Enhancing Writing Skills: Effective Strategies and Resources for Students K-12

1. Effective WritingStrategies and Resources Training Dr. Vaughn G. Rhudy, Coordinator West Virginia Department of Education Office of Assessment and Accountability

2. “Writing today is not a frill for the few, but an essential skill for the many.” National Commission on Writing

3. Writing -- Vital Component of Literacy • Helps students organize • Extends and deepens information, ideas and insight gained from reading • Vehicle for informing, persuading, and inspiring others

4. Writing -- Vital Component of Employment Survey of 120 Major Corporations • 80%+ assess writing during hiring • Writing – ‘threshold skill” • Can make or break chances for employment and promotion

5. Writing -- Vital Component of Employment Writing Remediation • Employers spend billions of dollars each year on remedial writing training • Writing remediation wide spread on college campuses • Half of high school graduates are not prepared for college-level writing

6. Effective Writing Instruction • 1. Writing strategies – Teach students how to plan, revise, and edit their work • 2. Summarization– Provide explicit and systematic instruction in how to summarize texts • 3. Collaborative writing – Develop ways for students to work together to plan, draft, revise and edit their compositions

7. Effective Writing Instruction • 4. Specific product goals – Give students writing goals that include a clear purpose for the assignment and specific characteristics of the finished piece • 5. Word processing – Use computers and word processors as instructional supports for writing assignments

8. Effective Writing Instruction • 6. Sentence combining – Teach students to craft more complex, sophisticated sentences by linking basic sentences • 7. Prewriting – Provide activities that help students plan,gather information, and organize ideas

9. Effective Writing Instruction • 8. Inquiry activities – engage students in analyzing immediate, concrete data to help them develop ideas and content for a particular writing assignment • 9. Process writing approach – Interweave a number of writing instruction activities in a workshop environment

10. Effective Writing Instruction • 10. Study of models – Give students opportunities to read, analyze and emulate models of good writing • 11. Writing for content learning – Use writing as a tool for learning content material Taken from Writing Next, a 2007 by Graham and Perin

11. Ineffective Writing Strategy • “Traditional grammar instruction did not help improve students’ writing. In fact, it produced a small, but statistically significant, negative effect.” Graham & Perin, 2007

12. Writing Roadmap 2.0

13. Writing Roadmap 2.0 • Provided by WVDE at no cost to counties • Available to all students • Grades 3 – 12 • Available to all counties, schools, teachers • Unlimited practice • Sept. – June

14. Rationale • Improve student writing • Emphasize writing on all grade levels • Writing Assessment -- grades 4, 7 and 10 • Prepare for 2009 WESTEST 2 • Grades 3 – 11 • RLA Standard 2 : Writing (30 pts.) • Participation Rate and AYP • Practice for national assessments • 2011 NAEP

15. Product Features • Shelf prompts • calibrated prompts • practice prompts • Instructor-created prompts • Unlimited • Customize interface • Iterative writing mode • Single or multiple sections • Enable or disable instructional hints

16. Access to Writing Roadmap 2.0 • Website address: www.writingroadmap2.com • Site code • Username • Password

25. 2009WESTEST 2 ONLINE WRITING

26. WV Writing Rubric • ORGANIZATION • DEVELOPMENT • SENTENCE STRUCTURE • WORD CHOICE/GRAMMAR USAGE • MECHANICS

27. GENRES • NARRATIVE • DESCRIPTIVE • INFORMATIVE • PERSUASIVE

38. Support/Contact Information West Virginia Department of Education Office of Assessment and Accountability Vaughn Rhudy, Coordinator vrhudy@access.k12.wv.us 304-558-2546

39. Support/Contact Information CTB/McGraw-Hill Technical Support: 866-282-2250

40. KEY WEB ADDRESSES • http://wvde.state.wv.us/ West Virginia Department of Education • http://osa.k12.wv.us Office of Assessment and Accountability • http://www.ctb.com CTB/McGraw-Hill • http://www.writingroadmap2.com Writing Roadmap 2.0

41. THANKS!