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COMPONENTS OF ADOLESCENT LITERACY INTRUCTION IN AN MTSS MODEL

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COMPONENTS OF ADOLESCENT LITERACY INTRUCTION IN AN MTSS MODEL

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Components of Adolescent Literacy Instruction in an MTSS Model

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What's being done to improve the teaching of reading and writing in our secondary schools? And what can you do to teach reading and writing more effectively in your classroom? Learn more about the state of adolescent literacy, get practical advice on teaching reading and writing, and browse the library of research, reports, and guides.

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If you look at my brainstorm, you can see that a huge part of teaching is actually the clerical side of teaching and the planning that goes into the job. One of the most important sayings about teaching goes as follows:
"It is one of the only professions where you can't do your job at your job."
While working with kids IS the job, the job also includes the planning, communication, and reflection that goes into the day-to-day tasks of teaching.

What if AI can help us with some of these clerical tasks? While ChatGPT and other AI tools can provide valuable assistance, it's important for teachers to exercise their professional judgment and adapt the suggestions provided by AI to best meet the unique needs of their students and educational contexts.

Let's take a look at some examples in different areas of teaching.

Lesson Planning Examples:

1. Provide topic suggestions and brainstorm ideas for ELA lesson plans.

2. Offer prompts and writing exercises to stimulate creative and analytical thinking.

3. Generate discussion questions to encourage critical thinking and class participation.

4. Suggest relevant literature selections or text sets for specific themes or topics.

5. Assist in creating engaging activities and projects that align with curriculum goals.

6. Create sub-plans on the fly that have step-by-step directions.

Differentiation of Classroom Materials Examples:

1. Generate leveled reading passages and comprehension questions for students at different proficiency levels.

2. Create modified worksheets or assignments for students with special needs.

3. Provide alternative writing prompts or graphic organizers to support diverse learners.

4. Adapt content to meet the needs of advanced students, including extension activities and enrichment resources.

5. Generate visual aids or infographics to enhance understanding and accessibility of complex concepts.

Work with ESL/ELL Students:

1. Offer vocabulary explanations and examples to support language acquisition.

2. Provide sentence frames or sentence starters to assist with oral and written expression.

3. Offer pronunciation guidance and practice for ESL/ELL students.

4. Generate grammar explanations and exercises tailored to specific language challenges.

5. Act as a conversation partner for ESL/ELL students to practice speaking and listening skills.

6. Translate common classroom communication and communication home to families.

Professional Development:

1. Provide access to educational research articles and publications in the field of ELA.

2. Offer strategies for classroom management and student engagement.

3. Share best practices for teaching specific literary genres or writing styles.

4. Assist with curriculum alignment to state or national ELA standards.

5. Generate writing prompts for professional reflection or journaling.

6. Suggest websites, apps, and online resources for ELA instruction and student practice.

7. Offer guidance on incorporating technology tools and digital literacy skills into ELA lessons.

8. Provide information on assessment strategies and rubric development for ELA assignments.

9. Offer guidance on integrating social-emotional learning (SEL) and culturally responsive practices into ELA instruction.

10. Act as a professional development resource for exploring new teaching methodologies and instructional approaches.

Helpful AI Prompts to Try:

When asking AI to help you with tasks, it is important to be specific:
ROLE-state the role of the person answering AUDIENCE-state who the information is for in the prompt TASK-give as many details about the task as possible (Example: don't just say short story, state the name and author of the short story).
Some example prompts to try:

"I am a sixth-grade English Language Arts teacher. Write me a lesson script about [topic]"

"I am a classroom teacher. I want to improve my skills in [topic.] List the best-rated online courses, tutorials, and resources for learning this skill."

"[Paste email to family member, administrator, or newsletter] Proofread my writing above. Fix grammar and spelling mistakes. Make suggestions that will improve the clarity of my writing."

"Create a 30-day learning plan for a sixth-grade student in English Language Arts who is behind in reading skills."

"You are a grant writer. Summarize the text below into 500 words or less. Create sections for each important point with a brief summary for that point [INSERT TEXT]."

"Create a step-by-step sub-plan for a sixth-grade English Language Arts class discussing theme using the short story "Thank you M'am" by Langston Hughes."

"Create a list of 10 narrative nonfiction writing prompts for middle schoolers."

"Create a list of the most popular opening types to fictional stories."

"Create a paragraph of directions explaining how to introduce, cite, and explain the evidence in a body paragraph in an argumentative essay."

Writing Mindset Reflection: How do you feel about using AI (Artificial Intelligence) as a virtual assistant in the Secondary ELA classroom?

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Supercharge Your Teaching: 25 Ways AI Can Take Your Secondary ELA Classroom to the Next Level - WRITING MINDSET

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Teachers have been asking for help for years all the while doing the work of multiple professionals in one work week. Between lesson planning, grading, communication to home, activities, and the actual working with kids during the school day, teachers have long been burning out. The newfound trends

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Even though the focus of this blog is elementary, it's easy to figure out how the writer's ideas translate to the secondary classroom.

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But it's not out of the ordinary to combine ELA, social studies, art, P.E., math, and science together in the classroom. In fact, it's the norm to bring bits and pieces of these academics into other curricula.

So, why haven't we done the same with SEL? Especially in today's social climate.

Adding SEL to daily lessons can be challenging for teachers who are already pressed for time. But the good news is, counselors can make it easier for teachers to incorporate SEL activities into their daily lessons. All we have to do is give them a few simple tips to get their wheels turning.

Social-emotional learning, for example, naturally complements the English Language Arts.

The truth is, ELA teachers are at an advantage when it comes to adding SEL to their lesson plans, simply due to the amount of creativity involved in the arts.

In fact, ELA teachers are the low hanging fruit we need to increase social-emotional learning in the classroom.

It's almost a no brainer, at least for us as counselors, right?

Let's take a look at some ways to help our language arts teachers incorporate SEL into their curricula without difficulty.

Incorporating SEL into Grammar Studies

Grammar is a common topic that elementary teachers encounter daily (in almost every subject).

Correcting sentences by teaching punctuation, grammar, and sentence structure are almost second nature in any course (not just ELA).

Teachers can utilize the opportunity, that correction provides, to change sentences into helpful tips all while educating on grammar.

For example, instead of, "Sally likes solving puzzles, eating chips, and going to the movies." as a practice sentence, teachers can use helpful sentences like, "I can calm down by taking breaks, breathing deeply, and counting to ten." (of course, the point is to both teach correct grammar and give a smidge of SEL in the process).

In other words, it's a way to teach proper grammar while sneaking in some mindfulness tips.

Also, when teaching about quotation marks, they can switch out random quotes with SEL quotes from important figures in the fields of growth mindset, mindfulness, anxiety and more.

Using Literature to Teach Social Emotional Learning Skills

Another way to help ELA teachers incorporate SEL into their daily curricula is to encourage them to select articles about growth, mindset, mindfulness, or coping skills instead of random news articles or pop culture to review.

Students can use these articles to reference current events during social studies, allowing them to learn about current events and mindfulness.

Poetry is the Perfect Social-Emotional Learning Companion

Poetry is perfect for focusing on the present moment.

Children learning how to write their own poetry, and express themselves through writing is the perfect segway to social-emotional learning and self-awareness.

Poetry is a way to encourage and teach students about introspective reflection while articulating their feelings into their own words. Another way to teach students how to communicate with others.

Use Persuasion to Promote Social-Emotional Learning

One ELA skill students will encounter is the ability to persuade an audience by writing about a topic they feel strongly about.

And what a perfect way to promote self-esteem!

ELA teachers can ask students to write to an audience about their talents or skills.

For example, students are asked to select an interesting job description and write a persuasive paper about why they're the best fit for the job.

Students then have the opportunity to envision themselves in a role they would enjoy and write persuasively about their worth.

The focus should be to write in a positive tone and showcase their strength, which, in turn, promotes self-esteem and positivity.

Researching Prominent Leaders of Social Emotional Learning

When students learn to research and write well-panned papers, teachers can encourage students to research social-emotional learning topics.

This will help students become aware of the importance of SEL while practicing research methods.

For example, students can write about the founder of Growth Mindset, Carol Dweck, or Dr. Weil, the 4-7-8 breathing technique founder.

As you can see, there are many opportunities to incorporate SEL into other subjects. In fact, the curriculum wouldn't even have to be altered much.

And in the areas it would be, it might even be a refreshing change for some teachers and their students. A little positivity can go a long way!

If you'd like to get your fellow educators started, a simple SEL activities workbook might be enough to get their wheels turning.

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Social-Emotional Learning and Language Arts (A Natural Collaboration)

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Social-Emotional learning seems to be one area of education that we forget to include in cross-curriculum efforts. But it's not out of the ordinary to combine ELA, social studies, art, P.E., math, and science together

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Since academic discourse is a "look for," here's a description of a process that promotes deep learning and strong discourse.

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Listen to my interview with Marisa Thompson (transcript):
Sponsored by Peergrade and 3Doodler

Check out information about Marisa Thompson's Ultimate TQE Course at the bottom of this page!

So much of the learning we do comes from texts: articles, textbooks, novels, and all kinds of online publications. Sometimes, those texts come in less traditional forms; in fact, our use of the word "text" has broadened over time to include things like films, images, and even diagrams. Regardless of what form they come in, texts make up the bulk of how our students experience learning.

But too often, when we assign texts to students, we find that they don't experience them with much depth. One reason for that may be that we don't set them up to do that. In many text-based classes (English, history, science), the learning cycle often consists of (1) consuming a section of the text, (2) answering teacher-created questions about the text, (3) taking a test after several sections have been completed.

For years, high school English teacher Marisa Thompson followed this same programming, and got typical results: Some students did the required work, but never seemed particularly invested in the books themselves. Others completed the questions unevenly, sometimes not answering them all, other times copying work from their peers. And when students didn't do the work, they got calls home and office referrals.

As this pattern repeated itself year after year, Thompson became more frustrated: The texts themselves were wonderful, but students weren't experiencing them the way they were meant to be experienced. Instead, they had shallow interactions with them, doing whatever surface work had to be done to get a grade.

Finally, she started experimenting with a different approach, and the way she teaches texts now is completely different from the way she used to. Her current approach, which she calls TQE, is similar to Socratic Seminar, where students lead a discussion on a given text, but with a few twists. Since implementing this new approach, Thompson has seen her students reading much more than they used to, and with much more depth than ever before. They are having college-level conversations about books in class, and for the first time, they seem excited about the books they're reading.

On top of that, Thompson's prepping and grading work for these class sessions is down to almost nothing.

What I love about this method, and why I'm sharing it here, is that I think it could be applied in a lot of different areas, not just with the study of novels. In any class where students need to read a text in order to learn, something along these lines could be implemented, and I think you'll find that the learning in your classroom gets much richer as a result. So as you read about TQE, think about how you might be able to apply it in your content area.

The Problem

As an English teacher, Thompson found that her students were experiencing books in a very shallow, grade-focused way.

"(I would) send students home, maybe get them started on Chapter 1, and then, Hey guys, go home and read Chapter 2. Come on back and we'll talk about it, and here's your list of questions; you're going to have a reading quiz. I realized I wasn't really assessing their reading with homework and quizzes. I was assessing whether or not they did their homework questions."

This method not only diminished the value of the books students were reading, it also led to other problems. "It made reading seem like a hassle," Thomspon says. "I started getting a bunch of cheating. One year I had 10 kids copy off each other. It turned this amazing story-this beautiful novel that everybody should read and enjoy and love-into a discipline problem."

Early Changes

Knowing something had to change, Thompson decided to try grading students only on whether their participation in class indicated that they had read the book.

"I said, 'Look. We're going to read this book, and we're just going to read it and talk about it. You're not going to have study questions. You're not going to have any reading quizzes. But I'm going to know if you read or not. I'm going to know.'"

