Next Steps – Lesson Planner
Identified Learning Intention/Purpose:
After analyzing a third grade writing prompt using Writing to Inform Rubric, six students were targeted for intervention in the area of organization for overall coherence. (Three students indicated inconsistent organization and three indicated little or no organization). The intervention for these six students will include small group instruction, four times a week for 30 minutes, for three weeks. Students will demonstrate improvement in their ability to effectively organize their writing ideas with a beginning, middle and an end related to overall coherence.
Progress will be ongoing. Formative assessments will be analyzed daily, (activities with supported and independent tasks), and summative assessments, (including on-demand writing and revising essays) will provide evidence of progress during and after instruction.
What scaffolding will you provide?
Instruction will begin with paragraph writing, (focus, supporting evidence, and concluding statement then extending into essay writing. The number of activities needed at each level will be determined through formative and summative assessments. There may be a need to offer more instruction to the students who performed at a lower level of organization on the rubric, before they are ready to move onto the next level of instruction.
In order for students to meet this expectation, they will be provided with a variety of lessons that include explicit mini-lessons with supported writing activities. Some of these processing supports for student learning will include oral processing, guided conversation, Think-Pair Share and graphic organizers. Structures such as Teacher and Student models and frames, (benchmarks, Painted Essay), will also be included to support students and their practice. Writing and revising will be done in whole group, shared groups and with partners. The level of support will gradually be decreased with students independently required to transfer the skills they learned.
Lesson Sequence:
-Five finger Planner- Paragraph writing (p. 59, Rog)
-“Cutting and Sorting” (page 160, Rog.) Helps students to reorganize writing by cutting apart the sentence and placing and gluing them in a more logical sequence.
-Guided Reading Poem “Friends”- (constructed response Swanton Schools, 2007)
-Think/Pair/Share ideas for Constructed response.
-Independent writing to constructed response using five finger planner.
-“3-2-1 Planner” – Extending writing into essay format (p.67 Rog)
“Stretching the Paper” (page 156, Rog) minilesson to help students in the revision process by pasting in extra paper and tucking in ideas in the middle of the text.
-Guided Reading-Modeling Revision “A Change in the Weather” (p.49 Craft Lessons)
-“Re-Read for Correctness” and “Use RUPR When Writing to a Prompt”-Guided reading for editing (P-13 and I-9, Teaching the Qualities of Writing)
-Independent writing to prompt-paragraph- “Write about Your Room” (p.96 Graves)
-Guided support for essay writing, “The Abenaki”
Model the Painted Essay with this piece, (using Elmo or overhead) with colored pencils.
-Students work in partners to color code in Painted Essay format the report “My Dad.” Discuss how this writing is effective.
-Benchmark prompt: “The Library” (Newton School) Use rubric and/or checklist and/or Painted Essay to analyze the effectiveness of this writing.
-Revising own essays- Independently-
Works Cited:
Rog, Lori Jamison. Marvelous Minilessons for Teaching Beginning Writing, K-3. Delaware: International Reading Association, 2007
Portalupi, JoAnn and Ralph Fletcher. Teaching the Qualities of Writing. New Hampshire:Heinemann, 2004.
Fletcher, Ralph and JoAnn Portalupi. Craft Lessons. Maine: Stenhouse Publishers, 1998.
Graves, Donald and Penny Kittle. My Quick Writes for Inside Writing. New Hampshire: Heinemann, 2005.
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Hi Sheryl,
ReplyDeleteThis lesson is chalk full of great mini lessons around organization. I especially like how you brought students from the five finger organizer that they are probably familar with from 2nd grade and taught them how to extend or stretch explicitly. This could be a good model lesson sequence to use for the transition from 2nd to 3rd. I'm going to look up the 3-2-1 and "stretching the paper" right away. Good stuff! Sara
I just sent an email to my special educator colleague to ask her if she has the Rog book. I would really like to use it. I, too am always looking for effective ways to support my struggling writers, especially with organization.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but wonder if much of the work you'll be doing with your small group intervention, would also be beneficial to the whole group. (Although that is probably happening). I know those kids need smaller groups and more focused support, but I think all my students can use these ideas and experiences.
I wrote earlier about the very question of extending the five finger planner into an essay format and this might answer my question.
Lastly, I am wondering what your "writing to inform" topics are. Are you using research or the students' own experiences? Are you providing the focus statements for them and then filling in the graphic organizers? I ask because it seems like "Friends" and "The Abenaki" might be response to text, but "writing about your room" seems like writing to inform. I struggle with whether to have my students write research reports or write from their own experience. It's all important, but there is so little time. Anyway, I'm just thinking as I type here...
I hope this intervention is successful - I can't imagine it wouldn't be! Good luck with it!
-katie
Sheryl,
ReplyDeleteI am impressed with the organized, explicit and intentional way in which you are supporting your students. Learning how to "organize their thinking" is so important. Your ongoing use of formative assessments is most excellent. It is clear that your ongoing assessments will inform your teaching practice and support your students' progress. The think/pair/share element is quite challenging, yet with your guidance, your students can develop important habits as they learn to revise their work. I hope you will post reflections about how the painted essay works for your students. I plan to use it his year in my work with students. I, too, think the lesson sequence you describe would be beneficial to all students. Best wishes!