The Essentials

Hiking in Colorado’s rapidly changing mountain weather teaches hikers the importance of taking essential equipment. While carrying any more weight than necessary is not appealing, neither is being stuck on a mountainside without the necessary supplies.  On a recent hike, we experienced sunshine and 80-degree weather, along with snow flurries and a 20 mile per hour wind. I was very thankful to have thrown in my essential headband and mittens for the cold weather.

Teachers have always been essential workers – but this has never been truer than this school year. Flexibility, always a teacher requirement, is more important than ever.  Teachers are teaching in person, in a hybrid format, or totally online. Routines and schedules that were part of the school day of the past have been shattered. Time, always a precious classroom commodity, is now being used for necessary safety protocols.

With all these demands on teachers and students, instruction goals have to be altered.  With that in mind, teachers are focusing on essential lessons.  What is essential in writing instruction?

Students need purposeful and targeted writing instruction. We do not want our students to continually practice bad habits. Assigning students questions to answer or paragraphs to write without providing them the necessary skills is detrimental to students and frustrating for teachers. The following are essential skills students must have to become successful writing.

·       Recognizing, speaking and writing complete sentences. 

We continually speak with 5th grade teachers who are concerned their students do not write in complete sentences. This foundational skill should be introduced at the beginning of every school year – from kindergarten through 5th grade.

Introduce students to the components of a complete sentence. In Write Now – Right Now, we call this concept Team Complete.  Kindergarten students can learn to recognize complete sentences and orally respond in a complete sentence.  Make speaking in complete sentences an expectation of your classroom, whether you are in person or meeting virtually.

Intermediate students need to review the components of a complete sentence. As with primary students, speaking in complete sentence should be a classroom expectation. Spending time practicing sentence fluency and word choice is essential at the start of the school year.  Insisting on correct conventions at the start of the school year is essential. Encourage students to play with language, experiment with word choice and create interesting writing. When that is done, students will then double check their work for correct conventions. While this is a challenging process for teachers, it is well worth the time.

·       Use planning tools prior to writing.

In the past, we often told students we write like we talk. This is not true, for our speaking is often random and spontaneous, jumping from topic to topic.  Students’ writing will be significantly better if they are taught to organize their thoughts prior to writing. At Write Now – Right Now, we encourage teachers to use only one graphic organizer for all expository writing and a single organizer for narrative writing. Time is better spent teaching students how to use the plan effectively than spending time learning an array of plans.  Students must know the difference between the terms: topic, big ideas and details. Teaching students how to add interesting and relevant details is a skill which leads to effective and  interesting writing.

·       Only assess what you are teaching.

It is difficult for all of us to let go of errors we see in students’ writing.  However, grading will become less frustrating and more productive if you only assess what you have taught. If you are working on complete sentences, only assess that. Once students have mastered that skill, it can then be assessed in every piece of writing.  Planning is an essential skill and can be assessed on its own.  Writing is a process and each part of the process can be assessed separately.

·       Give grace to both your students and yourself.

This year is not like other school years. You may not cover the same amount of curriculum and standards as in past years. Teaching schedules and requirements have changed. Provide grace for yourself and your students and celebrate your successes, big and small.

We are here to support you. Please reach out if we can be of service in any way.

Taming the Grading Monster

“I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack at once.”

-  Ashleigh Brilliant

This quote can be applied to grading! It’s happened to all of us.  We start school Monday morning feeling all caught up – papers graded, lesson plans made, life in control.  By Wednesday, we have a teacher bag full of papers to grade.  The bag comes home with us in the afternoon, spends the evening in the car or on the family room floor, returns to school the next day, and repeat!  The pile of papers is a constant nagging in the back of our minds, but never rises to the top of the to-do list.  Finally, after two or three weeks, the papers are no longer relevant or needed, and are quietly buried in our home recycle barrel.

As we talk with teachers across the country, we continually hear teachers confess they neglect teaching writing as the grading can be overwhelming.  The following are some tips for keeping the “Writing Grading Monster” under control.

·       Grade writing after students have an opportunity to practice each skill.  For example, students are practicing composing topic sentences.  Provide students instruction, modeling, practicing and sharing while they are learning this skill. After students have had ample practice time, students will then choose the sentence they find most interesting.  Students can edit and recopy that sentence and turn it in as an assessment.  You are only grading one sentence per student (28 sentences), instead of 8 sentences per student (224 sentences.)  You can use this assessment for both a writing and a conventions grade.

