somewhere, the idea for this blog was born. Jeff's second book, Everyday Editing: Inviting Students to Develop Skill and Craft in Writer's Workshop , also holds many lessons to help you teach editing outside of the "vacuum" of canned instruction.

Use in the Classroom: These are meant to be noteworthy sentences from published authors that students can examine ("What things do you notice about this sentence?") and imitate ("Now you try it, using this sentence as an example.") within the context of writing instruction of all types. Some sentences could also serve as leads, prompts, or stems for journal entries or more formal writing assignments.

Organization of Blog: In the left sidebar, I have grouped these entries in a variety of ways, knowing that teachers look for sentences for many reasons. There is a general "Best Sentences Ever" Section, and below that there are numerous more specific categories of the following titles: Parts of Sentences (with subheadings of Parts of Speech, Phrases, and Clauses), Purpose of Sentences, Structure of Sentences, Length of Sentences, Syntax Techniques, Figurative Language, Sound Devices, Literary Techniques, Punctuation, and Style/Voice.

How to use this site as a resource: Use the links in the left sidebar to select a category of sentences. Once on the category page, click on individual types of sentences to view or add sentences. Read the "Comments" to find sentences relevant to your current search.

How to contribute to this resource: Below any post about a type of sentence, click on the "Comments" link, and type the sentences according to the following directions. Please write out your selected sentence(s) in quotations, followed by the name of the author, the work in which these lines appear, and the page number(s) on which these lines appear. Please proofread before posting. NOTES: Colorful quotations are wonderful, but please try to make sure they are also appropriate. If you have a strategy that has worked well with this particular sentence you are posting, you may also include a brief description of that strategy.

Thanks for contributing! If you have a comment or suggestion, you may email me at lswolter@gmail.com.

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Notable Sentences...for Imitation and Creation

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"As writers, we learn most of what we know just by watching the pros, don't we?" ~John R. Trimble

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Be sure to check out pp. 27-28 for unit planning support.

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Introduction
A Very Brief Introduction to Principles, Research, and Theory, and How to Use This Book
The idea for a book of writing strategies exists many times over. This one is possible only because of the great books that have come before it. There are books suggesting writing strategies meant for professional writers and college students, such as those by Noah Lukeman, Roy Peter Clark, and Janet Burroway, among others. There are countless examples of excellent compilations of writing strategies in books written for teachers of writing, such as Fletcher and Portalupi's Craft Lessons Series, Barry Lane's After "The End" (1993), Carl Anderson's Strategic Writing Conferences series (2008-2009), Donald Graves' many books, Katie Wood Ray's Wondrous Words (1999) and other titles, Katherine Bomer's books, Georgia Heard's books, Nancie Atwell's In the Middle (2014) and other resources, Lucy Calkins' Units of Study series, and many more. My aim in this book is to offer my favorite, most useful collection of strategies that span all aspects of the writing process, all genres and modes of writing, and that will work well with students in grades K-8. I want to offer you a little bit of everything. I streamlined the language and examples, and I present the strategies in a format that is organized so that the busy teacher can find just the right strategy at just the right moment. Of course, you'll elaborate on the streamlined language and make it your own.

But wait-before you dive in, I'm so glad you're taking the time to spend a few moments with this "Getting Started" introduction. In this introduction, you'll gain a helpful overview of the thinking that undergirds this book's ideas as well as an overview of its organization. You'll learn about strategies and all the aspects that I chose to include to elaborate on them-mentor texts, prompts, lesson language, teaching tips, and more. You'll learn how to navigate the pages of the book so you can find what you're looking for quickly and easily, for this is not a read-every-single-page kind of book (unless you want it to be). You'll get a quick crash course on some important terminology and concepts that will help you use this book to its fullest- thoughts about writing as a process, and modes and genres of writing, for example. And finally, you'll learn how to adapt what's in the book to fit your students' writing time in the classroom, no matter what form that time takes.
Click here to download more of the introduction of this book.
Goal 1: Composing with Pictures

Strategy Go back to your picture(s). Point to the part or picture that teaches something important about your topic. Touch or turn to the next part. Tell what new fact about your topic this part of the picture or this page teaches.

Lesson Language If I wrote or drew to teach, then when I read my writing back I'm going to make it sound like a teaching book. I'm going to tell my reader the facts I wrote about. Let me show you. I drew a picture of a big T. rex. I know a lot about them so I added a lot of details in my picture. I'm going to touch one part and teach what that part says. "The T. rex had very large jaws with big sharp teeth." Now I'm going to touch a new part and teach what that part says. "The T. rex had very short arms. It would only run using its hind legs."

