Step Up To Writing

Teaching writing through consistency and planning.

Primary Overview Effective Writing Instruction

1. Strategies
Step Up to Writing provides tools to develop all writing strategies.

2. Summarization
NOT a retell. This is an essential skill for older students.

Writing Next (an acclaimed book published by the Alliance for Excellent Education regarding improving the writing of students) indicates that there are 11 effective areas of writing instruction. Step Up to Writing is a program that helps you address effective writing instruction in a systematic, coherent manner. If we start in kindergarten with good writing instruction and build on that base each year, teaching our students to write will not only become easier; our students will become better writers. This program is based on a lot of consistency and routine that is designed to simplify and solidify the writing process for students. The information I will share will be geared MOSTLY for K-2 students, although the principle carries through ALL grade levels. Truly, a lot of this is common sense. When you put it all together and apply all the pieces, that common sense becomes a simplicity that is EASY to work with and HIGHLY EFFECTIVE. If each grade level does their part in its entirety, everyone will benefit.
EXAMPLE OF MY FIRST GRADE WRITING PLAN September October November Summer Vacation ______is an Things Were Was Fun Interesting Habitat Different in the Past Playground Rules ______is a Good are Important Book December January February Holiday Traditions How to Build a If I Were President Come From Many Snowman America is a Good Different Cultures I Know a Lot Place to Live About Penguins March April May Plant Parts Have ____ is the Best ____ is the Most Important Jobs Season Fascinating Ocean Animal Plants Need Matter Can Several Things to Change The Ocean is a Survive Habitat for Many Living Things

3. Collaborative Writing
Teachers need to work WITH students during writing. K-1 teachers begin with creating the writing and the students copy it. As the year progresses, the students tell the teacher what to write. K-2 should be writing together as often as possible.

4. Specific Product Goals

Plan to have 2 pieces of expository writing per month. Older students will have a more elaborate writing process that probably wont be completed for both writing pieces each month. District writing prompts are not part of these writing products.

Step Up to Writing

Overview

5. Word Processing
THIS is not part of Step Up to Writing.

7. Pre-Writing
PLANNING (T-chart) is ESSENTIAL. Brainstorming is NOT planning. Web activities and all those other graphic organizers are not writing plans.

6. Sentence Combining

In other words, paragraphs. As children get older, they will develop an increased understanding on how to do this, BUT it is essential that students MASTER complete sentences in K-1 (periods, capitals, spacing, coherent).

8. Inquiry Activities
In K-1 the PLAN is developed together. Inquiry activities will be class activities at this level. Older students will develop their own PLAN which teachers will need to check before students begin to write their drafts.

Basic sentence skills start in Kindergarten. Teachers and students must talk about and USE complete sentences on a constant basis so that students have achieve MASTERY of the basic sentence in first grade.

Consistency is key. All grade levels, all classrooms need to be on board for writing instruction to grow smoothly and be effective. 9. Writing 10. Study of Models Put models in front of the kids, but collect them before they Process write so they dont simply copy.
A quiet room is a must. Establish a reasonable deadline. Students must KNOW what they are supposed to do at each step. (rough/revise/edit) Interact with samples. Highlight and find the different aspects. Students practice finding/highlighting capitals, periods, transition words, Topic/opening sentences etc. When new aspects of writing are introduced, students use models to FIND those aspects. Use student and teacher created samples as well as books.

11. Writing for content learning

Consider all academic areas when giving writing assignments. 7 - College students write in ALL classes.
th

Next Week: READ ALOUDS quick sketch free response summarizing

2

Traci Clausen / DragonfliesInFirst.blogspot.com