Guiding English Learners to Fulfill Their Potential as Writers

1. Guiding English Learners to Fulfill Their Potential as Writers Amy Cain Ph.D. Student in EarlyChildhoodEducationat Georgia State University Fourth Grade TeacheratBelmontHillsElementarySchool, Cobb County amelia.cain@cobbk12.org

2. Teacher and student attitudes Those who think they can and those who think they can’t are both right. (Henry Ford) More is caught than taught. .

3. Literacy Collaborative Training • Minilessons Explicitly state whatyou’reteachingeach time. • ConferencingDo not look at the child’spaper first. It’stooeasy to focus on conventions.

4. About the Authors • Getting to write vs. Having to write(paradigm shift) • Enthusiasmiscontagious

5. I canwritelikethat! A Guide to Mentor Texts and CraftStudiesfor Writers’ Workshop,K-6 “The writing workshop does not place the teacher under the bright lights on center stage. Rather, the teacher sets up the structure, allows students plenty of choice, and gets students writing. You work off the energy students create” (Fletcher and Portalupi, 2001, p. 3).

6. I canwritelikethat! Possible topics for craft lessons: • Descriptive language • Lead (and conclusion) • Onomatopoeia • Hyperbole • Simile and metaphor • Figurative language • Alliteration • Print features and print layout

7. MarvelousMinilessonsfor TeachingBeginningWriting, K-3 • Minilessons(p. 23) • Name each one • Keep it brief • Focus on only one key learning objective • Let the students know in the beginning what you want them to learn • Connect the lesson to what they already know • Be explicit and direct • Expect students to be accountable for their learning

8. MarvelousMinilessonsfor TeachingBeginningWriting, K-3 • Writer’s Craft Minilessons(p. 73) • Painting Word Pictures • Show, Don’t Tell • Five Senses Descriptions • Hook the Reader • Wrap-Around Endings • Traffic Light Words (Transitions) • Linking Words (Connecting Words) • Stretching Sentences • Add Some Talking • Notice It, Name It, Try It

9. MarvelousMinilessonsfor TeachingBeginningWriting, K-3 • Revision Minilessons(p. 146) • Adding On at the End • Pushing In • Trading Words • Stretching the Paper • Exploding a Moment • Cutting and Sorting • Chopping Out What You Don’t Need • Revising as You Write • Rubric (color-coded editing) • A Star and a Wish

10. 6+1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for the Primary Grades • Seven key characteristics, or traits, of writing: (p. 17) • Ideas: the meaning and development of the message • Organization: the internal structure of the piece • Voice: the tone or personal stamp that the writer brings • Word Choice: specific vocabulary the writer uses to convey meaning • Sentence Fluency: the way words and phrases flow • Conventions: mechanical correctness • Presentation: the overall appearance of the work

11. 6+1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for the Primary Grades “Children can express ideas in writing even before they have mastered all the mechanics of standard orthography, sentence and paragraph structure” --National Writing Project and Carl Nagin (p. 10)

12. Whatourstudents are doingthismonth • ELACC4RL4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g., Herculean) • ELACC4RL9: Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different cultures.

13. Whatourstudents are doingthismonth • ELACC4W3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. • a. Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. • b. Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations. • c. Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the sequence of events. • d. Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely. • e. Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.

14. Myth

15. Myth

16. ThinkingMaps For more than six years our entire school has focused on students’ using thinking maps to prepare for writing and for developing products during literacy centers. Children continue to use flow maps and other thinking maps to structure their writing.

17. ThinkingMap

18. Fairy Tales

19. Fairy Tales

20. Dreams and Myths What did we do to prepare children to write fantasy or imaginative stories? • Read Amanda Bean’s Amazing Dream. (Children wrote about dreams.) • Read Greek myths (echo, sun, Narcissus, Prometheus, etc.).(Children chose one or more gods to write about.)

21. Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, and Tall Tales What did we do to prepare children to write stories like these? • Read fairy tales, folk tales from other cultures, Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan, and other legends.(Somechildrenwrotetheirown versions of Paul Bunyan tales. One childwrote about how we have grocery stores.)

22. Minilessons Hook/grabber/introductory sentence (Our students continue to prefer using an introductory question.) I need to guide them to explore onomatopoeia as a grabber or a comment (direct quote). We read lots of examples and pick up ideas from read alouds and shared reading.

23. Minilessons Conclusion (tying it all up) Now you know . . . Transition words (to show sequence and connect parts) First and second grade: First . . . Next . . . Then . . . Finally. Third grade: Last but not least . . .

24. Minilessons Dialogue Paint pictures (setting—when and where) “Tell me more” (details) and “Could you please be more specific?” Peer Review (What I still wonder about)

25. Prewriting Questions (encourage students to askthemselves) What do I want to write about? Do I have enough information to start? Where could I go to get more information? What does my reader need to know? What could I say that only I can write about? What do I want readers to learn? What is the purpose of my writing? To tell a story? To inform? To explain? To persuade? (Culham, 2005, p. 47)

26. Ideas for Creating a Conventions-ReadyClassroom Post easy-to-read conventions rules with examples so that students can refer to them as they write. Create a poster of editing symbols for use by students as they edit. Create an editing center with highlighter markers, paper, pens, pencils, tape, scissors, and copies of the student-friendly guide to assessing conventions. Make personal word lists and dictionaries to assist students with spelling. (Culham, 2005, p. 63)

27. Literacy Center Products(Discovery and Research) Evidence of students’ learning (content knowledge)

31. MeaningfulOpportunities to Write—Personal Notes

32. MeaningfulOpportunities to WritePersonal Notes

33. MeaningfulOpportunities to Write—Thanksgiving

40. Writing “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.” --Joan Didion (in Word After Word After Word, by Patricia MacLachlan) “For me, writing is exploration; And most of the time, I’m surprised where the journey takes me.” --Barbara Kingsolver