Always Write: Cobett's "7 Elements of a Differentiated Writing Lesson" Resources - 10 views
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Has Slone on 09 Apr 12This is a neat way to start a writing class with the creating plot ideas....
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One of the goals I ask teachers to set after my training is to find new ways to push students to analyze and evaluate as they learn to write.
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As part of my teacher workshop on the writing process, we investigate multiple uses of student samples. One of my favorite techniques involves having student compare and contrast finished pieces of writing. During both pre-writing and and revision, this push for deeper student thinking both educates and inspires your students.
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The handout has student writers analyze two fifth graders' published writing with a compare and contrast Venn diagram.
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Revision is hard, and most teachers recognize it as an area of deficiency; the truth is, a lot of really great writing teachers I know still freely admit that revision is where they struggle the most.
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revision shouldn't be the first of the seven elements to work on
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When students like what they've written in rough draft form, they're ready to move to revision. My other six elements aim at helping students increase their pre-writing time so they both like and see more potential in their rough drafts
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I believe in the power of collaboration and study teams,
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Professional development research clearly cites the study team model as the most effective way to have learners not only understand new ideas but also implement them enough times so they become regular tools in a teacher's classroom.
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Below, find three examples created by study teams during past workshops. I use them as models/exemplars when I set the study teams off to work.
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My students learn to appreciate the act of writing, and they see it as a valuable life-skill.
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In a perfect world, following my workshop,
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follow-up tools.
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I also use variations of these Post-its during my Critical Thinking Using the Writing Traits Workshop.
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By far, the best success I've ever had while teaching revision was the one I experienced with the revision Post-its I created for my students
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During my teacher workshop on the writing process, we practice with tools like the Revision Sprint (at right), which I designed to push students to use analysis and evaluation skills as they looked at their own drafts
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I used to throw my kids into writing response groups way too fast. They weren't ready to provide critical thought for one another
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The most important trick learned was this: be a writer too. During my first five years of teaching, I had assigned a lot of writing but never once had I written something I intended to show my students.
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I have the following interactive plot element generator (which can be replicated with three coffee cans and index cards) to help my students feel in control of their options:
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If you want to hear my take on graphic organizers in detail, you're going to have to hire me to come to present to you. If you can't do that, then I'll throw you a challenge that was thrown once at me, and completing the challenge helped me become a smarter designer of graphic organizers. The challenge came in two parts: 1) learn how to use tables and text boxes in Microsoft Word; 2) for practice, design a graphic organizer that would help students be successfully with the following trait-based skills:
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"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, etc," which is an interesting structure that students can borrow from to write about other topics, be they fiction or non-fiction.
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Asking students to create daily journals from the perspective of other animals or even inanimate objects is a great way to borrow this book's idea.
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it challenges students to analyze the author's word choice & voice skills: specifically his use of verbs, subtle alliteration, and dialogue.
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Mentor Text Resource Page here at my website, because this topic has become such a big piece of learning to me. It deserved its own webpage.
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Here are seven skills I can easily list for the organization trait. Organization is: 1) using a strong lead or hook, 2) using a variety of transition words correctly, 3) paragraphing correctly, 4) pacing the writing, 5) sequencing events/ideas logically, 6) concluding the writing in a satisfying way, 7) titling the writing interestingly and so that the title stands for the whole idea. Over the years, I have developed or found and adapted mini-lessons that have students practice these skills during my "Organization Month."
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Now, let's talk differentiation:
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The problem with focusing students on a product--instead of the writing process--is that the majority of the instructional time is spent teaching students to adhere to a formula.
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the goal of writing instruction absolutely should be the helping students practice the three Bloom's levels above apply: analyze, evaluate, and create.
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Click here to access the PowerPoint I use during the goal-setting portion of my workshop.
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Improving one's ability to teach writing to all students is a long-term professional development goal; sticking with it requires diligence, and it requires having a more specific goal than "I want to improve writing
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"Trying to get better at all seven elements at once doesn't work;
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strive to make my workshops more about "make and take,
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Robert Marzano's research convinced me years ago of the importance of having learners set personal goals as they learn to take responsibility for their own learning.
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