Here is the CODERS Directory for 2023! Find names, photos, emails, and phone numbers of CODERS administration and all of the project participants.
Congratulations on your selection to participate in the CODERS Summer Launch Experience. Tammi, Razib, Andrew, Diana, Judith, and I are excited to see you Monday-Thursday, June 5-8 on the campus of Missouri State University in Cheek 151. This is a change from four to five days. We hope you are okay with this! We will meet from 8:30-4:30. Coffee, conversation, and supply pick-up starts at 8:00 am in Cheek Hall 151. For those of you who are new, CODERS stands for Computer Science Opportunities, Development & Education in Rural Schools. This is a grant funded by the US Department of Education’s program called Education, Innovation &
Research. We are proud to be able to bring the latest technology to you and your schools.
- Parking passes will be emailed a week ahead of time. By agreeing to participate, you are agreeing to do the following:
- Attend the five-day summer launch or equivalent of 30 hours
- Implement five CODERS lessons that we will teach you.
- Attend four professional development days (~25 hours) or equivalent during the academic year. Year 2 and Year 3 returning CODERS will have a menu of options
- Write reflections regarding each of those lessons and include exit passes from students.
- Work with your district to collect standardized test data with support from our colleague, Callie Dean, from The Evaluation Group. (easier than it sounds)
- Complete a pre and post survey.
- Have your students who receive the CODERS lessons complete a pre and post-survey
- By agreeing to participate, you will receive
- 10 CODERS kits for your classroom. [We love the fact that you are inviting your colleagues from your schools. 4 teachers in one schools district in one year will have 40 Coders kits. 4 teachers participating for two years will have 80, and it goes on. You will be getting a substantial set of CODERS tools that have been tested by Dr. Razib Iqbal, a professor of Computer Science with much industry experience.
Cutebot, drones, robots, and more! - A $2,600 stipend for participating in the summer, the data collection, and the days during the year.
- Provide you data evaluating the impact of your work on students.
- Opportunities to teach teachers
- Opportunities to present at conferences
- Participate in a community of learners in an interdisciplinary experience that combines computer science, writing, music, literacy, and mathematics.
- Opportunity for course credit at a reduced cost to support salary ladders
- Certificate of completion
- A letter to your principal and superintendent commending your participation and partnership with Missouri State University
See you on Monday, June 5.
Please bring a team of 4-5 students. A team should consist of fourth through sixth graders OR a team of seventh and/or eighth graders. A school team will be presented a problem to solve related to coding. Points will be determined and awards presented at the end of the day. If you would like to participate in planning, please attend the virtual January 27 meeting. Email Keri for more details. During this day, each teacher will need to assist with oversight in rooms. Lunch will be provided. Please let us know if you plan to bring a colleague or principal that day. The day will end at 2:00 pm. If you need assistance in any way, please contact Dr. Keri Franklin.
Tuesday, Feb 27, 2024, 08:30 AM to 2:00 PM
Plaster Student Union, East Madison Street, Springfield, MO, USA
Thanks for your feedback on the last newsletter! Here is the next one with new information, reminders, and lots of opportunities. Feel free to send any feedback. I really appreciate it. This will also be posted on the blog each week in case you need to find it.
Tell you and your students CODERS story. Tell a Pixar Story.
Try out this form and share a draft of your story. Use this link with your students as well.
Once upon a time there was ___.
Every day, [the students, the teacher, whoever the story is about].
One day ___.
Because of that, ___.
Because of that, ___.
Until finally ___.
After you write your story, take a few minutes to edit. Jen and I used this template to write her spotlight. She told the story, I took dictation for her, and then edited out the “once upon a time.”
This could be a partner exercise to begin or end a class. Tell the students they will be published! Send your stories in. We will edit, send back to you, and publish.
All CODERS current and past participants are invited to view and share stories through our newsletter. Please take a moment to read about upcoming opportunities.
View the CODERS Newsletter.
The first lesson(s) should be focused on:
STEAM or advanced topics (robot dog or drone)
Talk to Dr. Iqbal for any questions!
PSU Ballroom 8:30-4
The second lesson should be focused on either:
Microbit or Cutebot
Please try and complete by October 30th!
Talk to Dr. Iqbal for any questions!
Here are the resources that Jennifer Jackson put together for her Makecode Classroom.
Set up your Microbit Classroom
PSU ballroom 8:30-4
XGO Robot Dog Kit is an AI dog micro robot with 12 DOFs (Degree Of Freedom: facilitates bionic movement) designed for artificial intelligence education for teenagers. It supports Omni-movement and is able to perform as a real pet dog. In this session, Dr. Iqbal introduces the participants to the XGO Robot Dog and its components. The participants also learn to teach the Robot dog to follow a light source. In another activity, the participants build upon the radio transmission concepts from micro:bit to make the Robot Dog fetch a bone. Bow Wow!!
Link to the presentation: Robot-Dog-Summer-2023
Link to Makecode: https://makecode.microbit.org/
Link to XGO Robot Dog: https://www.elecfreaks.com/learn-en/microbitKit/microbit-xgo-robot-kit/microbit-xgo-robot-kit-Introduction.html
The first lesson(s) should be focused on either:
Career Connections and Computational Thinking
Here’s who to talk to for questions:
Contact Dr. Franklin @KFranklin@MissouriState.edu for help with Career Connections.
Contact Dr. Iqbal @RIqbal@MissouriState.edu or Dr. Piccolo @DPiccolo@MissouriState.edufor help with Computational Thinking.
We will be in the Plaster Student Union Ballroom from 8:30-4:00 pm. Please bring your laptops/chromebooks with power sources.
We look forward to seeing you all soon!
The window for completing the student surveys is ….. August 29-September 15!
The CoDrone Mini is a tiny and zippy mini drone that can be programmed with blocks using Blockly or with Python. It uses radio frequency to connect the remote and drone, so the range and connection is stronger. Embark on a flying journey with Dr. Iqbal, where he introduces you to CoDrone Mini and how to use Blockly to program the drone and develop computational thinking. The participants learn how to flip the drone and write codes for autopilot.
Link to the presentation: Summer-2023-codrone-mini
Link to Blockly: https://codrone.robolink.com/mini/blockly/
Link to CoDrone Mini: https://learn.robolink.com/product/codrone-mini/
Get to know the arts standards and how to apply them in the classroom, and how to add music to your coding lessons. Dr. Homburg walks you through all the important steps of integrating art into STEM projects.
- DJI Drone
- CoDrone
- Robot Dog
- Smart Home Kit
- I found these club packs (as of now, it is showing 12 available) on Amazon. Each of these packs has 10 microbits and the price of the pack is showing $285. BBC MICRO:BIT Micro:bit v2 Go Club 10-Pack – Batteries and USB Cables Included https://a.co/d/bPvjYHL
- Cutebot (ASIN B081ZSCZTV)
- Vilros BBC Micro/Bit v@ Basic Starter Kit (ASIN B08WR4X7P9)
- NIMH AAA batteries ASIN B0915GQKVD
- Tenergy Premium PRO Rechargeable AAA Batteries, High Capacity 1100mAh NiMH AAA Battery, 4 Pack Rechargeable Batteries. Amazon Listing: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0915GQKVD Regular Price: $6.99. Business Volume Discounted Price: $5.59 (20% discount). Important note: this listing and price is for a pack of 4 AAA batteries. If customer needs 2,000 AAA batteries, then the customer only needs to by 500 units of this ASIN B0915GQKVD.
- Battery Chargers for AA & AAA Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries (Ni-MH) With USB Port ASIN B07TGT9D98
- Tenergy TN474U 4-Bay NiMH/NiCD Battery Charger with LCD Display and USB Input, Portable Charger for AA/AAA NiMH and NiCD Batteries. Amazon Listing: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TGT9D98. Regular Price: $12.99. Business Volume Discounted Price: $10.99 (15.4% discount). Quantity: 500 chargers
To be a part of an Institutional Review Board-approved study, researchers have to gain consent from participants. You gave your consent during the Launch.
When school starts, we will need you to send home the Passive Consent Form home to students. You will need to read this form aloud to students and explain the cool things you will be doing. There are no real risks that we have identified. The benefits are that they will be accessing cutting-edge programming tools. The students ONLY have to return the form IF they are NOT going to participate. You will give them a window of time (two weeks or so) to return the form. If you get any forms, please email them to Hannah (hannah1231@missouristate.edu) and we will take out any data we might have related to that student.
Again, forms are only signed, returned, and collected for parents who do NOT WISH for their child to participate in the completion of the surveys. Below, you will find the Consent Form in English and Spanish. Thank you again for participating. This work with students will have an impact across the country.
A smart home is a home equipped with lighting, heating, and electronic devices that can be controlled by a computer. Sensors and actuators are a very integral part of smart home. In this session, Dr. Iqbal introduces the participants to a basic smart home kit and teaches about light sensor, noise sensor and moisture sensor. The participants learn to build a sound-activated light and a cooling system using Micro:bit coding and the Smart Home Kit.
Link to the presentation: Summer-2023-SmartHome
Link to makecode: https://makecode.microbit.org/
Link to Smart Home Kit: https://elecfreaks.com/learn-en/microbitKit/smart_home_kit/smart_home_kit.html
Below are links to the teacher-tested and approved websites mentioned during the CODERS Launch.
Micro:bit is a small programmable pocket-size computer designed for educational purposes for students. With a built-in LED display, buttons, and sensors, this is the perfect tool for developing computational thinking and learning to design and program. In this session, Dr. Iqbal introduces ‘Makecode for Micro:bit’ and guides the participants to understand conditions, loops, variables, and radio concepts. Hands-on activities help participants to build a bigger picture, starting from smaller components of block coding.
