Effective practice in teaching writing

NOIINSW 4-6 Teacher workshop

The challenge:

• Students need to read and write using written forms at increasingly sophisticated levels, for a wide range of purposes, and within learning contexts across the curriculum.

• They need to be able to communicate using different forms of English and organisational patterns and features that may be unfamiliar or challenging.

Consider

While 75% of the children demonstrated a positive attitude towards their reading experiences, only 10% of the same children described positive or happy associations in their writing memories. The majority of children within my class associated the writing experience with incompetence or anxiety; even those children who were perceived by me to be able writers did not consider the experience to be emotionally rewarding… Children who were competent in their literacy skills, who met their targets, who could write successfully in a variety of genres, failed to express any sense of joy in their written achievements’.

Graham & Johnson (2012, p.11),

• Writing is essential to communication, learning, and citizenship.

• It is the currency of the new workplace and global economy.

• Writing helps us convey ideas, solve problems, and understand

our changing world. Writing is a bridge to the future.

National Writing Project 2016

Why do student write? For enjoyment

For self-expression

To explore issues

To synthesize information

To inform

To persuade others

To initiate social change ….

How do we, as teachers,

support?

To support students to produce high quality writing that achieves its purpose and has impact Teachers need to: • understand the processes writers move between as they create text • engage students in reading and writing rich texts • model the writing processes and the “interior dialogue’ that effective

writers engage in during the process of creating texts • provide a range of cross curricular opportunities for writing texts.

How to support the

development of knowledge

for literacy learning

Quality texts…. quality talk… quality writing

Reading to students

• Reading to students frees them from decoding and supports them in becoming more active listeners, totally immersed

in the text.

• As students create meaning from a spoken text by visualising from the author’s words and making connections

between what they already know and what they hear, they extend their literacy knowledge and awareness.

• They enrich their vocabulary by hearing and discussing new words in context and familiar words used in new ways.

• They develop new insights into the way language works and into the features of different text forms..

• Reading aloud gives teachers valuable opportunities to introduce and discuss complex or connected themes and ideas

and to explore sophisticated language features

• Reading to students also extends their oral language skills, especially their awareness of the sounds, rhythms, and

patterns of language.

Reading to… a simple protocol

• Read texts to students without interruption.

• Second reading to consider vocabulary that merits time and attention.

• Third reading and beyond to support text-related talk.

Stage 2

Stage 3

Text complexity • Vocabulary

• Language

• Structure

• Content

• Print and layout feature

https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/3629/literacy-appendix-6.pdf

Content

• extensive descriptive detail

• multiple perspectives represented

• abstract concepts

• topics or ideas presented with significant details or

elaboration

• main idea or message may need to be inferred

main idea or message may need to be inferred

inferred or implicit meanings throughout text

(intertextual references)

discipline-specific content (competition among species)

complex characters

multiple characters

images supplement and extend meaning of text

Vocabulary

• a range of synonyms and antonyms with subtle shades of

meaning

• technical and discipline-specific words and phrases

• words with multiple connotations /meanings

• figurative language (similes and metaphors)

• idiomatic language (‘on thin ice’)

• words that are used ironically to create humour

• occasional words from languages other than English

• words that can be understood using root words and

knowledge of prefixes and suffixes (unsure, sleepily)

Structure

• organisational markers such as subheadings, chapter headings,

sidebars and breadcrumbs

• connections between an expanded range of ideas, processes or

events are deeper and often implicit or subtle

• text structure related to specific disciplines (explanations and

evaluative responses)

• unique structure (narrative may include concurrent

storylines and shifts in time)

• multiple reading paths

• images supplement and extend meaning of text

• intertextuality through adaptation of structure and

style

Language • complex sentences with several subordinate phrases or clauses

• extended noun groups (forces of attraction and repulsion)

• rhetorical devices (metaphor and hyperbole)

• nominalisation

• tense varied within the text

• complex punctuation

• longer passages of detailed description

• modal language used to express degree of possibility, probability, obligation

and permission

• conditional/concessional cohesive devices (although, instead, compared to)

• literary devices (sarcasm, irony)

• active and passive voice

• lexical cohesion across text (herbivore, nocturnal, tree-dwelling)

Analysing student writing

Knowing what your students can

do and need to learn how to do in

writing:

It is important to consider the following… • ideas are clearly expressed

• details are focused and support the main ideas

• organisation is logical and sequential

• appropriate words are used to convey the message

• sentences are structured so as to better communicate meaning and hold interest

• writing conventions are used

• form is appropriate and presentation facilitates comprehension of the message.