·       Grade each part of the writing process.  Writing is a process, not a product. Let me say that again, “writing is a process, not a product.”  Each part of the writing process can be used as a valuable writing assessment.  For example, you may be sorting ideas into categories in your primary classroom.  As sorting is a part of organization, you can use this as a valid writing assessment.  If you are teaching planning, use students’ independent plans for writing grades.  Not only does this simplify grading, but you are able to discover students’ weaknesses and remedy them before they become an ingrained habit.

·       Grade only what you have taught.  If you are teaching planning, assess only planning.  Do not feel you need to grade students on items you have not taught, and they have not mastered.  As you are practicing speaking in complete sentences with your primary students, ask your students what they did at recess as they return to class after lunch.  As students respond, take note on who cannot respond in a complete sentence.  An assessment on speaking in complete sentences is done and graded!

·       Grade on the move.  Post a class list to a clipboard and keep it with you during writing instruction.  Perhaps you are practicing using transition words in big idea sentences.  As you circle the room, read students’ writing.  If a student is confused, stop and help him correct his work and write “NH” (Needs Help) next to that student’s name.  If a student has the skill, check in briefly with positive feedback.  At the end of your writing time, you have a completed assessment.  Any student without an “NH” has passed that skill, while your “Needs Help” are also noted.  You also have a ready-made small group created, showing students with whom you need check in with the next day.

·       Keep an ongoing list of skills students have mastered.  A Kindergarten teacher we visited used the following list of skills students needed to master, with the first letter of each month in the corresponding box.  As students demonstrated mastery of the skill, she marked the corresponding month.  At a glance, she could see who still needed to be assessed.

·       Combine writing across the curriculum.  As you teach writing short answers (Shining Star Answers), students should practice the skill in all curricular areas.  As students learn to take notes, look for practice opportunities in Social Studies and Science.  Notes taken in Social Studies can be used for a Social Studies, Reading and Writing grade.

Writing instruction and assessment should not feel that it “attacks all at once.”  Continually be on the lookout for ways to improve and streamline your assessment practice.  Remember that timely, specific and productive feedback is the very best for students and for you!

“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.” E.L. Doctorow

For the first few weeks of school, we have been concentrating on the components of opinion paragraphs.  My students have learned to gather and categorize ideas, organize plans and write opinion paragraphs which included all the essential parts.  Now that students understood how to effectively write about their opinion, it was time to take the next step: writing opinion paragraphs in response to text.

I wanted the content to be accessible and engaging for all the students. To facilitate that goal, I decided to have students read about a topic which they would easily grasp – choosing a local attraction to take guests to visit.  We began with the following prompt:

Students highlighted the format, topic and big ideas in their prompt.

You have friends travelling to Colorado Springs on vacation. You are responsible for choosing one place to take your friends to show them the sights. To help make your decision, you will choose and research an attraction in Colorado Springs to visit. After making your choice, write an opinion essay explaining the attraction you have chosen to visit. You must include three reasons why this attraction is the best location to take your friends.

The focus of this learning engagement was for students to write in response to text. With that in mind, I chose two websites for the students to use as research. The websites contained information about the local attractions using words and pictures. We discussed possible factors we might use when choosing a place to visit. Suggestions such as price, discounts, activities, food options, uniqueness to the area and being family friendly were all given.

Students were assigned the websites through their google classroom accounts. After previewing the possible choices, we selected five attractions to focus on as a class. Students then selected the attraction in which they were most interested and researched the appropriate site. Wanting the information to be accessible to all students regardless of reading ability, I wanted students to share the information they had learned. I provided students chart paper labeled with each attraction. As a group, students discussed and recorded the information they had found concerning each place to visit.

On the following day, students were asked to create their individual writing plans. Reviewing the prompt, we remembered that our writing required three big ideas. Using the chart paper, students looked for similar ideas to classify together. As they had spent time gathering and discussing ideas, the planning came easily.

With completed plans in hand, the students eagerly began to write. Many chose to begin their paragraphs with an “Although” topic sentence, acknowledging that other activity choices would also be enjoyable. They easily incorporated information they had learned from the text, the goal of the lesson.