Link to presentation: Summer-2023-Microbit
Micro:bit Introduction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2u7UJSRuko
Makecode website: https://makecode.microbit.org/
Micro:bit cutebot is a small programmable Bot designed for educational purposes for teaching programming. Go on the wonderful learning session with Dr. Iqbal where he covers hands-on Cutebots activities to teach programming, logic, and computational thinking. Teach your cutebot to stop its motion when an obstacle is in its way. Then build on the radio lessons from the Micro:bit session to make the cutebot a full-fledged remote-controlled vehicle with turn signals and horns. Woo-hoo!!
Link of makecode: MakeCode for Micro:bit
Session Slides: Summer-2023-Cutebot
Cutebot information: https://www.elecfreaks.com/learn-en/microbitKit/smart_cutebot/cutebot_car.html
- is non-stop writing.
- can move from topic to topic.
- is writing more than you think you can.
- is not censored; that means don’t worrying about spelling, grammar, and mechanics.
- is not worrying about how good the writing is.
- is keeping your pen on the paper and writing even if you do not know what to say.
- is writing that is not judged or graded.
- is a way to explore.
- is a way to improve thinking.
- builds fluency.
I was really fortunate to work closely with Peter Elbow since 2010. His impact on the teaching of writing is more impactful than words can say. Here is an excerpt about Freewriting if you would like to read more.
The Missouri Learning Standards define the knowledge and skills students need in each grade level and course for success in college, other post-secondary training and careers.” These standards provide insurance that your students learn basic and higher-order skills, like critical thinking and problem-solving. The standards give real-world expectations that allow reflection of the student’s knowledge and skill sets for their future. When students, parents, and teachers work together toward shared goals, learning outcomes improve. The Missouri Learning Standards give school administrators, teachers, parents, and students a road map for learning expectations in each grade and course.
Missouri State Standards for Computer Sciences Link: https://dese.mo.gov/media/pdf/curr-mls-standards-computer-science-k-12-sboe-2019-0
References:
“Missouri Learning Standards.” Missouri Learning Standards | Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, dese.mo.gov/college-career-readiness/curriculum/missouri-learning-standards. Accessed 6 June 2023.
Name:____________________________Date:______________Block:___________
Ms. Franklin English IV
Revision occurs after you have a complete piece, although revisions occurs at all stages.
Match what you have already written with what you now wish to say.
Create out of the two a new piece that suits their present purpose
Revision never stops
The First Draft: Reseeing or Rethinking: changing what a piece says, the paper’s “bones.”
- You may realize it doesn’t say what you want it to say.
- You may crumple up what you’ve written and want to throw it away (actually keep in your portfolio but you don’t have to use it)
The Second Draft: Reworking or reshaping: changing how a piece says it, or changing the paper’s “muscles”
- You are satisfied with what you are saying, but not with how you said it.
- Working on “how” tends to mean thinking about readers: thinking about how your thoughts will be read or understood by people other than yourself.
- Feedback from readers is very useful at this level.
- One of the most common kinds of reworking is to improve clarity—clarifying sentences or transitions or whole paragraphs or changing the order of things, adding an introduction or conclusions and some transitions or getting rid of ideas or suggestions that seem unnecessary now.
- You may need to leave out parts that you like but that just don’t belong anymore.
The Third Draft: Copyediting or proofreading for mechanics and usage: checking for deviations from standard conventions, or changing the paper’s “skin.”
- This is what you do right before you hand something in.
- At the least, it is finding typographical errors.
You probably need to do these three levels in this order.
**borrowed from Elbow and Belanoff’s Being a Writer
**Natalie Goldberg makes a similar reference to in Writing Down the Bones.
The IF/THEN® Collection is the largest free resource of its kind dedicated to increasing access to authentic and relatable images of real women in STEM. The Educator Hub helps you align standards and choose videos for your classroom. Show two videos as week as a bellringer or an exit pass for six weeks.
Here in this digital library, you will find thousands of photos, videos and other assets that authentically represent women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The content features careers as diverse as shark tagging, fashion design, and training Olympic athletes, and nudges public perceptions in a more realistic direction that illuminates the importance of STEM everywhere.
The Collection is part of the IF/THEN® Initiative, a national effort sponsored by Lyda Hill Philanthropies® to inspire young girls to pursue STEM careers while creating a culture shift in how the world perceives women in STEM. The Collection features 125 female STEM innovators selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Lyda Hill Philanthropies® to be AAAS IF/THEN® Ambassadors, all serving as high-profile role models for girls.
Teacher Spotlight: Abbi Coy
https://blogs.missouristate.edu/discounts/archives/2780
Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children and a coding language with a simple visual interface that allows young people to create digital stories, games, and animations. Scratch promotes computational thinking and problem-solving skills; creative teaching and learning; self-expression and collaboration; and equity in computing. The concepts of block programming learned in Scratch will also be used in the upcoming sessions (for example, in Micro:bit). Take a journey with Dr. Iqbal, as he explains the very core concepts of programming using Scratch. Also, learn to animate your name and clean the ocean using Scratch.
Go to https://scratch.mit.edu.
Set up an account to save your work.
Click “Start Creating.”
Look at the online editor.
Link to Scratch: Scratch Website
Link to the presentation: Summer-2023-Scratch
Teacher Spotlight: Brandy Retasket
Computational thinking is the step that comes before programming. It’s the process of breaking down a problem into simple enough steps that even a computer would understand. Dr. Iqbal explains the analogy between design and computer programming. Have a journey with him where he explains binaries, bits, coding, and many more things related to computers and teaches how to think like a computer.
Link to Presentation: Summer-2023-Computational Thinking
Video: What Most Schools Don’t Teach via Coder.org
Video on Computer Languages: Introduction to Binary
Teacher Spotlight: Jennifer Jackson
Teacher Spotlight: Brandy Retasket
Here are writing strategies that are evidence-based. We hope that you integrate some of these writing strategies in your lessons.
Write to Learn Strategies
Daily writing, from freewriting to KWLS to creative forms like Haiku, is a thinking tool for learning in all disciplines. Below is a list of research-based writing strategies that we would like you to try writing to learn activities like the ones below or like the ones you like to use in class. We encourage you to read what students write without correcting spelling or grammar. We encourage you to read for disciplinary content and to see what your students are getting the hang of and what students may need clarification on.
Strategy |
Description |
Objective / Notes |
LOE |
Grades |
Page |
POW |
|
A prewriting strategy. Supports students in planning what they will write. |
Strong |
1-6 |
16* |
TREE |
As students write:
|
Supports student ability to write persuasively and analytically, as well as think critically. Scaffolds thesis writing. |
Strong |
2-3 |
26* |
TREE |
In older grades, expand the strategy as follows:
|
Supports student ability to write persuasively and analytically. This adjustment pushes students to communicate more about what they are thinking.
|
Strong |
4-6 |
26-27* |
K-W-L Chart |
Before and after a lesson, students complete a K-W-L chart:
|
Supports metacognition and reflective report writing. |
Strong |
2-6, 6-12 |
26*, 8** |
Sensory Details |
Using your five senses, write about the following:
|
Students can reflect on the STEM activities they witness. Supports observation, metacognition and reflective report writing.
|
Strong |
K-3~ |
26* |
Imitation |
Select a sentence, paragraph, or text excerpt and imitate the author’s form (see Recommendation 2b, examples 2 and 3). Example text: Charlotte’s Web. |
This strategy would pair well with sensory details. For example, students can read an excerpt with strong observational details. With the teacher’s help, students can identify examples of sensory details in the text before attempting the five senses prompt. |
Strong |
1-6 |
16* |
Peer Revising |
Students place a question mark (?) by anything they do not understand in their writing partner’s paper, and a carat (^) anywhere it would be useful for the author to include more information. |
Students will benefit from a directed approach to discussing and assessing what they are writing. |
Strong |
2-6 |
16* |
DARE |
Students dare to check their paper to be sure they have:
|
Students will strengthen their critical thinking skills by, for example, learning to support their claims and observations. This strategy will require scaffolding for thesis, supporting ideas, counter-evidence, and conclusions. |
Strong |
4-6, 6-12 |
26*, 12** |
Inform |
Students study one purpose of writing, which is to inform, by examining previously learned information or providing new information. Students are exposed to the following genres:
|
Teachers must expose students to various purposes and contexts for writing. This list of evidence-based genres can be used to develop additional activities. |
Strong |
N/A |
21* |
Venn Diagram |
Use a Venn diagram as a planning tool when writing a compare/contrast essay. Each circle can represent a different topic or position. The parts that overlap represent similarities, while the parts that do not overlap represent differences. |
A strategy to explicitly teach the stages of planning and drafting in the writing process. |
Strong |
6-12 |
8** |
Do/What |
Create a Do/What chart to thoroughly examine a prompt or instructions before beginning an assignment.
