Supporting Writers P-12 Loddon Mallee Region Macedon Ranges Literacy Coordinators

1. Supporting WritersP-12Loddon MalleeRegion Macedon Ranges Literacy Coordinators Wednesday October 19th 2011

2. Where we are at Term 4 2011 6 - 18month strategy Ultranet strategy term 4 2012 – Planning and focus

3. Session Outline Using data to inform teaching Conditions for Writing Writing Strategies Writing Routines Revising Where to next

4. Phillip Holmes Smith www.sreams.com.au Using Naplan data as an example of to use data to inform instruction 1.Writing criteria Report 2. Marking Rubric 3. Response Report

5. The Writing Criteria Report Choose “Writing Criteria Report” Click on “Preview Report” to view results

6. The Writing Criteria Report School State The report makes little sense without understanding how the writing task is marked against the “Writing Marking Guide”

7. The Writing Marking Rubric Click here to download the Writing Marking Rubric

8. The Writing Marking Rubric

13. The Writing Marking Rubric

15. Our schools – a closer look Text structure (0 – 4) In this school about 38% received a score of 1 but the majority 59%received 2. To improve the teachers need to move the 1s to 2 and the 2s to 3!

16. Text Structures Skill focus: The organisation of the structural components of a persuasive text (introduction, body and conclusion) into an appropriate and effective text structure.

17. What do we suggest that this teacher or teachers do to support these students?

18. The Student Response Report(Writing Test – by criteria) Choose “Student Response Report” Choose “Writing Test – by criteria”

19. The Student Response Report (Writing)

20. Naplan Conversion to VELS

21. Phillip Holmes Smith Expected Growth

22. Time to Work on Ours • Form a group around those who have: • The marking Guide • Some student writing • Their score • Together work on discussing (moderation) how you think this student’s results compare to the one given • Talk about what you might do next with the student (or /and others who might be like him/her) • Choose 3 things and be ready to report back

23. Session Outline Using data to inform teaching Conditions for Writing Writing Strategies Writing Routines Revising Where to next

24. This will impact on what we do next Will it be shared writing? How will I motivate them? Today – looking at writing from Naplan What do I need to know to help make this happen?

26. LITERACY ELEMENTS SPEAKING & LISTENING OBSERVATION & ASSESSMENT • Read Aloud • Shared Reading • Guided Reading • Independent Reading • Write Aloud • Shared Writing • Guided Writing • Independent Writing Writers need to be supported through the knowledge and skills of each element.

27. 7 Conditions for Effective Writing • Time • Choice • Response • Demonstration • Expectation • Room Structure • Evaluation Graves

28. Writing Strategies • Predicting • Connecting • Comparing • Synthesising • Creating Images • Self Questioning • Determining Importance • Summarising /Paraphrasing • Re-Reading • Chunking • Sounding Out • Using Analogy • Consulting an Authority • Using Spelling Generalisations • Using Meaning • First Steps HO 2&3 31

29. Writing Routines • Mini Lessons • Writing Conferences – Teacher and Peer • Author’s Chair/ Purpose and audience • Writer’s Notebook • Refining/ publishing WHY? WHERE? 34

30. Taking Notes • A3 ‘Writing Routines’ retrieval sheet. Use Jigsaw model to look at each of the ‘routines’ • Groups of 4 people • Choose and area each • Work in expert group to study it • Complete the Retrieval sheet • Back to home group to share and complete the other sections • What will you have a go with?

31. Mini Lesson Purpose: To provide whole class instruction They should: • Be brief (10-20 min) • To the point • Use language that students can understand • Address one clear objective that the students will then go off to try.

32. Minilessons continued Minilessons come from a variety of sources: • Recordkeeping from conferences • VELS • Stage of the writing process in which the students are working • What we know about the qualities of good writing • Day to day assessment.

