Solutions for Common Core Writing Success
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"Solutions for Common Core Writing," a 30-minute webinar hosted by the Education Leaders Network on September 26, 2012. Suzanne Klein addresses key features of the Common Core Writing Standards for K-5 principals, identifying obstacles and strategies for strong implementation of the standards. Suzanne Klein is a former K-5 teacher, a writing consultant at the state and district level, a National Writing Project fellow, and the Founder & CEO of WriteSteps, a Common Core writing and grammar program for elementary students. For more information, please go to http://www.WriteStepsWriting.com. Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoreStandardWriteSteps and find resources on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/writesteps.
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Solutions for Common Core Writing Success
- 1. Solutions for Common Core Writing Success Suzanne Klein www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 2. “We must improve the quality of our students’ writing if they are to succeed in college and in life.” www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 3. “Both blue-collar workers (80%) and white-collar workers (93%) say writing is important to success in their careers.” ~The National Writing Project www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 4. Suzanne Klein Writing Coach,K-5 Teacher, National Presenter, National Writing Project Fellow, Writing Coach, and Founder & CEO of WriteSteps “Often, the evidence of success is slow in coming or impossible to see. Therefore, much good work must be done by faith and by faith alone.” ~Lorraine Monroe, American educator and reformer www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 5. The Common Core Standards and Change Technology isn’t the only thing that is changing www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 6. The 7 Keys to Successful Common Core Writing in Your Building 1. Common Core Readiness 2. Instruction 3. Classroom Management 4. Writing Across the Curriculum 5. Responsibilities of Administration 6. Teacher Training 7. Home/School Connection www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 7. Purpose & Objectives 1. Keys 2. Problems 3. Tools Common Core Knowledge Readiness Time Instruction Materials H, M, L
- 8. 1st Key: Common Core Readiness Tool #1: Cool Apps Our teachers have copies of the Common Core writing standards. In the iTunes app store: http://bit.ly/iWZSds In the Google play store: http://bit.ly/UWkSVp www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 9. 1st Key: Common Core Readiness Our school is 100% compliant with the Common Core Writing Standards. www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 10. 1st Key: Common Core Readiness Have you seen the prototype questions being developed for Common Core writing? www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 11. 1St Key: Common Core Instruction 30% opinio n 35% informative 35% narrative www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 12. 1St Key: Common Core Instruction The standards emphasize Writing Across the Curriculum Writing instruction belongs in the hands of all disciplines. Much explanatory and informational writing will occur in the context of science, social studies, and reading. www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 13. “Students need broad- based experiences in which reading and writing tasks are integrated with their work throughout the curriculum.” --Langer and Applebee
- 14. 2nd Key: Instruction “Simply put, in the whole range of academic course work, American children do not write frequently enough, and the reading and writing tasks they are given do not require them to think deeply enough.” ~Langer and Applebee (1978) In one recent study in grades one, three, and five, only 15 percent of the school day was spent in any kind of writing activity. Two-thirds of the writing that did occur was word-for-word copying in workbooks. ~National Writing Project (2003) www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 15. 2nd Key: Instruction Obstacles Principal = Remover of Obstacles www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 16. 2nd Key: Instruction Knowledge “Every district should require each teacher to successfully complete a course in writing theory and practice as a condition for teacher licensing.” ~ The National Commission on Writing www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 17. Americans want to see teacher-training programs include courses on teaching writing (79% “good idea”) and professional development for current teachers (75% “good idea”). -From the National Commission on Writing, 2010 www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 19. 2nd Key: Instruction Knowledge Teachers learn best from each other. TeacherStar celebrates excellence in teaching by sharing videos of best practices. www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 20. 2nd Key: Instruction Strategy #2: My Glows & Grows www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 21. 