|
This strategy is recommended for any genre of writing to help students synthesize what they are being asked to do. |
Strong |
6-12 |
10** |
Set Goals |
Provide students with a list of writing goals that represent qualities of good writing and the criteria on which they will be evaluated. Examples include:
Students should choose one or more goals to work on as they write. |
This prewriting strategy is recommended for any genre to support students in the planning and drafting phase of writing.. |
Strong |
6-12 |
11** |
Mini Arguments |
Begin by drafting a claim and identifying two to four pieces of evidence to support that claim. This will serve as the first draft for the essay. Write a second draft after using “Rank the Evidence” strategy. |
This drafting strategy supports hypothesis writing, critical thinking, and persuasive thinking. It can support students as they establish cause/effect relationships. |
Strong |
6-12 |
12** |
Rank the Evidence |
After students write their Mini-Arguments, instruct them to:
|
Students collaborate in identifying cause/effect relationships. This encourages diversity of thought, which will support the writing process. |
Strong |
6-12 |
12** |
3-2-1 |
Students write:
|
This drafting strategy is an alternative to the K-W-L chart. |
Strong |
6-12 |
12** |
Color Coding |
Use different colored fonts or highlights in a word processing program to categorize different concepts, thoughts, and writing elements. |
This strategy supports students as they make sense of the world and ideas around them. |
Strong |
6-12 |
13** |
CDO |
Compare, Diagnose, & Operate by reading through the paper and asking if any of the following example diagnoses apply:
Then, students decide how they will rectify each situation identified. |
This strategy is for all writing genres, but it is also listed as particularly beneficial with informative writing. |
Strong |
6-12 |
13,16** |
PLAN |
Please see the diagrams on pages 17-18**:
|
This strategy could be modified to help students process and report their observations. |
Strong |
6-12 |
17,18** |
Exemplar Texts |
Expose students to exemplar informational and technical texts that have the following features:
Ask students to highlight text features before asking them to practice emulating these features in their own writing. |
Exemplar texts will help model appropriate information and scientific writing for students. Teachers can also use past student writing as examples. |
Moderate |
Elem/ Mid |
36-38** |
Graphic Organizers |
Teach and use graphic organizers (e.g., venn diagrams, cause-and-effect, properties and examples) to support students’ understanding of patterns and relationships among facts, terms, and concepts. Before asking students to create graphic organizers, model how to “read” a one by walking through a completed one. |
This strategy expands on the “Venn Diagram” activity. |
Strong |
Elem/ Mid |
33-36, 44^ |
Inquiry Box |
To teach technical vocabulary terms, identify example items and show them from the IB. Consider pairing an exemplar text with box items, telling students that items represent a concept in the text.
(E.g., exemplar text about solids, liquids, and gases. Box items include pencils, erasers, backpacks to exemplify solids.) |
This strategy is meant to extend student learning and understanding of new terminology. |
Strong |
Elem/ Mid |
42-43^ |
Mini- Vocabulary Lessons |
In a brief 10- to 15-minute mini-vocabulary lesson:
|
This strategy builds vocabulary and language skills. |
Moderate |
Elem/ Mid |
65, 18^ |
~Could be appropriate for K-8. Missouri State ENG 110 instructors regularly assign a sensory association essay with similar prompts to first-year students. Across ages and experiences, this assignment helps students make sense of their observations.
Addressing Stereotype Threats in Curriculum^^
Female students need intentional support and intervention during STEM/CS instruction to improve their chances of pursuing a career in these fields. Beginning in elementary and middle school instruction of math and science, girls and women begin to:
- Underestimate their abilities (6)
- Have less confidence (6)
- Show less interest in these subjects (6)
- Perform worse on standardized tests (especially when told they are being evaluated or when male students outnumber female students) (19, 20)
- Choose unchallenging problems to solve (19)
- Lower their performance expectations (19)
- Devalue a career choice in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (19)
- Avoid asking for help with assignments (16)
This is because female students face stereotype threats in the fields of STEM/CS, which are assumptions that they will perform negatively; and, these negative assumptions directly affect a student’s performance. Evidence from one small, cross-sectional observational study suggests that elementary school aged girls are aware of the stereotype that men are considered to be better at math than women; however, they still view girls and boys to be equally good at math (20). By the time girls reach middle school, stereotype threats can fully become a problem (20).
These stereotypes are operative (or default) unless measures are taken to counter them (20). Thus, teachers must be made aware of these barriers to learning so they can address them directly and proactively. The WWC offers the following recommendations to proactively address stereotype threats (6-7^^):
Rec. # |
Recommendation |
Level of Ev. |
1 |
Teach students that academic abilities are expendable and improvable. |
Moderate |
2 |
Provide prescriptive, informational feedback. |
Moderate |
3 |
Expose girls to female role models who have succeeded in math and science. |
Low |
4 |
Create a classroom environment that sparks initial curiosity and fosters long-term interest in math and science. |
Moderate |
5 |
Provide spacial skills training. |
Low |
WWC: Recommended Strategies and Practices
The following teaching strategies come from What Works Clearinghouse, which are collections of evidence-based practices published by the U.S. Department of Education. WWC reviews existing research on various programs, products, practices, and policies in education so that educators are equipped to make evidence-based decisions in the classroom (IES, 2020).
The WWC presents the following recommendations after examining studies showing positive effects on writing quality across diverse populations and settings (WWC p. 13). These recommendations focus on self-regulated strategy development (SRSD), an approach in which teachers instruct using specific techniques and gradually release the responsibility for the writing process to students (WWC, p. 13). Studies of SRSD show they provide uniformly positive effects on writing outcomes, including the overall quality of students’ writing (WWC, p. 13).
The WWC rates recommendations according to the following levels:
Level of Evidence |
Description |
Strong |
Positive findings are demonstrated in multiple well-designed, well-executed studies, leaving little or no doubt that the positive effects are caused by the recommended practice. |
Moderate |
Well-designed studies show positive impacts, but there are questions about whether the findings can be generalized beyond the study samples or whether the studies show definitive evidence that the practice is effective. |
Minimal |
There is not definitive evidence that the recommended practice is effective in improving the outcome of interest, although there may be data to suggest a correlation between the practice and the outcome of interest. |
The following table of teaching strategies have been assigned strong and moderate levels of evidence. Additionally, these strategies have been listed because of their anticipated compatibility with teaching STEM/CS concepts.
References
* |
Graham, S., Bollinger, A., Olson, C. B., D’Aoust, C., MacArthur, C., McCutchen, C., & Olinghouse, N. (2018). Teaching elementary school students to be effective writers [PDF file]. United States Department of Education, 1-112, https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs /PracticeGuide/WWC_Elem_Writing_PG_Dec182018.pdf. |
** |
Graham, S., Fitzgerald, J., Friedrich, L. D., Greene, K., Kim, J. S., & Olson, C. B. (2016). Teaching secondary students to write effectively [PDF file]. United States Department of Education, 1-90, https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/WWC_Elem_Writing _PG_Dec182018.pdf. |
^ |
Baker, S. B., Geva, E., Kieffer, M. J., Lesaux, N., Linan-Thomson, S., Morris, J., Proctor, C. P., Russell, R. (2014). Teaching academic content and literacy to English learners in elementary and middle school. United States Department of Education, 1-115, https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/19. |
^^ |
Halpern, D. F., Aronson, J., Reimer, N., Simpkins, S., Star, J. R., Wentzel, K. (2007). Encouraging girls in math and science. United States Department of Education, 1-55, https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/5. |
The Evidence
On January 18, 2017, the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) delivered a webinar on evidence-based practices for improving secondary students’ writing skills. The webinar focused on the three recommendations in the recently released practice guide, Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively.To support educators’ efforts to develop effective writing skills for students in grades 6–12, the WWC conducted a review of existing research and worked with an expert panel of practitioners and researchers to identify recommended practices that educators can implement in their classrooms. Presenters discussed the guide’s three recommendations and gave teachers in all disciplines actionable guidance on how to implement them in the classroom. They also discussed potential challenges educators may face when implementing the recommended practices, as well as advice from the experts on how to overcome those challenges. Administrators, professional development providers, program developers, and researchers may also find this information useful.
After completing a CODERS lesson, you will reflect on those lessons. We collected reflections last year. Some of you may remember Dr. Davis asking for those. Take a moment to review the lesson reflections. Click through and view the reflections for each of the lessons/concepts.
This link will be available through June 16. If you would like access after that, please email Keri Franklin.
Interesting article on the increasing demand for degrees in Computer
Science. While UC-Berkeley has over 2,000, Missouri State University has nearly 300. Talk with Dr. Iqbal for any questions.
Demand for computer science classes has overwhelmed many US campuses in recent years, with growth in student numbers not matched by similar expansions in faculty or facilities. UC Berkeley has nearly 2,000 graduates a year in computer science and data science, up from just 200 a decade ago; prompting the elite institution to create its first new college in more than 50 years.
The College of Computing, Data Science, and Society is seen as a way of helping the campus cope by consolidating the deluge of demand and then better distributing it. Where Berkeley leads, others often follow, so could this be a model for coping with the field’s surging and often unmet demand?
- September 21
- October 17
- November 7
- February 27: CODERS Competition Day. Bring your students.
New STEM-specific scholarships ignite students’ ability to attend college. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Missouri State University $1.5 million to provide scholarships to students interested in science, technology, engineering and math over the next six years. Submit your scholarship applications today.
About the Conference
This year, the Write to Learn conference will be 100% virtual to better fit the needs of these ever-changing times.
There will be national-level keynote speakers, bringing you some of the best language arts teaching strategies for these challenging times.
Whether your school is going face to face, 100% virtual, or using a hybrid model, these mini-series of workshops will give you practical, actionable strategies you can use right away.
Read more about the conference and check out the Write to Learn Flyer 2021 for a list of sessions!
We want to encourage students to submit their writing, for publication as well as for scholarships. To that end, every session at this year’s Middle School Writing Conference – held on Friday, May 8 – will align with one or more writing competition categories outlined by the Language Arts Department of Southwest Missouri.
LAD Fair, an annual competition hosted by the Language Arts Department of Southwest Missouri, provides students an opportunity to submit their writing and receive awards from writers and educators in the community who serve as adjudicators. The postmark deadline for K-12 students to submit to the LAD Fair is March 20, 2020.