33. Minilessonscontinued ‘Each minilesson must fit in with the bigger picture we have, each one being a valuable piece of the larger vision, like a yearlong jig-saw puzzle we are completing piece by piece over the course of an academic year.’ Davis and Hill, 2003

34. Writing Conferences Types of Conferences: • Whole class share • One- on –One Formal Conferences • Roving, on the Run Conferences • Quickshares • Peer Conferences 37

35. Author’s Chair “An opportunity for students to voluntarily share their writing and receive constructive feedback. “ Author’s chair is also known as Author’s Circle. First Steps. HO 7 First steps • HO and Rubric

36. Author’s Chair cont. What does it look like? • A student sits in the author’s chair and reads a piece of their writing aloud to a group of peers. • The writing should be current. • Each student in the group thinks of an element of the writing they wish to comment on or develops a question to ask the author. • Authors are encouraged to respond to the comments they receive or to reflect upon them.

37. Author’s Chair cont. Teacher’s Role: • To facilitate the sessions and guide audience responses. • Model language that is useful for promoting constructive criticism. • If more than one group is operating at a time the teacher will concentrate on observing.

38. Author’s Chair cont. Benefits for students: Author’s Chair helps students to: • Develop reflective and critical thinking as they talk about their writing with other writers. • Give and receive feedback. • Develop active listening skills. • Ask effective questions about peer’s writing.

39. What is a Writer’s Notebook? • A writer’s notebook is not a diary! Writers react. Writers need a place to record these reactions. That’s what a writer’s notebook is for. It gives you a place to write down what makes you angry or sad or amazed, to write down what you noticed and don’t want to forget. A writer’s notebook gives you a place to live like a writer.

40. Idea Notebooks • A portable writer’s notebook is used to record wonderings, observations, overheard conversations, sketches, etc. • Students need a pen or pencil to carry along with their notebook. • Author Lester Laminack calls his Idea Notebook a “Spy Notebook.” He never leaves home without his secret weapon (pen) and something to write about.

41. The Writer’s Notebook Students decorate their own covers to make it unique and personal to them.

42. How Writers Fit Notebooks Into The Writing Process. Adapted from the work of Randy Bomer, A Time For Meaning.

43. What do we put in our Notebook? • All entries are directly related to minilessons you might teach during the first two weeks of starting your notebook. • Your entries could be used as demonstration texts for your students.

44. “Meaningful Place” Strategy Think of a meaningful place. It could be anything from the kitchen table in the home where you grew up to your favourite place in the bush. List small moments related to that place. Write about one of those small moments in your writer’s notebook

45. Fierce Wonderings • Pay attention to what haunts you, what images or memories keep running around in your mind even when you try not to think about them. • What do you wonder about? • Explore these questions in your notebook.

46. Seed Ideas • A writer’s notebook is just like an incubator: a protective place to keep our infant idea safe and warm, a place to grow while it is too young, too new to survive on its own. In time you may decide to go back to that idea, add to it, change it, or combine it with another idea. Don’t expect the seeds to sprout immediately. A writer needs patience.

47. Dreams • Get into the habit of writing down dreams before they leave you. Your notebook can work as an alarm clock to remind you to wake up and pay attention to what’s happening in your world, both inside and out.

48. Snatches of Talk • Writers are fascinated by talk, obsessed with what people say and how they say it, how they interrupt themselves, the words they repeat, the way they pronounce or mispronounce certain words. The way we talk says a ton about who we are. • Notebooks can be filled with dialogue. Learn to listen wherever you go.

49. Lists • Many writers keep lists: favorite books, movies to see, ideas for all sorts of writing projects. Keep a section in your notebook for your favorite words, unusual words, new words, and remarkable words. Listing facts is one of the best ways to brainstorm about a subject that interests you.

50. Final thought about what a notebook is from fifth grader. • “A notebook is where you keep dew drops from a dew drop morning. It’s where the sun sets. It’s the wind in your face at the beach looking out over the water. A notebook is where you’re playing with your dog. It’s where you have dreams about walking on rainbows. It’s where the good feelings and the bad feelings spend the night”. Briana Carlin Grade 5