These early discussions were similar to Socratic Seminar, where students came with questions and Thompson mostly observed. When a student participated in a way that demonstrated that he or she had read the book, their names would be crossed off of a chart. "And that was it," Thompson says. "The standard says, Be able to read and analyze at grade level. And if they're doing that, I mean, yeah, cross their name off. Move on."

For students who scored low on the discussion or who weren't initially comfortable with active participation, Thompson offered alternative means of assessment. "I said, hey, if I'm wrong with your score, then we need to come up with some sort of alternative: They were used to taking annotations, taking notes on their thoughts while they read-you can show me those. You can sit down and have a conversation just one-on-one, or you can take a test. So if you got an eight out of 10, and you're like, 'No, I want the 10 out of 10,' I have a multiple-choice test on the book."

Most of the time, Thompson's initial score on the discussion turned out to be accurate. "I did have a lot of students who had a B for their assessment, and they're like, No, I want the A. Great. And they took the test and then it was cute, because they were like Yeah, I didn't really read all of it. So my assessment was, on average, about 3 or 4 percent higher than what they were normally getting on their tests."

Right away, Thompson started to see changes in how her students were reading. "I had students who started reading more than they were assigned, and they were finishing the book early," she says. Some were even reading ahead.

Over time, Thompson refined her approach, adding small-group time before the large-group discussions, offering scaffolding to help students develop better questions, and structuring student contributions so that the richest questions got the most discussion time.

These changes have so elevated the level of discourse that Thompson sometimes feels like she's teaching college class. "And that's exactly what I tell them: 'What we just did, that was a collegiate literature course. That was amazing. You could walk into a college course and have this discussion.' And you can see that they're enjoying it."

The TQE Method

Here is the approach Thompson uses now, step by step:

1. Students Complete Assigned Reading at Home

Usually, this will be a segment of a longer text, like a few chapters in a novel. Students who show up having not completed the reading are invited to finish up in the hall during small group discussion (step 2) to catch up. They are welcome to return to class for the discussion when they finish.

2. Small Group Discussions (15 minutes)

When they arrive in class, students get into small groups, where they have 15 minutes to share thoughts, lingering questions, and epiphanies (TQEs) they have about the reading. Early in the year, Thompson provides stems to help students generate these (see below), encouraging them to move from the more simplistic ideas on the left to the more complex ones on the right.

3. TQEs on the Board

By the time the 15 minutes is up, each group needs to choose their top 2 TQEs from the group and write them on the board. Although these are meant to serve as the basis for the group discussion, they are not necessarily used as is.

"If they put something on there that is not at the quality or as thought-provoking as we need it to be for the class to discuss, we'll edit it together, the 40 of us," Thompson explains. "So it becomes a writing lesson."

Thompson also insists that when discussing a text, students use the author's name. When discussing Of Mice and Men, for example, she started by having students repeat the name "Steinbeck" five times. "I love Lenny and George. I love Lenny," she told them. "but he's totally fictional. So when you start asking questions like, 'Why did George do that?' George doesn't exist."

Instead, she has students practice asking questions like, "Why did hat theme is Steinbeck have George do that?" "W Steinbeck trying to convey to the rest of us by having his character do that?"

"It's not about the character," she explains. "It's not about the character's motivation, it's the author's purpose in providing that motivation for the character."

4. Class Discussion of TQEs

Thompson then moderates a whole-class discussion of the reading, using the TQEs that have been written on the board. This takes about 40 minutes of class time-she teaches on a block schedule, so there's plenty of time to dig in. When the class is actively studying a novel, they will have these conversations in every class meeting.

As for grading, Thompson simply records when students participate, and that's it. "I have a chart with their little pictures," she explains, "and I cross them off as I go. So I'm not necessarily grading them every single day. My student Sally might have participated a ton one day, and skipped the next day. But my standard-based grading says she is reading and analyzing at at least grade level. I don't need to score each of my 40 kids every single day."

"And the amount of planning is nil," Thompson adds. " I'm not creating, I'm not copying, I'm not collecting, I don't need to waste my time. My prep is reading before bed every night."

What Student-Centered Learning Looks Like

"We have all these really great aphorisms, these quotes about, 'Students should own their learning,' and 'Empower students,'" Thompson observes. "And it's like, well that's great, but how in the heck do we do that?"

Since starting the TQE process, Thompson has seen true student-centered learning in action: Students are in charge of the content of the discussions, and the ability to participate fully has become its own motivator for completing the homework.

"The peer pressure of Everyone's discussing this book- that becomes cool. To have an idea, to have an opinion. So the student comes in, and all of a sudden it's, "Wait, I read that part, and I think this," you know? And you want to talk about empowering a student? You just turned that student into a part of the classroom community." ♦

If you are a fan of the TQE method and you want to take it further, check out Marisa's Ultimate TQE Course. This course will revolutionize your reading and writing instruction and assessment through student-led inquiry, intentional teacher guidance, feedback that is immediately useful to students while eliminating the need for at-home grading, even for essays, and a personable approach to teaching and learning that leaves everyone in the room energized and engaged.

Cult of Pedagogy receives a portion of the Ultimate TQE Course sales that come through the link on this page.

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Deeper Class Discussions with the TQE Method

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Want your students to have rich, complex conversations about the texts they read? This method leads to the kinds of classroom discussions you thought only happened in college.

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I used to rely on rubrics for everything. I spent hours, days, weeks attempting to perfect a 4-point scale. This would be helpful not only to me as the teacher, but also (I thought) to my students who would know exactly what it was they needed to do to move closer or beyond benchmark-except. . . it wasn't.

After years of tweaking rubrics and wordsmithing with my colleagues, students weren't any closer to understanding what they were doing well and what they needed to do to improve as writers. Rubrics made it easy and efficient to grade student work, but the rubrics didn't engage students to reflect and set meaningful goals with specific steps to help them get there. It wasn't until I had students co-create learning progressions that students found clarity in exactly what they needed to do to stretch themselves as writers.

Learning progressions are descriptions of steps a writer must do in order to move towards their goal. They can be created individually, with a team of teachers, or most powerfully, with students. In Mastering the Art of Thin-slicing, I shared how to begin the year or unit looking at preassessment writing pieces focused on the following indicators:

Once an indicator has been selected, the fun begins! Progressions can be broken into any amount of levels; however, more than three or four can be cognitively challenging. Begin with what you expect of your writers and then break down the expectation into building blocks that will move your writers towards benchmark, one block at a time. You can use stars, numbers, whatever you like to separate out each building block.

To have students co-create learning progressions, I often will lay the class papers out and have them engage in a protocol, such as the one below.

Protocol for Creating Learning Progressions with Students
Learning Progression for ______________. Fill in theone indicator you are breaking down.

Throughout the process, remind students: We want to be specific, concise, and non judgmental.

**All times listed are simply suggestions on what has worked well with beginning of the year grade 6 students. Each class is different and this progression is a guide that you may need to adapt for your learners.
Round One: 5 minutes

Provide time so each student has time to thoroughly read the piece of writing. The time will be more or less depending on your readers and length of text.
Round Two- Individually 2-3 minutes

Identify an indicator to focus students. For instance, organization.

Students use sticky notes to capture thinking

One thought per sticky note:
What do you notice in this piece of writing? You will need to model this for students who have not done this type of thinking before. I find after a few times of this, students need less prompting and become adept at noticing subtle details in writing.

Round Three- Small group 3 minutes

Students share their noticings with each other

Have students group the noticings into meaningful categories. Students are great at categorizing thinking. Common ones my 6th graders notice at the beginning of the year are: clear introduction, middle, and conclusion; beginning and conclusion are linked together; has an introduction but is not linked to the rest of writing; there's no conclusion; etc.

Round Four: Individually 3 minutes

Students use sticky notes to capture thinking

One thought per sticky note:What could this writer do that would lift the level of their writing? At the beginning of the year, I introduce this language; however, I also will provide examples of what it means to lift the level of writing.

Round Five- Small group 3 minutes

Students share their thinking with each other

Have students group their thinking into meaningful categories. With this grouping, I also have them look at their initial noticings as I have found it helps them bring everything together.

Round Six: Whole class or small group 5 minutes

Bring the categories together that were created previously

Rank each noticing into 3 or 4 blocks, leveling them from least to most sophisticated

Our first learning progression for organization looks like this:

Honor Approximations and Highlight Next Steps
It is important that with student-created learning progressions, we honor approximations and meet writers where they are, while identifying what they're ready to reach for. I noticed in the above progression that my writers didn't notice transition use in writing, or how some of their peers played around with organization and time sequences. I log this information and note it as being something I will teach into in the future. Already, I have identified next-step mini lessons. Through the creation of this progression, my writers are telling me exactly where they are and where they feel they need to go next.

Self-declared book nerd, middle school humanities teacher, mama to two, fierce warrior girls, world traveler, lover of rain, mountains and sleeping outside. View all posts by Krista McGowan

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Student-Created Learning Progressions: A How to

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I used to rely on rubrics for everything. I spent hours, days, weeks attempting to perfect a 4-point scale. This would be helpful not only to me as the teacher, but also (I thought) to my students who would know exactly what it was they needed to do to move closer or beyond benchmark-except.

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In the Guidebook, the teacher is encouraged to consider learning progressions as s/he plans for MTSS. This document is an example of learning progressions using North Carolina's standards.

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Kate and Maggie are two amazing literacy educators/coaches. In one of their books, DIY Literacy, they share their work on microprogressions, which could support your work on MTSS as well as powerful student-centered formative assessments. This blog is about one adaptation of Kate and Maggie's work.

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During the closing keynote of Saturday's Educator Collaborative Gathering, Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts walked through a few tools that both teachers and students could use to amplify their learning. We are inundated with information, day in and day out, that sometimes it can be overwhelming trying to keep track of it all. While a longer, more reflective post on their closing will come in the next few days, I decided to put a tool I learned about during their session to work for me sooner rather than later-as in, today (talk about DIY teaching 🙂 ).

What's this tool? A micro-progression.

According to Maggie, "a micro-progression is a progression of a skill that becomes more sophisticated with each level. At the end of the day, skill performance-whether you are structuring a piece of writing, or punctuating a sentence, or making a prediction-skill performance isn't black and white. It's not that I either predict really well or not at all. There is a level of performance with that skill."

Kate goes on to add that "kids know when they're not doing [the skill]. And they also sometimes get models of what it looks like to do it [in an] awesome [way], but they don't always get a sense of what is the next step for me as I'm working."

My ninth graders are currently participating on a discussion board each night to reflect on our shared text, Purple Hibiscus. I decided to "flip" my classroom by having kids actively engaged in deep reading (I hope) during class while discussing the book online. We are only on Day Two of our flipped model and so far, it's been both scary and eye-opening. When it's all over, I'll reflect more on the experience, but for now, back to microprogressions.

One thing that I have noticed in student writing is students' continued difficulty in embedding textual evidence. (It is one of the Circles of Teacher Hell, right next to the MLA header and main idea v. theme.) Like Kate said, for the most part, it's not that students either embed or don't embed textual evidence, but rather that their embedding skills exist on a continuum, a progression. I have spent a lot of time showing students models of correct ways to embed textual evidence-and many variations of embedding-only to have mixed results. Some students are naturals; they can embed text as easily as they can recite their home address. And some students' attempts at embedding textual evidence feel like nails on chalkboard (and I really hate chalk). And then there are many, many students whose skills are are somewhere in between.

So I spent tonight creating something I'm calling a "Virtual Anchor Chart" (charts are another one of the tools Maggie and Kate discussed, so more on that later) that shows what I think is a decent micro-progression of text embedding skills. I actually pulled one of the examples straight out of a discussion comment one of my students made yesterday.