Registration for the Middle School Writing Conference will open soon – be sure to take a moment to check out this year’s sessions. The earlier students register, the better chance they have to be placed in their top choices.
We look forward to seeing what students write for the Middle School Writing Conference and the LAD Fair.
Last year’s Middle School Writing Conference proved inspiring to say the least.
On the morning of Friday, May 10, 2019, the buzz of voices subsided with the house lights in the Plaster Student Union Theater.
Illuminated by the soft glow of the stage, hundreds of students leaned forward in their seats, eyes wide, several mouths agape, all submerged in a state of captivation.
Professional surfer Shaun Tomson’s voice, soft and unhurried, filled the room: “[a] single wave changed my life because once I made the commitment, once I took the extra strokes, once in my mind I knew I was gonna go over that edge, all the fear went away. I’ll take the drop of commitment and then if something goes wrong, I’ll paddle back out.”1 In sharing his experience with the world’s most dangerous wave, the Hawaiian Banzai Pipeline, Tomson empowered students to face the waves in their own lives.
After the presentation, middle schooler Harmony A. professed, “I feel like the message was so strong that it just resonated. It left me feeling like I can do anything.”2
Initially an effort to equip students from low-income and rural schools with college- and career-ready skills, our conferences have taken on an even greater importance. Students not only improve their writing but gain the confidence to set and achieve their goals, imagine and pursue their dreams.
1Shaun Tomson. (2018, May 19). Shaun Tomson: Live the Code [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE4BPC-UPqE
2Missouri State Arts and Letters. (2019, August 28). Middle School Writing Conference [Video file]. Retrieved from https://cwccc.missouristate.edu/mswc.htm
Due to illness in our office, we had to cancel the Anna Julia Cooper transcribe-a-thon scheduled for February 14.
However, we still encourage you to take a moment to celebrate Douglass Day in-between exchanging valentines this Friday.
Did you know February 14 isn’t just for valentines?
This Friday, join us anytime between 11 AM and 2 PM in Meyer Library 010B to help digitize the works of visionary Black feminist Anna Julia Cooper in honor of Douglass Day.
Help preserve Black history and enjoy music and free food from Big Momma’s.
The photos from Write Now showcase the joy of writing and community in the Ozarks. We want to thank our inspiring keynote speaker, Shaun Tomson, and dedicated presenters, as well as the amazing teachers and students in attendance. We could not have done it without each and every one of you and we look forward to doing it all again at the Middle School Writing Conference on Friday, May 8.
Our team recently reviewed feedback from the past couple years. Students asked for more sessions, teachers asked for their own, and we said YES! Students at the Middle School Writing Conference will attend three writing workshops, while teachers attend a couple sessions designed just for them.
We hope to see you in the spring – more details coming soon.
As you may have noticed, our High School Writing Conference has a new name – Write Now: A One-Day Conference to Engage and Motivate All Writers. This year, we not only invite high school students but those in University to share in the experience of a lifetime.
We are thrilled to bring Shaun Tomson, best-selling author and world champion surfer, to campus again. Check out the video from his last visit – he’s inspiring to say the least.
After Shaun’s opening session, students will attend two writing sessions of their choice. Our 24 sessions, more offered than ever before, range in topic from art, music, and science, to creative and technical writing.
Come expand your resume, empower your writing, and engage your community. Register for Write Now and help us make this conference the biggest and best we’ve had yet.
Nancy Allen, New York Times bestselling author and Missouri State faculty, will be presenting at the opening session of the 2018 High School Writing Conference held on the Missouri State University Campus.
Allen’s latest book, Juror #3, co-authored with James Patterson, is a #1 New York Times best seller.
Nancy Allen is the author of the Ozarks Mystery Series, published by HarperCollins/Witness Impulse. She has the background required to tell the tales; she practiced law for fifteen years as Assistant Missouri Attorney General and Assistant Prosecutor in her native Ozarks. She’s tried over thirty jury cases, including murder and sexual offenses, and is now a law professor at Missouri State University, as well as an author of legal thrillers.
Her debut novel, The Code of the Hills, was published in 2014 by HarperCollins. A Killing at the Creek came out in 2015; her third book, The Wages of Sin was released in April, 2016. The Ozarks Mysteries follow the career of Elsie Arnold, a tenacious (but flawed) Ozarks prosecutor.
To learn more about Allen, her books, her accomplishments, and experiences, listen to this short KSMU radio show.
For more information and to register for the conference, visit the High School Writing Conference webpage.
About
The goal of the College-Ready Writers Program (CRWP) is to assure teachers have the ability to teach college- and career-ready writing—with emphasis on writing arguments based on nonfiction texts. CRWP consists of school-embedded institutes; classroom demonstrations, co-teaching, and coaching; and study of effective practices in academic writing instruction, current research, and professional literature.
Results of a 2015 study (Gallagher et al.), indicated CRWP had a positive, statistically significant effect on the four attributes of argument writing—content, structure, stance, and conventions—among students across 22 school districts in 10 states. Notable improvements in student writing as a result of the program included the quality of reasoning and use of evidence.
To support the learning of both teachers and students, a team of NWP teacher-leaders have created instructional materials for routine and extended research arguments, mini-units, and on-demand tasks. Formative assessment resources include the Using Sources Tool, which assists teachers in analyzing how students use evidence to establish and support their claims.
Participating Districts
Branson R-IV |
Laquey R-V |
Lebanon R-III |
Reeds Spring R-IV |
Richland R-IV |
In December, 165 high school students and their teachers from 18 school districts across southern Missouri converged on the Missouri State University campus for “Make Your Statement, Write Your Story,” a day-long conference sponsored by the Ozarks Writing Project (OWP), a project of MSU’s Center for Writing in College, Career, and Community (CWCCC). Throughout the day, young people attended sessions led by teacher leaders who were excited to share their journeys as writers. The offerings included parody writing, flash fiction, six word memoirs, comic books, slam poetry, and more.
The day was modeled on OWP’s successful conference for middle school students, now in its tenth year and bringing more than 500 students to the annual event in the spring. Dr. Keri Franklin, director of the CWCCC, said, “We wanted to offer the same rich writing experiences for high school writers that we’ve been offering to our middle school writers.”
The day concluded with an assembly open to the public. The students were addressed by President Clif Smart and Dean of the College of Arts and Letters Gloria Galanes who invited the students to spend a day on campus and consider a career in writing. Keynote speaker Michael Frizell, author and MSU faculty member, told the student audience, “You have something to say. Your voice is important and we want to hear it.” Students were then invited to share some of the work they had written during the day in open mic fashion.
Teacher Jana Simpson summarized the day with a thank you to facilitators. “My students come from a very poor rural district. For many of them this was their first visit to a college campus. They loved the writing today so much that we had our own open mic in the car on the way home. You all have no idea what this meant to these kids.”
Co-facilitators Colleen Appel and Terri McAvoy are now preparing for the middle school conference to be held May 12, 2017. See the Youth Writing Conference website for more information.
At the first-ever High School Writing Conference on Friday, December 9, some of the most talented teacher-writers in southwest Missouri will conduct sessions designed to inspire students in grades 9-12 to Make Your Statement, Write Your Story. Session topics include script writing, parody, slam poetry, comic books and graphic novels, making money from writing, flash fiction, and a writing marathon. The last session of the day in Plaster Student Union will include a keynote address by author Michael Frizell and an open mic; this session will be open to the public.
The cost per student is $45 which includes lunch. Their teachers attend free. Limited seats are available, so sign up early! Please register by November 11.
Here’s a handy printable to distribute to your students.
Questions? Contact Colleen Appel at Appel7208@missouristate.edu.
#OWP_YourStory
Congratulations to Heather Payne, co-director of Ozarks Writing Project (OWP), and Laurie Buffington,
OWP teacher consultant and English teacher at Laquey High School, for being invited to share their experiences as teacher leaders during a webinar hosted by the U.S. Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation (i3) Community.
The webinar, which took place on September 14, is available online. We encourage you to listen for our representatives from OWP as they discuss their journeys in becoming successful teacher leaders!
Thank you, Heather and Laurie, for your important work with the College-Ready Writers Program.
Julie Morris, English teacher at Macks Creek High School, has been named MSTA Southwest Region Rookie Teacher of the Year for 2015-2016. This prestigious award is designed to recognize the contributions of a classroom teacher of 5 years or less who is exceptionally dedicated, knowledgeable and skilled, and has the ability to inspire students of all backgrounds and abilities to learn.
This is Morris’s fourth year at Macks Creek, where she teaches 7th and 8th grade English, along with dual credit Creative Writing, Literature, and Composition. She also serves as a class sponsor, cheerleading coach, FBLA adviser, and active CTA member. She is a Teacher Consultant for the Ozarks Writing Project, and she has a printed publication to her credit.
Morris’s ability to inspire students of all backgrounds and abilities is what makes her such a successful teacher in the rural Missouri school system. Part of her educational philosophy is, “Students must be developed intellectually, emotionally, and socially to succeed in life, and deserve an education that will nurture the expansion of all three. As an educator, I strive to give students the best education possible, and to help them succeed in and out of the classroom.” She was also named the Missouri Association of Rural Education Outstanding Middle School Teacher of the Year for the 2014-2015 school year due to her efforts in and out of the classroom.
Julie is a 2005 graduate of Clearwater High School. She is the daughter of Mike Morris and Holly Ferguson of Piedmont.
