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KG

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Preschool - 3
Preschool - 4

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Matt Glover

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"When you create a unit of study, it's tempting to think you know exactly what will happen on day 5, 13, or 18. But you can't know. As soon as a unit starts, we begin making adjustments. This book shares a process for projecting a unit of study so you can make decisions as you respond to students each day." Matt Glover and Mary Alice Berry

As a teacher, you value instructional flexibility because, after all, nearly anything can happen-and does! Yet you still have to plan instruction that helps your writers meet curricular objectives. Helping you solve this dilemma is what Projecting Possibilities for Writers is all about.

You can't know exactly when in a unit of study students will need extra support or be ready for a particular minilesson. That's why Matt Glover and Mary Alice Berry show how to project rather than plan-to design a sequence of instruction that not only supports deep understanding but gives you the agency to respond to individual needs and meet key writing standards.

Projecting Possibilities for Writers shares how to determine what to teach during a unit, how to teach it, and why to teach it-as well as when to make the crucial adjustments that this flexible approach makes possible. You'll look over Mary Alice's shoulder as she plans a unit for her writing workshop, while "Try It Out" suggestions lead you to project your own units.

Solve the flexibility vs. planning dilemma! Trust Projecting Possibilities for Writers and learn to teach with a roadmap rather than a rigid set of directions as you create learning experiences for classes of individual students with individual needs.

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projecting possibilities for writers: the how

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teaching methods & materials - language arts

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education / teaching methods & materials / general

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education / teaching methods & materials / reading & phonics

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education / teaching methods & materials / language arts

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education/teaching methods & materials - general

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english language - composition and exercises - study and teaching (elementary)

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teaching methods & materials - language arts

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education / teaching methods & materials / general

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education / teaching methods & materials / reading & phonics

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education / teaching methods & materials / language arts

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education/teaching methods & materials - general

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Projecting Possibilities for Writers: The How, What, and Why of Designing Units of Study, K-5

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Amazon.com: Projecting Possibilities for Writers: The How, What, and Why of Designing Units of Study, K-5 (9780325041926): Glover, Matt, Berry, Mary Alice: Books

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Matt Glover

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

Part One
Ch. 1: Increasing Engagement Through Choice of Genre
Ch 2: Choice of Genre Through Craft and Process Studies
Ch. 3: Teaching in Craft and Process Studies

Part Two: The Units
Ch. 4: Launching Writing Workshop: Fostering Self-Direction
Ch. 5: Reading Like a Writer
Ch. 6: Using Strategies to Find Topics
Ch. 7: Finding and Developing Independent Writing Projects
Ch. 8: Launching the Use of a Writer's Notebook
Ch. 9: Independent Genre Study
Ch. 10: Planning
Ch. 11: How to Have Better Peer Conferences
Ch. 12: Revision
Ch. 13: Genre Overview
Ch. 14: Illustration Study
Ch. 15: Using Illustrations and Text to Create Meaning in the Upper Grades
Ch. 16: How to Make Paragraphing Decisions
Ch 17: General Craft Study
Ch. 18: Using Punctuation as a Crafting Tool
Ch. 19: Using Text Structures as Crafting Tools
Ch. 20: Author Study

"How do you ensure that children become engaged enthusiastic writers? Read Matt Glover's book Craft and Process Studies. Delightful to read and highly practical, it shows us how to teach writing so that children become and continue to be engaged while expanding their writing repertoire. It is the antidote to orthodoxy in the writers' workshop. Thoroughly illustrated with concrete examples and videos, it offers multiple versions of units as flexible frameworks inviting us to innovate responsively and purposefully."-Peter Johnston

"After reading Craft and Process Studies, teachers will walk away with a thousand ideas to help them 'genre bust.' That's my term! Matt's argument that students need significant periods of time to write outside of conventional genres is strong, rational, and compelling."-Ellin Oliver Keene