In their demonstration, Maggie and Kate used three levels. I decided to use the five-star level system because I really was seeing a bigger range of skill development among my students.

Because this is a "virtual" anchor chart, I can post it right up in our digital classroom. As Maggie and Kate pointed out, charts can help students "hold on to their learning." As a HS teacher, I've never had any training in how to create charts, anchor or otherwise. But this year, I've made a concerted effort to create anchor charts for my classroom. (I'm still terrible at them, BTW, but I'm optimistic I'll get better. I have a growth mindset, after all).

Now, instead of me pointing to an anchor chart in the classroom, I can "point" to this virtual anchor chart in our digital classroom by commenting on a student post and providing a direct link to the anchor chart.

Will this work? I'm hopeful. 🙂

BTW, if you haven't seen Kate and Maggie's EdCollab session, it's great! I can't wait for their book DIY Literacy to come out in a few weeks!

UPDATED: Some people have asked what I used to make my micro-progression. I used Canva; in fact, I use Canva for all my visuals! CLICK HERE for a printable of the How to Integrate Quotes micro-progression. If you do use it in any way, I would love to hear how. Or if you make your own series of micro-progressions related to embedding quotes, please share! We can all always use additional examples. Feel free to use the comments below or message me - tricia.ebarvia@gmail.com.

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Virtual Anchor Charts Meet "Micro-progressions"

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During the closing keynote of Saturday's Educator Collaborative Gathering, Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts walked through a few tools that both teachers and students could use to amplify their learning. We are inundated with information, day in and day out, that sometimes it can be overwhelming trying to keep track of it all.

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Lesson planning with Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

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Understood.org is the resource that helps the 70 million people with learning and thinking differences anticipate the challenges, barriers, or opportunities in life and confidently reach their potential.

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Even though this article focuses on a reading program, Wit and Wisdom, it provides insight into how UDL could look like in the English classroom.

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How do UDL Principles Apply to Architecture and an English Language Arts (ELA) Lesson

Imagine three people entering a shopping center: O ne uses a wheelchair, another pushes a stroller, and a third walks into the space. Each of these people ha s the same goal, but they have different requirements for achieving it . For architects, universal design is a principle that guides their thinking about building inclusive spaces for al l people. An architect carefully crafts the entry, including ramps and stairways, to ensure that all three of these people can enter the shopping center. By considering diverse needs in the population, the architect creates a product that everyone can use-no retrofitting needed.

(Image Source: CAST)

For educators, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guides the development of learning designs that keep the same learning goals and grade-level expectations for all students while providing access points that allow the diverse student population to succeed. Strong core instructional materials provide opportunities for every student to build knowledge and skills while reducing the barriers to success along the way.
Read more about how the UDL principles can be applied to all subjects, including math, science, and English language arts.
Why is UDL important?

CAST's Universal Design for Learning framework encourages educators to consider how they can provide students with multiple means of Engagement, Representation, and Action & Expression in each lesson. The goal of the framework is for all learners not only to succeed in school but to become more independent in driving their own learning, a goal Great Minds ® shares. To learn more about each area of the framework, review the guidelines on CAST's website .

The CAST UDL Guidelines can be broken down both vertically and horizontally. Each column focuses the reader on one network of the brain. Then each row breaks down how students can access the learning goal, build their skills toward it, and then internalize the skills and behaviors that will help them reach an expert learning goal for each neural network. Each section of the graphic organizer provides some suggestions on how to support students and meet their needs as they grow into expert learners.

The teacher-writers of Wit & Wisdom carefully considered the wide variety of learning styles that exist in every classroom; however, no curriculum can fully account for the learner variability that may exist in any classroom. Wit & Wisdom is designed to support every learner; it gives teachers a range of options for delivering the content and suggests many ways that students can express their learning. Because Wit & Wisdom lessons are written as narrative guides, not scripts, teachers can use what they know about their students to best address their needs in the English language arts classroom and still use high-quality instructional materials with integrity.

How do You Provide Multiple Means of Engagement in ELA?

Providing students with multiple means of engagement helps them set a purpose for learning and increase s their motivation to learn. The UDL framework encourages educators to provide options around three guidelines related to engagement: R ecruiting I nterest, S ustain ing E ffort and P ersistence , and S elf- R egulat ion . The goal of providing multiple means of engagement is to develop independent learners who are purposeful and motivated-a desired outcome for every student.

Provide Options for Recruiting Interest

To provide options for recruiting interest, educators need to consider how they can engage students' cognition in the learning tasks before them. The ways in which students are engaged in learning may vary over time, even for the same student. The three key checkpoints for recruiting interest include optimizing individual choice and autonomy over learning; optimizing relevance, value, and authenticity; and minimizing threats and distractions.

Provide Options for Sustaining Effort and Persistence

In this example from Grade 7 Module 4, students engage in cooperative learning through a Socratic Seminar. The lesson guidance provides prompts to help students cite evidence, pose questions to one another, and connect their ideas. The teacher, as a facilitator of this conversation, can respond to what students share and aid them in positively building on one another's contributions. Through supportive facilitation, teachers help students see the value in the knowledge that their peers share.

The Teacher Edition provides frequent guidance to help teachers support students in sustaining effort and persistence. For example , the Criteria for Success that appears with Focusing Question Tasks and End of Module Tasks help s students be aware of how they will be evaluated and keep s them focused on the learning goals of the task.

Provide Options for Self-Regulation

At the end of the Socratic Seminar in the above example, students have an opportunity to reflect on their new learning. They reflect on what the class did well and how they might improve, and they set goals for their next Socratic Seminar. This open-ended task encourages students to monitor their interactions with others and strengthens metacognition. For teachers reviewing students' responses, this is important information for determining potential scaffolds and supports to aid students with Socratic Seminars in the future.

How do You Provide Multiple Means of Representation in ELA?

The following annotations show some examples of how the Wit & Wisdom TE helps educators provide multiple options to students with varying needs related to representation of the content. The three UDL guidelines for Representation are Perception, Language and Symbols, and Comprehension. The goal of this principle is to develop learners who are both resourceful and knowledgeable.

Provide Options for Perception

Wit & Wisdom provides options for Perception by providing a balance between audio and visual information. (UDL Checkpoints 1.2 & 1.3)

Teachers might encounter other options for supporting students' perception of content in their Teacher Edition, including suggestions to use American Sign Language for learning new concepts, creating anchor charts, or annotating with a variety of symbols. The inclusion of film clips, the study of visual art, and opportunities to listen to songs or speeches also provide a variety of ways for students to perceive content in the Wit & Wisdom classroom.

Provide Options for Language and Symbols

Wit & Wisdom provides options for Language and Symbols by clarifying vocabulary and symbols. (UDL Checkpoint 2.1)

Provide Options for Comprehension

In the Grade 7 Socratic Seminar lesson, a sentence frame supports the transfer of new information between contexts. Sentence frames are useful scaffolds for students who need language supports, but frames can also help all students transfer and synthesize ideas into new contexts. In middle school, students are expected to cite sources in both writing and speaking as they bring evidence into their arguments-a critical skill for civil discourse. All students are capable of meeting this goal with the additional support for transferring the skills of both communicating the source of their information and their understanding of the text.

Wit & Wisdom provides options for Comprehension by maximizing transfer and generalization (UDL Checkpoint 3.4). Here, the TE provides a scaffold that supports transfer of skills from citing a source in research to communicating their sources in a Socratic Seminar.

Other ways the curriculum supports students' transfer of knowledge between contexts include the regular use of graphic organizers, annotations, and writing models that help students structure their thinking. Several instructional routines also support students with the transfer of ideas from texts; for example, creating a tableau from an important scene in a novel helps students understand characters, settings, and conflict.

How do You Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression in ELA?

Students express their knowledge in a wide variety of ways. Students with disabilities related to verbal or written expression will need different kinds of supports to express what they know. Additionally, students with physical disabilities may need supports to engage in some instructional routines. To accommodate this variety, Wit & Wisdom provides many instructional routines, regularly varies how students interact with texts, and transitions students between a variety of learning tasks in one lesson. Teachers are encouraged to consider the needs of their students and plan for how they will engage effectively in the learning environment and successfully express the knowledge they build in lessons.

Provide Options for Physical Action

Provide Options for Expression & Communication

Students may need options for expressing or communicating the knowledge they have built in Wit & Wisdom . A student with Dysgraphia needs support to move past this barrier to write a response. Students may need opportunities to orally process knowledge before sitting down to write, and other students may benefit greatly from writing before trying to communicate in speech. By providing a variety of formats for expressing and communicating ideas, Wit & Wisdom helps teachers provide options to students who need additional support.

In this Grade 5 example, teachers receive the option to extend students' practice with two challenging words from their core text, The Phantom Tollbooth. By giving students an opportunity to think, talk, and share their thoughts about the words dissonance and disconsolate with a partner and with the class, students become more fluent with the words and make them personally meaningful. With additional vocabulary practice, students also better understand the characters and their motivations in the novel.

Provide Options for Executive Functions

Wit & Wisdom provides options for Expression & Communication by building fluencies with graduated levels of support. (UDL Checkpoint 5.3)

Additional Resources to Continue Learning About UDL

Download the Article as a Free PDF

Great Minds

Great Minds PBC is a public benefit corporation and a subsidiary of Great Minds, a nonprofit organization. A group of education leaders founded Great Minds® in 2007 to advocate for a more content-rich, comprehensive education for all children. In pursuit of that mission, Great Minds brings together teachers and scholars to create exemplary instructional materials that provide joyful rigor to learning, spark and reward curiosity, and impart knowledge with equal parts delight.

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How To Support English Language Arts Students With The Universal Design For Learning Principles

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Read more about how Wit & Wisdom makes knowledge building accessible to all students by utilizing the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Principles

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For educators of middle school and high school students, there's no denying the importance of reading for student success. As a result, it's only right to make sure that education programs are based on the most up-to-date science of reading principles. What works for an elementary student will not necessarily work for those slightly older - and specific adjustments may be needed. This blog post aims to examine the "do's and don'ts" when teaching reading to students in grades 6-12 within the context of scientific research by reviewing positive behaviors (what you should do).
How reading can have an impact on learning for grades 6-12
Reading plays a significant role in academic success, especially for students in grades 6 through 12. It is important to understand the science of reading and how this knowledge can be applied to improve performance in the classroom. The research that embodies the Science of Reading proves that allowing students to strengthen their decoding as well as develop greater comprehension skills through reading will allow them to be more successful in all academic areas by improving their retention and ability to break down and analyze text. Thus, using summarization and self-monitoring for comprehension strategies can prove invaluable for 6 th-12 th grade learners as they work towards achieving excellent reading abilities that ultimately lead them to better academic experiences overall.
Do This! What the science of reading tells us about improving comprehension for middle and high school students
The science of reading holds valuable insights into how to improve comprehension for middle and high school students. Research shows that summarization helps students understand the content better, as it requires them to recall the main points and actively participate in the learning process. Additionally, monitoring comprehension while reading can help detect when there are breakdowns in understanding so they can be addressed quickly and effectively. Finally, formulating essential questions while reading can be a helpful tool, as readers will have an idea of what they should pay attention to within a given text and it will provide a focus that ultimately leads to improved comprehension. Any or all of these strategies could be instrumental for middle and high schoolers who are looking to strengthen their comprehension skills.

Grade-level text will always be an important part of the curriculum, but what really makes a difference in the classroom is how students engage with that grade-level text. When texts are delivered at the instructional level, phrasing, and content can be tailored to better meet students' literacy needs and lead to improved reading comprehension. We know this from decades of research; middle school and high school students who read the grade-level text at their instruction level will achieve higher levels of reading performance than those who do not. To maximize learning in today's classrooms, grade-level texts must be placed in the context they were intended: at our students' instruction level. If students are struggling with grade-level texts, students always benefit from teacher modeling and small-group instruction to develop greater reading proficiency.