Talk for Teaching

• Rote: The drilling of fact, ideas and routines through constant

repetitions.

• Recitation: The accumulation of knowledge an understanding

trough questions designed to test or stimulate recall of what has

been previously encountered

• Instruction: Telling the students what to do and/or imparting

information, explaining facts, principals or procedures. 25 (Alexander 2008)

• Discussion: The change of ideas with a view to sharing

information and solving problems.

• Dialogue: Achieving common understanding through

structured, cumulative questioning and discussion which

guides and prompts reduce choices, minimise risk and

error , and expedite ‘handover” of concepts and

principles

Cognitive growth is more likely when one is required

to explain, elaborate, or defend one’s position to

others as well as to oneself; striving for an

explanation, often makes a learner integrate and

elaborate knowledge in new ways. (Vygotsky, 1978)

Merely inviting children to talk during interactive

read alouds is not sufficient to accelerate their

literacy development instead growth is related to

how frequent they engage in analytic talk. Dickinson and Smith, 1994

Quality talk The most productive discussions are

• structured and focussed, yet not dominated by the teacher

• when students hold the floor for extended periods of time

• when students are prompted to discuss text through open ended or authentic

questions

• when discussion incorporates a high degree of teacher uptake question in

which the teacher incorporates and build on students’ comments.

Soter et al (2008)

Children generating rules for their conversations

We listen, and respect each others’ ideas

Everyone gets to be heard

We give reasons when we agree or disagree, and we ask for

reasons when people forget to give them.

Everyone is responsible for group decisions, so we try to

agree.

Definition Example

Authentic Questions

Answer is not pre-specified; speaker

is genuinely interested in knowing

how others will respond.

The ‘big question’ No set form, but a

“how” question might function as an

authentic question.

Uptake Questions

A speaker asks a question about

something that another speaker has

uttered previously. Often marked by

use of pronouns.

“How did it work?” “What causes

this?”

Higher-Level Thinking Questions Generates analysis, generalization, or

speculation. “How” “Why?” “What if?”

Affective Response Questions

Elicits information about students’

feelings or about their lives in relation

to the text they have read.

“What did you feel?”

Questions to support quality talk around rich texts

Promoting more complex language and expression.

The teacher elicits more extended student contributions by using a variety of elicitation techniques-

• invitations to expand ("tell me more about that"),

• questions ("what do you mean?"),

• restatements ("in other words, ___"),

• and pauses.

Promoting bases for statements or positions.

The teacher promotes students' use of text, pictures, and reasoning to

support an argument or position. Without overwhelming students, the

teacher probes for the bases of students' statements

• "how do you know?"

• "what makes you think that?“

• "show us where it says__."

Supporting the writing

process

•Planning for writing •Crafting or composing a text

•Reflecting on and recrafting the text

•Publishing the text.

Read-alouds Modelled writing

Shared writing Guided writing Independent

writing

GENERATING IDEAS

DRAFTING

RETHINKING AND REVISING

EDITING AND PROOFREADING

PUBLISHING AND SHARING

Teaching students how to plan their writing When teaching students to plan their writing, teachers demonstrate through

conversation:

• How to talk about a range of possible events, ideas, experiences and other topics

• How to select appropriate topics from a range of possibilities

• How to rehearse or plan the organisation of an idea of piece; how the piece will

start, what will be included, how to describe events, people and objects

• The importance of considering the purpose and the audience for writing

• How to decide on an appropriate text type.

Teaching students how to compose their writing When teaching students to compose their writing teachers:

• Demonstrate how to select and extend ideas from a variety of ideas and topics into pieces

of writing

• Demonstrate how ideas are transferred into sentences with logical, sequential word order

• Provide opportunities for students to learn from each other by sharing their writing

• Demonstrate rereading writing during composition

• Discuss possible vocabulary and model a range of language structures

• Discuss the ideas, storyline and plot in shared reading contexts.

Teaching students how to revise their writing Ask themselves questions which will focus their revision and encourage them to reflect on their own writing:

• Have I finished?