"In Craft and Process Studies, master teacher Matt Glover recovers a key, maybe the key, principle of writing instruction-choice. Too often, students are marched through genre units, often presented as distinct types, with little opportunity to write about what matters most to them. Genre becomes not a resource, but a constraint. A means becomes an end. Matt retains the idea of a units of study, focusing on processes and issues of craft that can apply to whatever genre the student might choose. In the best tradition of mentor texts, these units build insights inductively, by a careful study of what authors actually do. What's more-we get to see Matt in action, conducting conferences and mini lessons in over forty video clips."-Thomas Newkirk

"Matt has long been a passionate advocate for student choice, and in this book he shows teachers how to put choice at the center of all their planning and decision making. What a gift to be able to learn from Matt's years of experience doing this work in so many different classrooms. There's no question you will think so much more expansively about the teaching of writing after reading this book. If you've ever felt like your students were boxed-in by the narrow confines of genre study after genre study, you'll find so many possibilities for breaking out of that box and supporting student writers with smart, bold studies that lift the level of their work in genres they have chosen for themselves."-Katie Wood Ray

"Matt Glover's Craft and Process Studies is my new favorite book on the teaching of writing! Not only does Matt make a compelling-and essential-argument for including units of study in our writing curriculums that give students the opportunity to choose the genres in which they write, but he also shows us how to do this by detailing seventeen beautifully realized units of study on process and craft." -Carl Anderson

"Writing is a content area, and Matt's generous, joyous, crystal-clear, and thoughtful compendium of all things worth teaching about craft and process in addition to genres, will help teachers build a compelling and robust year of learning for young writers. Stunningly, if students could be in classrooms that follow his map for how such units could go, I believe that genre knowledge would take care of itself! After you read and underline every other sentence, as I did, you will want to meet with your colleagues immediately to begin planning your next writing study."-Katherine Bomer

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Special Offer: Save 30% off our list price automatically when you buy 15 or more. Part One Ch. 1: Increasing Engagement Through Choice of Genre Ch 2: Choice of Genre Through Craft and Process Studies Ch. 3: Teaching in Craft and Process Studies Part Two: The Units Ch.

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Writing Workshop with Our Youngest Writers

About the Authors is about the littlest authors—those in kindergarten through second grade. Based on a profound understanding of the ways in which young children learn, it shows teachers how to launch a writing workshop by inviting children to do what they do naturally—make stuff. So why not write books?

Gifted educator and author of the best-selling What You Know by Heart (Heinemann, 2002), Katie Wood Ray has seen young authors do just that. And she wants your students to be able to do the same. Beautifully describing young children in the act of learning, she demonstrates what
...
Special Offer: Save 30% off our list price automatically when you buy 15 or more.

About the Authors is about the littlest authors—those in kindergarten through second grade. Based on a profound understanding of the ways in which young children learn, it shows teachers how to launch a writing workshop by inviting children to do what they do naturally—make stuff. So why not write books?

Gifted educator and author of the best-selling What You Know by Heart (Heinemann, 2002), Katie Wood Ray has seen young authors do just that. And she wants your students to be able to do the same. Beautifully describing young children in the act of learning, she demonstrates what it takes to nourish writing right from the start:

a supportive environment that enables even the youngest students to write

respect and sensitivity to the way children really learn

inviting instruction that both encourages and elevates young writers

rich language that stimulates writing

classroom talk and children's literature that energize young writers

developmental considerations that shape the structure of the workshop, making it natural, joyful, and absolutely appropriate.

What's more, Ray explains step by step how to set up and maintain a primary writing workshop, detailing eleven units of study that cover idea generation, text structures, different genres, and illustrations that work with text. She also draws on data, projects, and the language of teaching used in the classroom of first-grade teacher Lisa Cleaveland. Ray allows readers to "listen in" to Lisa as she helps her young students learn from professional writers, work with intention, and think about their own process.
Chockfull of examples of little books by young children, About the Authors is proof positive that a primary writing workshop is a smart writing move.