Using essential questions when teaching reading comprehension can help students of all ages to engage more deeply with the material they are studying. By posing questions relevant to the text and creating a collaborative learning environment, teachers can foster deep analysis and generate excitement for learning. However, incorporating higher-level questions into your lesson plans will inevitably push students to think at a deeper and more creative level. Doing so will not only raise student engagement while creating meaningful connections with the material, it may also lead to an overall improvement in their academic performance. Therefore, employing strategic inquiry-based questioning techniques and providing opportunities for collaboration when teaching the Science of Reading is an essential component for successful student development. Higher-level questions push students toward inferential or evaluative reading rather than continually engaging at lower literal levels of reading.

When research-based practices like summarizing, self-monitoring comprehension, and formulating essential and high-level questions are put into place, students can gain greater reading proficiency in both middle school and high school. When educators implement these practices, our students grow into more competent readers and develop a passion for reading along the way! So, let's offer them the reading strategies they need now so they can avail themselves of all the learning opportunities available to them through deep subject study!
Watch Part 1 of Dr. McKnight's webinar, Science of Reading: Foundational Literacy for Grades 6-12.

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The Science of Reading: Do This, Not That (Grades 6-12)

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Examine the "do's and don'ts" when teaching reading to students in grades 6-12 by reviewing positive behaviors (what you should do).

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Science of Reading for the Big Kids: An Hour Long Video

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Science of Reading for the Big Kids: An Hour Long Video

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scienc of reading secndary schools English classroom - Google Search

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Does the science of reading include middle school?

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Does the science of reading include middle school?

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Tim Shanahan, a leading literacy researcher, served on the National Reading Panel years ago. In this blog he takes on the question about the role of phonics in middle school. Using research as his guide, he addresses the question about SOR in secondary school.

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We have been working on strengthening and refining our early literacy instruction to be in line with the science. This has me wondering about the middle level. What does the science prioritize for middle level ELA instruction? Is there a point when teaching into a phonics gap for students does not have a payoff? With limited time in a middle school classroom, I am thinking about what needs to be prioritized. Some parents are wondering if phonics instruction should continue into middle school. This may need to happen for some students, but I imagine that Tier 1 instruction would focus on higher levels of structured literacy like morphology. I would be interested what the research says about teaching phonics in middle school. Shanahan response:
Not surprisingly, most phonics instruction studies have been focused on preschool, kindergarten, and grade 1. The National Early Literacy Panel (NELP) and the National Reading Panel (NRP) reported clear benefits to such instruction: improvements in the ability to read words and nonsense words, spelling, oral reading fluency, and reading comprehension. Making explicit, systematic phonics part of a comprehensive reading and writing program for beginning readers is a no brainer.

There have been some studies focused on the teaching of phonics in grades 2 and up, but not many, and most of those studies were aimed at struggling readers or dyslexic students. That poses multiple problems - there are reasons to believe that those populations may be particularly difficult to teach effectively and the generalizability of those results to regular classrooms are dubious.

In any event, the NRP found few benefits to phonics instruction, beyond grades K-1.

Here are some relevant quotes from that report:

"However, phonics instruction failed to exert a significant impact on the reading performance of low-achieving readers in 2nd through 6th grades (i.e., children with reading difficulties and possibly other cognitive difficulties explaining their low achievement). The effect size was d = 0.15, which was not statistically greater than chance. Possible reasons might be that the phonics instruction provided to low-achieving readers was not sufficiently intense, or that their reading difficulties arose from sources not treated by phonics instruction such as poor comprehension, or there were too few cases (i.e., only eight treatment-control comparisons pulled from three studies) to yield reliable findings." p. 2-94

"The effects of systematic phonics instruction on text comprehension in readers above 1st grade were mixed. Although gains were significant for the subgroup of disabled readers (d = 0.32), they were not significant for the older group in general (d = 0.12)." p. 2-94

"Because most of the comparisons above 1st grade involved poor readers (78%), the conclusions drawn about the effects of phonics instruction on specific reading outcomes pertain mainly to them. Findings indicate that phonics instruction helps poor readers in 2nd through 6th grades improve their word reading skills. However, phonics instruction appears to contribute only weakly, if at all, in helping poor readers apply these skills to read text and to spell words. There were insufficient data to draw any conclusions about the effects of phonics instruction with normally developing readers above 1st grade." 2-116

Of course, the NRP report is 23 years old... there must be lots of new research on this topic that would provide us with a more definitive answer to your question. Accordingly, I conducted a search of studies that focused on phonics in middle school and high school.

I found only 4 studies worth mentioning and none of these were particularly encouraging. One study had high school students tutoring struggling sixth graders in phonics, sight word phrases, and text reading fluency (Lingo, 2014). It reported fluency improvement, but it would be impossible to attribute this to the phonics portion of the intervention.

Another study focused on a district school improvement effort that provided district wide phonics teaching (Hutcheson, Selig, & Young, 1990). They reported gains in word identification in the elementary and high school grades, but not middle school; and gains in spelling and reading comprehension at all levels. This study had no control group, so it is not certain to what to attribute these fall-to-spring learning gains (e.g., phonics instruction, maturation, other instruction).

Denton and her colleagues (Denton, Wexler, Vaughn, & Bryan, 2008) implemented a multicomponent reading intervention in middle school, with English Learners who had learning disabilities. The intervention included phonics. The students did not do any better in word recognition, comprehension, or fluency than students in the regular program.

Finally, an intensive phonics program was delivered for 12 weeks to 8 middle school students with learning disabilities. They improved in word recognition and spelling.

In other words, no convincing evidence.

So, I dipped into the What Works Clearinghouse analysis of reading interventions. Few of the studies with older students focused on phonics. Nevertheless, I went looking for upper grades (Grades 2-12) evidence on programs that explicitly included phonics/decoding instruction as part of their routine. The Clearinghouse had such information on 8 programs: Achieve3000, Corrective Reading, Fast ForWord, Failure Free Reading, Open Court, Reading Mastery, SpellRead, and Wilson Reading System.

What I wanted to see was, first, whether these programs improved older students' decoding ability. The reason this is important is because for the most part, these programs included multiple components. If a program taught phonics and fluency, but only obtained improvements in fluency, it is unreasonable to attribute that gain to phonics. If the students had improved in both decoding and fluency, then maybe part of the fluency gain was due to phonics. This is an especially important consideration if the study evaluated decoding and reported no improvement. It is damning if a program taught phonics without any gains in decoding.

What I found was that several programs fostered improvements in some reading skills. For the most part, however, they either didn't bother to look for increases in decoding, or they looked and found none in grades 2-12 (Achieve3000, FastForWord, Failure Free Reading, Open Court, Reading Mastery).

The Wilson Reading System had improved students' decoding skills in Grade 3, but without any accompanying gains in fluency or comprehension, while SpellRead improved decoding, comprehension, and reading fluency with students in grades 5-6.

To me, those reports are consistent with what NRP reported so long ago: not enough studies, most of the studies focused on Tier 2 teaching, evidence that it is possible to improve decoding skills in the upper grades with explicit instruction, but with little evidence that such improvement transfers or generalizes to overall literacy gains at least in regular classrooms.

I think it is fair to say that we don't know much about how best to teach decoding in grades 2-12.

That doesn't mean that students in grades 2 and up shouldn't be receiving some morphology and spelling instruction, with a small amount of decoding work on things like multisyllable words or conditional spelling patterns. However, given current knowledge, phonics beyond grade 1 (and with the kind of limited scope just mentioned), it should mainly (though not entirely) be a Tier 2 issue. For most kids a regular daily regimen of vocabulary/morphology/spelling with those occasional decoding lessons should be sufficient.

If you had written to me in 1999, I would have given a somewhat different answer.

At the time, the studies that I knew had shown no positive outcomes for phonics with older students. Consequently, I'd have discouraged any additional phonics beyond grades 1 or 2.

The NRP work (I served on the Alphabetics committee) convinced me that we could successfully teach phonics to older struggling students in Tier 2 settings. But given the lack of transfer of those skills when taught to older kids, it was evident to me that phonics alone would not be enough.

Now, I find myself shifting again.

Recent research has reported that a significant number of older students (here I mean middle school and high school) still lag in decoding ability to an extent not widely acknowledged in the field (Wang, Sabatini, O'Reilly, & Weeks, 2019, Magliano, Talwar, Feller, Wang, O'Reilly, & Sabatini, 2023). Those adolescents who can read at a third or fourth grade level - and higher - may need targeted phonics instruction despite those reading levels.

Not long ago, I'd have discouraged this. I would have taken those students' reading levels as evidence that they had sufficient decoding ability.

What research now reveals is that below a particular level of decoding proficiency, older students do not seem able to improve in reading - no matter what interventions and instructional approaches we adopt. Students above that decoding threshold, do manage to improve in reading from a wide range of instruction.

My advice?

1. Make certain that in your middle school classrooms that students spend considerable time on words - vocabulary, morphology, spelling, and occasionally phonics. I've long argued for 25% of the language arts time to be devoted to developing knowledge of words and how they work. I would suggest that such teaching be systematic and explicit.

2. Be on the lookout for kids who are not able to decode proficiently. Vigilance is needed to keep kids from slipping through the decoding cracks. It doesn't matter the source of those problems - inadequate primary grade instruction, learning disabilities, transfers from other schools - they need to be identified.

3. Provide high quality Tier 2 phonics instruction for kids who need it. This kind of teaching is often available to elementary students, but it tends not to be in middle school and high school. At those levels, students may be assigned to an all-purpose intervention which can be enough for some kids. But those kids below the decoding threshold? They need a dedicated, explicit phonics intervention in addition to anything else you can provide to support their literacy learning. (Phonics is unlikely to be enough for those kids, but without it, they won't advance).
References
Denton, C. A., Wexler, J., Vaughn, S., & Bryan, D. (2008). Intervention provided to linguistically diverse middle school students with severe reading difficulties. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 23(2), 79-89. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5826.2008.00266.x

Hooks, L., & Peach, W. (1993). Effectiveness of phonics for students with learning disabilities. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 20(3), 243-245.

Hutcheson, L., Selig, H., & Young, N. (1990). A success story: A large urban district offers a working model for implementing multisensory teaching into the resource and regular classroom. Bulletin of the Orton Society, 40, 79-96. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02648141

Lingo, A. S. (2014). Tutoring middle school students with disabilities by high school students: Effects on oral reading fluency. Education & Treatment of Children, 37(1), 53-75. https://doi.org/10.1353/etc.2014.0005

Magliano, J. P., Talward, A., Feller, D. P., Wang, Z., O'Reilly, T., & Sabatini, J. (2023). Exploring thresholds in the foundational skills for reading and comprehension outcomes in the context of postsecondary readers. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 56(1), 43-57.

National Reading Panel (U.S.) & National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U.S.). (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Wang, Z., Sabatini, J., O'Reilly, T., & Weeks, J. (2019). Decoding and reading comprehension: A test of the decoding threshold hypothesis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 111(3), 387-401. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000302

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Does the science of reading include middle school? | Shanahan on Literacy

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This blog explores the research that shows no benefits from phonics instruction in Grades 2-12 and studies that indicate the importance of decoding advancement for many older students. The blog provides practical solutions to the problem.

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The UDL Implementation Rubric was authored by Melissa Toland, and you can read more about it here. This is an adapted version of The UDL Progression Rubric by Dr. Katie Novak and Dr. Kristian Rodriguez. In the original version, teachers can self-evaluate their performance on each individual checkpoint of the UDL guidelines, whereas the adapted version is less specific in scope and focuses on performance in more general terms in the following areas: multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and multiple means of action and expression. You can view this rubric to see where you may be in your UDL journey across a spectrum ranging from UDL explorer to UDL idol. Click the link below to download the pdf version of this document.