• Is this the best I can do?

• Have I said what I wanted to say?

• Does it make sense?

• Can someone else read it?

• Do I have more to say?

Teaching students how to publish their writing

• Discuss the purpose of a piece of writing and the effect this has on

whether the writing needs further preparation for sharing with an

audience

• Demonstrate a range of presentation styles used when preparing

writing to be shared with an audience

• Provide the opportunity to experiment with a variety of materials.

Approaches to teaching

writing

Modelled writing

Shared writing

Guided writing

Independent writing

Read-alouds Modelled writing

Shared writing Guided writing Independent

writing

GENERATING IDEAS

DRAFTING

RETHINKING AND REVISING

EDITING AND PROOFREADING

PUBLISHING AND SHARING

Structure of the Writer’s Workshop (1 hour) • Mini-lesson (10–20 minutes)

• Status of the Class (2–3 minutes).

• Independent Work Time/Conferring (25–40 minutes)

• Sharing Sessions (5–15 minutes)

Mini-lesson (10–20 minutes)

• Students are gathered together for explicit instruction on a specific

writing strategy.

• May include: modelled writing, shared writing, guided writing and the

use of mentor texts.

Status of the Class (2–3 minutes)

• The teacher quickly determines the status of each student’s writing

work and current needs.

Independent Work Time/Conferring (25–40 minutes) • Students work at all stages of the writing process and participate in

peer and teacher conferences.

• Always includes: sustained writing time of at least 30 minutes.

• May include: independent writing, “quick writes” writer’s notebooks

writing partners, writing response groups, shared writing, guided

writing, the use of mentor texts, writing celebration.

Sharing Sessions (5–15 minutes)

• Students gather to read what they have written or to share ideas that

occurred to them during the workshop.

• May include: sharing what was written, sharing how the writing was

developed, help with problem solving.

• May focus on: one student’s work, several students’ work, the results

of teacher observation during conferences.

• adheres to a specific teaching focus, based on assessment data and observations

• chooses a topic of interest to the teacher as a writer, or a topic linked to an area of the curriculum or to a specific text form

• demonstrates writing in response to a text or event

• models, after completion of the first draft, how an effective writer evaluates the quality of the draft, asking questions such as:

• Have I kept my purpose and audience in mind?

• Will my message be clear to my readers?

• Have I repeated myself?

• Have I left anything out?

• Are things presented in the right order?

• models how to revise the piece of writing by adding, cutting, moving things around, choosing a more precise word.

In modelled writing sessions, the teacher:

In modelled writing sessions, the teacher: • models, after completion of the revised draft, how to use an editing checklist to ensure that the draft

is usable. Checklist questions might include:

• Is this draft easy to read?

• Is the grammar correct?

• Are there spellings I need to check?

• Does the punctuation help to convey the message? Is this a draft that I could consider taking to publication?

• uses the piece of writing generated during modelled writing as a tool for teaching conventions – aspects of grammar, spelling, punctuation – or for explaining the importance of conventions and how they help to convey meaning.

While modelling the writing process, the teacher repeatedly rereads what he or she has written, to see whether it serves the stated purpose.

Authorial Aspects.. Explicitly teach and model: • ways to find a writing topic

• how to narrow the topic

• rehearsing a topic by sketching

• using graphic organizers to develop a topic

• writing a first draft

• doing “quick writes” to get ideas down

• thinking while composing

• reasons for revising

• revising while writing

• using rereading as a tool to improve writing

• the importance of using action verbs and concrete nouns

• how to use action verbs and concrete nouns

• ways to explore voice, content/ideas, structure, sentence flow, word choice, conventions, presentation

• how to focus content, reorganize, and revise

• how to help the reader visualize the setting, characters, and action

•

• how to add feeling to writing

• how to develop the setting (“show, don’t tell”)

• how to explore structure

• how to start in the middle of the action

• how to narrate in writing

• how to zoom in on important events

• how to back up statements with examples

• meeting the needs of the audience

• how to use a writer’s notebook and why

• selecting an appropriate form for the purpose

• matching language to different forms of text

• using mentor texts to explore different forms and styles of writing

• using stories as springboards to explore forms of writing

• using stories as springboards to explore voice in writing

Secretarial Aspects.. Explicitly teach and model • the importance of legible handwriting

• the use of dictionary and thesaurus

• spelling of high-frequency words

• choosing illustrations to match text

• using rubrics, checklists to improve writing

• using templates or organisers to help explore different writing forms

• using mentor texts to explore conventions used by authors

• using common symbols and signs while revising

• matching language to text types and forms

• creating organisation and meaning for the reader by using bold or italic text, boxes, captions for images, etc.