2nd Key: Instruction Glows & Grows Step 1: Pass out packet & go over directions Step 2: Recruit someone to compile the Glows & Grows Step 3: Glow Sharing 8:30-8:40 Glow teacher David is sharing to a group of Grows 8:45-8:55 Grow teacher David now listens to a Glow teacher www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 22. 2nd Key: Instruction “I don’t have time to teach writing!” Time 15% of the school day was spent in writing activities of any kind. 2/3 of that writing was word-for-word copying in workbooks. Mantra: www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 23. 2nd Key: Instruction Time If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse. www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 24. 2nd Key: Instruction “I don’t have time” often means “I don’t know how.” = I lack confidence I don’t see myself as a writer I don’t have a consistent routine for writing www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 25. 2nd Key: Instruction How much time is enough? Time ELA = 90-minute • reading ELA Block • spelling • grammar • writing Grades K-1: At least 3 days a week for 45 minutes or longer Minimum Grades 2-5: At least 4 days a week for 45 minutes or longer www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 26. 2nd Key: Instruction Strategy: Crunch the Numbers How Many Hours? 3 R’s • Reading • Writing • Arithmetic www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 27. 2nd Key: Instruction Strategy: Random Drop-Ins Drop Ins Visit 2 classrooms per day Go when teachers have planned to teach writing Are they following through with plans? www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 28. 2nd Key: Instruction Strategy: Frequency Checks How Often? www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 29. 2nd Key: Instruction High, Mediu m, and Low samples H, M, L www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 30. 2nd Key: Instruction Materials Lack of materials or lack of quality materials = low achievement www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 31. 2nd Key: Instruction Materials Strategy: Real Common Core Materials "Here's what's happening right now in textbook land… They're not changing anything in the curriculum. They are simply relabeling.” ~Comment on Common Core publishing from Beverlee Jobrack, 25-year editorial director for one of the largest educational publishing companies in the business. ________________________________________________________ www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 32. 2nd Key: Instruction Materials Strategy: Real Common Core Materials Article in e-newsletter www.WriteStepsWriting.com
- 33. Thank you for joining me… Suzanne Klein, Common Core Writing Specialist Suzanne@WriteStepsWriting.com 734-834-4889 Confidence + Accountability = Success Contact me for a FREE 20 minute Awareness Session during a staff meeting. www.WriteStepsWriting.com
Editor's Notes
- Welcome, everyone! The purpose of this webinar is to provide you with real solutions for Common Core writing success inyour buildings. I’mso glad you’re here!BEFORE we move on, I just want to mention some house keeping items. If you find this webinar helpful and you’d like to share it with principals, colleagues – who aren’t part of the ELN network, it will be available on our Facebook page for everyone. While on our Facebook page, don’t forget to join our 2,500 hundred fans to get tips, tricks and FREE stuff. My contact info and our Facebook page is on the front cover of your handout packet. Also, make sure you stick around for the Q and A, as I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Lastly, some exciting news. After this webinar, I’ll be taking the attendance list and raffling off 15 year-long teacher subscriptions to our web-based Common Core writing program, eWriteSteps. (CLICKTO REVEAL WRITESTEPS IMAGE). These subscriptions are a $575 value! If you are a lucky winner, we will be sending you an email with all of the info you need to get your teachers started to teach Common Core writing and grammar!
- SLIDE 2: (National Commission on Writing quote) Writing is not only a critical skill for college and career, but, according to the National Commission on Writing, “Writing is a ‘Threshold Skill’ for both employment and promotion, particularly for salaried employees.”
- SLIDE 3:NWP quoteThis is National Writing Project 2007 data. This was taken from a national public opinion survey.This should drive home the importance of building a successful Common Core writing climate now.We can’t wait until the test in 2014/2015. We need to start immediately!You will be receiving tools you can use with your staff tomorrow.
- SLIDE 4 (SUZANNE KLEIN)As a former K-5 teacher, I didn’t know how to teach writing. I struggled until I had an excellent principal (who I will talk about later) realized we needed to take writing seriously if we were going to see real results. This is the start of my passion for teaching writing. After much success in my own classroom, I was asked to be a national presenter for BER. After a bit of that, I went back into classrooms to model my writing lessons in over 400 rooms. In 2007, based on a need I saw, I founded WriteSteps to meet the Michigan writing standards. A year ago, we completely revised what we had to create our 100% Common Core writing and grammar program.
