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When we find a text online (or on paper) or cool link or teaching resource that we like we create a short post (below) to archive and categorize it. It will grow and grow and grow...
“Writing is hard work,” says Mark Overmeyer in his book
When Writing Workshop Isn’t Working. To make teaching writing easier, Mark answers the tough questions about writing workshop: How can I help students who don’t know what to write about? How can I help my students organize their writing? How do I manage writing conferences? And how do I plan for writing instruction. For this week’s Quick Tip, we pulled a section from Mark’s book where he talks about planning writing instruction for a school year.
Planning for a year
If certain units of study are going to be followed through the course of a year based on state, district, or school guidelines, setting deadlines for these units of study can be helpful when planning instruction.
For example, for many years when I taught fifth and sixth graders, my teammates and I ended the year with a unit that required students to create their own magazine. This project required students to use all of the writing strategies they had been working on all year, and the open-ended assignment allowed for maximum choice while still providing a tool for determining how much students had grown in the year. The magazine became a sort of community celebration as it continued over the years, and families looked forward to seeing what their students would create during this project. Since the magazine took approximately five weeks to complete, and it was one form of summative assessment, we placed it at the end of the school year. We worked backward from there, fitting in units that included research, narrative, memoir, and technical writing.
As we planned for the year, we noticed when we could fit writing in across the curriculum. For example, we could do a research unit closely connected to social studies topics. Students had a choice of what they wanted to research, but we connected it to our American history standards. Technical writing in the form of lab reports could happen in science class.Writing did not have to exist just in the domain of language arts, so if there were days when we would have to shorten our language arts block, we could plan accordingly and make sure to have writing happen in science or social studies.Writing in other content areas is not only a good idea in terms of planning and scheduling, but I think it is also good for students. Many of my reluctant writers in the past have loved science, and they were more than willing to write in the context of their favorite subject. They may have reluctantly completed a memoir, but then enthusiastically explained their thinking in science class.
Planning for a year is an excellent way to think backwards: once my teammates and I decided which type of writing would occur in each month, we could begin gathering our resources and planning for instruction.We knew what types of writing we would need to cover in order for students to be successful in each unit.
Though we knew we would have to adapt our ideas according to student need, having the plan created a strong scope and sequence that covered the requirements of our district curriculum. Organizing for the year ensured that we would give students ample opportunity to demonstrate their growth in writing.
An example of a yearlong plan is found in Appendix F.
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3) PD Corner: Document-based questions |
The vast majority of our students will not become professional historians. In their careers, however, they will need to know how to find valid information, analyze it from multiple perspectives, and communicate it clearly.
—Sara Cooper, from Making History Mine
Analyzing documents from multiple perspectives and communicating ideas clearly are the essence of a document-based question (DBQ). DBQs challenge students to write and think critically in response to a set of documents. Get the gist of the DBQ process at Peter Pappas's site, Teaching with Documents. Find worksheet organizers to support students' analysis as well several example DBQs:
http://www.edteck.com/dbq/index.htm
Want to construct your own questions around a historical theme? Dip into Paula Goldstein's treasure trove of primary source and DBQ resources:
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/listdocumentpa.html
Or discover the interactive National Archives Experience and build a question to support students thinking about American history or literature:
http://www.digitalvaults.org/
Do your students struggle with analysis? Help them make sense of the evidence with History Matters. Review how to make sense of a variety of text types:
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/browse/makesense/
Hone your craft with Making History Mine by Sara Cooper. Chapter 5, "How Historians Think: Writing as a Way of Understanding," builds a foundation for the DBQ process:
http://www.stenhouse.com/0765.asp?r=n209
(Click on the Table of Contents tab.) |
The Institute is pleased to present the latest issue of History Now, a quarterly online journal for historyteachers and students, available at www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow.
In this final issue of 2010, History Now offers readers a selection of the latest interpretations of the Civil War era by four leading historians. These essays remind us that this critical moment in the history of our nation deserves reexamination.
Looking for support in improving assessment and grading in your school or classroom? Rick Wormeli has created a collection of resources that teachers, administrators, parents, and policymakers can use to tap into the principles and strategies in his best-selling book
Fair Isn't Always Equal.
The free collection, hosted by Stenhouse, features two extensive chapter-by-chapter study guides for
Fair Isn't Always Equal. One is for book study facilitators and includes tips on how to handle difficult conversations about controversial topics; the other is for teachers to use independently or in small groups.