Press Release, Missouri State Teachers Association
Missouri State Poetry Society (MSPS) Youth Contest: The contest is free and open to students in grades 6-12. There will be three winners with cash prizes and seven honorable mentions awarded in each category. First place winners will be published in the MSPS Anthology, Grist. Winning poems and honorable mentions will be submitted to the Manningham Student Poetry Award Contest sponsored by the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. Deadline: Postmarked by February 15.
Nick Harkins Memorial Scholarship: The Piddington family is sponsoring a scholarship to honor the memory of Nick Harkins, who passed away in October 2013 due to a very rare and deadly brain disease called PML. Nick lived his short life to the fullest, embracing it with gusto, love, and an infectious laugh. He was truly “one of a kind” and stood up proudly for what he believed. Hopefully this scholarship in his memory will remind others that even if you walk a different path than the majority, you are not walking alone. Entries must focus on any theme related to diversity, equity, and/or inclusion. May be descriptive and/or issue-orientated and may be of any genre. Deadline: Postmarked by March 11 or delivered to Willard High School by 4:30 pm on March 18.
When Macks Creek teacher, Julie Morris, formed a plan to kick off her dual credit Creative Writing class with a “Why I Write” assignment, she was not anticipating an enthusiastic response from her students—they’re high schoolers, after all. But they surprised her. Looking back, Morris realizes she should have known the group of kids were capable of more than she—and often many of us adults—initially assumed.
Last year, Morris pulled from OWP resources to help construct the class. After reading through the text, she asked her students to draft a single page on the reasons why they write. Morris’s middle school kids blew away her expectations when they all responded with multiple, powerful pages featuring inspiring statements ranging from the boldly bright-eyed to the heart-achingly hopeful. Some are dramatic, yet undeniably profound. Some show signs of writers dipping their toes in flowery prose. Some get straight to the point. They’re all are unique and succinctly describe the sincere reflections of a creative journey.
Morris took many of the standout snippets from what each student had to say and scattered them across a poster called “Why I Write.” Since hanging the poster, Morris has noticed it’s a hit with visitors, “Every person that has come into my room has read it, without me asking them to, and commented on how great it was. Some assumed I made it (which I technically did physically write all of it on there), but all of the ideas came from the kids.”
“To let others know they’re not alone.”
The poster really is hard to ignore. Written in multicolored ink, many of the statements suggest deep emotional struggles students are effectively working out through their writing. One statement answers “Why I Write” with, “Because I’d rather stain paper with ink, than my wrists with blood.” Another (in orange ink) claims he or she writes “To let others know they’re not alone.” And another: “To clean out my brain.”
Morris’ retelling of the decision to effectively highlight these statements brims with energy. She’s encouraged entirely by her students and gives them all the credit. Fortunately, she thought to pass along a great idea to her colleagues at OWP, which was accepted quite happily. Simply put, Morris recognized what her students wrote as an opportunity to challenge and inspire others – ideas perfect for a poster and perfect for sharing.
Julie Morris is an English teacher at Macks Creek, where she teaches 7th and 8th grades, as well as dual credit Composition, Creative Writing, and Literature. She graduated with a bachelor’s in 2009 and her master’s in 2014, both from Missouri State University. Morris was chosen as the Missouri Association of Rural Education’s Outstanding Middle School Teacher of the Year in 2015.
Morris attended the 2012 Summer Institute and has been involved in many OWP programs since then, such as the Youth Writing Conference, Digital Writing Institute, National Writing Project Scoring Conference, and multiple Advanced Institutes, including the Advanced Institute on Argument Writing. She has been trained as an OWP Teacher Consultant.
1. Summer Institute Nominations
Teacher Consultants: Do you know an exemplary teacher (K-16, any content area) who should become part of the Ozarks Writing Project community? Does he or she desire to grow personally as a writer and deliver quality writing instruction in the classroom? Send names of nominees for the 2016 Summer Institute to Graduate Assistant Emily Duncan (emily5392@live.missouristate.edu). In your message, include the teacher’s school and email address.
2. Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
Fall is here, and that means it’s time for a friendly reminder about the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards! Students in grades 7-12 can apply in 29 categories of art and writing for a chance to earn scholarships and have their works exhibited or published.
The Missouri Writing Region includes the entire state of Missouri, plus both Wyandotte and Johnson Counties in Kansas. Online submission is quick, easy, and user-friendly. This year, we have an option for online payments ($5 per entry). Remember, there is a fee waiver available to students who need one.
The regional deadline for submission is January 8, 2016. Please don’t hesitate to contact Missouri Writing Region Coordinator Kate Willaredt (kate@gkcwp.org) with questions.
3. Tools of Engagement: Revitalizing Reluctant Readers & Writers
In this Spring 2016 online course, participants will work with tools designed to engage students who feel disconnected from the classroom. If you are a high school dual credit instructor who wants to be involved in important conversations, practices, and research related to student engagement with and through reading and writing, sign up today! Please view the Tools of Engagement flyer for more details. Then, check out a complete list of graduate courses for dual credit teachers offered through Missouri State University.
4. Writing & Thinking Conference
It’s not too early to begin looking forward to the February Writing & Thinking Conference. Send a team of teachers to visit the Missouri State University campus on Friday, February 19, 2016 for a day of world-class literacy professional development. Over 100 teachers (some from as far as 200 miles away) joined us for our October conference and left with strategies for improving student learning in any classroom.
This is an excerpt of writing from the writing marathon that took place at Bennett Springs State Park on September 19.
2:37 p.m., along the stream between spring and river
Families come to Bennett Spring, the one next to us a mother, father, and an eight-year-old son. Norman Rockwell, were he painting in Missouri this day, could do no better. The gnats, though, might tax his concentration. I’m wondering, at the moment, what I should write. Something about gnats? Instead, I shift positions, but they follow.
What profundity can I dredge up? None, I confess. It is enough, this moment, to be, that tiresome old cliché. I care not if I fish, care not much if the mosquito circling my right ear takes a meal. I’m at peace, and the sense of surprise at this feeling says rather too much. I am not distressed by my mother’s failing mind, failing body, and recent death; my father’s frailty and neediness; the pestilence of moles in my lawn . . . not even by the “ain’t gonna’s” employed by the mother ten yards up-river from me in conversation with her son (rather marring the Rockwell effect). Today, the river flows past, and if I fail to deliver a kick-ass simile to impress my companions, it’s ok. And I didn’t even have that second beer at lunch.
I cannot fix everything, perhaps anything. I can, however, take pleasure in the company of people, teachers whom I grew to admire and respect during the summer. I can accept the gift of a perfect day.
This reflection was written in response to our OWP Fall Writing Retreat and Renewal at Bennett Springs State Park on Sept. 18-20.
For the short time that I was there it was like coming home and being with my own kind. All of the teachers that I have been involved with have exhibited true professionalism and dedication. In the twenty years that I have been a teacher I have witnessed the most enthusiasm and always words from the heart of each teacher. The Fall Writing Retreat was like a family reunion. We had fellowship, enjoyed the outdoors (not the bugs, though), cooked, ate, laughed, cried, wrote, and shared over the weekend. Being an older teacher, I appreciate it when I get a new spark in my teaching career. My students are catching the enthusiasm, too. Thank you, OWP teachers and staff, for helping me to enjoy writing and teaching again.
The following reflection was written by Dr. Gretchen Teague about the First Annual Ozarks Writing Project Fall Writing Retreat held at Bennett Springs State Park on Sept. 18-20, 2015.
September 29, 2015 7:45 A.M. Back Home in Springfield, MO
Remembering Fire and Water
Thinking back, it is hard to imagine the first annual OWP Writer’s Retreat at Bennett Springs was only a little over a week ago. The weekend began with on Friday, September 18, three hardy souls met to share dinner, conversation, and writing. It was a relaxing evening spent companionably around the campfire. Our folding chairs became our office, our notebooks our desk, and the blazing fire our light source. The raucous laughter gave way to the muted scratching of pens to paper, voices sharing writing, and the murmured “thank you for sharing.” The shared experience of writing around the fire brought similar memories to our minds of other campfires. This moment is now memory fodder for future reflective writing fires.
The morning dawned, burning as brightly as our campfire the night before. Coffee and conversation over a breakfast in the camp dining hall; nourishment before the writing frenzy of the marathon. By 10 a.m., we had met up with five more writers and began our writing marathon. The journey of the two groups of writers diverged and merged throughout the day; paths crossing momentarily filled with excited chatter of all the places we had found solitude and activity. The topography of our writing expedition took us to the peaceful cliff top of Vespers Point overlooking the river below and surrounded by protective hawks circling above. We ventured through the paths of the park, avoiding snakes, gnats, and fisher folk, to the spring itself. Although we left the water running through Bennett Springs Park often, we all felt the strong pull to come back. A cleansing of spirit and writing next to the river.
By evening, we felt refreshed and renewed, just as the weekend promised. A collection of participants from the 2015 Summer Institute joined the ranks for an evening meal, a celebration of classroom experiments, a share-around of writing, and camaraderie. The fire blazed in us once again as we were thrilled by the successes of our friends and challenged to make ourselves better teachers, humans, and friends. The supportive “thank you for sharing” flowed gently down the table, mimicking the river behind our backs, serving as a reminder of the power of words written, spoken, shared.
We left the gathering of old and new friends ready to take on the everyday life struggles with a little more compassion and understanding, feeling supported and supporting, relaxed, refreshed, and renewed. As we parted ways, the rustling of the leaves echoed “thank you for sharing.”
It’s hard to believe the middle school camp is already over! The second week flew by with a flurry of field trips and Writing Workshops. From writing inspired by works at the Springfield Art Museum to food reviews of desserts at Bambino’s Cafe to a Writing Marathon around downtown Springfield, the campers were out writing all over central Springfield this past week.