- SLIDE 5 Common Core Standards and ChangeWe are in a time of rapid change with technology. It’s the catalyst for most of the changes in our education system. (CLICK TO SHOW TEXT)The Common Cores are one of the biggest education change we have seen in years. We will now have a national curriculum. TheStandards go deeper by asking students starting in Kindergarten, to write an opinion piece and publish it using a variety of digital tools. Yes, in Kindergarten it may be simple drawings, words or a sentence, but the fact remains that for many teachers the Common Cores are a big jump in what they were previously teaching in writing. When I asked a group of teachers what is the only thing constant in life, one teacher said, laundry. She was on to something, but the answer I was looking for was, “change”. In our time together, I’ll be assisting you with the changes that the writing Common Core Standards are going to bring about, and how you can support your teachers so that you can build a successful writing community as the leader of the building.
- SLIDE 6 (THE 7 KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL COMMON CORE WRITING IN YOUR BUILDING)Did you take the self-assessment checklist in Survey Monkey before this webinar? If not, you have a hard copy to mark your answers. This way you will know what you need to work on this year. On the self-assessment checklist, the statements you reflected on are organized into 7 different categories. These categories are what we call The Essential Keys for Common Core Writing Success. You have them in your handouts.This webinar will be organized by these 7 keys. (CLICK TO SHOW EACH KEY)I will be sharing 6 tools that will help you strengthen your ability to support and hold teachers accountable for 2 of these 7 keys. In this webinar I’ll be covering the first 2 keys, Common Core Readiness & Instruction in 30 minutes. To receive more tools for keys 3 through 7, I’ll be offering more webinars. When these become available, more info will come via email.
- SLIDE 7 (PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES)The objectives of this session are organized into 3 parts. The icons on this slide will appear in your handouts and in the slides to help you. 1. The first objective is to share the first 2 keys to successful Common Core writing for your building: Common Core Readiness & Instruction.(CLICK TO SHOW PROBLEMS) 2. The next objective is to give you an understanding of where there is a breakdown with the 2nd key: Instruction. Therefore, we will be looking at 3 Problems that cause your teachers to struggle, and help you understand how their struggle creates low writing test scores. (CLICK TO SHOW Tools)3. The last objective of this webinar is to give you 6 tools to help solve the problems of their struggles so that you can increase writing success and scores.You have these TOOLs listed in your handouts. There is space next to each tools’ icon to take notes on how to use them with your staff.
- SLIDE 8 (COMMON CORE READINESS – 1- COOL APPS)Take a look at the 2 Common Core Readiness questions on your Principals’ Self-Reflection Checklist in the handout packet.This first statement, “Our teachers have copies of the Common Core writing standards.” is really easy to fix if you weren’t able to mark the first question “Accomplished”. And, according to the Survey Monkey results, that is about 27% of you. If you’re like me and finding apps to make your life simpler and paperless, then you and your teachers are going to love this app. Apps and Common Core? What is she talking about, you ask! (CLICK TO REVEAL FIRST IMAGE).This is an app for iPhones and iPads that has all of the Common Core math and ELA standards on them. So, you don’t have to waste paper printing them out, or carrying a binder to a Common Core meeting. You all will have them right at your finger tips where ever they go. . (CLICK TO REVEAL SECOND IMAGE)This is the same app but for Android phones. This app can be found in the Google play store.
- SLIDE 9 (COMMON CORE READINESS – 2: Don’t wait)(CLICK 2X TO SHOW CONSORTIUM LOGOS), If we give kids solid writing skills and teach the writing Common Cores 100%, then regardless of the testing instrument, they will do well. I don’t understand why districts are telling us they aren’t looking at teaching the writing Cores until after they see what is on the test. We are teaching writing so that our students will have writing as a life long skill. Not just so that they only do well on the test. Therefore, this is crazy talk, we need to start CommonCorewriting instruction now, not after the test. Have you seen the prototype questions that are being developed? (CLICK TO SHOW 1stSCREENSHOT). Here’s a 5th grade prototype question from the PARCC consortium. (CLICK TO SHOW 2ND / NEW SCREENSHOT). This one (also 5th grade) is from Smarter Balanced.Your students will have to create and analyze sophisticated written pieces in various text types. Students won’t be able to do well without a lot of practice. Students will need to accumulate these skills over a period of years. Again, we can’t wait until 2014/15 is here.