The students’ engagement with their writing made it an appropriate piece to take all the way through publishing. With green and red pencils in hand, students edited their work, tracing all punctuation in red and all capitals in green. They typed their finished product, adding an image of the attraction to provide the reader with additional information.

The transition to opinion writing based on text had gone seamlessly as we had the needed writing skills in place from previous lessons. The students had been interested in the topic, engaged in the research, and excited to edit their work and share it with each other!  We had definitely been exploring and learning.

Expanding Our Writing - Multiple Paragraph Essays

As I recently worked with a class of 5th graders, it was apparent they had mastered opinion paragraph writing.  Their topic sentences were solid, their big idea sentences clear and their detail sentences were examples of how a long and luxurious sentence should be written.  It was time to challenge these writers.

                In Social Studies we had been reviewing and mastering note-taking skills.  The learning objective for the next few days in writing would be to combine note-taking and opinion writing, two skills the students had already mastered.  The new skill we were adding would be taking our opinion writing to a multiple paragraph essay with the inclusion of an introductory and concluding paragraph.

                We began with a prompt.  The prompt was timely, as many of the students were planning their holiday vacations.    

You will read informational articles about three different National Parks / Monuments.   Think about the reasons that encourage people to choose a historical place to visit on vacation.  Read the information about each location.  Choose one site from the list and write an essay persuading someone to visit the site you chose.  Include three reasons people would choose to visit this historical site.

These 5th graders quickly realized that before choosing a location they must first gather information about that park.  To help narrow their search, I told them they must choose between Gettysburg, Little Big Horn, and Mesa Verde. These parks were chosen as they might not be as well-known to the students, forcing them to use their research skills, not simply background knowledge.

                Students were asked to research all three parks, looking for reasons people might choose to visit this area.  This led to a conversation with students about what things influenced people to choose a specific place.  For example, the entry fee might be $9.00 per person.  Taken alone, that is merely a fact. How might ticket cost become a reason people would choose a destination?

                Independently taking notes on each park was the first step.  Students were given a class period to randomly gather notes on each park – no organization was required at this point.  Students independently collected their research on notebook paper.  At the conclusion of this time period, everyone chose a location in which they were interested.  Using large chart paper, common groups gathered and compiled the information they had found.

                Referring back to the prompt, students reviewed their task. Each student must choose a park and then write a multi-paragraph essay, convincing the reader that their choice is best.  Taking their notes, students sorted their ideas into three Big Ideas and composed a plan.  They were ready to begin their writing!

                The concept of taking each Big Idea and its Supporting Details and turning it into a separate paragraph was easy for these writers.  However, the question soon arose, “What type of topic sentence do we use?”  This was the perfect segue into the need to stretch a topic sentence into a topic paragraph.

                When we began to master various topic sentences, we did not learn each type in a single day.  In the same way, we learned different ways to write a topic paragraph slowly. We began by practicing three different ways to introduce a topic paragraph.  The purpose of the initial sentence is to capture the readers’ attention.   Information about the topic would follow after this attention grabbing sentence.

After dividing a piece of paper into quadrants, we labeled three of the sections Question, Hyperbole, and Statistical Information.  These were the types of attention grabbing sentences we would use to introduce out topic paragraph.  Using one of the parks as a topic, we began with writing a hyperbole, or exaggerated sentence.  (This is definitely a student favorite!) 

Mesa Verde, the best park in the world, will lead you to an explosion of exhilaration.  It is a whole new world when it comes to thrill.  

Now that you have grabbed your reader’s attention, you must now inform them of the information to follow in your essay.  As you have already organized your ideas on a plan, this step is easy. Simply list the big ideas found on your plan in a sentence.

This National Park is best known for its pueblo homes, hiking trails and tours. 

Students repeated the process using both a question and statistical information as attention grabbers.  They now had three topic paragraphs from which to choose. 

Writing the body of the essay was a familiar task.  Through the use of extended details, each big idea on the plan became a separate paragraph.  The students quickly completed this portion of their writing and were soon ready to write a conclusion.

A concluding paragraph of a multiple paragraph essay also has additional requirements. We learned that a concluding paragraph must contain the following three sentences:

·         A concluding sentence, similar to a single paragraph

·         A reminder of the big ideas

·         A call to action

As a writer, however, you get to choose the order of these sentences.  We again folded a piece of paper to help us focus our practice.  The students practiced arranging these three sentences to conclude their writing until they found the most interesting order. 

