This presentation will be delivered at the East TN Federal Programs conference and speaks to the need of incorporating a literacy block in the classroom where reading, writing, speaking and listening are incorporated together.

1. Creating The Link
Between Reading and
Writing
Keith Pruitt, Ed.S
Words of Wisdom
Educational Consulting

2. Brain Gym
•Make as many words as possible
in one minute from the following
word.
•Information

3. What is needed for
student success with
writing?
Turn and Talk

4. 1.Clear instructional pathway–
writing involves process.
2.Words- Students often write at
low levels because it reflects the
level of their vocabulary.
3.Practice- No writer ever finds
success without writing a lot!
4.Tools- Things such as graphic
organizers.
5.Expectations- Mentor text

5. The Critical Connection
Reading and writing are mutually supportive
processes; therefore, gaining insight in reading
deepens insight into writing and vice versa. For
example, when a reader develops an
understanding of a structure, an organizing
principle, a reading strategy, or insights into the
elements of story, she also gains a window into
understanding how to assemble texts as a
writer. --Writers are Readers, Laminack and Wadsworth, vii Heinemann (2015)

6. Characterization
Description
Personality
Actions
Changes
Jesse Oliver Aarons, Jr.
Bridge to Terabithia
So then I start asking some questions: What are my initial thoughts about Jesse?
What word or words would I use to describe his character?
As I continue to read, does my thinking about him change? What does the author
say to let me know that Jesse is changing from how we saw him in the first of the
book?
After I have read a couple of chapters, contrast what you initially thought about
Jesse and what you think of him now. Do this every couple of chapters.
What this will teach students is how characterization is developed in stories. Now
I can have them develop a character. Use a picture to start the conversation.
Pyramid of Development

8. • Ask students to talk about this picture for
two minutes.
• What questions might they ask about the
picture?
• Have them select one person in the
picture and begin writing about the
person using our pyramid of
development.
• Each month during the school year, have
the students develop the character
further.

9. “Float the learning on a sea of talk.”
---James Britton, Language and Learning (1970)
Children Want to Write, Donald Graves, Chapter 6 What the
Story is About

10. Turn and Tell a friend about
one observation from this
video that speaks to the
essential nature of linking
reading and writing.

11. Teaching for
Understanding
• What kind of parent is the person
in this poem?
• What do you view this poem
being about?
• What alternative understanding is
possible of the poem?
• How does this inform ones
writing?
Lucy Calkins, Units of Study in Reading, presentation
Portsmouth, NH, 2015

12. Frog and Toad are Friends, Arnold Lobel, HarperCollinsPublishers
p.15: Pause after reading to study the illustration and
share thinking. Think aloud before prompting students
to turn and talk.
“I notice the character is _______. I wonder why? Turn
and tell your partner what ideas you’re having now.
Remember to use our “Talk chart” to say “I think
_________ because _________” to explain your
thinking.
Lucy Calkins, Units of Study for Reading, Unit 1, Gr.1. (Heinemann)
How does this inform our
writing?

13. An author must include insights about the actions of the
characters to allow the reader to understand not only the
character but also the character’s actions.
What is the action that is in keeping with
character?
How is that action going to be viewed by other
characters?
Will something happen to cause the
character to change his actions?
Will the character’s actions cause
conflict?

14. Working with
Informational Text
How to use
Mentor
Text

15. The Importance of Mentor
Text
1. Serves as a starting gate for
writing.
2. Mirrors the expectation for
the writing to be done.
3. Serves as a point for mini-
lessons, ie. Using
adjectives effectively
4. Gives students guidance for
different genres and text
types.

16. Benchmark Education, Genre Readers & Writers Workshop

17. Questions to Ask
1. What is a persuasive essay?
2. What is the purpose of a
persuasive essay?
3. Who is the audience for a
persuasive essay?
4. How do you read a persuasive
essay?

20. “Every week that students are not in
school, they are forgetting some of the
facts, strategies, and skills they learned.”
Student 1
“Summer vacation is a learning
experience, too!”
Student 2

21. Thus, approaches that are
initially socially mediated are
eventually internalized, and
become part of the
repertoire of the individual.
--Langer and Appleby, Reading and Writing Instruction (1986)
Review of Research in Education

22. Thank You
Keith Pruitt
Words of Wisdom Educational Consulting
www.woweducationalconsulting.com