Written Composition Instruction

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Written Composition Instruction

• TE 846
• Learning Module 8

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What are Attributes of Effective Writing
Instruction?

• a predictable routine that permits each student
  to become comfortable with the writing process
  and move through the process over a sustained
  period of time at his/her own rate
• a focus on authentic writing tasks and meaningful
  writing experiences for personal and collective
  expression, reflection, inquiry, discovery, and
  social change
• a common language for shared expectations and
  feedback regarding writing quality (e.g., traits)
• lessons designed to help students master craft
  elements (e.g., text structure, character
  development), writing skills (e.g., spelling,
  punctuation), and process strategies (e.g.,
  planning and revising tactics)
• procedural supports such as conferences, planning
  forms and charts, checklists for
  revision/editing, and computer tools for removing
  transcription barriers
• a sense of community in which (a) risks are
  supported (b) children and teachers are viewed
  as writers (c) personal ownership is expected
  and (d) collaboration is a cornerstone of the
  program
• integration of writing instruction with reading
  instruction and content area instruction (e.g.,
  use of touchstone texts to guide genre study, use
  of common themes across the curriculum,
  maintaining learning notebooks in math and
  science classes)
• a cadre of trained volunteers to respond to,
  encourage, coach, and celebrate childrens
  writing, which helps classroom teachers give more
  feedback and potentially individualize their
  instruction
• resident writers and guest authors who share
  their expertise, struggles, and successes so that
  children and teachers have positive role models
  and develop a broader sense of writing as craft
• opportunities for teachers to upgrade and expand
  their own conceptions of writing, the writing
  process, and how children learn to write,
  primarily through professional development
  activities, but also through being an active
  member of a writing community (e.g., National
  Writing Project)

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What are Attributes of Quality Writing Workshop?

• STUDENT WORK
• there are frequent opportunities for students to
  regulate their writing behaviors, the writing
  environment, and the use of resources
• daily writing occurs at school and home with
  students working on a wide range of composing
  tasks for multiple authentic audiences and
  purposes
• students select their own writing topics or may
  modify teacher assignments, which are compatible
  with students interests
• students work through the writing process at
  their own pace
• students present work in progress as well as
  completed papers to other students in and out of
  the classroom to receive praise and feedback
• students written work is prominently displayed
  in the classroom and throughout the school
• INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACH
• teachers intentionally adjust their instructional
  emphasis on meaning, form, and process to meet
  individual students needs
• instruction covers a broad range of knowledge,
  skills, and strategies, including writing
  conventions, sentence and text structure, the
  functions and forms of writing, and planning and
  revising
• teachers overtly model the writing process,
  writing strategies and skills, and positive
  attitudes toward writing during teacher-directed
  mini-lessons
• follow-up instruction is provided to ensure
  mastery of target knowledge, skills, and
  strategies
• ROUTINES
• a predictable routine typically entails a
  mini-lesson, then an individual progress check,
  followed by independent writing and conferencing,
  and finally group sharing
• regular student-teacher conferences are scheduled
  to discuss progress, establish writing goals and
  self-evaluation criteria, and provide
  individualized feedback, all in the context of
  high expectations
• cooperative arrangements are established where
  students help one another plan, draft, revise,
  edit, and publish their written work
• teachers arrange for periodic conferences and
  frequent communication with families to discuss
  the writing program and students progress

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How to Teach Writing

• Writing Process (e.g., Writers' Workshop)
• composing processes (planning, drafting,
  revising/editing, and publishing) are overlapping
  and recursive
• to the degree that lower-level processes (e.g.,
  text transcription, spelling) are automatized,
  more cognitive resources can be devoted to
  meaning construction
• students should be given time every day (close to
  one hour) for sustained writing and should be
  encouraged to work on a piece over several
  sessions
• writing journals are a staple
• model the writing process and strategic thinking
  for students
• establish authentic purposes and real audiences
  for writing
• use mini-lessons, individual conferences, and
  teachable moments to teach specific skills as the
  need arises and within the context of current
  writing activities
• a sense of community should be established by
• arranging the environment so that minimal teacher
  direction is needed for students to engage in
  writing activities
• de-emphasizing the role of the teacher as expert
• ensuring that students feel that they can take
  risks
• permit students to select their own topics, but
  model and encourage writing on more challenging
  topics or using more sophisticated text
  structures that require information gathering
• the teacher should not be the sole audience peer
  collaboration and sharing/publishing are used to
  help students incorporate the feedback and
  writing styles of others into their writing
• encourage students to continue to plan as they
  draft
• students should focus on content rather than form
  when drafting
• revising for clarity and coherence should precede
  editing for mechanics

