The document discusses planning writing minilessons. It outlines beliefs about planning, including that the needs of students should come first and planning should not rely solely on canned programs or lessons from previous years. It discusses beginning the planning process by considering student needs, curriculum expectations, and available resources. It provides examples of creating a menu of options for a personal narrative unit, including ideas for launching instruction, focusing on curriculum standards, and resources to scaffold instruction, such as professional books, children's literature, and online texts. The overall document focuses on thoughtfully planning writing minilessons tailored to each class based on students, standards, and available support materials.

1. Maximizing Minilessons
Franki Sibberson and Tony Keefer
Dublin Leadership Academy 2012

3. A Lifelong Conversation
Around Books and Reading

4. What are my
beliefs about Minilessons?

5. #1 Designed with a vision of helping students gain the necessary skills,
strategies, and behaviors to become independent readers.
#2 Scaffolded across time to deepen and enrich understanding of
concepts. They are not activities delivered in isolation.
#3 Part of larger conversations that we as a community have about our
reading lives and that these conversations build over time.
#4 Interactive. Students should be the ones doing the thinking, not the
teacher.
#5 Planned with the needs of current students in mind. They can't be
canned, scripted or duplicated year after year.

6. #6 The right length to match your teaching point. There is no magic
number of minutes for an effective minilesson.
#7 Organized in a way that makes the most sense to the teacher, school,
or district. There is no one right way to organize lessons.
#8 Based on what we know about teaching and learning. No matter the
mandates and pressures of state testing, there is no reason to compromise
best teaching practice.
#9 Designed to teach the reader not the book.
#10 Designed by the teachers who is doing the teaching, not
corporations.

8. Minilesson Cycles Can Be
Lots of Ways to Plan
 Strategies—comprehension, word work
 Behaviors and Habits—book choice, stamina
 Literary Elements—character, theme
 Genre—nonfiction, mystery, historical fiction

9. What Are We Assessing?
What we don’t do, however,
is use our experience to
direct or guide towards our
own understanding of any
given text…..we need to
teach each student the way
readers think as they read,
not what to think, helping
them to experience texts as
readers, rather that putting
specific thoughts about

10. The Stranger

11. Unpacking Standards: Plot
 K-Retell or re-enact a story that has been heard.
 1-Retell the beginning, middle and ending of a
story including its important events.
 2-Retell the plot of a story.
 3-Retell the plot sequence.
 4-Identify the main incidents of a plot sequence,
identifying the major conflict and its resolution.
 5-Identify the main incidents of a plot sequence
and how they influence future action.

12. Plot
A story with very
obvious problem
and solution

13. Two stories with
similar plots to
discuss parts of a
story.

14. Unpacking the
Common Core

15. Characters
We learn about
characters
through their
relationships with
others.

16. Character
We learn about a
character from
the way he/she
behaves and
reacts in a story.

18. Character
Readers learn
about characters
by the things
they say. (voice)

19. Character
The more we know
about a character,
the better we can
predict and
understand his/her
actions and
behaviors.

20. Character
Important
characters in a
book often
change over the
course of the
story.

21. Big Picture of Theme Cycle: What
Am I Setting Up?
Understandings I Want My Students to Come Away
With in this Cycle
 *Readers have the power to determine the theme in a
text.
 Authors often write a story with a bigger message
about life to the reader.
 There is often more than one theme in a book.
 There are universal themes that appear often in books.
 A theme works across an entire piece.


22. How do they get there from
where they are now?
Plot vs. Theme
Stated vs. Implied Theme
When Two Storylines Come Together
Repeated Language
Symbolism/Metaphors
General vs. Specific Theme
Universal Themes

23. YouTube Video Clips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv015LtqA0A
Danny MacGaskill

24. Stated Vs.
Implied Theme
24

25. A Circle of
Friends
Wordless Book
A Good First Look at Title
Significance of word
“circle”

26. The Enormous Turnip
 Traditional Tales
with obvious and
accessible themes
are a great way to
introduce the
concept of theme
as well as universal
themes to
students.

27. Artie and Julie
How do Storylines
come together?

28. Many Stories of Friendship

29. Wanda’s Roses/The Curious
Garden

30. A Menu of
Options
Titles are often a
metaphor and a
clue into the
theme of the
story.

31. Walk On!
A Guide for Babies of All
Ages
By Marla Frazee
Dedication
“to my son, Graham, off
to college”

33. WRITING MINILESSONS

34. BELIEFS ABOUT PLANNING

35. BELIEFS ABOUT PLANNING
1) The needs of my students come first when I think about planning.

36. BELIEFS ABOUT PLANNING
1) The needs of my students come first when I think about planning.
2) Students in my class are too valuable to leave the planning for writing
completely to a canned program or just pulling same lessons from a
previous year.

