Being a Writer Frequently sked uestions
Being a Writer Frequently sked uestions How long are the lessons? How long is each part of the lesson? K 2 lessons are 30 45 minutes 3 5 lessons are 45 60 minutes Sample Breakdown of Lesson Time Getting Ready to Write: 15 20 minutes Independent Writing: 15 30 minutes Sharing and Reflecting: 5 10 minutes How does the Being a Writer program support students at all different levels? The program is for all students. It motivates them to write, using quality trade literature to help students generate topics they want to write about. Students have lots of opportunities to write in every lesson. ll students can access the lessons. The literature is read aloud and students write at their own ability levels. Teachers are given ideas for supporting writers in the Teacher Notes. The lessons are consistent and predictable, giving students support. Students at a range of levels are especially supported during the Getting Ready to Write section of each lesson. Specific issues can be addressed during Independent Writing time. Is the Being a Writer program available in Spanish? No. The program is written to be taught in English. Strategies could certainly be used with ELL students, and students may respond in English or their primary language. Suggestions for supporting English Language Learners are provided in the front portion of the Teacher s Manual. dditional ELL support is included within the lessons. How do I determine grades? The ssessment Resource Book provided at each grade level will help you analyze and grade student work. Sample benchmark papers for each grade are included. Rubric scores may be converted to letter grades as necessary. Developmental Studies Center 2000 Embarcadero, Suite 305 Oakland, C 94606-5300 800.666.7270 www.devstu.org
Being a Writer F How long should each writing conference be? How do I organize my conference notes? Typically, conferences are 5 10 minutes long. BLM 1at the back of the Teacher s Manual can be used to record conference notes. The forms might be kept in a folder, binder, or separate student writing folders. Using a clipboard during conferences may be helpful. If you have a system or form you are already comfortable with, continue to organize your notes that way. What do I focus on during the conference? How do I use the conference notes? First and foremost, you need to follow the child. sk the student open-ended questions. The conference notes within the lessons give questions you can ask that will focus the conference on the skills and writing craft being taught in those lessons. The focus is on helping the student become a better writer. Remember to refer back to your notes during the next conference with that student. How does the Being a Writer program fit with Calkins s Units of Study? The Being a Writer program takes the ideas of Units of Study and provides teachers with daily, grade-specific lessons. The Being a Writer program also includes all of the trade books needed; Units of Study simply makes trade book recommendations. How does the Being a Writer program fit with Writing Workshop (Calkins, twell, Fletcher, Graves)? Like Writing Workshop, the Being a Writer curriculum addresses the things that good writers need to do and often struggle with. The Being a Writer program is grounded in best practice in writing and utilizes ideas from those who are knowledgeable about writing. It uses a similar format except that the Getting Ready to Write portion in Being a Writer is longer than a typical Writing Workshop mini-lesson. Writing Workshop teachers typically develop lessons on their own based on the strengths, needs, and interests of the students in their classrooms. Being a Writer lessons are written and planned based on what students at various levels are likely to need. However, the Being a Writer program provides teachers with a great deal of support, allows for individual differences during independent writing time conferences, and provides mini-lessons that can be offered as needed to meet the needs of a class or of individual writers. Developmental Studies Center 2000 Embarcadero, Suite 305 Oakland, C 94606-5300 800.666.7270 www.devstu.org
Being a Writer F Do students need folders? Should K 1 students have writing notebooks? You need to develop a systematic way to keep student work. We suggest notebooks for students in grades 1 5 and folders for all students to keep their writing done on loose paper. What writing should be in the student s writing notebook? In their writing notebooks, students should keep: Works in progress from the Being a Writer program Stories or pieces they are working on instructionally nything they are willing to share If a student starts writing in the notebook and later wants to revise and publish it that piece, does he have to rewrite the draft if there is not enough room on the page to revise? What suggestions do you have? The Being a Writer program encourages teachers to remind students to skip lines to allow space for students to revise in their notebooks. Students who forget to leave space can use self-stick notes to add to a piece. If there is not enough room, the teacher may want to copy the page for the student or allow the student to tear the page out of the notebook. How do you help the student who doesn t have anything to write about? We realize this is a problem. Unit 1 spends a lot of time helping students generate ideas of things they can write about. Students do quick-writes, generate lists, and generate ideas prompted by the literature read aloud during Getting Ready to Write. During Independent Writing time, the teacher can confer with the student, writing any ideas generated on self-stick notes and leaving them with the student to help her get started. What do I do with the student who is always done? The Being a Writer program teaches children that writers are never done. Once we get ideas down, we go back to reread to see if we might add to the pictures, add to the words, etc. For older intermediate students, we might ask the kids to reread with their audience in mind to see what might be confusing or missing. If, after they ve done this, they really are not going to continue on that piece, they can choose another topic or revisit their notebooks/folders for another piece of writing to work on. Developmental Studies Center 2000 Embarcadero, Suite 305 Oakland, C 94606-5300 800.666.7270 www.devstu.org