- SLIDE 9 (COMMON CORE READINESS – 2: Don’t wait)(CLICK 2X TO SHOW CONSORTIUM LOGOS), If we give kids solid writing skills and teach the writing Common Cores 100%, then regardless of the testing instrument, they will do well. I don’t understand why districts are telling us they aren’t looking at teaching the writing Cores until after they see what is on the test. We are teaching writing so that our students will have writing as a life long skill. Not just so that they only do well on the test. Therefore, this is crazy talk, we need to start CommonCorewriting instruction now, not after the test. Have you seen the prototype questions that are being developed? (CLICK TO SHOW 1stSCREENSHOT). Here’s a 5th grade prototype question from the PARCC consortium. (CLICK TO SHOW 2ND / NEW SCREENSHOT). This one (also 5th grade) is from Smarter Balanced.Your students will have to create and analyze sophisticated written pieces in various text types. Students won’t be able to do well without a lot of practice. Students will need to accumulate these skills over a period of years. Again, we can’t wait until 2014/15 is here.
- SLIDE 10 (Key #2 Instruction) TEXT TYPES There are 3 main text types within the K-5 Common Cores: opinion, informative/explanatory and narrative. These text types are new for many teachers. Students will be answering questions on various text types and will be writing in various text types. Writing an opinion piece starts in K and goes through to 5th grade. This is true for informational and research writing. It's important to make sure everyone is using consistent language and not calling opinion writing, argumentative or persuasive writing, as those types have different qualities.That is the strength of your teachers using the same program that spirals and uses the same vocabulary year after year. Plus, there was a publisher’s criteria that stated that the Common Core writers are looking for 30% opinion writing,(CLICK) 35% informative,(CLICK) and 35% narrative (CLICK)in a program. We’ve revised WriteSteps to meet this, but be careful, many programs haven’t.
- SLIDE 11 COMMON CORE INSTRUCTION – (new slide) Writing Across the CurriculumSince the standards authors Coleman and Pimentel stated the ideal balance of text types are those percentages I shared, Many teachers have wondered if this means they have to throw out huge chunks of literature and narrative writing. I don’t think so. The standards emphasize "writing instruction belonging in the hands of all disciplines. Much of the informational and opinion writing will occur in the context of science, social studies, and reading lessons. For example, science pieces on electricity (CLICK) and fossils (CLICK), and social studies pieces on transportation (CLICK).
- Slide 12Writing across the curriculum is going to be a necessity to get in the practice of informational and opinion writing. The way I see it, is that teachers will use writing time to introduce Common Core informational and opinion writing, do a piece in writing time, but then they will need to transfer and continue practicing these Common Core writing skills in other subject areas.(CLICK)This is structure empathizes the model of learning to write first, then once students know how to write in the specific text type, they write to learn in other subject areas.
- SLIDE 13 (Key #2 Instruction) QUOTE ON NEGLETED RMoving on to the 2nd key, Instruction.Even though Langer and Applebee made their conclusions in 1978, little has changed when it comes to writing instruction. Writing is still the most difficult subject to teach at the K-5 level, and therefore often the most neglected. I’ve talked to thousands of teachers and I’ve been in over 400 classrooms. And this second quote, (Click to show quote) doesn’t surprise me one bit.It’s pretty simple actually. The root cause of why this is so, can be organized into 3 problems.
- SLIDE 14 (#2 Key Instruction) OBSTACLESI think it’s important for you to know the obstacles teachers say cause them to not teach writing well, or enough. Since it’s a principal’s job to remove obstacles, if you don’t know the obstacles in the way, how can you move them? (CLICK TO REVEAL “PRINCIPAL = REMOVER”)Next, I will be going over the 3 problems, while giving you tools to help solve each problem.
- SLIDE 15 (#2 Key Instruction) KNOWLEDGEWe are going to start with the largest problem first. And that is:KnowledgeOr, I should really say, lack of Knowledge. Teachers lack confidence in how to teach writing well, and/or they don’t feel like writers themselves. Much of this stems from not having any writing courses in college.(CLICK to have quote come in)But, since you can’t do anything about their past training, we are going to focus on what you can do now to give teachers more confidence andknowledge now.