Goal 2: Engagement - Independence, Increasing Volume, and Developing a Writing Identity

Strategy First, identify the problem you're having. Then, check the spot in the room, a resource, or a friend that might help you solve the problem. Try a solution. If it doesn't work, try something else.

Teaching Tip This strategy, like "Use the Room" that appears earlier in this chapter, assumes that there are things in the room that can be helpful, and that you've taught children how to use them. For example, in a primary classroom a word wall may help a writer to spell high-frequency words. If you've introduced and used mentor texts, then having these available for children to reference on their own could help them. Sometimes the problem might be that they need to work in a new spot in the room because of the amount of distractions at their current spot. Brainstorm possible problems with your students, and come up with a list of resources and solutions. Or, this strategy can be like a culmination of past teaching from this and other chapters.

Goal 3: Generating and Collecting Ideas

Strategy Decide on a new place to visit. Go there with no more than a notebook and a set of listening ears and observing eyes. Let yourself pick up on conversation and details of the person. Jot down what you observe, and also what you imagine, about the people you see.

Teaching Tip This strategy will take you outside of the classroom, so it would work well as a whole-class lesson followed by a field trip, or as a suggestion to a student, group, or class for independent writing outside of the school day.

Goal 4: Focus/Meaning

Strategy Think about a memory and all the events that are part of that memory. Think about what's important about that memory, or the big idea the memory leaves you with. Identify the one part of the memory that feels the most important. Write some ideas about what's important about it, and why it's important. Try to write just that one smaller part of the larger moment. Tell it bit by bit.

Teaching Tip The amount a writer will be able to reflect on the overall significance of a small moment will depend on her maturity level and experience with writing. For younger children, you may want to suggest choosing a small moment that will make a good story, rather than one imbued with a deep or heavy significance, or simply encourage them to narrow down the window of time

Goal 5: Organization and Structure

Strategy Before beginning to draft, visualize the shape of what you're going to make. Create some sort of quick visual, in pictures or in words, to represent the overarching structure. As you write, check back to see where you are in your plan.

Teaching Tip This is going to be most helpful after students have learned a variety of ways to structure their pieces and have been introduced to a variety of graphic organizers that would help them to organize, or shape, the information into a structure.

Goal 6: Elaboration

Strategy Think about the subtopics for which you'll want to collect information. Write each of your subtopics as a heading on a notebook or booklet page. As you find new information for your topic, think, "What page in my notebook should this go on? Which subtopic does it provide details for?"

Lesson Language I just found this interesting fact: Ballerinas really wear out their shoes. Many go through as many as 2-3 pairs per week! I'm going to look across the pages of my booklet to see where this would best fit. Would it belong in the section called "Types of Ballet Positions?" No, that's not about the positions. Would it go in the section called "Famous Ballets?" No. "What Ballerinas Wear?" Well, I do talk about pointe shoes in this section, so it might be cool to add this fact about how many pairs of pointe shoes the average ballerina needs. I'll keep the fact here.

Goal 7: Word Choice

Strategy Find all the action verbs in your piece. Focus on any that you think aren't as clear, precise, or exact as they could be. List several options for what might replace that word (use a thesaurus if you need it!). Choose the word that best matches your meaning.

Teaching Tip For this strategy to work, children will need to understand what an action verb is, so identification of verbs is a first step in this strategy. Many teachers weave in some instruction during other balanced literacy components such as word study, read-aloud, and/or shared reading. You could also plan to teach direct minilessons to the class or small groups for those who do not understand parts of speech.

Goal 8: Conventions - Spelling and Letter Formation

Strategy When trying to spell a word, try to visualize where you've seen it written and how you've seen it written before. It may help to close your eyes. Then, in a margin or on a piece of scrap paper, write how you think it's spelled. Try it a second or maybe even third way. Look back at what you've written and ask yourself, "Which of these tries looks right to me?"

Prompts

Check off the parts that look right to you.

Write the word as you think you've seen it before.

Which parts look right? Which part looks off?

Do you think there are some letters missing?

What part of that word is tricky for you?

The part you're trying to spell is also in the word _______. Does that help?

Goal 9: Conventions - Grammar and Punctuation

Strategy Find two sentences that talk about the same topic. Think about the relationship between those sentences. Choose a connector word and try combining the sentences into one. Reread and decide if you like the combined way or original way better.

Lesson Language Here's one spot in my draft where I have two sentences that I
think go well together. I wrote: "A dog is something that can keep you company. A dog
can cheer you up." What's the relationship between those two sentences? They both have
to do with something that is positive about owning a dog, so I think they are related. I'm
adding more information on. I'll try using and to combine those sentences: "A dog can
keep you company and cheer you up." Here's another spot: "I would love to have a dog.
My mom won't let me have a dog." What's the relationship between those two sentences?
The second sentence gives more information that feels in contrast to the first. I'll combine
them with however: "I would like to have a dog, however my mom won't let me." The
new sentence I made seems clearer and more to the point.