(click any section below to continue reading)

Contents

I. Building a Strong Foundation
1. Writing Workshop: A Happy Place Where We Make Stuff
2. Work, Space, and Time: Writing Workshop Right from the Start
3. Wrapping Strong Arms Around the Writing Workshop: Children Learning About Language All Day Long
4. How Our Youngest Writers Use the Writing Process to Help Them Make Books
II. Understanding the Teaching
5. Looking Closely at Minilessons: Whole-Class Teaching That Fills the Workshop with Possibilities
6. Organizing for Thoughtful Instruction with Units of Study
7. Assessment: Learning All We Can About the Authors
8. Teaching Into and Out of the Work of Individual Children: Writing Conferences and Share Times
III. An Overview of Units of Study
A. The Kinds of Things Writers Make and How We'll Make Them in This Room
B. Where Writers Get Ideas
C. How to Read Like Writers
D. Finding Writing Mentors
E. How to Structure Texts in Interesting Ways
F. How to Make Illustrations Work Better with Written Text
G. How to Have Better Peer Conferences
H. Literary Nonfiction
I. How to Use Punctuation in Interesting Ways
J. Poetry
K. Revision

Reviews

"Where was About the Authors during the fifteen years that I taught kindergarten? I could have benefited from this gem of a book that specifies how to set up your classroom, how to introduce and teach writing to younger children, and then how to assess the final products...a book that is as easy to read as it is to use as a model for excellence in teaching writing."
Sherry Dolgoff, The NWP Quarterly, 2004

Related PD Services

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About the Authors is about the littlest authors-those in kindergarten through second grade. Based on a profound understanding of the ways in which young children learn, it shows teachers how to launch a writing workshop by inviting children to do what they do naturally-make stuff. So why not write books?

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Even our youngest students have lots of stories to tell, whether real or imagined. How can we create entry points for writing, so that all writers feel confident and motivated to share their stories? How can we establish a classroom community of beginning writers where equity, empathy, and compassion become part of the process and vital by-products of story writing?

Enter story workshop, a structure for early literacy that amplifies the relationship between play, art, and writing. Children develop ideas and stories through choices of art materials. By creating images through play, story workshop invites children to explore the "amazingness" (Nisa, age 10) of their ideas in a variety of art forms. "Through their stories," Susan writes, "students share the meaning they make of their experiences in the world." Children in every classroom environment feel empowered to transition from play to pencil as they add words to their stories.

Story Workshop includes an abundance of classroom videos, photos, and student samples that illustrate what is possible when children use words, colors, textures, shapes and all kinds of materials to create the stories they want to tell. Watch how students' imaginations soar, their love of writing blossoms, and their connections with one another become the focal point of your classroom.

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How to create entry points for beginning writers by amplifying the relationship between play, art, and writing. - Heinemann

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Teaching the Qualities of Good Writing Through Illustration Study

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Serravallo (2017)/Glover (2020)

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Projecting a Writing Unit:
Preschool - 3
Preschool - 4
KG

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Stages of Emergent Writing - National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

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Stages of Emergent Writing - National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

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Shared Reading - Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

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Shared Reading - Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

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Standards in this strand:

Text Types and Purposes:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.1
Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is...).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.2
Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.3
Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened.

Production and Distribution of Writing:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.5
With guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.6
With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

Research to Build and Present Knowledge:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.7
Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.8
With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

Range of Writing:

¹ These broad types of writing include many subgenres. See Appendix A for definitions of key writing types.

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English Language Arts Standards " Writing " Kindergarten

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Text Types and Purposes: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.1 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is...).

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Illustration Study Ideas from Experts (Katie Wood Ray)

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Illustration Study Ideas from Experts (Katie Wood Ray)

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Illustration Study Resources - Getting Started

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Glover - Illustration Study (Craft & Process Studies)

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Glover - Illustration Study (Craft & Process Studies)

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We Are Writers - Ideas from Experts (Katie Wood Ray)

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We Are Writers - Ideas from Experts (Katie Wood Ray)

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Writing Process & Identity - Getting Started

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Glover - Routines and Procedures (Craft and Process Studies)

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Glover - Routines and Procedures (Craft and Process Studies)

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Gots: materials and ideas for my next unit. Illustration study ideas
wants:

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Gots: clearer picture and vision of how to plan for the very beginning; useful resources;
Wants: how to better connect Units of study to the UOI (incorporate the "stand-alone" ones

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Pre 3
Gots: materials and ideas for illustration study

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TKS K1_2 Session 4_  Story Workshop and Oral Language Development

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Interactive Storytelling to support oral language development (and eventually writing).