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• Explicit Skills and Strategies Instruction
• explicitly teach rhetorical knowledge
• explicitly teach transcription skills such as
  handwriting and spelling
• handwriting instruction should emphasize
• correct grasp
• paper positioning
• letter formation and spacing
• comparing a letter with other letters, tracing
  letters, copying letters, and writing letters
  from memory
• judicious review and feedback once a letter form
  is acquired
• self-monitoring and evaluation of performance
• spelling instruction should emphasize
• words that are already used and misspelled by
  children
• those words most likely to be used in their
  writing
• common orthographic patterns
• word study techniques
• application of spelling knowledge through analogy
• proofing
• external aids
• weekly pretests and posttests of spelling lists
  that include pattern words, self-selected words,
  and frequently misspelled words

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A Metascript of Instructional Stages in
Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD)WEB
RESOURCE

• 1. Activate Develop Background Knowledge
• discuss the characteristics of good writing
• teach text structure for genre to be developed
• 2. Discuss It
• review current writing performance based on
  assessment data
• discuss present attitudes and beliefs about
  writing and ineffective techniques
• introduce the strategy to be taught and discuss
  its benefits and applications

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• 3. Model It
• model strategy steps and self-regulation
  procedures across varied tasks
• discuss ways that strategy steps may need to be
  modified for varied tasks, settings, or goals
• collaboratively develop self-talk,
  self-monitoring, and self-reinforcement
  procedures
• 4. Memorize It
• have students memorize strategy steps, mnemonics,
  and self-talk

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• 5. Support It
• collaboratively practice using the strategy steps
  and self-regulation procedures
• collaboratively establish challenging but
  attainable writing goals
• gradually fade support as students gain
  competence
• discuss generalization and maintenance assign
  homework for generalization
• 6. Independent Performance
• fade overt self-regulation procedures
• embed in process writing framework

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Components of Self-Regulation

• Goal Setting
• enhances attention, motivation, and effort
• facilitates strategic behavior
• prompts self-evaluation
• goals should be challenging, specific, proximal,
  and, if possible, self-selected
• goals can focus on a process or an aspect of the
  product (for product goals, quality and quantity
  goals can be established)

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• Self-talk (instructions or questions)
• help orient attention to relevant information,
  organize thoughts, plan actions, and execute
  behaviors
• help cope with anxiety, frustration, self-doubt,
  and impulsivity
• provide self-affirmation and encouragement
• Self-evaluation
• comprised of self-monitoring and self-recording
• can self-assess attention, strategy use, and
  performance
• most effective for performance deficits

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• Self-reinforcement
• requires self-evaluation in relation to a
  performance standard
• just as powerful as external inducements
• Environmental Management
• arranging work environment to maximize
  productivity (e.g., seeking a quiet work space,
  having all necessary materials, playing soothing
  music)

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Some Tips on Promoting Strategy Maintenance and
Generalization

• Strategy instruction must be prolonged, covering
  implementation across tasks, settings, and people
• Make the expectation for continued use in many
  contexts explicit
• Solicit students ideas about the conditions
  under which a strategy might be deployed and what
  modifications might be necessary
• Use other school personnel as confederates (i.e.,
  have them prompt and reinforce strategy use and
  report on students efforts have students report
  back as well)

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• Always relate task performance to strategy use
  (e.g., discuss performance before versus after
  strategy instruction have students evaluate
  pretest/posttest writing samples written by
  others who learned the strategy)
• Plan instructional booster sessions
• Have students teach the strategy to others
• Have students create a transportable binder in
  which cue sheets or procedural facilitators are
  inserted and indexed
• Encourage students to personalize the strategy
  after they have mastered the original steps
• Authorize students who excel at particular
  strategies (or knowledge or skills) to be experts
  and serve as a resource for fellow students

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What is Revising?

• Re-seeing goals, ideas, and text
• Dissonance location and resolution
• Occurs throughout the writing process
• Metaphor of pruning and grafting

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Why is Revising So Difficult?

• Make inaccurate presuppositions regarding shared
  understanding
• Focus on localized and superficial issues rather
  than discourse-level issues
• Miss inaccuracies and confusing spots and/or do
  not know what to change when a problem is
  detected
• Feel too wedded to text already produced
• Difficulty managing revising along with other
  cognitive, linguistic, physical, and motivational
  operations
• Little instruction is devoted to helping students
  revise
• Teachers give limited helpful feedback on papers

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How Can We Foster Effective Revising?

• Examination of touchstone texts and comparing
  these with weak exemplars
• Activities to develop genre and topic knowledge
• Extensive modeling
• Word-processing software
• Checklists (e.g., COLA, SEARCH)
• Peer and teacher conferencing (e.g., PQP)
• Tactical procedures (e.g., goal setting,
  flash-drafting, CDO)
• Snapshots and thoughtshots to explode the moment

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Adapted from Singer Bashir, 1999
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Adapted from Ellis Friend, 1991
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Adapted from De La Paz Graham, 1999