• what to look for when doing a final edit.

Shared writing Year 4

The purpose for writing in our shared writing session was to create a dialogue between two eight-year-olds, one living in 1914 and one in 2014, for a video the students were making about our school’s history.

Our learning goal was “to select language that was authentic and would engage the viewer”, and the criteria we came up with were:

• the words should be words that real children of each period used;

• the dialogue should sound like spoken language, not like someone reading aloud;

• the dialogue should be humorous, building on the differences between the two periods.

“What might they say first?” I asked.

“They’d say, ‘Who are you?’” suggested Mei.

“Perhaps, but what’s important when we start a text?” I asked.

“Hook the reader in!” said Jodi.

I challenged them, “How can we do that in an authentic way, in this text?”

“They could both be surprised at the other one’s clothes,” said Hone. “They might both think the other one was going to a fancy dress party.”

“So, what shall I write? What would you say if it was you?”

“Hey, man, why are you wearing that hat … and those stockings and funny kind of pants … and all that other weird gear?”

I scribed this on the board and asked, “Are we happy with that? Is it engaging? What about the length?”

The group decided that “Hey, man” and “weird gear” would hook the viewer in, but that the sentence was too long for a two-person dialogue, so we edited it down to “Hey, man, why are you wearing all that weird gear?”

Then we got onto the challenging business of working out how a 1905 child might respond to this piece of modern jargon.

We had been reading some E. Nesbit dialogues as one way of preparing for thi.s

During a conference, the teacher:

• asks questions to get writers to talk about their work.

• focuses first on the message of the written piece, and ignore errors.

• points out what the writer has done well.

• provides suggestions for revising, editing, and improving the written piece.

• determines whether any further explicit instruction is necessary, and provide it.

• allows writers the time to take careful notes.

Writer’s notebook:

• observations on things that are happening around you (freezing moments in time or focusing on a tiny detail)

• descriptions of people, places, and things that are important

• opinions, wonderings, wishes, thoughts, feelings, memories, dreams

• family stories

• useful and/or interesting information on any topic

• interviews

• responses to literature

• responses to the news, music, or conversations

• plans for a project

• Experiences

• Words, language or poems (or fragments of poems) you particularly like;

• drawings or webs of ideas or concepts

• “quick writes”.

A safe place to ask: What really matters?

Modelling The teacher demonstrates and explains the reading strategies and writing processes being introduced. This is achieved by thinking aloud the mental processes used when planning, drafting, conferring, refining or publishing. In the same way the teacher models the use of the selected reading strategy.

The students participate by actively attending to the demonstrations.

Sharing The teacher continues to demonstrate the use of the writing processes to compose a range of texts and reading strategies, inviting students to contribute ideas and information.

Students contribute ideas and begin to practise the use of the writing processes and reading strategies in whole-class situations.

Guiding The teacher provides scaffolds for students to use the writing processes and reading strategies. Teacher provides feedback.

Students work with help from the teacher and peers to practise the use of the writing processes to compose a variety of texts and reading strategies using a range of texts.

Applying The teacher offers support and encouragement as necessary.

The students work independently to apply the use of writing processes and reading strategies in contexts across the curriculum.

What is critical in the effective teaching of writing?

Effectively implement teacher actions related to all dimensions of effective practice:

expectations;

learning goals;

learning tasks;

direct instruction;

responding to students;

motivation and challenge;

organisation and management;

self-regulation.

… an intelligent weaving together of different dimensions....

(Hall and Harding, 2003)

Evidence When a process approach is used by teachers as part of regular opportunities to write a high effect size of 0.48, equivalent to three to six months of additional progress in writing, has been an outcome.

