erie 2: empowering writers as we pursue ccls
TRANSCRIPT
Empowering WritersAs We Pursue the Common Core
Learning Standards
Angela StockmanWNY Education Associates
PROGRAM OUTCOMES• Teachers will use the Common Core Learning
Standards as a starting point for our exploration of best practices for teaching and assessing writing.
• They will learn how to bundle standards together to create powerful writing experiences for learners.
• They will explore protocols for adapting the New York State Curriculum Modules and Domains in order to enrich writing experiences.
• They will use what is learned to draft one potential adaptation, which will be submitted for peer review.
Coming Together as a Community
Photo Credit: Used with Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano’s Permission
We Connect Through Our Stories
So…what’s your story?
We believe that all
people are born
writers and that
the act of writing
enables us to
communicate our
needs, raise our
voices, connect
and learn from
others, and heal
our lives as well as
the world. At
Studio, we learn
how to honor and
support the writer
in everyone,
because writers
make the world a
better place.
We are born writers.
http://tinyurl.com/27u6wa8
We use our words to leave our mark on the world.
http://tinyurl.com/28xbnyz
What is the difference between authentic writing
and….
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functional writing?
WHERE
DOYOU INVEST
THE MOST ENERGY?
THE MOST IMPORTANT
WRITINGINSTRUMENT
TOPUTIN
THEIRHANDS
BALANCEBUILDSBETTER
WRITERS
Being vs. Doing
How do we help students BECOMEwriters?
WE ACT AND WRITE WITH COURAGE
WE SEEK UNDERSTANDING BEFORE DOING
WE PERSEVERE
WE COLLABORATE
WE SHARE OUR EXPERTISE
WE GIVE OF OURSELVES AND ACT WITH KINDNESS
WE REFLECT ON WHERE WE’VE BEEN, WHERE WE ARE GOING, AND HOW WE PLAN TO GET THERE
WE KNOW THAT WRITING IS OFTEN A SLOW PROCESS
WE TRY TO DEVELOP BETTER AND BETTER AND BETTER STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING OUR OWN WORK AND HELPING
OTHERS
WITHIN COMMUNITIES, WE ARE ALL WRITERS AND LEARNERS
AND ALL OF US MUST TEACH.
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Writers, Writing, and Dispositions of Practice
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COURAGE
http://www.flickr.com/photos/notsogoodphotography/770557316/
UNDERSTANDING
PERSEVERANCE
REFLECTION
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EXPERTISE
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They are….CONNECTED
COLLABORATIVEENGAGED
Community Fellows Strive to Embody Certain
Dispositions
Which Support the
Writer's Process
Allowing for the Development of
Writer's Craft
•Courage and Initiative •Understanding•Perseverance•Reflection•Expertise•Cooperation and Collaboration
•Prewriting•Drafting•Peer-Review•Editing•Revising•Publishing
• Compelling Ideas• Engaging Voice• Effective Word Choice• Clear Organization• Fluent Sentences• Proper Use of Conventions
But Then…Where Do Process and Craft Fit In? Envisioning a Year of Writing Together
Unit 1
Big Idea:Courageous ideas are great ideas
Dispositions, Phases of the Process and Elements of Craft to Explore with Depth:
Pre-writingIdea DevelopmentCourage
Unit 2
Big Idea:We use mentor texts to seek understanding about organization
Dispositions, Phases of the Process and Elements of Craft to Explore with Depth:
Pre-writing DraftingOrganizationUnderstanding
Growing the Good
What do you currently do to support young writers well?
Consider:CurriculumInstructionAssessment
Management
Draw Your Writin
g Proce
ss
A WRITING PROCESS
PrewritingDrafting
Peer-ReviewRevisionEditing
Exhibition
Which parts of the process
show up most in your
classroom? Least?Why?
Writing is a Process
Make time for tinkering!
Traits to Focus on During Pre-Writing:
IDEAS
ORGANIZATION
IDEAS• Invite or inspire pre-writing activities.
• Come from our experiences, our connections, and our previous understandings.
• May be generated from artifacts, photographs, movement, music, conversation, guided brainstorming and more…..
• Require good writers to select appropriate MODES and to define their PURPOSES.
• Move readers from general to more refined topics.
• Inspire careful observation.
• Require independent use of higher level thought.
How Do We Help Writers Generate Their OWN
Innovative Ideas?
And how do we
intervene when
writers struggle
to generate their own
ideas?
Organization
“Organization is what you do
before you do something
so that when you do it
it’s not all mixed up.”
Winnie the Pooh
http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/books/index.html
ORGANIZATIONWHAT IT IS….
A lead that “hooks” reader and provokes questions.
A core that provides details in a logical manner and transitions between them smoothly.
An ending that satisfies the questions raised within the work.
Traits to Focus On As We Draft
IDEAS
ORGANIZATION
VOICE
VOICE• The “sound” of the writer or the
speaker.
• Tone that is appropriate to the task.
• Commitment to the piece—involvement.
• Attention to the topic.
Voice• Requires that writers shift the way they speak in
response to MODE and PURPOSE.
• Invites diversity and complexity.
• Built when students take RISKS.
• Thrives in a comfortable atmosphere.
• Suffers when we overemphasize formulaic processes or models.
WORD CHOICE
“The race in writing is not to the swift, but to the original.”
----William Zinsser
Word Choice• Original words
• Precise words
• Engaging words
• Varied words
• Attention to dialect and formality
Sentence fluency
• Fluent sentences appeal to the ear and the eye.
• They vary in length and structure.
• They convey character, emotion, and reveal voice.
• Rhythm, rhyme, and repetition of vowel and consonant sounds effect fluency.
CONVENTIONS: THE LAST CONVERSATION
• Attending to conventions happens at the END of the writing process.
• Effective writers understand why editing is necessary. Strong writers know that editing isn’t merely about “fixing up” writing.
• Edits are intentional, effective, and do not strip the work of voice, ideas, or fluency. They BUILD it.
Coaching Creative Theft
Find the Assessment
What Does Effective Assessment of Writing
Look Like?
What Makes for Adequate Practice?What Makes for Suitable Practice?
What’s your current reality?How did it come
to be?
Grappling with the Tension
Adopting, Adapting, or Ignoring Programs
Adapting Your Program
What it is….Pursuing alignment to content and literacy standards with VISION.
– Upgrading assessments to promote greater learning and authenticity.
– Differentiating instruction to attend to needs of learners surfaced from evidence.
– Attending to engagement.
– Balancing your literacy block.
What it isn’t…Pursing alignment to vision while evading content and literacy standards.
– Abandoning or replacing assessments without studying alignment.
– Differentiating or lowering expectations before gathering evidence of capacity and needs
– Confusing engagement and entertainment
Protocolsfor
Thoughtful Program Adaptation
Designing Powerful Writing
Experiences with the Common Core
ReferencesGray, Theresa (2006). Slideshare. Writing Frameworks. Retrieved January 21, 2009 from:
http://www.slideshare.net/TGray/writing-frameworks
Martin-Kniep, Giselle O. Communities That Lead, Learn, and Last: Building and Sustaining Educational Expertise. California: Jossey-Bass, 2008.
National Board for Professional Teacher Standards. “What Teachers Should Know and Be Able to Do: The Five Core Propositions.” Retrieved Aug. 21, 2008 from http://www.nbpts.org/the_standards/the_five_core_propositions
Stockman, Angela (2008-Present). WNY Young Writers’ Studio. Presented at Daemen College, Amherst, NY and the Kenan Center, Lockport, NY.
Unless otherwise noted, all photographs were taken by Angela Stockman, who was given permission to use them by the subject and parents, when necessary.