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CAST UDL Guidelines The two files below outline the UDL guidelines by multiple means of representation, multiple means of action & expression, and multiple means of engagement. Knowing the UDL...

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High Leverage Practices -- Secondary Literacy

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High Leverage Practices -- Secondary Literacy

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From the Alaskan Staff Development Network

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Graham and Gillepsie disucss their research on teaching writing

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Graham and Gillepsie disucss their research on teaching writing

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Stephen Graham is probably our leading researcher in the what works in teaching students to write. This 2 minute video captures his research.

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Please click here if you are not redirected within a few seconds.

Apr 3, 2020 · Comments1 · Steve Graham: Effective Writing Instruction · Leadership Lab_Larry ...
Duration: 1:36:00
Posted: Apr 3, 2020

Missing: STRATEGIES | Show results with: STRATEGIES

May 13, 2014 · Dr. Steve Graham, of Vanderbilt University, discusses teacher preparation for writing ...
Duration: 40:49
Posted: May 13, 2014

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GRAHAM STEPHEN RESEARCH BASED STRATEGIES WRITING - Google Search

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Examples of SEL in English Language Arts Instruction

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Examples of SEL in English Language Arts Instruction

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From Achieve the Core: Instructional Practice Guide

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From Achieve the Core: Instructional Practice Guide

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With ChatGPT, Teachers Can Plan Lessons, Write Emails, and More. What’s the Catch?

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The artificial intelligence tool could be a time-saver for teachers, but some have concerns.

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NCTE:  Guiding Principles of the Teaching of Writing

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NCTE:  Guiding Principles of the Teaching of Writing

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This statement, formerly known as Teaching Composition: A Position Statement (1985), was revised in November 2018 with the new title Understanding and Teaching Writing: Guiding Principles.
Overview

The statement is organized into three sections that outline, in broad strokes, what the research literature tells us about writing and the teaching of writing. Each section of this statement provides a brief definition of principles for understanding and teaching writing and provides resources for additional information. The statement concludes with implications for teachers of writing (and writers) based on the principles.

Part 1: What Is "Writing"?

"Writing" refers to the act of creating composed knowledge. Composition takes place across a range of contexts and for a variety of purposes. A writer might compose a blog entry to share news about an important event to an audience of readers whom she has never seen; alternatively, she might write about this event for herself in a private notebook that only she reads. A student might compose a series of equations to think through a difficult mathematical problem for herself as part of an exam; the same student might compose these equations in a lab notebook for others to understand a complex reaction. A community might collaboratively compose a document to convey their position on an issue, like this statement; other writers might use collaboratively composed documents to create their own compositions. As composed knowledge, writing thus serves multiple purposes: to help writers develop and document their ideas for a range of purposes and audiences in a variety of contexts; to distribute ideas to other audiences so that they can be revised or recirculated; to help an individual or a community to define, clarify, or even reify its ideas. As composed knowledge, "writing" ranges broadly from written language (such as that used in this statement), to graphics, to mathematical notation.

The focus of this statement is on teaching written language to students, largely in school, from pre-kindergarten through graduate school. This document outlines a set of principles for the teaching of writing-of composed knowledge. While teaching is conventionally associated with classroom or school settings, this statement acknowledges that teaching and learning happen across the range of a learner's experience-in school and in the classroom, but also at home, in their communities, with colleagues and friends. As a document intended for use primarily (but not exclusively) by formal educators, the principles here may serve to guide courses, assignments, activities, and work with writers and writing (or composed knowledge) within and beyond the formalized curriculum.

Principle 1.1: Writing is social and rhetorical.

The first parts of this principle-writing is social and rhetorical-focus on external factors and writing (Roozen). Writing is produced by people, in specific situations and contexts, and often (but not always) circulates among people. Writing is thus social-it is intended to speak to audiences for particular purposes. Even when a writer writes "for themselves" (e.g., in a personal blog or diary), they are their own audience (Bawarshi). When it is effective, writing is rhetorical, i.e., it takes into account the values, ideologies, interests, needs, and commitments of the people, the audiences, for whom it is intended.

When writers produce writing, they take into consideration purposes, audiences, and contexts. This leads them to make intentional choices about the elements that go into writing:

content (the subject or focus of the writing);

form (the shape of the writing, including its organization, structure, flow, and composition elements like words, symbols, images, etc.);

style/register (the choice of discourse and syntax used for the writing, chosen from among the vast array of language systems [often called "dialects"] that are available for the writer); and mechanics (punctuation, citational style, etc.).

When writing reflects the expectations that audiences have for each of these elements, it is considered good; when it does not, it is considered less than good-and often the writers who produce it are judged accordingly.

Principle 1.2: Writing serves a variety of purposes.

Writing can serve a wide variety of purposes, and it happens in and out of school, as well. Sometimes, writing can be utilitarian: it is produced to achieve a specific purpose that can be quite disassociated from the writers' identity or ideas-for instance, a manual for how to operate a digital projector. At other times, writing can be enormously personal, as when a writer is composing a document-film, poem, rap-that reflects deeply held beliefs or ideas. In each of these instances and regardless of purpose, what writers produce reflects their own assessment of the purpose, audience, context, and value of the writing-for themselves and/or for others.

Importantly, writing happens far beyond the walls of a classroom or school-and for school-aged writers, lately more often out of school than in (Applebee and Langer; Lenhart et al). When writers compose-texts to friends, Instagram posts, fan fiction, blogs, or any one of a myriad of sites where they can create identities-they are writing. However, writers increasingly do not recognize these acts as writing, seeing them as distinct from what they are asked to do in school (Lenhart et al). There, analyses have shown that when writing is taught, it is often linked to standards or expectations that writers perceive to be slightly removed or even quite distinct from their experiences, identities, and interests.

Part 2: Who Are Writers?

In teaching writing, it is important to understand who writers are. Students must learn how writing works, and to help them achieve this, recognizing who writers are is essential. Four principles provide an overview of characteristics and concepts that contribute to the formation and development of writers.

Principle 2.1: Everyone is a writer.

Everyone has the capacity to write. Writers are not static. They develop skills and enhance their writing skills throughout their writing lives; thus, writers grow continually. Becoming a better writer requires practice. The more writers write, the more familiar it becomes. As writers, sometimes they feel confident; at other times, they may feel afraid and insecure. Therefore, students learn to write by writing.

Writers can be beginning or advanced writers in different situations. Just because they may be advanced in one situation, it does not make them advanced in all situations. Writers are researchers too, and they should develop the critical ability to evaluate their own work. They may collaborate with each other in different stages of writing, from drafting to revision to publication. Thus, writers learn how writing is a social act when they consider audiences and contexts and when they work with other writers as they compose.

Writers have varied experiences. They employ different strategies when composing in different situations, for different purposes and audiences, and when using different technologies and tools. Writers also make ethical choices, and writers always have more to learn.

Principle 2.2: Writers bring multiliteracies, and they bring cultural and linguistic assets to whatever they do.

Because writing is linked to identity, writers represent different ideologies, values, and identities. Thus, writers' cultures and languages influence their writing. Recognizing that students are language users with multiple literacies will help the writing instructor engage students in writing. Writers also bring their past writing and reading practices with them whenever they write or read. In short, everything they have experienced, who they are, where they have been, and what they have done impact their writing practices, literacies, and language attitudes.

Second-language, or multilingual, writers have become an integral part of writing courses and programs. They take part in these courses and programs at all grades (K-graduate level) and content areas. The language practices and linguistic backgrounds vary among these writers; thus, these writers should not be treated as one and the same. For example, some second-language writers may be native speakers of languages without ever having to learn and practice the written form of such languages. This may include their first language.

Because discourse, audience, and rhetorical appeals often differ across cultural, linguistic, and educational contexts, second-language writers may find it difficult to understand and/or apply the discursive strategies taught in a US writing classroom. Thus, second-language writers' literacy and linguistic practices should be valued and recognized as assets in the writing classroom and not be viewed as weaknesses and as language interference problems. On the contrary, instructors should identify the strengths second-language writers bring to the classroom and seek opportunities to use these writers' literacy and linguistic practices as a foundation.

Principle 2.3: Writers compose using different modes and technologies.

With 21st-century technologies, writers compose both print and digital texts. As technologies become more advanced and sophisticated, writers learn the possibilities afforded by these tools. They learn about the potential that various technologies have for the production, consumption, and distribution of forms of composed knowledge. This includes not only writing, but also the composition of other types of texts, such as videos and podcasts. Thus, writers may compose multimodal and digital texts.

With technology, writers are now engaged in multiple discourses, such as texting, blogging, posting on social media sites, and instant messaging, thus using language and writing on a daily basis. It is crucial for writers to be exposed to and gain access to a wide range of technologies and tools and learn about the possibilities of composing with them.

Principle 2.4: Writers compose in and outside the classroom.

Because writing takes place in different contexts, writers compose for different readers, with varied purposes, and in diverse situations and places. Writers should develop the critical ability to evaluate their own work so that they can become effective, independent writers in the world beyond school. Writers grow by envisioning and learning to write for a variety of audiences. They reflect on the readers' needs within particular social contexts, often including the readers' values. As such, writers may engage with their communities and make their writing and composing public. Thus, writers may compose about, with, and for their communities.

Part 3: Essential Principles for Teaching Writing

As teachers of writers, our goal is for writers to emerge as better writers with each new writing experience. This means that as teachers we must consider how writers learn and how we can create conditions in our classroom so that learning can take place. The following four principles can help teachers as we lead classroom communities of writers, as we design curricula and instruction, as we assess learning and evaluate students' performance, and as we inquire and talk with one another about what we are learning from our experience of leading individual writers and groups of writers. In the principles below, we use the metaphor of "grow" to remind us of our overarching goal of writers emerging from each writing experience with a better understanding of writing, with a clearer sense of who they are as writers, and with a refined and expanded repertoire of conceptual and practical tools that allows them to see possibilities and choices in their future writing experiences.

Principle 3.1: Writers grow within a context / culture / community of feedback.

To emerge as better writers from a writing experience, learners need feedback, and this feedback should fuel revision. In a community of feedback, teachers become learners too, because they inquire with learners about why writers make the choices they do. In a community of feedback, teachers and writers talk together about both products and processes, which means they share criteria, discuss challenges and choices, and offer feedback on how helpful feedback is in helping writers see new possibilities and options in steps they might take next.

Principle 3.2: Writers grow when they broaden their repertoire, and when they refine their judgment in making choices with their repertoire.

Writers need models and strategies-to find topics, issues, and questions to write about, to revise, to contextualize and connect their piece with others, to give and receive feedback. However, collecting those strategies is not enough; writers need practice not only in choosing a strategy to fit a particular purpose and context, but they also need practice in explaining why they made the choices they did.

Principle 3.3: Assessment should be transparent and contextual, and it should provide opportunities for writers to take risks and grow.

Writers need assessments that make audiences, purposes, and expectations clear, and they need multiple opportunities to practice meeting those criteria. When writers have multiple opportunities to practice, to try something new, to take risks or make mistakes, they know that not every writing experience is a high-stakes or evaluative one. For teachers of writers, this means that we can liken the practice of assessment to driving a car-we will see some fixed data (e.g., fuel tank, odometer, speedometer), and we will see some contextual data (what other cars are doing, road conditions, weather conditions). As drivers, we make decisions based on both kinds of data, and the same idea holds true for both writers and teachers of writers. The assessment tools and the way teachers use them create a set of values and purposes in which student writers respond to their experiences of trying to improve as writers. Thus, assessment provides opportunities and occasions for writers to know where they might be headed in a piece of writing.