For our closing camp activity, campers shared some of the pieces they had worked on for the past two weeks to a crowd of family, friends and the community. Some of the pieces, including their Altered Books, were on display around the room for the audience to investigate and read on their own. Each camper also chose 4-5 original pieces to read aloud to the audience, including found poems, short stories, parodies, and group writing projects. Below are a few of the pieces they shared:
Our Middle School Youth Writing Camp is entering into it’s second week! Last week, we tried our hand at poetry, short stories, altered books and more. We even braved the rain to do a nature photography scavenger hunt and place-writing!
Friday, we did a brief Author’s Chair at the Park Central Library, where we shared a couple of original pieces including some of the micro flash fiction that we wrote. Two of the final products are below:
Sci-fi: Just a normal day. Flying to work on my Jet Pack. Past hover cars and sky scrapers. I enter a building and make new inventions.
Horror: I saw something following me it was gray and tall. Then I saw it coming closer and closer. I screamed help m…
We’re looking forward to another week full of more creating, thinking, writing and fun, but maybe a little less rain!
Every day, like an annoying alarm, Jimmy walked by my room, stood in the doorway, and asked, “Do I have speech today?”. He had no sense of time, no idea of yesterday and tomorrow.
Jimmy came to my classroom twice a week for thirty minutes at a time, and we worked on speech sounds and language concepts. Sometimes, when I felt he’d had enough of those, we worked on his letters. One particular day, his clothes reeked of stale urine, and leftovers from lunch splayed across his face. His shirt showed stains and signs of wear, holes in worn areas. I kept coming back to the smell, the odors fighting to fill up my nose. I did my best to breathe through my mouth, which is hard when talking. Jimmy always took the weight of the world on his shoulders when it came to answering questions, pressed himself too hard. His mind worked slower, like a big tow-truck with three flat tires, full of power, but not fixed to work properly. They have identified him as intellectually disabled; however, his sweetness always penetrated any mental defaults he possessed.
I had had Jimmy in speech for a couple of months before I knew he couldn’t read. One day, the special education teacher told me of this lacking concept in his intellect. She told me he couldn’t identify letters or numbers. Jimmy was in the first grade. Not able to read, I thought to myself. No way. But I soon found out this teacher was right.
Before Jimmy’s next speech session, I made flashcards of letters, capital and lowercase, and flashcards of numbers, thinking that I would bring this boy around to the light. I would show him how to read.
When he next came to speech, we began by working on a few articulation sounds. /V/ sounds in all positions of words, “vacuum, lever, cave”; /l/ sounds in all positions of words, “light, umbrella, bowl.” As we practiced these various words, I realized that a majority of Jimmy’s speech articulation errors probably stemmed from his inability to identify letters and their sounds, to associate letters with sounds. I could tell Jimmy to make the /v/ sound, but unless I showed him how to make the sound, giving him the name of the letter that made it was pointless.
After we worked on sounds for a few minutes, we moved on to letters. Okay, I thought to myself. This is it. I’m going to teach this boy how to read.
On the kidney-shaped table between Jimmy and me, I laid out three flashcards, Aa, Bb, Cc. Surely, he knows these, I thought.
“We’re going to practice the names of the letters. Okay?” I asked him.
Jimmy nodded his head, looking skeptical. “I think I know some of these,” he said.
“Just do your best. What is this letter?” I asked, pointing to the Aa card.
“That one’s ‘H’,” he said. My guess was that he had mixed up the two letters due to their similarity in shape.
“No, not ‘H’,” I replied. “Can you think of what else it might be?” I prodded, pointing at the Aa flashcard again.
“I know this one. I do. I really do,” he said, confident.
Then, his hopeful smile fell, reality sinking in that he had forgotten the name of the letter.
“I guess I don’t remember,” he said gloomily, sad dark blue eyes raising up to look at me, almost waiting for condemnation or punishment.
“That’s okay, Jimmy. That letter is ‘A’,” I told him.
“That’s right!” he exclaimed, a smile revealing two missing front teeth. “‘A’! I knew it. I really did.”
“I believe you,” I assured him.
We repeated the same process with Bb, him almost positive he knew the name of the letter, but again, coming up with nothing.
“This letter is ‘B’, Jimmy,” I explained. “Remember, ‘B’ for bumps. See the two bumps on the ‘B’?” I asked.
“Yes, I see them. Bumps for ‘B’. Okay,” he said, shaking his blonde head up and down.
I pulled the flashcard of Cc over to join Aa and Bb.
“Oh, I know this one. I really do. It’s ‘C’,” he said, standing up with excitement. He smiled so wide, as if someone had a hold of his grin from each side of his mouth, pulling it wider.
I must have looked surprised, because he said, “See, I told ya.”
“Yes, you did, Jimmy,” I applauded. “I’m so proud of you.”
I wish all of our letter-learning lessons had proceeded as smoothly. The only other letters Jimmy “really” knew were ‘J’ and ‘X’. Within five minutes of working on letters with Jimmy that day, I realized that despite my superwoman efforts, this child’s learning to read would take more; it would require the dedication of everyone who came in contact with him.
This reality of a first grader not knowing how to read puzzled me greatly when I first had to deal with Jimmy’s disability. My teacher training revolves around working with high school students, writing, reading fiction and nonfiction, and studying elements of language. All of my preparation for teaching was contingent on my students being able to read. Personally, my dad taught me how to read when I was four. So working with a student who couldn’t tell me the name of the letter ‘A’ boggled my mind.
Later in the year, Jimmy and his younger brother Alex came to school in clothes they had wet the bed in the previous night. The special education teacher came to my room and told me the situation, that she, the school nurse, and the principal were going to hotline DFS due to the severity of the incident.
The school nurse had removed the boys from their classes, and they sat at a table in her office, coloring. The smell in her office matched that of a dingy nursing home, the pungent stench of ammonia and urine flooded over me. I barely lasted thirty seconds in her office.
The special education teacher asked the boys why they didn’t change clothes before they came to school.
“If we tell our mom we wet the bed, she spanks us,” Jimmy said, matter-of-factly, as if this topic of conversation was part of his everyday routine. “So we changed our shirts, but we didn’t have any other pants to put on.”
The principal ended up taking the boys home, making the mother bathe and put clean clothes on her children, and then the principal brought them back to school. Their mother couldn’t, or wouldn’t, come get her children.
I returned to my classroom, turned off the lights, sat down at my desk, and cried. I cried for these boys, for the care, love, and proper nourishment they do not receive. I cried for their mother, for the state of her mind, that she tells herself it’s okay not to take responsibility for her boys. I cried for my ability to do nothing, for yearning to take them home with me, to feed them and read to them, to love them.
I still question this past year of teaching, why I was stuck in the position of speech implementer. But stories like Jimmy’s remind me why. That for students like him, whose parents found better things to do than love their children, I could love those children. God granted me a sliver of insight, a sneak peek into what it takes to raise a child, what it means to care for a child, physically, intellectually, emotionally. While I didn’t learn a lot about teaching English this year, I did learn a lot about life. I learned a lot about living beyond me. When Jimmy would come to my room for speech, I understood, by a fraction, what it meant to view the world through his eyes.
The Ozarks Writing Project 2015 Summer Institute is just around the corner, i.e. June 8-July 1, 2015. With that in mind, I wanted to write to first remind local educators (in all content areas and grade levels) that we are accepting applications to the institute due on March 23. The instructions for the institute are posted on this website. I experienced my first summer institute in the summer of 1997 at a rural institute in the community of Henderson, Nebraska, population 986 (and several assorted cats and dogs). Henderson was unique because it is a Mennonite community with an agricultural foundation. The rural institute was unique becasue it was held at Henderson Public Schools. I commuted 15 minutes to the site but others, i.e. teachers from every corner of the state, either lived in people’s homes or a local hotel for the four weeks of the summer institute. To say that we bonded as educators is an understatement. To help you understand a bit more about my experience in that summer institute, I offer you an excerpt from my dissertation, “Living Well: The Value of Teaching Place,” where I write about how that rural institue became the impetus for the research I continue to do in place conscious pedagogy.
A Life-Changing Teacher “Moment”
What happened in my career that moved me to consider a place conscious pedagogy? In 1997 I was invited to participate in the Nebraska Writing Project’s first Rural Institute in Henderson, Nebraska. The teaching demonstrations of that rural institute, with its emphasis on place, first piqued my interest in place consciousness. In a National Writing Project summer institute, teacher leaders are invited to participate in a course where each teacher brings from his or her classroom a best practice of writing which they demonstrate to their peers. Twenty-two teachers came from every part of our vast state, from the northeast, southwest, northwest and the central, spanning a range of 300 miles to become immersed into the locale of Henderson, population 986.
I know that we were all changed by that rural institute. I learned that the most successful practice in my classroom was building relationships with my students through a constant dialogue. I had to practice and model my own writing along with my students to affect any kind of change or growth in our lives or within our communities. I wanted a classroom community where students could write about what they cared deeply about and know that others cared just as much as they did. Sidney Dobrin, in “Writing Takes Place” states, “We write our places and in turn those places write us. That is, the relationship between discourse and the construction of environment, nature, and place is a deeplyenmeshed, coconstitutive relationship” (Weisser and Dobrin 18).
