Q: Discuss the components of an effective writing program and why they are important.
A: The 3 main components of an effective writing program are: personal connections, writing conventions and inventions. Personal connections are important because even at an early age, every student has experiences he/she can draw from to help them with his/her writing. A writing project such as a family history report or essay on a parent or family member can help motivate students, including English Language Learners (ELLs). Children also have a noted ‘kid culture’ that contain areas of knowledge brought forth by the students. Discussion and writing about this ‘kid culture’ should be encouraged, as this points towards motivation for many students. Another component to an effective writing program is writing conventions. Students must follow the rules of language such as orientation, spelling, capitalization, punctuation, paragraphing, including the main idea and supporting details. In addition, students should not be encouraged to copy their work, but to re-read, edit, revise and add detail and depth to their writing. This is an area where revising, adding detail, and sequencing of the writing assignment are important. When students read their work aloud, it presents an opportunity for the student to catch any errors or mistakes.
Q: How might you rearrange your schedule to create more time for students to write in general and, in particular, for students to write about their personal experiences?
A: As noted in the video, a ‘kid culture’ exists outside of the classroom. This is the content area that kids are already engaged and familiar with. Many students would find it enjoyable to write about their favorite thing and how it relates to them. I would enlist the help of the kid culture with some assignments to help with student interest and motivation. I think tapping into kid culture can inspire students to read and write independently, away from the classroom setting. Many classrooms I have observed use a strategy called “Drop Everything And Read” (DEAR). I might incorporate a similar strategy in terms of writing. Maybe on Friday afternoons and any down time, I might incorporate a similar type “Free Write” session where students are prompted to write in their journals that are shared with the teacher. To help students relate their writing to their own personal experiences, I will incorporate lessons such as “What I did on Vacation”, personal interests and family ancestry where students will be required to document family members. These strategies keep the personal experiences of students into account.
Q: How can you create ways for students to make personal connections in different subject areas through writing?
A: Students seem to respond to activities that have an authentic purpose. When they know their work will be published and read by others, students are encouraged to edit and revise their work. After performing an experiment, I would prompt students to write about the experiment, their observations and conclusions. As discussed in the video, there should be a doubling up on curriculum content while working on literacy. For example, during a social studies lesson, I may incorporate a mini-lesson and assignment for students to write an essay using the 5W’s and H questions. I would prompt students to read their essays aloud to catch any grammatical, punctuation or agreement mistakes and to determine if what they wrote was exactly what they meant to say. If possible, I would try to tap into any movies or media the student may be familiar with. For example, during a recent observation, I helped a student understand the science concept of adaptation by referring to the Disney movie “Finding Nemo”. The student had seen the movie, remembered the scene and I think the reference helped him create a mental picture. I would incorporate assignments that will allow students to actually publish their writing as a book to be shared with an audience. This will help will motivation.
Q: How can student work help you decide which conventions to teach?
A: The student work is hard evidence of the student’s language proficiency and can help provide some insight as to each student’s writing tendencies and particular weaknesses. For example, a student may have issues with articles of speech (of, the, an) or pronoun agreement, i.e. “It (a car) washes himself”. Other specific examples will make themselves apparent. As always, having a variety of assessments on hand in a student profile is recommended to get a well rounded view of the student’s writing proficiency. Writing an informative paragraph or essay is an important skill, however, certain lessons may require a certain format or use other types of conventions such as writing an outline, poetry, a scientific report.
Q: When can you promote student inventions and experimentation with different formats in writing?
A: Students often bring their own original ideas to the classroom and this presents teachable moments in terms of student invention and experimentation. There are many different types of children’s books (accordion books, digital books) that successfully bend the conventional rules of writing, including page orientation and use of different sized fonts to help with contextual clues. As students create their own original work, they have a sense of ownership and choice over their writing. This is a powerful motivator. As mentioned above, different lessons may incorporate different writing styles and formats. Note taking, creating an outline, writing poetry, a play or a scientific report each require different writing styles and formats.
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