English SOL Institute Elementary Writing Strand

1. English SOL Institute Elementary Writing Strand Merging the SOLs into Writing Workshop Deborah Johnson and Lindsay Kamide

2. Please discuss the following quote with others at your table: “High-quality, evidence-based instruction need not be sacrificed in preparing students to succeed on standardized writing assessments.” Higgins et al. Higgins, B., Miller, M. and Wegmann, S. (2006), Teaching to the Test…Not! Balancing Best Practice and Testing Requirements in Writing. The Reading Teacher, 60: 310–319. doi: 10.1598/RT.60.4.1

3. What is Good Writing Instruction? • Refer to “What is Good Writing Instruction?” handout • Highlight the items that promote good writing practices

5. Elementary WritingKey Points in Writing • Writing to convey a concise message begins in Kindergarten and moves through grade 3 when students will write a short report • Student use of graphic organizers begins in grade 1 • Beginning in grade 4, students write multi-paragraph essays

6. Elementary WritingKey Points in Writing • Persuasive writing begins in 5th grade • Students in grades 3-5 should have practice writing on demand, for shorter time frames, and over extended periods of time

7. SOL Resources • VDOE Online Writing Resources: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english/2010/online_writing/index.shtml • Writing Skills Progression: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english/2010/online_writing/progression_chart_writing.pdf • Grammar Skills Progression: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english/2010/online_writing/progression_chart_grammar.pdf

8. Writing Workshop • Teaching students to respond vs. teaching students to create • What is our ultimate goal for students? • Annenberg Learning video: Building a Community of Writers (12:25-16:53)

9. Writing Workshop Layout • Mini-lesson • Writing Time • Pre-writing, Composing, Revising, Editing, Sharing, and Publishing • Conferencing • Sharing

10. Mini-lesson • At your table: Choose one book and find a sentence that uses a comma. • Give a thumbs-up when you have found one • Discuss with a partner: Why is there a comma in this sentence?

11. Writing Time • Students can find ideas from: • Writing Notebooks • Books • Peers I don’t know what to write!

12. Writing Notebooks • A place to collect artifacts, thoughts, and responses to reading • Ideas that spark writing • favorite words, list of things at an event/place, things you wonder, places you have visited, things your parents always say

13. Writing Notebook Practice Favorite words OR List of things at an event/place • Pick 1 topic • Write about it for 1 minute in any form • Share with a partner

14. Conferencing • Editor vs. Teacher handout • Conferencing leaves the student inspired to write • As a reader, I…

15. Sharing • Ask for a response • What did you learn? • What else would you like to know? • What’s something you remember? • Provides daily evaluation and motivation

16. Digital Storytelling http://edu.glogster.com/ www.xtranormal.com www.blogster.com www.animoto.com

17. Merging the SOLs into Writing Workshop • Accountability • Practice • Performance

19. Additional Resources National Writing Project: http://www.nwp.org/ Teaching That Makes Sense: http://www.ttms.org/ Horn, Martha & Giacobbe, Mary Ellen (2007). Talking, drawing, writing: Lessons for our youngest writers (K-1). Portland, ME: Stenhouse. Morgan, B., & Odom, D. (2005). Writing through the tween years: supporting writers, grades 3-6. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Ray, Katie Wood with Lisa B. Cleaveland (2004). About the authors: Writing workshop with our youngest writers (Grades K-1). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Ray, Katie Wood with Laminack, Lester (2001). The writing workshop: Working through the hard parts (And they’re all hard parts). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English

20. Contact Information Deborah Johnson djohnson@greenecountyschools.com Lindsay Kamide lkamide@greenecountyschools.com

21. Disclaimer Reference within this presentation to any specific commercial or non-commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer or otherwise does not constitute or imply an endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Virginia Department of Education.