Being a Writer

Mini-course: Introducing the Program

Introducing the Program

What You Will Learn in This Course

Goals of the program

How the program is
structured

What lessons look like

How to begin teaching
the program

Being a Writer
Mini-course: Introducing the Program

Craft. Conventions. Community.

Student Skill
Practice Books

Trade books

Student Writing
Handbooks

Assessment
Resource Book

Teachers Manual

Skill Practice
Teaching Guide

Dual Goals of the Being a Writer Program

To teach students to write skillfully, creatively,
abundantly, and with motivation in various genres
To teach students to work together and to help
them develop socially and ethically

Being a Writer
Mini-course: Introducing the Program

Core Elements of the Program

The Being a Writer program:
Develops skilled, highly motivated, and creative writers
Guides students through each step of the writing process
Exposes students to published works and encourages them
to learn from those works and authors
Teaches writing skills during the revision and proofreading
stages of the writing process when those skills are most
helpful to students
Creates ongoing opportunities for students to collaborate,
share their ideas, and confer during the writing process
Pays special attention to developing writing in the primary
grades

Grade 5
Persuasive
Nonfiction
Unit Overview

Being a Writer
Mini-course: Introducing the Program

Grade 5
Sample
Calendar

Unit 1: The Writing Community

In this unit, the students:
Build community and reflect on values
Get to know one another and build trusting
relationships
Learn procedures and cooperative structures that
they will use throughout the year
Generate ideas and write many drafts

Being a Writer
Mini-course: Introducing the Program

Unit 2: The Writing Process

In this unit, the students select one draft to take
through the writing process:
Prewriting
Drafting
Revising
Proofreading
Publishing
Students repeat this writing process in each
genre unit.

Genres Explored in Grades 36

Personal Narrative
Fiction
Expository Nonfiction
Functional Nonfiction
Persuasive Nonfiction
Poetry
Genre units may be taught in any order. Not all genres
appear at every grade level.

Being a Writer
Mini-course: Introducing the Program

Unit 8: Revisiting the Writing Community

In this unit, the students:
Reflect on writing done over the year
Reflect on how they contributed to and benefited
from the writing community
Discuss writing habits they want to establish in
coming years, and plan for summer writing

Being a Writer Lessons at Grades 36

Four lessons per week
4560 minutes per lesson
Predictable structure

Being a Writer
Mini-course: Introducing the Program

Lesson Structure in the Being a Writer program

Getting Ready to Write
Whole-class instruction
Shared and modeled writing
Preparation for partner work

Writing Time
Teacher confers and assesses

Sharing and Reflecting

Students share their writing
Students reflect on social interactions

Additional Support Components

Skill instruction and practice
Teacher conferences
Assessments

Being a Writer
Mini-course: Introducing the Program

Building Relationships
Throughout the Being a Writer program, the students:
Participate in team-building activities
Learn procedures in which they learn to be
responsible to one another
Plan for, discuss, and solve problems working
together

Learning
Values and
Social Skills

Being a Writer
Mini-course: Introducing the Program

Using Cooperative Learning Strategies

Cooperative structures
Pair conferences

Cooperative Structures

Being a Writer
Mini-course: Introducing the Program

Pair Conferences
During pair conferences, the students:
Have ample opportunities to share and discuss
their writing, get helpful feedback, and improve
their writing skills
Learn how to initiate and conduct conferences as
needed
Confer at different stages of the writing process
Develop important social skills

Unit Overview

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Being a Writer
Mini-course: Introducing the Program

Week Overview

Helpful Lesson Features

Teacher as Writer
Teacher Notes and English Language Learner
Notes
Students might say
Suggested Vocabulary
Teacher Conference Notes
Facilitation Tips

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Being a Writer
Mini-course: Introducing the Program

Teacher as Writer

Preparing Daily Lessons

To help you prepare to teach the daily lessons, follow
these suggestions:
Read the lesson purposes and keep them in mind
as you read the entire lesson and anticipate how
your students may respond
Collect materials and anticipate room arrangement
needs
Plan any teacher modeling required in the lesson
and how you will introduce the social development

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Being a Writer
Mini-course: Introducing the Program

Preparing Daily Lessons (continued)

Review suggested discussion questions and
decide which ones you will ask
Review any Facilitation Tips to see if there will be
opportunities in the lesson to use the suggested
facilitation techniques
Plan how you will pace the lesson to keep it moving
If there is an extension, review it and decide if and
when you want to do it with the class
To download a copy of these planning suggestions,
click the icon in the upper-right corner.

Teaching Being a Writer with Making Meaning

Start both programs
simultaneously at the
beginning of the year
At grades 36, teach
genre units in order
Read Making
Meaning Teacher
Notes in the Being a
Writer Teachers
Manual

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Being a Writer
Mini-course: Introducing the Program

What You Learned in This Course

Goals of the program
How the program is
structured
What lessons look like
How to begin teaching the
program

Learn More About

Teaching writing
skills
Conferring with
students
Using assessments

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