Principle 3.4: Writers grow when they have a range of writing experiences and in-depth writing experiences.

In practice, writers need to write for multiple purposes, audiences, and contexts. When learners have a range of writing experiences, it offers opportunities for them to make choices, to self-assess, and to reflect on the wisdom of those choices they make as the write for those different purposes, audiences, and contexts. When learners have in-depth writing experiences, they have opportunities to spend time, work from multiple drafts, and see how their writing and thinking have changed over time. In both broad and deep writing experiences, writers grow when they have opportunities to expand upon-and not merely transmit-content knowledge.

Suggested Resources and Readings

Adler-Kassner, Linda, and Elizabeth Wardle, editors. Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts in Writing Studies. Utah State UP, 2015.

Anson, Ian G., and Chris M. Anson. "Assessing Peer and Instructor Response to Writing: A Corpus Analysis from an Expert Survey." Assessing Writing, vol. 33, 2017, pp. 12-24.

Applebee, Arthur, and Judith Langer. The State of Writing Instruction in America's Schools: What Existing Data Tell Us. Albany, NY: Center on English Learning and Achievement, 2006.

Baca, Isabel, Yndalecio Isaac Hinojosa, and Susan Wolff-Murphy. Bordered Writers: Latinx Identities and Literacy Practices at Hispanic-Serving Institutions. SUNY Press, forthcoming 2019.

Bawarshi, Anis. Genre and the Invention of the Writer. Utah State UP, 2003.

Bruce, Shanti, and Ben Rafoth, editors. ESL Writers: A Guide for Writing Center Tutors. 2nd ed., Boynton/Cook Heinemann, 2009.

CCCC Position Statement on Community-Engaged Projects in Rhetoric and Composition. Conference on College Composition and Communication, April 2016, http://cccc.ncte.org/cccc/resources/positions/community-engaged.

CCCC Position Statement on Students' Right to Their Own Language. Conference on College Composition and Communication, November 2014, https://www2.ncte.org/statement/secondlangwriting/.

Cox, Michelle, Jay Jordan, Christina Ortmeier-Hooper, and Gwen Gray Schwartz, editors. Reinventing Identities in Second Language Writing. NCTE, 2010.

Deans, Thomas, Barbara Roswell, and Adrian J. Wurr, editors. Writing and Community Engagement: A Critical Sourcebook. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2010.

Drew, Sally Valentino, Natalie G. Olinghouse, Michael Faggella-Luby, and Megan E. Welsh. "Framework for Disciplinary Writing in Science Grades 6-12: A National Survey." Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 109, no. 7, 2017, pp. 935-955.

Fidalgo, Raquel, Mark Torrance, Gert Rijlaarsdam, Huub van den Bergh, and M. Lourdes Alvarez. "Strategy-Focused Writing Instruction: Just Observing and Reflecting on a Model Benefits 6th Grade Students." Contemporary Educational Psychology, vol. 41, 2015, pp. 37-50.

Foltz, P. W., K. E. Lochbaum, and M. B. Rosenstein. "Analysis of Student ELA Writing Performance for a Large Scale Implementation of Formative Assessment." In Annual Meeting of the National Council for Measurement in Education, New Orleans, LA. 2011.

Grabill, Jeffrey T. Writing Community Change: Designing Technologies for Citizen Action. Hampton Press, 2007.

Hattie, John, and Helen Timperley. "The Power of Feedback." Review of Educational Research, vol. 77, no. 1, 2007, pp. 81-112.

Horner, Bruce, Min-Zhan Lu, and Paul Kei Matsuda, editors. Cross-Language Relations in Composition. Southern Illinois UP, 2010.

Jeffery, Jill V., and Kristen Wilcox. "'How Do I Do It if I Don't Like Writing?': Adolescents' Stances toward Writing across Disciplines." Reading and Writing, vol. 27, no. 6, 2014, pp. 1095-1117.

Kellogg, Ronald T., and Alison P. Whiteford. "Training Advanced Writing Skills: The Case for Deliberate Practice." Educational Psychologist, vol. 44, no. 4, 2009, pp. 250-266.

Kirklighter, Cristina, Diana Cardenas, and Susan Wolff-Murphy, editors. Teaching Writing with Latino/a Students: Lessons Learned at Hispanic Serving Institutions. SUNY Press, 2007.

Koster, Monica, Elena Tribushinina, Peter F. de Jong, and Huub van den Bergh. (2015). "Teaching Children to Write: A Meta-analysis of Writing Intervention Research." Journal of Writing Research, vol. 7, no. 2, 2015, pp. 299-324.

Lenhart, Amanda, et al. Writing, Technology, and Teens. Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2008.

Moore, Jessie L., et al. "Revisualizing Composition: How First-Year Writers Use Composing Technologies." Computers and Composition, vol. 39, 2016, pp. 1-13.

NCTE Definition of 21st Century Literacies. National Council of Teachers of English, February 2013, https://www2.ncte.org/statement/21stcentdefinition/.

NCTE Position Statement on Professional Knowledge for the Teaching of Writing. National Council of Teachers of English, February 2016, https://www2.ncte.org/statement/teaching-writing/.

Parks, Steve. Writing Communities: A Handbook with Readings. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2017.

Philippakos, Zoi A., and Charles A. MacArthur. "The Effects of Giving Feedback on the Persuasive Writing of Fourth- and Fifth-Grade Students." Reading Research Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 4, 2016, pp. 419-433.

Ray, Amber B., Steve Graham, Julia D. Houston, and Karen R. Harris. "Teachers' Use of Writing to Support Students' Learning in Middle School: A National Survey in the United States." Reading and Writing, vol. 29, no. 5, 2016, pp. 1039-1068.

Roozen, Kevin. "Writing is a Social and Rhetorical Activity." Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies, edited by Linda Adler-Kassner and Elizabeth Wardle, Utah State UP, 2015, pp. 17-19.

Ryan, Mary E. "Reflexive Writers: Re-thinking Writing Development and Assessment in Schools." Assessing Writing, vol. 22, 2014, pp. 60-74.

Stock, Patricia L., editor. Composition's Roots in English Education. Heinemann, 2011.

Yancey, Kathleen Blake, Liana Robertson, and Kara Taczak, editors. Writing Across Contexts: Transfer, Composition, and Sites of Writing. Utah State UP, 2014.

Statement Authors

This document was revised by an NCTE working committee comprising the following:

Linda Adler-Kassner, University of California Santa Barbara

Isabel Baca, University of Texas-El Paso

Jim Fredricksen, Boise State University
This position statement may be printed, copied, and disseminated without permission from NCTE.

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Understanding and Teaching Writing: Guiding Principles

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The statement is organized into three sections that outline, in broad strokes, what the research literature tells us about writing and the teaching of writing. Each section of this statement provides a brief definition of principles for understanding and teaching writing and provides resources for additional information.

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This month, everything in the Moving Writers Community is free to EVERYONE because we want to share the goodness with you! This includes one complete monthly unit plan, a Q&A post, two InstaDigest peeks into my daily lesson plans and classroom life, and a community slow chat! If you like what you see, please consider subscribing now! Q: Hi Rebekah! One thing my team and I have been learning about is Chatgpt.... We read a new book this summer and did a deep dive online. We're at the cusp really of big change. We are looking at how to use it as a tool in our English classroom versus ignoring it. I'm wondering what your plans are on how to address/tackle/use Chatgpt. - Jodi A:
This month's question may have been composed by our friend Jodi, but this is all anyone has asked me about for at least the last sixth months. Every professional development workshop I have led has somehow ended up circling this topic.

And for good reason: I cannot think of something more classroom-altering than AI in an English class.

As Jodi suggests, we can't ignore it. And we can't fight it. In some ways, it's wonderful: writing can't just be assigned anymore. And it can't just be five-paragraph essays anymore. We will have to make authentic writing assignments that leverage students's individual voices and experiences...because, otherwise, the robot can already do that. And will.

And then, of course, it's scary. Because we worry we'll spend every day of the rest of our career's fighting it, searching for its undue influence. Plus, we all know ChatGPT isn't the end of the story. It's getting smarter, and there will be more than we can even imagine coming on the horizon.

There are a few fundamental shifts we are all going to have to make if we haven't already:

Class time has to be given to writing. If we are going to ensure our students are the ones doing the composing, we have to watch them do it. At least some of the time. We can't just assign writing and send it home. We need to watch students struggle and draft and get stuck and revise.

We can't stay stuck on the five-paragraph essay. One of the things AI does best is compose standard, by-rote academic essays like the five-paragraph essay. This can't be all we ask of our students. Writing products need to become increasingly authentic and varied.

Voice and style matter more than ever. So many secondary writing classes focus on structure above all. But voice and style are something humans put into their writing that a computer can't. So this needs to take up more space in our writing instruction. Voice, style, and individual experience need to be valued as highly as thesis statements and well-organized paragraphs.

If you can't beat 'em, join them. I think the only way forward is to find productive ways to help our students collaborate with AI to help their own writing rather replace their own writing. We need to teach them to use it as a resource that benefits their writing as much as a writing teacher or a mentor text.

Here are just five ideas I've played with in the last few months! Scroll to the bottom to download & print a copy for your future reference!

We would ALL love to hear strategies we could add to this list. How else have you leveraged AI to help student writers? (There are also some fun ideas and links to great articles in the September Community Chat!)

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Five practical ways to partner with AI in your writing classroom

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A model of a poetry lesson using the UDL framework

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A model of a poetry lesson using the UDL framework

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UDL Resources to give you practical guidelines on Universal Design for Learning and to help you implement UDL in your school and/or classroom.

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Departments " Educational Services " Instructional Services " Content and Pedagogy Support " Pedagogy " Universal Design for Learning

Katie Novak, Ed.D. is an internationally renowned education consultant with 17 years of experience in teaching and administration, an earned doctorate in curriculum and teaching, and author of eight books, including the bestselling education book, UDL Now! and the recently released, Unlearning with Allison Posey. Katie designs and presents professional learning opportunities both nationally and internationally focusing on the implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), inclusive practices, and universally designed leadership.

Dr. Novak's work has been highlighted in many publications including Language magazine, Motherly, ADDitude magazine, Commonwealth magazine, AMLE magazine, The Huffington Post, ASCD Education Update, and School Administrator.

Karon Akins, Administrator with Instructional Services sat down with Katie for a virtual conversation about UDL. In each video Katie is answering one question.

Why UDL?

Where is the best place to start in a teacher's UDL journey? What about a district's UDL Journey?

What have you learned on your UDL journey?

How do you see the relationship between UDL and MTSS?

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A Conversation with Katie Novak | Riverside County Office of Education

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Departments " Educational Services " Instructional Services " Content and Pedagogy Support " Pedagogy " Universal Design for Learning Katie Novak, Ed.D. is an internationally renowned education consultant with 17 years of experience in teaching and administration, an earned doctorate in curriculum and teaching, and author of eight books, including the bestselling education book, UDL Now!

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What's the relationship between UDL and MTSS?

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What's the relationship between UDL and MTSS?

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SEL Integrated with Academic Instruction | Schoolwide SEL

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The HITS are for all content areas but some of the examples focus on the English/Language Arts class.

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If you click on the link for mini-lessons, you'll find mini-lessons on SEL in the English classroom.

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Perhaps you are running a writing workshop in your ELA classroom, or perhaps you are looking to start one in the future. This long-standing approach puts student writers at the center of the program.

They work at their own pace through differing assignments, just the way professional writers do. They conference with other students and with you, discovering their own writing process along the way. Best of all, they see themselves as writers in a community of writers!

How can I create a writing workshop?

Follow these simple steps to implement the writing workshop approach.