One of the epiphanies I experienced in the rural institute was that “local knowledge both centers, and spirals out into, more general knowledge, whether in history, science, business, or literature. If we understand our local place well enough to grasp how it came to be this way, the forces that shape it, and how it compares to other places, we will have developed a robust and extensive knowledge base” (Brooke 63). In this summer institute three teachers from the Henderson community and school studied places nearby the community: Suzanne Ratzlaff and the history of Farmer’s Valley cemetery, Ron Pauls and the Big Blue River biome, and Sharon Bishop and the Marie Ratzlaff Memorial Prairie. These teachers focused on environmental learning where place-conscious education has its roots. In Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms and Communities, David Sobel writes, “Environmental education grew out of the Nature Studies movement of the early twentieth century and traditionally focused on learning about the natural sciences…Place-based education takes us back to basics, but in a broader and more inclusive fashion” (8-9).
These three demonstrations “addressed an underdeveloped aspect of critical pedagogy through intentional experiences, or learning opportunities that are intentionally or deliberately structured while remaining exploratory and inquiry-based in nature, focused on local place” (Ball 204). These demonstrations made me contemplate what I could do within my school and community to engage my own students concerning the history, culture, science, business, or literature of our place. I marveled at the thought of students going outside the classroom to explore the community around them, and not just a community of people, but the land, the flora and fauna. These teachers understood what Wendell Berry meant when he wrote: “so all who are living here, human and plant and animal, are part of one another,…therefore, our culture must be our response to our place, our culture and our place are images of each other and inseparable from each other, and so neither can be better than the other” (Unsettling, 22). Berry also notes that “a healthy culture is a communal order of memory, insight, value, work, conviviality, reverence, aspiration. It reveals the human necessities and the human limits. It clarifies our inescapable bonds to the earth and to each other” (43).
Ratzlaff’s demonstration focused on a sense of connection, or living well spiritually, a cultural and spiritual sustenance, discerning connections to one’s place on earth and understanding and articulating the meaning of living one’s life in a given place. Ratzlaff, an elementary teacher, engaged us with stories of people buried in Farmer’s Valley Cemetery. She had taken her students to the Plainsman Museum in Aurora to investigate the lives of some the people buried in the cemetery. Ratzlaff gave us a printed record of each person buried in the cemetery, but the stories she told made these people come to life. Her demonstration helped me to personally contemplate the importance of action—I had to act in order to preserve history within my community. She had devoted a great deal of time and effort to learn more about Farmer’s Valley Cemetery on behalf of her students, and I would soon find out that it takes a lot of time to glean the stories from local residents and then write about them.
Ron Pauls was the elementary principal/guidance counselor at Heartland Community Schools, but he was also a former science teacher. Pauls’ demonstration focused on the biome of the West Fork of the Big Blue River. His teaching demonstrationcentered on a sense of place, or living well ecologically, developing a sustainable relationship with the natural world in his community or as Owens notes “a healthy natural environment is nourishing for the self-actualization of persons and communities.” In his demonstration, he noted this about the Big Blue River: “[It] is part of our surroundings. Our life here will be made richer and our chances of survival will be enhanced if we can come to some understanding of this phenomenon of nature, why it is the way it is, its impact on us, our impact on it, and what our understanding will mean for both our futures” (English, Writing Portfolio). Pauls asked us to observe this biome on our ‘field trip’ to the West Fork, which at that time of year was barely a trickle, but definitely a river bed. The photographs I took that day contain native flowers and grasses and a nest. I became enthralled with knowing the names of things while we were scanning the area surrounding the river. Pauls’ expert instruction on the elements of biome and the river ecosystem elicited many memories for me from my own childhood associated with another river, the Platte.
Ron Pauls’ intentional instruction had asked us write “about a past or present experience with a stream. It could be memories of living near a stream and how you went wading and catching tadpoles, or fishing, or bridges along the stream, floods in the stream and your feelings at the time, sights and smells along a stream then and here today” (English, Writing Portfolio). Pauls also made me think again. He made me think more critically about the ecosystem of not only the Big Blue River, but the Platte River and all of the characteristics of plants and animals living alongside me. He had asked us all to zoom in to the life around us and consider the effect of human behavior upon the ecosystems right here in our back yard. I became acutely aware of my own use of water and began to question the extensive use of water in the Platte River Basin.
One of the concepts that Ron Pauls deeply understood is that it is vital for students to know about their environment in these present times because knowledge of their place will affect the decisions they make as future citizens. He notes,
‘These people are residents of the prairie. It’s a place where they were born. They live here now. I think it’s good to have some understanding of the big picture, of the ecosystem where you live…I really believe that we’re on a crash course with the future because what we’re doing now in agriculture, I don’t think, is sustainable. I just don’t think that very many people can continue to make a living from agriculture on the farm the way we’re doing it now. I think it’s going to have to change. We’re going to have to change policy, and we’re going to have to change the way we do things to better fit the environment.’ (qtd. in Ball 214)
While Pauls asked us to consider the present ecosystem of the Big Blue River and the sustainability of this ecosystem, his colleague, Sharon Bishop, asked us to observe the Marie Ratzlaff Memorial Prairie. Like Pauls, Bishop’s teaching demonstration zeroed in on Haas and Nacthtigal’s first of the five senses, or living well ecologically. The preserve contained elements of flora and fauna from Nebraska’s original prairie grasses, much of which has since been plowed under to cultivate corn. As Bishop stated in her demonstration, “This ecosystem is a kind of museum because it gives us a small picture of what Nebraska looked like before settlement. It is also kind of a laboratory, able to be studied from many scientific perspectives: webs and food chains, root systems, plant communities, etc.” Bishop asked us to use our “senses and record [our] observations, feelings, responses to this land. Imagine what Nebraska looked like before settlement.”
Sharon Bishop also shared with us the integrated curriculum unit she created with biology teacher, Mark Regier. She writes, “This curriculum integrated science and language arts to present opportunities for sophomores to learn about a native prairie, a wetland, the Sandhill cranes, and some aspects of their rural culture from scientific and literacy perspectives” (English, Writing Portfolio). The objective for their students was to “know the interdependence of all systems of the prairie and the influence of man on the prairie and the influences of the prairie on man.” It greatly intrigued me that Bishop and her colleague were able to integrate language arts and biology, using lab procedures, poetry, essays, photographs and small group work so students could learn about the ecosystem of their surrounding area. Bishop’s insight and commitment to place- conscious education was extraordinary. She portrayed deep convictions concerning how “projects that connect young people productively with other youth and adults are now seen to be the foundations upon which healthy communities can be built…The success of any community-based approach to learning rests on whether a new and empowering partnership between the community and school has been developed” (Miller 163, 167).
Initially, I had a very vague understanding of what it meant to turn place conscious theory into practice in my classroom. After the rural institute in Henderson I just knew those teachers “were onto something.” I thought their activities were engaging and I desperately wanted my students to feel engaged in their learning. I wanted them to care about learning as much as I did. I also wanted them to care deeply about writing. Since that time, through multiple experiences and “experiments” in the classroom, I’ve come to understand more clearly what Haas and Nachtigal conceive as community: “Community is how we collectively create a story about our place. It is the narrative of who we are, how we get along together, how we make a living, and how we are connected to it…Community is how we live well together” (21).
Through teaching a place-conscious curriculum I have learned about the heart and soul of this community, and am surrounded by residents whom I respect and consider friends because they were willing to share their stories and histories with my students. We have expressed our experiences with community members through various compositions, and we have learned, together, about the history, culture, economy, and the land. And we have learned about why it’s so important to care about sustaining this community well into the future. I know I serve my community in the best way I know how: preparing its future citizens for the task of citizenship. Like Marian Matthews says in the afterword of Rural Voices: Place Conscious Education and the Teaching of Writing, “I want to learn something about myself, my capabilities, and what I can contribute as a citizen to the place where I now live. I think this is what we all want and what we want for our students” (187).
Works Cited
Ball, Kevin Eric. “Excavating Perceptual Landscapes: Re-imagining Community Inquiry in the Composition Classroom.” Diss. U of Nebraska, Lincoln, 2000. Dissertations and Theses. Web. 17 June 2009.
Berry, Wendell. The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture. San Francisco: Sierra Book Club Books, 1977. Print.
Brooke, Robert E. ed. Rural Voices: Place Conscious Education and the Teaching of Writing. New York: Teachers College P, 2003.Print.
English, Cathie. Writing Portfolio. Nebraska Writing Project Summer Institute. 1997. Print.
Haas, Toni and Paul Nachtigal. Place Value: An Educator’s Guide to Good Literature on Rural Lifeways, Environments, and Purposes of Education. Charleston, WV: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools, 1998. Print.
Miller, Bruce A. “The Role of Rural Schools in Community Development: Policy Issues and Implications.” Journal of Research in Rural Education. 11. 3 (1995): 163-172. Print.
Sobel, David. Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms & Communities. Barrington, MA: Orion Society, 2004. Print.
Weisser, Christian and Sidney Dobrin. Ecocomposition: Theoretical and Pedagogical Approaches. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001. Print.
Twelve teacher leaders are participating in a Teacher Leadership Workshop course throughout this spring semester. We are focused upon understanding more deeply what it means to be a teacher leader in our own classrooms, within our school district (or university) and within our local community. We are investigating what it means to become an advocate for our profession by the inquiries we have established within our classrooms and schools. Through this investigative lens, we are learning how to be agents for change in our schools and in our communities. This workshop also specifically focuses upon how we are developing a new project or significantly redesigning an existing project that can be implemented in our classrooms or in conjunction with community agencies or individuals. We have experienced intense research into the development of curriculum through small group or cadre work and exchange of both personal and professional writing. We are learning how this kind of research-based inquiry can be modeled to other teachers at our Ozarks Writing Project site so others may understand the importance of research/evidence-based curriculum design and implementation.
