POSSIBILITIES FOR THE PROCESS:Using status of the class to Introduce and Implement the Writing Process.

Jane Ladoucer

HOW DO YOU TEACH THE WRITING PROCESS?

At your table share how you teach the writing process:

What does is look like?

How do you manage it in a workshop setting?

How are your students accountable held accountable for work in writer’s workshop?

SHARE YOU IDEAS……

MY CONFESSION……How the writing process used to look in my classroom.

“When you know better, you do better.”

-Maya Angelou

SO…WHAT DO I KNOW?1. Second grade standards push for a process approach to writing.

2-W1.1        1.    Demonstrate the ability to choose a topic and generate ideas and

use oral and written prewriting strategies.2-W1.22.       Demonstrate the ability to generate drafts that focus on a topic; have

a beginning, middle and end; and include relevant and supportive detail.2-W1.33.       Demonstrate the ability to revise writing for audience and purpose and

through collaboration, conferencing, and self- evaluation.2-W1.4        4.    Demonstrate the ability to edit for language conventions such as

spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and word usage.2-W1.5        5.    Demonstrate the ability to write and publish in a variety of formats.

SO…WHAT ELSE DO I KNOW?2. In a writing workshop all students are

working in different stages of the writing process at different times.

3.Second grade students must be able to articulate what stage of the writing process they are working in.

4. When they are third graders they will have to take PASS writing and show their work through each stage of the writing process.

SO…WHAT DO I NEED TO DO? I need to teach the writing process and all of

its stages. I need to teach my students how to take

ownership of their own writing process. I need to help my students how to move to

writing in paragraph form and move away from using little books as their primary writing.

I need to keep from overwhelming myself and my students.

SO…WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SAY? Ralph Fletcher and JoAnne Portalupi say:

“…even our youngest writers work through a process that roughly corresponds to the cycle of craft professionals follow.”

“…when we talk about the writing process we are

not describing a program”

“…the writing process itself is messy and non-linear. We describe it in separate consecutive stages, but the fact is that writers move fluidly in and out of these stages.”

http://faculty.uoit.ca/hughes/Writing/WritingProcess.html

SO…HOW WILL I DO IT?

Status of the Class!

Great idea but what is it and why would I want to use it?

Ralph Fletcher and JoAnne Portalupi tell us in Writers Workshop that Nancie Atwell “devised the “Status of the Class”, a five-minute roll call during which each student states what he or she is working on for that day.”

SO…WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? Students use a chart, posters, pocket charts or signs

to indicate what they are doing in their writing process.

Students are responsible for keeping up with their own process and making sure that the status on the chart corresponds with what they were doing.

Quick 2 to 5 minute talk about what they are doing that day.

Teachers check in with their students every day to gauge progress

5th grade Status of the Class

http://mrsserrano.com/literacy.cfm?subpage=622067 zzwriter.com

SO…WHAT DID I DO?

Explicitly taught the stages of the writing process one at a time as they were ready for them.

In between genre studies, introduced the students to a new stage.

SO…WHAT DID I DO?

Put the different stages of the writing cycle into language they could understand.

Start with simple and as year progresses use more complex vocabulary.

SO…WHAT DID I DO?

Set aside time everyday to talk about their process and where they were going next.

During transition time at the beginning and the end of the workshop, 2-5 minutes

SO…WHAT DID I DO?

Checked in with them during independent writing time and conferences to see how they were managing.

Need to ask about student process during the conference instead of just the product they are working on.

SO…WHERE DID I START? Started with what they knew. They were

already writing and sharing with their little books.

Began with prewriting because it was also familiar.

Ish by Peter Reynolds

www.mandygregory.com

SO…WHERE DID I GO FROM THERE?

Added one stage at a time.

Slowly changed the words we used to describe writing process to the accepted and used vocabulary of the upper grades.

SO…WHERE WILL YOU GO FROM HERE? Talk at your table about how you might use

status of the class in your classroom. Let’s share...

FINAL THOUGHTS

If you don't know where you're going, chances are you will end up somewhere else.

-Yogi Berra

REFERENCES Ray, K.(2006) Study Driven: A Framework for

Planning units of Study in the Writing Workshop. Portsmout, NH. Heinemann.

Fletcher, R.,& Potalupi, J. (2001) Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide.Portsmouth,

NH. Heinemann.