Step 1

Set up a writing workshop framework. A typical writing workshop session has four parts.

1. Minilesson: Spend about 10 minutes introducing a new concept to the class and asking students to apply it. If you are using a writing handbook, you can use the many strategies in each writing unit as your minilessons. You can also try these free minilessons.

2. Status of the Class: Spend about 2 minutes tracking the work each student will do that day.

3. Individual Work: Provide students with 30 minutes to work on their projects. Meanwhile, you can conference with individual writers or small groups.

4. Whole-Class Sharing: Leave 5 minutes at the end of class for students to share portions of their work.

Step 2

Be the writer! To run a writing workshop, take on the role of facilitator and writing colleague rather than assigner and corrector. Teach by example, showing not only how to write, but also how to collaborate, respond constructively to other writers, and make improvements based on responses.

Step 3

Create a writing community. Help your students work side by side, learning from each other in much the same way that artisans do in studios or cooks do in the kitchen. A writing workshop is firmly grounded in research about how real writers operate, taking their ideas through all stages of the writing process.

Step 4

Provide models. Writers learn how to write by closely studying models of student, teacher, and professional writers. Model essays often provide springboards for the minilessons that begin each session. If you are using a writing handbook, you have many models to choose from. Also see these free student models in many different modes.

Step 5

Provide choices. For students to create authentic writing, they need to write about topics that interest them. Students use strategies such as freewriting, listing, and clustering to find topics. You can also inspire them with free topics sorted by grade and mode. Then students conduct research to gather unique details and form a strong focus.

Step 6

Let students work at their own pace. Writers proceed through the writing process at differing rates. Some take more time with prewriting; others move quickly into their drafts and then focus on revising. On any given day, some students will be revising, others will be drafting, and still others will finish one piece of work and start on another.

Step 7

Invite responses. Writers need the responses of others to make their writing understandable to their readers. Teach your students how to request and provide peer responses, and then expect them to collaborate with peers when revising and editing.

You will also counsel each writer at points along the way.

Step 8

Offer support. Hold brief (2- to 3-minute) conferences with students during independent writing time. During these conferences, don't act as a fixer but rather as a listener who helps writers continually progress, learning what they are ready to grasp.

Where can I find more support?

The writing handbooks from Thoughtful Learning are filled with models in many modes, guidelines throughout the writing process, help with peer responding and self-assessment, and all the supports that individual writers need. Check out the handbooks for the level you teach.

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Perhaps you are running a writing workshop in your ELA classroom, or perhaps you are looking to start one in the future. This long-standing approach puts student writers at the center of the program. They work at their own pace through differing assignments, just the way professional writers do.

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From Moving Writers: Hacking Teaching with ChatGPT

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From Moving Writers: Hacking Teaching with ChatGPT

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Cult of Pedagogy on learning progressions

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Cult of Pedagogy on learning progressions

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Mastery Portfolio - We make standards-based grading manageable.

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Definition: Learning progressions are essential tools for understanding students' progress in their learning as they help to clarify what learning looks like against a mastery scale. In the classroom, learning progressions enable teachers to identify where students are at in their learning and convert student assessment results into meaningful descriptions of their learning progress. Learning progressions also enable students to speak about their own learning in a meaningful way and help them know how to set purposeful goals for where they need to go next.
What Learning Progressions are:
A vertical articulation of what mastery looks like in accessible language for students.
What Learning Progressions are NOT:
How Learning Progressions differ from rubrics:

Learning Progressions Rubrics

The learning progressions describe the development of a skill over time. These progressions are meant to show the path learners take moving step by step along a continuum of development.

The rubrics stem from the learning progressions and are, of course, closely aligned to the student checklists. These rubrics allow teachers to score student learning, based on the corresponding grade level expectations. Rubric scoring is done by adding up scores from components of a student's skill progress to find a raw score, then converting that raw score into a scaled score.

Development over time

The rubrics are designed for on-demand use so that teachers across grades could use the same tool to collect and assess student work and track student growth

Above image from the Cult of Pedagogy

Resources:

Gonzalez, J. (n.d.). Introducing the HyperRubric: A Tool that Takes Learning to the Next Level. cultofpedagogy.com from https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/hyperrubric/

Guidance on Rubric Design. (n.d.). media.ride.ri.gov from https://media.ride.ri.gov/PD/FA/Formative_Assessment_Module_5_Lesson_2/story_content/external_files/Guidance%20on%20Rubric%20Design.pdf

Hess, K. (n.d.). Developing & Using Learning Progressions as a Schema for Measuring Progress. nciea.org from https://www.nciea.org/publications/CCSSO2_KH08.pdf

Learning Progression and Rubrics. (n.d.). neqmap.bangkok.unesco.org from https://neqmap.bangkok.unesco.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/PPT-Session-6-compressed.pdf

The Role of Learning Progressions in Global Scales. (n.d.). brookings.edu from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2018/05/29/the-role-of-learning-progressions-in-global-scales/

" Back to Glossary Index

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Learning Progressions - Mastery Portfolio

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Definition: Learning progressions are essential tools for understanding students' progress in their learning as they help to clarify what learning looks like against a mastery scale. In the classroom, learning progressions enable teachers to identify where students are at in their learning and convert student assessment results into meaningful descriptions of their learning progress.

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Using AI for demonstrations and feedback

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Using AI for demonstrations and feedback

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Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes, 16 seconds (654 words)

Primary Audience: Curious teachers and instructional leaders!

AI tools are exploding in the education world, and when used strategically they can be exceptionally effective and efficient in supporting writing. Among countless other potential uses, AI tools help teachers build demonstration texts and draft feedback for students.

Catch Up Quick: Last Wednesday, Leah kicked off our three-part miniseries on AI tools that maximize impact with a focus on preparing for a unit. Next Wednesday, Melanie will immerse us in tools that teachers can use to scaffold student writing. Today's post focuses on resources for providing demonstration texts and feedback to students during the writing process.

Why It Matters: If I ask teachers anywhere to name one thing that's missing from teaching, most likely time will be high on the list. AI tools for demonstration and feedback can help maximize teacher time and impact by efficiently responding to student needs, adapting to varying levels of ability within a single classroom, and targeting specific writing skills.

Using AI for Demonstration Texts: A demonstration text is a piece of writing used in front of and with students to teach a specific skill. When prompting AI to be a collaborator in creating a demonstration text, create your initial text by being clear about each of these variables:

Define the role of the AI tool: You are a 4th-grade student...

The specific genre and focus of the writing: ...writing an opinion essay about why people should adopt stray dogs...

The desired structure and/or length of the writing: ...that is organized into 5 paragraphs and is no longer than 600 words.

After creating the initial demonstration text, use it with students to revise the prompt to include a focused teaching point for revision: Revise to include a quote in one of the body paragraphs.

Numerous AI tools will do this work well (and more are launching by the week). At the time of this post, ChatGPT ( click here to get started) and Diffit ( click here to get started) are both great places to start. As new tools launch, be on the lookout for the accuracy of the information in the text AI generates, how closely the resource follows your prompts, and whether the tool offers the opportunity to revise the text by refining your prompt.

Using AI To Craft Feedback: Feedback is critical throughout the writing process, not just at the end as a part of assigning scores or grades. However, even on my most efficient conferring days, I've found it difficult to provide direct, explicit feedback to more than a handful of my writers. AI tools can support me-and my students-in this work by responding to student writing in ways that is clear, explicit, and timely.

When asking an AI tool to give feedback, it's important to include:

The type of feedback you're seeking (i.e., glows and grows)

Specific aspects of the writing you want to target (i.e., structure, word choice, elaboration, etc.)

I asked Brisk, a Chrome extension, to provide "glows and grows" on the organization of this post. I specified that I wanted the feedback based on an 8th-grade writing level and that it should not exceed 50 words. It generated specific, targeted feedback (pictured on the right) to help with my revision process.

Similar to demonstration texts, the variety and accessibility of resources that provide feedback using AI is growing quickly. When selecting a tool to use, make sure to consider:

The AI's ability to hone in on specific skills;

Whether it can adapt to different ages and reading abilities;

If it can be connected to a specific rubric or learning progression;

And, most importantly, how student privacy is protected (if the tool is "reading" student writing, how is it collecting and using student data?).

A Few Words of Caution: AI tools are incredible teaching assistants. They can create demonstration texts tailored to student interests and provide more frequent feedback to students. However, AI should not replace the authentic, expert demonstration teaching and feedback that we as teachers provide to children. It is essential to make sure students know that human eyes are reading their writing and supporting their growth regularly. AI can maximize time and impact, but it is human intelligence that drives the writing workshop.

The Bottom Line: When it comes to writing, AI tools can make our use of demonstration texts and feedback more streamlined, timely, and impactful for our students. Keep in mind that the rate of change in the availability and accessibility of tools is rapid, so it's beneficial to stay up-to-date and to be open to new resources as they emerge.

Published by Sarah Valter

Teacher, leader, reader, writer, lifelong learner, mother of 2 beautiful kids and 2 spoiled pets, and wife. Lover of good books, chocolate chip cookies, Flair pens, and sunny days. View all posts by Sarah Valter

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Tools for Demonstration and Feedback: Leveraging AI for Writing Miniseries

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In this three part miniseries, Leah, Sarah, and Melanie will share powerful ways teachers can leverage Artificial Intelligence for writing instruction. Today, Sarah shares tools to use during a uni...

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Initiatives to improve teaching and learning remind us of New Year's resolutions. They often launch at the beginning of the year-the school year. They commence with a cherished vision of possibility and a spirit of commitment. They begin with genuine progress.

But most New Year's resolutions fail. And similarly, many initiatives to improve teaching and learning prove shaky in the long term.

Both of us have been involved in improving teaching and learning for many years in diverse settings. We've seen the good, the bad, and, yes, the ugly. We've learned from friends and colleagues and the literature. Building on this experience, we'd like to explore a key question: What determines whether a change effort will eventually fizzle out or whether it will survive and thrive?

Efforts to improve teaching and learning frequently seem to follow an overly simple plan: make your goals clear, create learning opportunities, expand step-by-step, and expect that although some stakeholders will be reluctant, they'll eventually come around. The theory is that after a while, you'll achieve the targeted changes, and they'll stay in place.

Following this simple path can work, but there are many common obstructions that often lead to serious missteps. By recognizing the complications, we can give change legs to overcome the challenges that arise along the way. To answer our key question at least partially, we might think of change as traveling on four legs: frameworks, leaders, community, and institutionalization.

Leg 1. Frameworks

Endeavors to improve teaching and learning are always journeys toward some holy grail-an aspirational framework or philosophy that offers a vision for more effective teaching and learning. Ideally, this framework provides teachers with a common perspective and language while allowing adaptation to different subjects, levels, and students. (See " A Sampling of Powerful Frameworks ")

Most of our own experience reflects teaching-learning frameworks developed through our longtime association with Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education-for instance, Teaching for Understanding (Blythe, 1998; Wiske, 1998); Making Learning Whole (Perkins, 2009); and Visible Thinking (Ritchhart, Church, &amp; Morrison, 2011). However, we're not favoring any particular framework here. Rather, our experience tells us that very different frameworks encounter very similar problems.

What seems to work best. By definition, significant change challenges existing practices and creates discomfort. The simple path expects teachers to comply and eventually get comfortable with the new practices, like getting used to a new suit. But it does not recognize how deeply teachers are committed to their own sense of craft, which they may have developed over many years. In our experience, teachers are more likely to warm to frameworks they can adapt to their personal styles and circumstances. It's not just adjusting yourself to the clothing, but also adjusting the clothing to yourself!