We have learned a great deal about teacher leadership through this workshop, but first and foremost we’ve learned that we often don’t completely understand what it means to be a teacher leader, because, as educators, we are continuously barraged with negative publicity. We have a tendency to forget that we are leaders in our schools and communities. We have gained a greater understanding of what it means to advocate for education within our school districts. We are learning that we cannot be an agent of change if we are not willing to advocate on behalf of our students to administrators, school boards, or the community. We know this kind of leadership is crucial if we are going to develop curriculum that involves connections with community members. We are also absorbing information about the latest digital tools and how to integrate these tools into our classrooms thereby increasing our students’ digital literacy. As leaders, we must be on the cutting edge of the rapid changes in education so digital literacy is essential.
We are eagerly and earnestly jumping into our inquiry projects focused upon both teacher leadership and literacy instruction, including some of the following: student-led writing groups, revision strategies in the creative writing classroom, after school writing clubs, argument writing, informal grammar instruction, podcasting and daily writing, just to name a few. The list of books that teachers have requested is an impressive collection, too:
Buckner, Aimee. Notebook Know How: Strategies for the Writer’s Notebook.
Connors, Neila. If You Don’t Feed the Teachers They Eat the Students: Guide to Success for Administrators and Teachers.
Clark, Ron. The Essential 55: An Award-Winning Educator’s Rules For Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child.
Culham, Ruth. The Writing Thief: Using Mentor Texts to Teach the Craft of Writing.
Gallagher, Kelly. Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling and Mentor Texts.
Heard, Georgia. Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School.
—. Finding the Heart of Nonfiction: Teaching 7 Essential Craft Tools with Mentor Texts.
—. Writing Toward Home: Tales and Lessons to Find Your Way.
Hicks, Troy. Crafting Digital Writing: Composing Texts Across Media and Genres Paperback.
—. The Digital Writing Workshop
Hobbs, Renee. Discovering Media Literacy: Teaching Digital Media and Popular Culture in Elementary School.
Kittle, Penny. Write Beside Them: Risk, Voice, and Clarity in High School Writing
Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life.
Noden, Harry. Image Grammar, Second Edition: Teaching Grammar as Part of the Writing Process.
Romano, Tom. Fearless Writing: Multigenre to Motivate and Inspire.
Scott, Susan. Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life One Conversation at a Time.
Schoeberlein, Deborah and David and Suki Smith. Mindful Teaching and Teaching Mindfulness: A Guide for Anyone Who Teaches Anything.
Silverman, Rita. Case Studies for Teacher Problem Solving.
Tobin, Lad. Writing Relationships: What Really Happens in the Composition Class.
Weaver, Connie. Grammar to Enrich and Enhance Writing.
Winter, Dave and Robbins, Sarah. Writing Our Communities: Local Learning and Public Culture.
Wong, Harry. The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher, 4th Edition.
In March we will experience two field trips that will demonstrate how teachers can utilize local resources in their curriculum. We will visit the archives of the Meyer Library on the Missouri State University Campus where we will learn how we might utilize some of the historical documents. We will also tour the Springfield Art Museum and the Nature Center where we’ll have an opportunity to learn about the educational programs offered at each so that we might consider the possibilities for our own students.
Today we met to prepare presentations for the Youth Writing Conference on May 8. Teacher-consultants Laurie Sullivan from Hillcrest High School and Tanya Hannaford from Mt. Vernon High School facilitated. The morning started with an excerpt from Terry Tempest Williams called “Why I Write.” After listening to the reading, the 25 teachers from areas schools shared why they write:
I write to encourage and cheer those that are young and old.
I write because any time we have freewrite time and I don’t write I feel the eyes of Debbie Jones burning into me.
Writing is a away of adjusting the BS meter.
I write to make music just for me.
I write to bring new things into existence because I am an inventor of imaginary worlds.
I write for the surprise at the end of a poem.
I write to clarify my thoughts and better understand my self and my books.
lI I write to capture a moment everlasting ever strong every moment.
I write because I don’t know how else to get my thoughts across.
I write to heal.
I write to singlehandedly keep the post office alive
I write to keep my mouth from getting me into trouble.
I write to make lists and plans that I may never get through but I feel better.
I write to let my inner child scream.
I write to remember and to forget.
I write to consider the beauty around me.
I write for future generations to hear my voice.
I write because I think when I don’t write I don’t know what I need to know.
I write to leave a record of my thoughts for myself and others.
I write my messages on the mirror when it is fogged up.
I write to belong to people who write.
Colleen Appel, Teacher-Consultant of the Ozarks Writing Project, describes professional development and student writing activities to teach on demand writing.
Teachers across the disciplines are increasingly seeing themselves as teachers of literacy and understand the literacy practices in the content areas are distinct but overlap in a student’s daily literacy learning experience–”a key reason why time for joint planning is critical (NCLE).” This post discusses background and activities that teachers can do with students and with other teachers related to writing on demand.
Monett Middle School teachers, having already established an environment for collaboration in grade level content area teams, are moving forward in school-wide collaborative efforts. The focus of January’s professional development session will be helping teachers understand the rhetorical moves of testing prompts in order to design assignments with greater rigor and prepare students for summative assessments.
The National Center for Literacy Education, an alliance of 29 leading education organizations, has studied “what works” in capacity building for literacy. Their key findings are as follows:
- Literacy is not just the English teacher’s job anymore.
- Working together is working smarter.
- But schools aren’t structured to facilitate educators working together.
- Many of the building blocks for remodeling literacy learning are in place.
- Effective collaboration needs systemic support.
The authors of Writing on Demand for the Common Core State Standards Assessments, Kelly Sassi and Anne Gere, offer professional learning activities based on the following classroom-tested assumptions:
- Changes in assessment help shape instruction.
- Writing prompts employ rhetorically shaped language.
- Writing skills should be developed by content area teachers as well as language arts teachers.
- A vertical approach fosters writing improvement.
- Text-dependent writing requires focused instruction.
- Criteria for evaluation belong in the classroom.
Activity One – Surveying the Shifts
- List the kinds of writing your students currently do in your class.
- Compare the kinds of writing you currently do with the kinds of writing emphasized in “Pedagogical Shifts.”
- Share as a group with one person tabulating the results.
- Ask the group: What kinds of literacy needs are we successfully meeting? Is there any kind of literacy we should be spending more time on? For example, should students be reading more informational texts? If so, which course(s) can meet this need?
Activity Two – Inventory of Literacy Skills
Select an item from the CCSS assessments. Write a detailed explanation of how you arrived at an answer. (Also a classroom move.) Working together, make a list of all the literacy skills students will need to succeed on this item. Brainstorm ideas for instruction that will address the items on the list. (Page 40 of Writing on Demand offers a sample list.)
Classroom Moves – Understanding the Language of Assessment
Students can use the following form when called to read complex text:
- In three sentences summarize the main points of the passage.
- What was confusing or difficult to understand?
- What words are unfamiliar?
Activity Three – Developing Curriculum
One curriculum change teachers can make on their own is to simply increase the amount of writing that students do. The majority of writing should take place at Level 1 – personal, informal and ungraded. Level 2 writing is for an audience, more formal, and graded. Writing skills are best developed at these two levels. Level 3 writing is public, formal, and high stakes. “Maxwell’s Levels of Writing”
Brainstorm Level 1 writing activities for one of the units of study you have developed. Discuss how the writing activities can both help students increase the amount of writing they do and learn content material. Remember that Level 1 writing is ungraded.
(Processes supporting curriculum development: checking for text complexity, considering big ideas and essential questions, aligning with standards)
Activity Four – Internalizing the Writing Process
“For writing transfer to take place, students need to be in charge of and to manipulate their own process.” Students who do well on writing-on-demand tests can easily describe their thinking process. To initiate a conversation about writing process, start by writing. Each teacher, picking the last piece he or she wrote, does a quick-write describing his or her own writing process. Share with a small group. It is likely no two people share the same process. Share the kinds of process strategies that work well for the grade level and subject taught.
Classroom Moves – The Writing Process
Sassi and Gere offer ideas for prewriting, drafting, and revising. They also state that “Motivation is key when it comes to starting the writing process,” and offer some ideas to motivate students.
Activity Five – The Performance Task
Teachers will examine in depth an 8th grade performance task. With reading selections from their subject areas, members of content area teams can work together to develop questions that will help students identify the key points in each selection, comparing how this process differs across the disciplines. Teachers can refer to “Bloom’s Taxonomy Applied to CCSS” to prepare questions.
Teachers will use “Prompt Analysis Questions” to address the rhetorical features of the prompt. “Rhetorical Strategies” further explains Question 4. Teachers will apply these questions to prompts and assignments in their own disciplines; they are a lens through which assignments can be examined in order to diminish student confusion. “Prompt Analysis Questions for Creating Rhetorically Based Assignments”
Activity Six – Criteria for Evaluation
Examine a generic rubric and describe what would be different between a piece of writing that receives all 4’s and one that receives all 1’s. Then examine an assignment-specific rubric and compare it to the generic one. Creating a rubric that either students help write or that they can view while they are writing helps them understand the assignment more clearly.
See the article “Using the Rhetorical Situation to Inform Literacy Instruction and Assessment across the Disciplines” for more information. The authors describe
a framework for approaching how teachers across the disciplines discuss what students are expected to know and how students are assessed.
(An additional chapter in Writing on Demand focuses on the demands of a timed assessment.)
Sassi, Kelly and Anne Ruggles Gere. 2014. Writing on Demand for the Common Core State Standards Assessments. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.