May 15, 2013
Session Objectives
 Examine rationale and steps for using the Writing
for Understanding Approach
 Walk through a guided sequence of instruction
that connects close reading of complex text to an
evidence-based writing task
 Determine ways to scaffold instruction to address
the instructional and cultural needs of English
language learners
Writing to Sources: Guided
Instruction
 The Writing for Understanding approach is grounded in the
key shifts in ELA/Literacy: Increasing complex text,
building knowledge, evidence based reading a writing
 Writing about a text after doing a close read is away to help
students build deeper meaning of the text.
 Writing about a text also helps students to write clearly,
logically, and thoughtfully.
 Using this instructional approach not only helps students
synthesize meaning of the text-it helps them to transfer this
kind of thinking to other texts.
Purpose of Model Lessons
Designed to use text-dependent questions to
help students, through close reading, to acquire
a deep understanding of the text. Each model
lesson includes:
 A set of student worksheets, designed to lead
the student step by step through the process
 A set of teacher reference sheets, which offer a
sample of student responses to note taking and
writing activities.
Turn and Talk
As teachers and students become more
comfortable with text based writing, this
process should be modified to encourage
independence. With careful instruction,
much practice and gradual release of
responsibility, all of your students will
improve, not only in their writing, but the
way they think about and interact with
what they read.
What would this process look like for
English language learners?
Before We Get Started
 Writing to Sources: Guided Instruction hand-out
 Exemplar Sample Lesson, “Because of Winn Dixie”
 The Text: DiCamillo, Kate. “Because of Winn
Dixie”
 Student Worksheets for “Because of Winn Dixie”
 Writing for Understanding: Addressing the
Common Core Shifts hand-out
An Elementary School Unit
on the Impact of Technology
By the end of grade 5. Over time, people’s needs
and wants change, as do their demands for new
and improved technologies. Engineers improve
existing technologies or develop new ones to
increase their benefits (e.g., better artificial limbs),
to decrease known risks (e.g., seatbelts in cars),
and to meet societal demands (e.g., cell phones).
When new technologies become available, they
can bring about changes in the way people live
and interact with one another.
Build Knowledge
Complex Texts
What makes the text complex?
Listen
What Makes Text Complex?
• Text features
• Genre
• Organization
• Layers of meaning
• Purpose
• Concept
complexity
• Vocabulary
• Sentence length and
structure
• Figurative language
• Regional/historical
usage (dialects)
Meaning
Structure
Language
Knowledge
• Background
• Experiences
Turn and Talk
What would working with complex
text look like for English Language
Learners?
First Read
for enjoyment and general comprehension
Second “Close Read”
The second read is the close read-where the
teacher guides students slowly and carefully
through the text, prodding their thinking with
text-dependent questions.
Meaning: In the last stanza,
Charlie had another thought.
What was this thought and why
couldn’t he explain it?
Language: What does the author
mean when she says Charlie has
“likes and like nots”?
Structure: Why is the word
“anything” in italics?
Knowledge: What is an
“empire”? What does it mean
when the author says
Charlie’s “tech empire” came
tumbling down?
Third Read
for evidence based reading and writing
Students read with a specific purpose,
to gather information that will allow
them to answer a Focusing Question
for writing.
Evidence
Matters!
Turn and Talk
What could be a
focusing question and
focus statement
for Charlie McButton?
Focusing Question
Big Idea
Expresses Understanding
Evidence from Text
Leads to Focus Statement
?
Focusing Questions and
Focus Statements
Focusing Question
Focus Statement
How do sharks survive?
Sharks have physical and
behavioral adaptions that
help them survive.
What caused the American
Revolution?
Actions taken by the English
caused the colonists to revolt.
Possible Focusing Question and
Focus Statement
Focusing Question
How do Charlie’s
opinions about having
fun change from the
beginning to the end
of the story?
Focus Statement
At the beginning of the
poem, he thought he
could never have fun
without his gadgets.
By the end, he realized
that he can have fun
without electronics.
Taking Notes
Requires
Direct
Instruction
Can Take
Forms Levels
Important
atMany
ALL
Grade
Evidence
Elaboration
Records Information
Sample Ways to Take Notes
Pictures
Objects
Drawing
Graphic Organizers
Evidence
Elaboration
Focusing Question
Turn and Talk
How do Charlie’s opinions about having fun
change from the beginning to the end of the
story?
What type of evidence from the story will students
need to collect in order to answer this question?
How could you help them collect it?
Evidence
Evidence
What does Charlie think is fun?
How do Charlie’s
opinions about having
fun change from the
beginning to the end
of the story?
Examples from the beginning of the
story
Examples from the end of the
story
Evidence
How do Charlie’s
opinions about having
fun change from the
beginning to the end
of the story?
At the beginning of the poem, he thought he could
never have fun without his gadgets. By the end, he
realized that he can have
fun without electronics.
Talk the Piece
Using their notes,
students “talk the
writing” before
they write it.
Practice Turning Notes into Sentences
Things
with
“handsets
and
bots”
Hide and go seek
He has fun playing hide
and go seek with his Charlie only plays
with things with
sister.
“handset and bots”.
Finished Piece
When Charlie McButton Loses Power,
by Suzanne Collins, is a funny story
with an important message. When the
power goes out, Charlie McButton…
Read the finished piece.
What kind of
instruction in the craft
of writing will students
need to be able to write
a piece like this?
Questions
Turn and Talk
What are the benefits of expressing
understanding in writing?
What are some of the things that
prevent your students from doing so?
May 15, 2013
Anthology Alignment Project
This professional development opportunity provides
practice with district-adopted textbooks to:
Identify text-dependent and non-text-dependent
questions
Learn to develop quality text-dependent questions
that include examples with direct responses and
inferences.
Draws students attention to academic language,
vocabulary and syntax
Professional Development
Description
 The Council of the Great City Schools and Student
Achievement Partners invite districts to send a team to
AAP conferences to align existing materials to
Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
 Participants learn how to develop quality textdependent questions and improve the culminating
activities
 General education, ELL and special education leaders
collaborate on preparing CCSS-aligned, instructional
classroom materials for grades 6-10
AAP Conference Dates
March 25-26 2013
Long Beach, CA
May 21-23, 2013
Birmingham, AL
How to Join the AAP Group
Go to Edmodo Website
Create user name and password
Join Anthology Alignment
Project Group
Enter code pkx4sp
Supported Anthologies
•Holt- Elements of Literature (6-8)
•Holt-Literature and Language Arts (6-10)
•Houghton Mifflin Harcourt-Reading/Medallion (6-10)
•McDougal Littell- Language of Literature (9-10)
•McDougal Littell-Language Network (6-8)
•McGraw-Hill- Glencoe Literature: The Reader’s Choice (610)
•McGraw-Hill- Open Court (6)
•Prentice Hall- Literature (6-10)
•Prentice Hall- Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes (9-10)