We've also noticed that teachers can often work effectively with two or three frameworks simultaneously, as long as the frameworks are not contradictory. For example, the Teaching for Understanding framework provides a common language that teachers across grade levels and subject areas can use not only when planning a curriculum-deciding what really is important to learn-but also when exploring areas in a curriculum where students sometimes struggle or where misconceptions get in the way. The Visible Thinking framework complements Teaching for Understanding by providing an effective tool kit for developing specific kinds of thinking that in turn foster understanding of content.

What can go wrong. Some frameworks are stiffer than others. They do not adjust well to teachers' individual needs and commitments. They are hard to make your own. If a school presents a rigid framework (or presents it in a rigid way), teachers often protest-or, more commonly, exercise passive resistance or participate halfheartedly.

Although it's perfectly possible to meld two or three compatible frameworks, a different problem arises when a dozen change initiatives unfold in different parts of a school, each one with its own timetable and framework. Imagine a situation in which one department or grade level is focusing on writing across the curriculum, another is concentrating on strengthening classroom management, and yet another is implementing project-based learning. Meanwhile, additional initiatives sprawl throughout the school, with many teachers not involved at all but expected to join something soon. In such a situation, there's no common language for sharing practice and building collegiality, and therefore no real community of innovation. Teachers frequently respond with initiative fatigue: Next year will bring another new thing ... let's not try too hard.

What school leaders say. Allowing for individual implementation of the framework with frequent feedback from colleagues was a common theme among several leaders we surveyed. We've seen remarkable staying power in a large international school that embarked on a major change effort with this emphasis more than a decade ago. The school balanced at least two frameworks that complemented each other.

The effort began with the school sending a few teachers each year to a summer institute where they learned about the initial framework. However, the school also took care to ensure alignment across the faculty. A school leader explained,

What helped us put the ideas we had learned about into practice was the year-long study group that was set up ... all the participating teachers for that year were freed up at the same time in order to meet for several hours once a month. We read, we tried out, and we discussed.

Leg 2. Leaders

It's no surprise that leadership plays a central role in change. The literature in both education and the corporate world emphasizes the importance of leaders inspiring and guiding initiatives. However, a more nuanced perspective recognizes the need for effective leadership on two levels.

What seems to work best. Steady change thrives on the double influence of what we like to call a political visionary and a practical visionary. The political visionary, typically the principal, shows conspicuous commitment to the innovation, advocating it, making it a priority, defending it against critics, explaining it to parents, appearing for key events, and allocating resources.

We have seen political visionaries take two somewhat different stances. Some principals use authority, insisting that all teachers participate to some degree. Other principals take a softer stance, repeatedly emphasizing the importance of the agenda, requiring new hires to receive some orientation to the innovation, and making it clear that over time most faculty are expected to get aboard, without a specific schedule. This might eventually evolve into a requirement.

The practical visionary is usually a teacher-sometimes a team of two or three teachers. This leader manages the program on the ground, organizing faculty groups and events and conducting some training and coaching. Although practical visionaries often teach as well, they have significant time formally allocated for the change process.

What can go wrong. Sometimes principals think friendliness toward the mission is enough: "Sounds good; let me know if I can help." We have seen many efforts evaporate in a year or two for lack of strong conspicuous support from the principal. We have seen initiatives undermined in a couple of hours simply because the principal did not show up at a key event. Faculty members notice! There are simply too many competing priorities in schools for an innovation to thrive without persistent, overt support.

A different hazard appears when principals think they can play a dual role as both the political and the practical visionary. It's a reasonable aspiration, because principals are considered leaders of teaching and learning! But in reality, principals, with their multiple responsibilities, rarely have the time (and often lack the expertise) to guide change initiatives day by day, week by week. Delegated responsibility and allocated time for practical visionaries are essential.

What school leaders say. The superintendent of a public school district in the U.S. Midwest learned an important lesson from an experience in another district. A change initiative met initial success when principals were required to learn a framework with teachers. The effort flagged, however, when their participation was no longer mandatory.

He took that experience to the new district when he became superintendent. He created opportunities for a yearlong exploration of the framework. School teams included a principal and teacher leaders who participated voluntarily. If teams wanted to continue beyond the first year, they could widen their circle of school-based participants, but the principal had to remain part of the team. The superintendent told us that ensuring that school leaders understand and believe in the ideas has been key to the success of this initiative across the district. He wrote about his own role:

I am very intentional about my own behavior, what I attend to, how I talk, how I engage with others, and what I value. I try to build ownership not by mandate but by authenticity and consistency. I have seen as the superintendent of schools how this type of leadership expands the ideas. People know that this is not the "flavor of the month" or a "superintendent thing." People know that this is who we are, it is what we are about, and we are going to work together to make it a reality for our students.

Leg 3. Community

Any widespread innovation in a school involves a tapestry of interactions within the community of teachers, school leaders, and beyond. We have never seen all members of such a community energetically and uniformly invest themselves in a new change initiative. There are always skeptics alongside enthusiasts, late adopters alongside early adopters. How can one foster a community with nimble legs for the innovation?

What seems to work best. Broad institutional growth calls for a collegial culture. As mentioned earlier, this often involves teachers meeting regularly in small groups to discuss experiences as they try out the target framework. The practical visionary helps to form and facilitate these groups. The groups mature over time, as their activities evolve and members eventually assume facilitative roles in new groups.

Not everyone joins these groups right away. Those who feel ready jump in, constituting only one or two groups; others form new groups over two or three years.

Despite the small-scale start, keeping the initiative transparent and permeable is important. The school begins by ensuring that all teachers are broadly aware of the initiative and target framework-for instance, through a whole-school introductory workshop. It continues by keeping all faculty broadly aware of progress-for instance, through quick reports, posting student work on bulletin boards in classrooms and halls, and yearly "fairs" in which participating teachers share their work. Moreover, anyone who is free can attend a group meeting. Anyone who wants to try something on a small scale is welcomed and supported by the practical visionary or others. There's room for degrees of participation-all-in, half-in, toe-in-the-water, bystander-for-now. This permeability allows for what the literature on communities of practice calls legitimate peripheral participation (Lave &amp; Wenger, 1991).

What can go wrong. Often an innovation begins with a group of early adopters whose missionary zeal can be alienating. Other faculty members have minimal information about what's happening or why. A strong in-group and out-group polarization emerges. Similarly, lack of information among the school board, the parent community, or even students can generate opposition.

Deceptively, this may not seem to matter for a while. The early adopters make progress in their own classrooms. Over time, however, the polarization takes its toll, generating endless doubts, criticism, and a mix of token participation and outright refusal to participate by most of the faculty. Eventually, the initiative fails.

What school leaders say. Several schools we have worked with have held information evenings for parents and board members to learn about a new initiative, with teachers demonstrating the framework in action.

Recruiting teachers to share their experiences openly with colleagues has been a valuable tool. An Australian school official noted of the long-term change effort she led, "The inclusive nature of the project provided almost a kind of 'drip feed' mechanism, with dissemination of information and resources; voluntary intensive participation in regular meetings open to all; and regular whole-school seminars and conferences."

The coordinator of a regional network of teachers in the U.S. South explained what has worked in that setting:

It is critical to identify risk takers and work with them on bringing new ideas to the classroom; then use their practice as a model. When a teacher volunteers to share her experience, we analyze things that went well versus things that didn't work. Teachers appreciate when you share failure and success because that is part of being a learner.

The voluntary nature of the study groups she coordinates avoids a top-down approach: "Since the teachers are not required by their immediate supervisor to attend these meetings, they come because they want to invest time and effort to grow."

Leg 4. Institutionalization

Once an innovation has proven effective over two or three years, it's easy to assume that the innovation is there to stay. However, innovations that seem solidly in place can prove remarkably fragile as circumstances change.

What seems to work well. Systematic efforts to stabilize a successful innovation for the long term are called institutionalization. The innovation gets written into the DNA of the school-into the mission statement, communications to students and parents, formal documents that describe the school's teaching and learning commitments, hiring practices for new teachers and even new principals, and staff positions such as the practical visionary. None of this means the school can't improve the innovation or ultimately swap it for something better. But such changes should occur thoughtfully, not because of haphazard events.

What can go wrong. An innovation may thrive for years. Then the principal leaves or retires and the new leader shows indifference to the innovation, or even antagonism. Another problematic scenario: practical visionaries or others who have carried the flag leave or retire, and there has been no succession planning. Within a year or two, the innovation loses momentum, particularly as new faculty unfamiliar with it arrive.

What school leaders say. Several school leaders told us that teachers seek positions at their school specifically because of an initiative. When a school becomes known for its commitment to an approach, that in itself helps institutionalize the initiative.

These schools promoted institutionalization by putting in place programs to give newly hired teachers early and meaningful exposure to the approach. They held regular yearly events to share practice. For example, the leader of an initiative from a school in the Netherlands commented,

Staff members know about the annual Gallery Walk held as a whole-school staff meeting. Everyone is invited to share-sometimes teachers do the talking, sometimes their students. It is inspiring for all of us, both old timers and new staff, to see what our colleagues are doing. I think that it is this ongoing opportunity to become involved, or become re-involved after a period away on maternity leave or after a change of grade, that allows everyone to feel part of the learning.

Conversations Worth Having

What does all this add up to? Certainly not a formula for secure change. Innovation is always a chancy enterprise, and all schools, principals, faculties, and communities come with their own individual circumstances. What's called for is not applying a formula but engaging in a conversation-indeed, four conversations-that seek contextually appropriate solutions to the problems that appear in situation after situation.

Conversations about frameworks. Whether you are a principal or a teacher who might participate in a change initiative, chances are you're in a position to initiate a conversation about the framework leg. Does the framework make room for individual teacher styles and commitments, so that most teachers can come to "own" it over time? If unrelated change initiatives and frameworks proliferate in the school, what can the school do to integrate them or shed some of them?

Conversations about leadership. One might think that the principal needs to be the person to bring matters of leadership into the conversation, but anyone can ask for a pattern of leadership they think would be helpful. Not every principal may recognize at first that he or she needs to emphatically, visibly promote the initiative and anoint the school's practical visionary. If, after exploratory conversations, a principal offers at best lukewarm support, this is a red flag.

Conversations about community. Whatever your role, you are a member of the community within and around the school. One excellent use of your voice is to advocate for a good community leg, calling for transparency, helping to create structures that allow many levels of participation, and honoring those who want to make a slower start than others.

Conversations about institutionalization. The principal is the natural person to spearhead steps toward institutionalization ... but not necessarily the person to raise the issue. Don't take for granted that what has been accomplished will stay in place. Speak out and engage others in the quest for institutionalization.

All four of these conversations working together truly can give change legs, helping to create an enduring culture of thoughtful attention to teaching and learning. As one of the school leaders we surveyed put it,

It's the opportunity to learn from and with each other that is really powerful. There are not many things that unite our staff as clearly as approaches to teaching and learning. The main point is that teachers like talking about teaching. So with a shared language and a shared approach there is loads of room for talking. It brings teachers out of their classrooms, their grades and their departments, and creates a more collaborative school environment.

Copyright © 2014 David N. Perkins and James D. Reese

A Sampling of Powerful Frameworks

Teaching for Understanding, developed at Project Zero, and Understanding by Design, developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, share similar goals of providing a pedagogical framework for teachers to use in planning for deep, engaging, and meaningful learning experiences for their students.

Three related frameworks, all involving strategies for encouraging effective thinking in students and also developed at Project Zero, work compatibly both together and with the two "understanding" frameworks: Visible Thinking; Cultures of Thinking; and Artful Thinking.

Responsive Classroom is an approach to establishing a high-quality learning environment in which all children can thrive.

Making Learning Visible at Project Zero is an ongoing research project inspired by the practices of preschools in Reggio Emilia, Italy. It investigates how best to understand, document, and support individual and group learning for children and adults.

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Four key factors help determine whether change efforts will be sustained over time.