You'll also find videos and articles in which Rick addresses key issues such as late work and collaborating with faculty members who have different views about assessment and grading. Presently there are three videos:
- "Affecting Change" offers advice for leaders on managing change with their staff.
- In "Standards-Based Grading" Rick argues against the practice of assigning a zero as the lowest F on a hundred-point scale.
- "On Late Work" explains why assigning a failing grade for a missed deadline is not the most constructive way of helping students improve their work habits.
Preview three new books online: "
We just posted the full text of three new titles online!
Kathy Paterson, author of Teaching in Troubled Times, examines the impact of fear in modern classrooms. She addresses children’s heavy exposure to violence and stereotypes and shows teachers how to explore the major issues in the lives of their students.
The Writing Triangle: Planning, Revision, and Assessment, helps students move from generic writing process guidelines to specific and practical strategies related to important writing forms, including description, narration, poetry, exposition, persuasion, and exploratory. Author Graham Foster discusses each form and gives suggestions for exploring key features, planning strategies, revision criteria, and assessment techniques.
Katherine Luongo-Orlando is the author of The Cornerstores to Early Literacy: Childhood Experiences That Promote Learning in Reading, Writing, and Oral Language. She shows teachers how to create active learning experiences that are essential to building early literacy. This step-by-step guide to the early years also offers practical pathways that will guide young learners on their first steps to lifelong literacy.
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Some reading suggestions and lists for summer reading and replenishing the libraries...
The latest
English Journal issue is about the role of English teachers in our age of consumerocracy. Most of the good articles in this issue are not about specific teaching strategies, but more about teaching stances and the choices we make about what to teach and how to frame the conversation. Additionally, some of these articles have implications for our teaching of social studies content. In short, it is effectively a very "humanities" issue. Articles that stood out and worth a read:
- "The Ebay-ification of Education: Critical Literacy in a Consumerocracy" by 5 authors... This is a broad-view look at schools as conforming to the consumerocracy and makes its point by mixing argument, theory, and memoir. It rouses the college student within.
- "From the Editor" by Ken Lindlom... Lindblom's introduction to the issue provides a rationale for teaching about our culture of consumption as English teachers and provides an example of a good lesson plan called "Who are you wearing?"
- "The Story of Stuff: Reading Advertisements through Critical Eyes" by Shannon Cuf and Heather Statz begins by retelling the story of the trampled Black Friday shopper in 2008 and asking what happens to us in our "quest for stuff". The authors suggest a number of good resources, including documentaries and print ads.
Two other articles deviate from the issue's theme, but deal with the issue of writing and how much structure we should or should not impose on our teaching of writing to students:
- "Rethinking a Writing Teacher's Expertise: Following Students under the Kitchen Table" by Maja Wilson uses the extended metaphor of a nurse "going with the mother" to deliver a baby rather than forcing the baby out on the nurse's terms. Yes, even Wilson acknowledges that this is amusing... However, she is an advocate of a holistic and authentic approach to assessing writing and meeting kids where they are. Not into rubrics.
- "Persistence of the Five-Paragraph Essay" by Jeanetta Miller... Miller wonders why this kind of writing, which "does not exist in the real world" still holds so much sway in our schools.
Tony Stead's new book,
Good Choice!, is a comprehensive guide for creating lifelong readers through independent reading and response. You'll discover how to:
- establish routines to make independent reading a natural part of each day;
- excite your students by providing a range of reading materials—including magazines, newspapers, maps, and computers—based on their interests and abilities;
- make the best use (and avoid pitfalls) of leveling for independent reading;
- use mini-lessons and conferences to expand kids' reading repertoire;
- help them discover the many purposes for reading, become active participants in the selection process, and read more at home;
- assist students as they respond to their reading, for both engagement and assessment.
Throughout the book, Tony provides classroom transcripts and student samples for grades K-2 and 3-6, with special sections that tailor ideas to kindergarten and grade 1. You'll find dozens of graphic organizers and reproducible forms and rubrics, as well as a list of useful websites for independent reading and research.
Good Choice! will be released early next week. You can preview the entire book online now:
http://www.stenhouse.com/0732.asp?r=n151
Good Choice!
Supporting Independent Reading and Response, K-6
Tony Stead • Foreword by David Booth
248 pp • $22.50 • Available 11/11
http://www.stenhouse.com/0732.asp?r=n151