Being a Writer F How do I support the student who can t seem to get started writing? gain, you can use the ideas generated in Unit 1 to help the student with topics. You can sit down and just have the student talk to you about her story, event, or idea. s she shares, jot down key words or ideas to leave with her in order to help get started writing. Remember to use the read-aloud as a springboard for ideas. What do I do about the student who always chooses inappropriate topics? Choosing appropriate topics can be addressed through the Building Community part of the program. Many topics are generated using the read-aloud selection for that day/week/unit. You will be able to allow students choice in what they write while limiting what students share with the class to topics that are appropriate. You can address the issue during a one-to-one conference. Students must be able to share their work if they are going to do the hard work of writing. I have a student who never wants to share. What can I do? There are many opportunities to share in the Being a Writer program. In the initial lessons, you might let it go and hope the student gets comfortable later on. The problem can later be addressed during a conference. Is the student comfortable sharing with a peer? That could be the first step. In group share, try to encourage the student to tell anything about his writing (topic, favorite part, sentence, word) to help him ease into sharing. Do K 2 students learn the writing process? Being a Writer lessons for students in kindergarten through the beginning of grade 2 focus on providing opportunities to draw, tell stories, and see writing modeled. During this time the students informally draft, revise, and publish their writing. During the second half of grade 2, students transition into lessons that start to look more like those at grade 3. Students in the primary grades do go through the writing process just in a more informal way. The focus is on teaching students the skills necessary to get their ideas down on the page and doing a lot of writing, in addition to motivating them to write. Can I teach the units in any order? In grades 3 5, Units 1 and 2 need to be taught first and in order. fter completing Unit 2, the genre units may be taught in any order. If the teacher is using the Making Meaning program along with the Being a Writer program, we suggest beginning both programs at the start of the year and teaching both in order. This is to ensure that any trade books used in both programs will be used in Making Meaning lessons first. Since the focus in K 2 is to teach students some basic writing skills, the lessons are designed to be taught in order. Developmental Studies Center 2000 Embarcadero, Suite 305 Oakland, C 94606-5300 800.666.7270 www.devstu.org
Being a Writer F How does the Being a Writer program fit with 6+1 Traits? The Being a Writer program correlates with 6+1 Traits. lthough the program does not use the exact language of the traits, they are embedded in the lessons and referenced in the individual assessment. See the ssessment Resource Book and the Teacher s Manual for additional information. How many pieces will students publish? Can a student publish more than one piece per unit? In grades 3 5, students will have one published piece by the end of Unit 2 and one published piece per genre unit thereafter. However, the teacher may decide to have students publish more than one piece per unit. How are the read-aloud trade books used in the Being a Writer program? The read-alouds are used to give students examples of writing in a particular genre (students are immersed in the genre), as introductions to authors lives, as opportunities to discuss what good writers do, and as a way to help students focus on a particular writing craft. What if the students have heard the story before? Great! Now the book is used for a different purpose. Tell the students, We will have an explicit focus for this reading to help with our writing. I d like you to think about as you listen to this story again. Can I use the book for other lessons (other than writing)? Yes! s you will see, the trade books provided in the Being a Writer program are well written and have high student interest. We want students to become engaged with the books. They are used with a specific purpose in mind. You may decide to use the books again during a different part of your language arts block or for a content lesson. I have books I like to use to teach writing. Can I use these books with the Being a Writer lessons? We suggest using the program as written during the first year. Make notes as you teach. You may find that students would benefit from additional instruction in a particular genre. You may decide to use the open weeks in the program to add books from your own library. t the end of the first year, decide what changes you would like to make for the following year. Developmental Studies Center 2000 Embarcadero, Suite 305 Oakland, C 94606-5300 800.666.7270 www.devstu.org
Being a Writer F Why aren t there assessments at grade K? t kindergarten, we want the students to be excited about writing, and not stifled by assessment. We re accepting of emergent writing/different stages of writing. You can certainly use the writing generated during the Being a Writer program to look for evidence to support the criteria on your progress reports. When do I use the Skill Practice Teaching Guide lessons? How do I fit them into my day? Do I have to teach them to the whole class? The Skill Practice Teaching Guide lessons are a tool/resource for you to use as a way to reinforce, reteach, or differentiate instruction. They can be done with the whole class or a small group any time you feel they are necessary. Consider using them during writing time or at any time during the day. Since the Being a Writer lessons are 4 days a week, you might want to consider (if your students need the support) teaching a skills lesson on day 5 of each week. How does the Being a Writer program prepare students for our state writing assessment? The Being a Writer program will give students the writing skills and confidence they need to be successful. However, students will need to be instructed in the type of audience and response they need to be successful on the state assessment. You may wish to use the open weeks in the program to teach a special unit on writing in the genre your state assessment requires. dditionally, many of the extension lessons include suggestions for response to literature, another type of writing often required on state assessments. Can I teach genres that are not in the Being a Writer program? Yes. You may decide to use the open weeks to teach a different writing unit. How does the Being a Writer program fit with the Making Meaning program? Being a Writer pedagogy is perfectly aligned with the Making Meaning program. There is a social/ ethical focus as well as an academic one. The Being a Writer Teacher s Manual includes support for Making Meaning teachers. Since many of the social skills and cooperative structures are similar, you will not have to introduce them twice just review them in the second program. What do we do on the 5th day of the week? You can take extra time to review items that your students may need help with, have additional independent writing time, and/or practice state writing prompts. This is also a time you may want to teach lessons from the Skill Practice Teaching Guide. Developmental Studies Center 2000 Embarcadero, Suite 305 Oakland, C 94606-5300 800.666.7270 www.devstu.org
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