37. BELIEFS ABOUT PLANNING
1) The needs of my students come first when I think about planning.
2) Students in my class are too valuable to leave the planning for writing
completely to a canned program or just pulling same lessons from a
previous year.
3) Curriculum guidelines like CCSS are very important, but I cannot assume
the children in my class are a perfect match with those guidelines.

38. BELIEFS ABOUT PLANNING
1) The needs of my students come first when I think about planning.
2) Students in my class are too valuable to leave the planning for writing
completely to a canned program or just pulling same lessons from a
previous year.
3) Curriculum guidelines like CCSS are very important, but I cannot assume
the children in my class are a perfect match with those guidelines.
4) I work hard to find resources to support growth in the writers I teach.

39. BELIEFS ABOUT PLANNING
1) The needs of my students come first when I think about planning.
2) Students in my class are too valuable to leave the planning for writing
completely to a canned program or just pulling same lessons from a
previous year.
3) Curriculum guidelines like CCSS are very important, but I cannot assume
the children in my class are a perfect match with those guidelines.
4) I work hard to find resources to support growth in the writers I teach.
5) I think it is important for children to showcase their thinking during
minilessons. It shouldn’t be just me blabbing away.

40. BELIEFS ABOUT PLANNING
1) The needs of my students come first when I think about planning.
2) Students in my class are too valuable to leave the planning for writing
completely to a canned program or just pulling same lessons from a
previous year.
3) Curriculum guidelines like CCSS are very important, but I cannot assume
the children in my class are a perfect match with those guidelines.
4) I work hard to find resources to support growth in the writers I teach.
5) I think it is important for children to showcase their thinking during
minilessons. It shouldn’t be just me blabbing away.
6) I plan for both the short term growth and the future growth of the writers
in my room. I want the individual minilessons to be connected to a larger
ongoing conversation about writing as the year progresses..

41. WHERE TO BEGIN?

42. BIG PICTURE COMPONENTS
NEEDS OF THE STUDENTS
• Where are they as writers?
• What skills do they already
possess?
• Where do you want them to be
at the end of a project?
• What are the new skills or
techniques they will need?

43. BIG PICTURE COMPONENTS
CURRICULUM EXPECTATIONS
• CCSS expectations for your
grade level
• CCSS expectations for grade
above and below
• District expectations
• Your own expectations

44. BIG PICTURE COMPONENTS
RESOURCES AVAILABLE
• Your own experiences
• Professional books
• Team or grade level colleagues
• Online resources

45. BIG PICTURE COMPONENTS
CURRICULUM EXPECTATIONS
NEEDS OF THE STUDENTS
RESOURCES AVAILABLE
SWEETSPOT

46. MENU OF OPTIONS
O0OH ... the possibilities

47. CREATING YOUR MENU

48. CREATING YOUR MENU

49. CREATING YOUR MENU
Comes from previous work,
conversations, and previous lesson
cycles.
Think formative assessment.

50. CREATING YOUR MENU
Comes from previous work,
conversations, and previous lesson
cycles.
Think formative assessment.
For me, the most important part of
launching a minilesson cycle is
creating authenticity.
“How can I help my students see the
power of their own writing.”

51. CREATING YOUR MENU
Comes from previous work,
conversations, and previous lesson
cycles.
Think formative assessment.
For me, the most important part of
launching a minilesson cycle is
creating authenticity.
“How can I help my students see the
power of their own writing.”
I use this area to jot ideas after the first two days. I want to see the flow of
learning within the writing workshop.

52. CREATING YOUR MENU

53. CREATING YOUR MENU Comes from your interpretation of the
standards within your focus for the
cycle.
Try not to “over plan” here.
What will be the format of the work
produced?

54. CREATING YOUR MENU Comes from your interpretation of the
standards within your focus for the
cycle.
Try not to “over plan” here.
What will be the format of the work
produced?
What will be your focus for ongoing
assessment?
How will you assess the final project?
What tools will you give students to
empower self-assessment?

55. CREATING YOUR MENU Comes from your interpretation of the
standards within your focus for the
cycle.
Try not to “over plan” here.
What will be the format of the work
produced?
What will be your focus for ongoing
assessment?
How will you assess the final project?
What tools will you give students to
empower self-assessment?
It may seem simple because it is our job to TEACH, but I struggle at times to
not do too much work. This is where I jot notes to remind me to help
without doing too much work for my students.

56. CREATING YOUR MENU

57. N
CREATING YOUR MENU
F U

58. N
CREATING YOUR MENU
I look for: F U

59. N
CREATING YOUR MENU
I look for: F U
1) Ideas from my past experiences (as a teacher and my life).

60. N
CREATING YOUR MENU
I look for: F U
1) Ideas from my past experiences (as a teacher and my life).
2) Ideas found in the words of ‘the experts’

61. N
CREATING YOUR MENU
I look for: F U
1) Ideas from my past experiences (as a teacher and my life).
2) Ideas found in the words of ‘the experts’
3) Ideas that can be launched from quality books or other texts.

62. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE

63. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Students: What do they already know? (Let’s imagine ...)

64. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Students: What do they already know? (Let’s imagine ...)
1) Stories have a beginning, middle and end.

65. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Students: What do they already know? (Let’s imagine ...)
1) Stories have a beginning, middle and end.
2) You should check your work for mistakes.

66. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Students: What do they already know? (Let’s imagine ...)
1) Stories have a beginning, middle and end.
2) You should check your work for mistakes.
3) Personal narratives are true stories about yourself.

67. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Students: What do they already know? (Let’s imagine ...)
1) Stories have a beginning, middle and end.
2) You should check your work for mistakes.
3) Personal narratives are true stories about yourself.
4) Stories are better if they have interesting details.

68. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE

69. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Students: Launching Ideas

70. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Students: Launching Ideas
1) The power of story.

71. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Students: Launching Ideas
1) The power of story.
2) Set the stage to “de-school-ify” the work.

72. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Students: Launching Ideas
1) The power of story.
2) Set the stage to “de-school-ify” the work.
3) Build the stance that we all have worthwhile stories to
share.

73. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Curriculum (CCSS focus)

74. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Curriculum (CCSS focus)

75. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Curriculum (CCSS focus)
The idea of dialogue and description to enhance a narrative
could be very powerful as a focus.

76. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Curriculum (CCSS focus)

77. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Curriculum (CCSS focus)

78. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Curriculum (CCSS focus)
The craft of creating a variety of well written sentence
structures is a big deal in almost every form of writing.

79. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Resources to Scaffold Instruction

80. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Resources to Scaffold Instruction
s
e
rc
ous
Re
al
on
si
es
of
Pr

81. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Resources to Scaffold Instruction
s
e Childrens’ Books
rc
ous
Re
al
on
si
es
of
Pr

82. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Resources to Scaffold Instruction
s
e Childrens’ Books
rc
ous
Re
al
on
si
es
Online Texts
of
Pr

83. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Resources to Scaffold Instruction

84. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Resources to Scaffold Instruction
Professional Resources
1) Teaching the Qualities of Writing by Ralph Fletcher
2) The Revision Toolbox by Georgia Heard
3) How to Write Your Life Story by Ralph Fletcher
4) Lessons that Change Writers by Nancie Atwell
5) Two Writing Teachers Website (“Tools” page is very helpful)

85. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Resources to Scaffold Instruction

86. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Resources to Scaffold Instruction
Children’s Books
Look for quality stories that are told by a first person narrator. An
authentic personal story would be great, but you can still learn
from realistic fictional narratives.
1) Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
2) 26 Fairmont Ave by Tomie dePaolo
3) Up North at the Cabin by Martha Wilson Chall
4) Puddles by Jonathan London
5) The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant
6) Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting
7) A Sweet Smell of Roses by Angela Johnson
8) Shortcut by Donald Crews
9) Guys Write for Guys Read compiled by Jon Scieszka
10) Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka

87. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Resources to Scaffold Instruction
Online Texts
This can be overwhelming and it takes time to muddle through the
good and the bad.
When looking for narrative style posts, I go to these two resources:
1) Two Writing Teachers “Slice of Life”
(look for the logo, and go to comments thread
for each post)
2) Edudemic Student Blog List

88. CREATING A MENU FOR PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Pulling it all together
1) Plan for more minilessons than you think you will need. This will
help you adapt to needs of students in your room. The added
bonus is some of the lessons you have planned may be perfect for
later in the year.
2) Try different lessons or use different resources for your 2-3 big
goals for the unit. This will help reinforce key ideas so key learning
sticks.
3) When looking at a book to launch a specific lesson, read it for
other planning purposes as well. This will help also you later.
4) Plan for organized success, but expect some failure.

89. ON A YEARLONG PATH
Whatever minilesson cycle you are planning, think
connections to big picture ideas.
The power of thoughtful, intentional planning in the
workshop model is the connections your students make
as they are becoming better readers and writers.

90. INSPIRATION
USUALLY COMES DURING WORK
RATHER THAN
BEFORE IT
Madeline L’Engle

91. ONLINE SLIDE LOCATIONS
http://readingyear.blogspot.com/
http://tonykeefer.tumblr.com/
http://www.slideshare.net/franki22
http://www.slideshare.net/TonyKeefer

92. IMAGE CREDITS
All photos have been released by artists through Creative
Commons Licenses.
Question Mark Graffiti by Bilal Kamoon
Old Sonic Menu by KB35
Video Rocket Blastoff by Steve Jurvetson
Puzzle Perspective by Jugbo
Path Most Taken by Donald Lee Pardue
Philips Lightbulb by dvanzuijlekom