- Slide 16—Are you surprised by this data? I do think everyone, even non educators see the need to improve our writing instruction. The bottom line is that if we don’t teach writing, and teach it well, we will lose our written language in generations to come.
- Slide 17 Text cartoonThe notion of a symbol based only, society isn’t just for science fiction movies anymore. We are really concerned about text speak taking over our English language. This is a whole other topic for another time. But, if you are interested in hearing more, we wrote a blog about our concern.We have to make sure teachers have the knowledge they need to make writing lessons powerful and meaningful.
- SLIDE 18 (#2 Key Instruction) TeacherStar You don’t have time in your job to become curriculum experts in all subject areas. Therefore, I’m not going to teach you specifics about writing. Instead, you are going to leverage your teachers’ abilities to teach their colleagues. I never understood why wedon’t we tap into our own best resources for more knowledge giving? Our own teachers.At WriteSteps, have created a program called TeacherStar. We film master teachers from all over the nation modeling WriteSteps Common Core writing & grammar lessons. We share these videos in our electronic based writing program, eWriteSteps. Teachers always comment that they find so much value learning from those in the trenches with them! What I’m going to be sharing next with you will give you opportunities to have your teachers be TeacherStars in their own buildings. Talk about a confidence booster!I have a tool that you can hand out at your next staff meeting and use the results during a school PD day or in a staff meeting.
- SLIDE 16 (#2 Key Instruction) INSTRUCTION – My Glows & GrowsI’m a big believer in the power of self-reflection/assessment. It’s one of the qualities that all great teachers have. The tool I would like to offer to help solve the lack of knowledge problem, is a “Questions Teachers Have About Teaching Writing” document in your handout packet. Do you see it in your handout packet? Please take a moment to read the directions at the top of the first page. I suggest you take notes on your tools page, so you can make the best possible use of this self-reflection tool to help your teachers build more knowledge about writing instruction.
- SLIDE 20 (#2 Key Instruction) INSTRUCTION – Activity(CLICK)1st Step is to share it at a staff meeting. Reviewing the instructions at the top of the page will help teachers understand that you are serious about improving writing in your school. Have teachers complete it on their own, and set a deadline for completion. (CLICK)2nd Step, Recruit someone to collect and compile the glows and grows on the sheets. Your volunteer or secretary will figure out the logistics of how to put together a schedule based on the teacher’s marked Glows and Grows.(CLICK)3rd Step: The organization of how you do the glow sharing depends on how much time you give this activity. Maybe you take 10 minutes at the end of each staff meeting for Glow sharing. The person you recruited has picked several glow teachers to present to small groups of grow teachers (teachers who have marked the question as a top grow).Or, let’s say you make time during a school PD day for Glow sharing.(CLICK)Several teachers could be presenting at the same time. Or, do the Glow sharing during as Lunch & LearnsThere are many possibilities, I’m sure you will find a way to make this a powerful tool with your staff!
- SLIDE 21 (#2 Key Instruction) INSTRUCTION – TimeIf your teachers are providing regular writing instruction, congratulations, you are in the slim minority. (CLICK)92% of you reported that this is an area that still needs reinforcement or needs to be implemented.Unfortunately, you are not alone. In many schools, writing is one of those subjects that still gets squeezed out of a busy day, even if it’s written in the lesson plans. (CLICK)(CLICK)Writing is hard work. But, we can’t miss the bottom-line; we are here to do what is best for our children. Period. (Click to show mantra) I learned that early on from my excellent principal, Sue Burnham. This was her mantra everyday and with everything she did. And it showed. She was a fearless and respected leader.When we ask teachers, what makes writing the hardest subject, the number one reason they say is “time”. With most teachers saying, “I don’t have time to teach writing.”
- SLIDE 22 (#2 Key Instruction) INSTRUCTION – Time (no excuses)So, let’s be real here, it’s human nature that we make time for the things that we value or are good at, and the rest gets pushed aside. You know what I’m talking about; the gym memberships that never get used, or not taking our dream trip to Japan because the flight is almost a day of travel. No finger pointing here, we all do it. But, when it’s our children’s future, we have no room for negotiation or justification. Yes, I agree the elementary teacher has a lot of subjects to teach within the school day, withmany challenges, without a doubt. However, I believe a teacher saying they don’t have enough time to teach writing, is an excuse we can not accept. There are plenty of teachers who make time for writing and still cover the other subjects as well. Plus, if an engineer at Ford said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t have time to design the safest car possible.” (CLICK to reveal Donald Trump) They would get fired.