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This past fall I attended a wonderful conference in Washington, DC. - the Children Are Citizens conference. While I left with much to think about and try in my classroom, the one thing I implemented immediately was storytelling. Georgina Ardalan, @georgina_in_dc, led an outstanding session on interactive storytelling. She shared a video with Ben Mardell using Vivian Paley's storytelling and story-acting approach, and then shared how she uses this in her pre-K classroom. Finally, the participants got to experience this fun interactive storytelling. It was amazing!

I took this back to my classroom and started it the next day. The process is simple, but I've found it to be extremely powerful and so much fun. It's definitely a favorite part of our day.

First, the storyteller thinks of a story. We have a storyteller each day and their name is on our calendar so they know when it's their day. I encourage them the day before to think about what their story might be. The storyteller tells their story to me, as the class listens. I write it down as they tell the story - on my clipboard, writing fast to keep up with the story. This is not a shared writing. The writing is just for me. Most stories at this point in kindergarten are 5-6 sentences long. After the story is told, I read it back to the storyteller - one sentence at a time, asking them if that's what they want it to say and making any revisions. The class listens and asks any questions or for clarifications they might need. This on-the-spot revising has been really wonderful in helping kids elaborate and use more details in their stories.

Next, we determine who the characters are, and what the setting is. We do this together. Then we decide what parts we need actors and actresses for. Often the kids want someone to play roles beyond the characters. For example, if a story takes place at the beach, someone will play the beach. If there's a toy or piece of furniture in the story, a child will pretend to be that. I let the kids decide what roles we need people to pretend to be. The storyteller then chooses whether they want to play a role in the story or if they want to be in the audience. Then the other roles are assigned to kids.

Next, we move to the space on the rug where the audience sits, and the actors and actresses get on the rug space that is the "stage". I give them a minute to talk and plan how they are going to play their roles, and then we start the story-acting! I read the story as the kids act it out. We usually have time to act out the story twice, with different kids playing the different roles, in our daily 15 minute storytelling time.

Through this daily storytelling, I've seen the kids have a much deeper understanding of and enjoyment with:

oral language and communicating with others in a clear way

community building through sharing stories that are important

characters and setting

beginning, middle and end

adding details to stories to help your reader or listener

revising to make a story clearer

adding dialogue to make a story even better

how to use movement and facial expressions to communicate an idea or feelings

listening and asking questions to understand a story better

listening and enjoying a performance - what is the role of the audience

creating stories on their own during Writers' Playshop (I always remind the storyteller that they can make a book of their story so that this story will live forever - many kids choose to do this.)

At the end of first quarter, we did an assessment of the books that children have written. Every single child in our classroom is able to write a 3-5 (or more) page book, on one topic, with a beginning, middle and end. Many of the books had details I would expect to see much later in the year such as, dialogue and more complex story lines, characters and settings. I think the daily storytelling has played a huge role in this. The transfer from the oral, interactive storytelling to the children's own writing is clearly evident. And the fun we have every day during this time is the best!

Below are two videos from storytelling in our classroom. Enjoy!

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This past fall I attended a wonderful conference in Washington, DC. - the Children Are Citizens conference. While I left with much to think about and try in my classroom, the one thing I implemented immediately was storytelling. Georgina Ardalan, @georgina_in_dc, led an outstanding session on interactive storytelling.

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Practice having a Dialogic Conversation. Consider your role as a teacher.

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Practice having a Dialogic Conversation. Consider your role as a teacher.

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Story Workshop in Kindergarten- provocation video

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Story Workshop in Kindergarten- provocation video

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What ideas for provocations does this video inspire? Add these to your planner.

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G1 Launching Writing Workshop Minilessons

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Take -away - I have the ability to design my own units to tailor my needs.
Try out - practically all the things we talked about, including launching integrated unit and change of environment. Thank you!

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Take -away
Story table/create your own story
Act out story
Will try both and trying already.
Great ideas about the name study.
Thank you!

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Pre3 - I have a better insight of Illustration study, which I have already tried out in my class and I will continue doing it.
I will work on setting out the story writing resources for the students to use and practice