Goal 10: Collaborating with Writing Partners and Clubs

Strategy Talk with your partner about your goals (for the writing period, for the week, and/or for writing work to take place at home, and so on). Discuss together how you might get that work done. Write the goal, and make the promise...then check in with your partner soon.

Teaching Tip Reflect on your own life and goals you've set out to accomplish. Now think about how successful you've been and whether or not you made your goals public ahead of time. I know that when I share my goals with my partner, my friends, my colleagues, my editor, I am more likely to get things done. The built-in accountability, the opportunity to celebrate together, the lifeline of support in case something does not go according to plan-these are invaluable.

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Writing Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo.

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Collection of strategies that span all aspects of the writing process, all genres and modes of writing, and that will work well with students in grades K-8. Organized so the busy teacher can find just the right strategy at just the right moment.

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Trialing this make-shift system out to see if I can keep a quick track of what pupils I am seeing regularly.

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Set up a nice conferencing table to excite the pupils more about sharing and working closely with experts. I will further encourage peer-to-peer conferencing allowing pupils to hold the position of expert once then 'get it'.

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I would love structure and ideas of how pupils would go about writing larger pieces as part of larger projects. For example a multi-paragraph persuasive letter that includes research and takes more than two weeks to complete a cycle.

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EKC

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Malvern College HK - 2021 Q4 - Conference - Writing - P6 - Ella - Part 1

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EKC

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Malvern College HK - 2021 Q4 - Conference - Writing - P6 - Ella - Part 2

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Allison Marchetti & Rebekah O’Dell

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Matt Glover

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Students can learn about an author's craft by studying a stack of texts. An author's process can feel hidden since it isn't spelled out on the page. On this site I've collected links to video clips of authors talking about their process. These clips can be used as a part of any writing workshop unit of study, but they will be particularly helpful in supporting certain process studies. You'll find clips here related to five units: Finding Ideas, Using a Writer's Notebook, Planning, Peer Conferring and Revision. You'll notice that some of the clips can be used in more than one unit. For example, in the clip of Will Hillenbrand in the Peer Conferring section, he mentions how he finds ideas and uses his notebook as well as who he talks to about his writing.

I'll be adding links periodically- some already available online, and some from interviews I'm conducting, so check back often. Find me on Twitter @mattglover123 for updates. I've started with these units but hope to expand to include links related to additional units.

You can help add to the collection as well. If you know of a link/clip that could be added to this site, click on the link on the right under Want To Help. Also, if you are having an author or illustrator visit your school and would be willing to interview them and share the video (with their permission of course), click on the link on the right for possible interview questions. You might even have students interview the author (see the Nicola Davies clips.)

This site was sparked by my interest in the role of choice in increasing student engagement. My hope is that these clips help your students strengthen their identities as authors.

Matt
This website was created by Matt Glover with the support of Erik Wallace. You can see the services Erik provides

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Students can learn about an author's craft by studying a stack of texts. An author's process can feel hidden since it isn't spelled out on the page. On this site I've collected links to video clips of authors talking about their process. These clips can be used as a part of any writing workshop unit [...]

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Free from TCRWP | You can use the on-demand prompts for pre- and/or post-assessment of learning, and you can use the checklists throughout an inquiry/unit for assessment for and as learning.

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Grade 4 On-Demand Writing Assessment Tools

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Free from TCRWP | You can use the on-demand prompts for pre- and/or post-assessment of learning, and you can use the checklists throughout an inquiry/unit for assessment for and as learning.

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Grade 5 On-Demand Writing Assessment Tools

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Possible Teaching Points for Interactive Writing

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Possible Teaching Points for Interactive Writing

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EKC

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Possible Teaching Points for Interactive Writing in Grades 2–5

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Got
-practical tracking and planning ideas for conferences
-enthusiastic, authentic conferencing tips
Want
-chance to meet with the team to plan and few shared ideas

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This session gave me a lot to think about - especially since I just started with my class this week. I am excited about documenting better and creating effective planning for my mini lessons. I am wondering if there are organized banks of comments/questions to help with conferring? (Maybe this has already been shared?) T
hank you again!

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Gots:
- Great examples of how to include grammatical elements in an engaging way.
- was useful to see the architecture of an individual conference in action.
- ideas for anecdotal notes collection.

Wants:
- to put these strategies into action

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Gots:
- Lots of ways to conference
- A way of setting individual writing goals
- Conference in action
- A new way to teach grammar

Wants:
- Differentiated questions for conferencing
- Ways to extend my feedback for the more able writer's