- SLIDE 23 (#2 Key Instruction) INSTRUCTION – TimeFor the most part when teachers complain of not having enough time, generally, it’s that they haven’t made enough time in their schedule that is the problem. There is a real reason for this. (CLICK); it’s the lack of confidence that causes teachers to avoid the teaching of writing. (CLICK). Or, they don’t see themselves as writers(CLICK).Or, they do teach it, but lack all forms of consistency These 3 reasons really stem back to the issue of knowledge. Therefore, the more you can dive into figuring out why individual teachers aren’t teaching writing, the better you will be at helping them overcome their obstacles.
- SLIDE 24 (#2 Key Instruction) INSTRUCTION – 90-minute ELA blockHowever, there are situations when time really is the issue for lack of writing instruction.Take the case of the district that is still implementing the Reading-First-mandated 90 minute Language Arts block. Well folks, let me tell you that a 90-minute ELA block is a disservice to writing. (CLICK 2X FOR 1ST CIRCLE). Most of these 90 minutes goes to reading (CLICK), spelling (CLICK), and grammar (CLICK) with almost nothing left over for writing (CLICK). I know this from what teachers tell me. They may not tell you, but that is what is going on. Looking at your Principal’s Self-Assessment sheet, you will see what we require in terms of teachers teaching WriteSteps, a 100% writing and grammar program.(CLICK 2X).Your own requirements may be different, but this is what we consider the minimum, and therefore, no teacher can fall below the minimum. For many teachers, even this minimum would be a huge improvement to what time they give to writing now. We like to be realistic. WriteSteps gets it, being teacher owned and operated. So, that’s why we don’t say teach writing everyday. We know that this isn’t always possible. We would rather see a teacher start at this minimum and work her way up once she gains confidence, than start teaching writing everyday and get frustrated and go down to teaching it when she has time.
- SLIDE 25 (#2 Key Instruction) INSTRUCTION – Crunch the numbersTo get your teachers evaluating where they are spending their time, I’m going to suggest a powerful activity I did when I was a teacher, and my principal implemented it for the school.Take a look at the lesson plans in your packet. You have Teacher A,B,C Using a calculator, (CLICK TO REVEAL CALCULATOR), you will have your teachers add up how many minutes each teacher is spending on each subject. Teacher C has the ideal amount of time spent on the 3 hardest hitters—the 3 R’s, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic.(Click for the 3 R’s). The rest of the subjects have less time. After your teachers do this calculation and discussion on the sample lesson plans, have them do it on their own lesson plans for a week. Your teachers should turn in their weekly totals for one week of every month, or quarterly, stapled to a week’s worth of their lesson plans.
- SLIDE 26 (#2 Key Instruction) INSTRUCTION – Random Drop-insOne of the most effective thing my principal did was to pair the last activity, “Crunch the Numbers” with random drop ins. You see, our school wasn’t doing well on our 5th grade state writing tests. Sue knew she needed to do something. She had a hunch that some teachers were putting down that they were teaching writing daily in their lesson plans, but weren’t actually following them. Therefore, she devised a schedule unbeknownst to us, and she would randomly drop in. It just happened that she would always drop in around the time we had said in our lesson plans we would be teaching writing. So, which teachers had a problem with her random drop ins? Yup, you guessed it, the ones that weren’t doing what they were supposed to be doing to start with. Regardless, the outcome was exactly what she wanted, our teachers started teaching the proper writing frequency and a writing community grew in our school, not to mention we had a huge leap in our writing test scores. Everyone won. When we do our WriteSteps virtual or in person grade level coaching, (CLICK) we always recommend to principals to take the weekly lesson plans teachers turned in from Crunch the Numbers, (CLICK) and make a weekly schedule to do random drop ins at various times of the day based on the times writing is written on the teachers’ lesson plans. (CLICK) We tell them to make it a goal to drop in to at least 2 classrooms a day.