For optimal development in writing, a process approach needs to be combined with other evidence-based strategies

• Create routines that ensure students write frequently

• Write to comprehend and learn

• Create a pleasant and motivating writing environment

• Facilitate student writing as they compose

• Teach critical writing skills, knowledge, and strategies

• Use 21st Century Writing Tools

Graham and Harris, 2016

If greater than expected learning gains are to be made… Learning tasks Effective teachers

select writing topics carefully and strategically so as to engage, motivate and challenge students.

involve students in the selection and construction of writing tasks whenever possible.

ensure writing tasks are underpinned by clear and precise leaning goals which students are involved in developing.

If greater than expected learning gains are to be made… Direct instruction Effective teachers

demonstrate learning processes and outcomes to students.

question, prompt and respond effectively for deep metacognitive text related thinking by their students.

differentiate their instruction in order to address diverse and changing needs amongst students as developing writers. They constantly ask “who needs what teaching and when!”

If greater than expected learning gains are to be made…

Self regulation Effective teachers

provide opportunities for independent, as well as instructional writing, for students.

Encourage students to write collaboratively, from time to time

Encourage students to assume responsibility for self monitoring their progress and seeking the support and assistance they perceive a necessary to overcome problems and address challenges in their writing.

Purposeful reading and writing • Consider problems, needs, and question in your school, community, country… or

even the world.

• Current events

• Your connection and resources with your community or partnerships outside of school students

• Students and families interess and assets

• Upcoming events and opportunities

• In a story… if you have a rare word, it is because it is exactly the precise word to convey a particular nuance–discomfited, misanthrope, stunning, supercilious.

• In an informational piece… if you have a rare word, it may well be the point of the piece, and is likely to be explained, supported, and repeated–photosynthesis, xylem, and chlorophyll.

Beck, McKeown, & Kucan

Consider vocabulary

• Tier 1 words are familiar labels for familiar concepts • Tier 2 words tend to be unfamiliar labels for familiar concepts:

• stunning, gorgeous, elegant, dazzling • observe, explain, deduce

• Tier 3 words are unfamiliar labels for new concepts or unfamiliar meanings for familiar words

• fission, tectonics, gerrymander, habeas corpus, photosynthesis

• force, property, substance, plate

A possible vocabulary…

Reduce, reuse, recycle, plastic, tyres, glass, cans, card, paper, metal,

clothes, rubbish, waste, landfill, emissions, fumes, toxic, energy,

electricity, fuel, gas, petrol, solar, oil, water, air, earth, environment,

habitat, pollution, ozone, organic, compost, grow, garden, walk, ride,

train, bus, chemicals, repair, renew, sustainability, biodegradable,

biodiversity, contaminants, greenhouse, ecological footprint, global

warming, ecosystem

How do you select words to teach?

• Logically impossible to teach all new vocabulary students encounter

• Common mistake: try to teach all the words and their meanings

• Instruction should be optimally organized to promote

interrelatedness and incrementality

Selecting Vocabulary

• Conceptually core (can’t understand the big idea of the unit without it)

• Generative (Planet over Jupiter)

• Transferrable (see it in other settings and texts) • Interrelated (with other

concepts you are teaching)

• Limited in number, high in utility.

Successful students in Years 4 to 6 understand that: • Assessments are a way for the teacher and for me to understand how well I am learning.

• I learn best when I am reading and writing for a real purpose.

• Some tasks will be difficult, but I can learn the strategies that I need to succeed.

• I have valuable knowledge and experiences that I can share with my classmates.

• Accountable talk helps me to improve my reading, writing, and thinking.

• Reading will make me a better writer, and writing will make me a better reader. Talking, listening, and thinking will make me a better reader and writer.

• I need to use my literacy skills to work with texts of all types.

• I can apply the strategies and skills that I learn in English to all subjects.

• If I am actively involved in making meaning when I read and write, I will improve my learning. The teacher’s feedback will help me to improve my learning.

• The strategies I am learning will help me become a proficient and independent reader, writer, and communicator.

• I need to think about my learning and set goals for my learning.

• Knowing how to read, write, and communicate effectively will help me be successful during my school years and throughout my future.

• Thinking about my thinking will help me understand what I have learned, make decisions about my learning, and become a more independent learner.

• I need to think critically about all the texts I encounter and ask myself questions about the accuracy and fairness of the stories or information in these texts.

• Working with others gives me new ideas and helps me to reflect on and expand my own thinking and learning.

Where before there was a spectator

let there now be a participant.

Bruner 1983, p60