The students were proud of their accomplishments and asked to publish their writing.  After revising and editing their drafts, the final essays were ready to be typed and published.  Their notes, plans, topic paragraphs and conclusions were filed in their writing binders to use as guides for the next essay they would write.  These 5th graders had spent multiple daysengaged in a topic.  Through writing an introductory and concluding paragraph, these writers had stretched their writing from a single paragraph to a multiple paragraph essay.

Second Graders Write About Dr. Seuss - Part Two!

In an earlier blog, I wrote how impressed I was with a group of 2nd graders and their ability to read a prompt.  I was looking forward to returning to their classroom to view their plans and read their completed paragraphs on Dr. Seuss.

In all grade levels, we stress the need for students to both create a writing plan and then to actually use that plan.  To help students understand the importance of using their plan, I tell them a story about my drive to a birthday party. First, I confess to them that I am horrible with directions.  Prior to leaving for any new destination, I print out mapquest directions – both the map and the step-by-step instructions.  One day I was late to a friend’s party and left my carefully thought out directions laying on the kitchen counter.  They were useless to me there!  Although I was late, I needed to return home, gather the directions and then drive (later than ever by now!) to the party.  Writing plans are similar to driving directions.  They are only helpful to us if we actually use them! Like my mapquest directions left on the counter, writing plans do no good crumpled in the back of a desk.  Not only are students required to create a plan – they must also use it.

The second graders were excited to share their completed plans.  They had carefully taken notes as they read the passage on Dr. Seuss, finding details for each of their big ideas!  Use of a plan made the note taking simple for these young students and they were proud of their accomplishments.

It was time to take the plan to writing.  A “Just Say It” topic sentence was used to begin the writing.  Students easily followed their plan, writing clear big idea sentences followed by the interesting facts and details they had learned.  Students made a check mark on their plan as they completed each step.  By checking off each paragraph component as it was written, these second graders kept their writing organized and easy to follow!  It was obvious they were confident in their writing skills.

Upon completing their paragraphs, students began to edit their written work.  To help students slow down and carefully edit, we ask students to use colored pencils. These 2nd grade editors first took a green colored pencil and traced every letter which needed to be capitalized.  We ask students to go over every letter which should be capitalized – whether or not they have already capitalized this letter.  Punctuation is next traced with a red colored pencil.  Again, all punctuation is traced in red, whether or not it is present in the original text.  To complete the editing process, students circle any misspelled words in blue.  To help students concentrate on each word, we have them start at the end of their writing piece and work backwards.  In this way, they concentrate on each individual word.

The second graders were proud to read and share their work with others!  They had read a prompt, created a plan, taken careful notes, written an organized paragraph, and edited their writing for errors!  Wow – what an impressive group of second graders.

Finish the Story!

For the past three weeks we have been writing narratives in fourth grade.  We mastered plans, identified and created different introductions, and worked on writing dazzling conclusions. The students were becoming more and more detailed in their writings and we were thrilled with their progress.  Just as importantly, the students were loving writing and sharing their stories.

As teachers, we wanted to keep their love of narrative writing alive while we also prepared for our state testing.  A study of released items confirmed what we suspected – students would be asked to write a narrative in response to text they had read.  They might be asked to rewrite a story from another character’s point-of-view or finish a half-complete story. 

We had already worked on rewriting a narrative from a different point of view.  (See an earlier blog “Writing from a different point of view”)  It was now time to finish a story, but we needed a text to complete.

The answer came from a comprehension worksheet we found buried in an old stack of papers.  The story was about a parrot who finds himself stuck in a tree.  It was perfect!  We decided to combine both our previous point-of-view writing skills and the new skill of finishing a half-written narrative.

We began with a prompt.  Locating the format and topic, students quickly set up their narrative plan. The two opening paragraphs were given to the students.  They were able to easily locate the character, setting and problem. 

Setting off on their own, students independently created two unsuccessful attempts to solve the problem and the final successful solution to the problem.  They were excited to imagine their own solutions and found ways to solve the problem I had never even considered!

Once their plans were finished, my fourth graders eagerly sat down to complete their narratives.  Although they had been given the character, setting and problem they felt they owned the story and were eager to complete it. 

The completed narratives were all I had hoped they would be.  Students practiced reading a prompt, planning a narrative, practicing for standardized testing, and sharpening their writing skills all through the use of one long-forgotten worksheet!