- SLIDE 27 (#2 Key Instruction) INSTRUCTION – Frequency ChecksIn addition to dropping in, Sue would also at the same time, or at another time, drop in to check our students’ dates on top of their writing. This only works well in grades K-2 where the students should be keeping their writing all in one place, in a writer’s notebook. (Click to show a Writer’s Notebook picture)She was looking for at least 3 dates in the same week. (CLICK TO SHOW 3 DATES)If she didn’t see it, she would ask us. Sometimes it was due to the student being absent, sometime it was due to not doing writing the minimum 3 days a week. After she did this for a couple of months, we starting doing what we needed to do and saw the results we needed to see.
- SLIDE 25 (Instruction) H-M-LThe last tool we suggest to our principals is to collect a high, medium and low student sample from each teacher. Since you don’t want them to come to you all at once, I suggest that you put a schedule together for teachers to turn them into you. For example, maybe Kindergarten turns their samples in the first week, 1st grade the 2nd week, 2nd grade the 3rd week, and so on. I understand that even the most efficient and effective principal, wouldn’t have time to read all of the samples on a weekly basis. But, when you do have some time, you can skim and flip through the writing to see what is going on in the rooms. Maybe make some sticky notes with 1 Glow and 1 Grow mentioned, on a few of the papers. It’s important to put your initials or some type of mark that you have seen the papers. Then turn them back. (CLICK TO SHOW PRINCIPAL WITH MAGNIFYING GLASS). However, it’s important to note, that the biggest reason for implementing this tool, is so that you send a message to teachers that you are looking at their student’ work. You are going more for the process than the product on this tool.
- SLIDE 29 (INSTRUCTION) No MaterialsWhen I’m at conferences I ask hundreds of teachers what they are using to teach writing. The amount of blank stares and long pauses are astonishing. Why is this? Why if I asked the same teachers what they use for math or reading, they could quickly name a program or a specific set of strategies. (click to reveal statement)Lack of materials or lack of quality materials is the 3rdbig picture problem why students score the lowest on the writing tests.I’m thinking about doing a webinar on how to evaluate your writing program. Please vote now, if that is something you would be interested in attending.
- SLIDE30 (#2 Key Instruction) MaterialsTeachers need a guide on their side that they follow 100% the first year. Then after that, they can put their own spin and style into a program. Anything needs to be implemented with fidelity the first year. Beware of sticker slapping: Publishers repacking materials and sticking a “Common Core Aligned” on the new shiny materials. (CLICK 2X to reveal e-newsletter screenshot)We published an article about this problem in our e-newsletter last spring, highlighting several news stories about whistle blowers in the publishing industry who warned about this problem convincingly. If you’re interested in reading more, you can find it on our website (CLICK 2X, once for site and once for arrow)
- SLIDE30 (#2 Key Instruction) MaterialsTeachers need a guide on their side that they follow 100% the first year. Then after that, they can put their own spin and style into a program. Anything needs to be implemented with fidelity the first year. Beware of sticker slapping: Publishers repacking materials and sticking a “Common Core Aligned” on the new shiny materials. (CLICK 2X to reveal e-newsletter screenshot)We published an article about this problem in our e-newsletter last spring, highlighting several news stories about whistle blowers in the publishing industry who warned about this problem convincingly. If you’re interested in reading more, you can find it on our website (CLICK 2X, once for site and once for arrow)
- SLIDE 31 (CONCLUSION)This concludes the 6 tools to help you with the 3 main problems that cause your test scores to be the lowest in writing. (click to show statement) As the school leader, you have the power to change the amount of time spent on teaching writing and to help teachers be more successful, so their students can be more successful.If you implement the 6 tools I have suggested in this webinar,I’ll 100% guarantee your students will become better writers and therefore, your test scores will rise and you will have a strong culture of writing. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like us to come and share more about Common Core and WriteSteps free to your teachers. My contact info is on the first page of your packet. I’m here to help.Like I said, I’ll be developing more webinars to help you with the other 5 Keys to Common Core writing success. I’ll be contacting raffle winners by next week. There is an evaluation, I would love to hear your feedback, and please “Like” us on Facebook. Thank you for your time!