VPSS Training
San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools
Day 3
Literary Response and Analysis – Writing Applications
Writing a Response to Literature Paragraph
3-2-1 Review Activity
• On an index card, write down three important points
from Day 2’s reading, presentation, activities etc.
• Share two of your thoughts with your table group.
• As a table, select the one most important point you
would like to share with the whole group.
• Whip Around
Asking Good Questions
(Adapted from Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word by Barbara R. Blackburn, 2008)
•
Q – quality
•
U – understanding
•
E – encourage multiple responses
•
S - spark new questions
•
T – thought-provoking
•
I – individualized
•
O – ownership
•
N – narrow and broad
•
S – success building
Q.A.R.
Question-Answer Relationships
Room as text
• What time does the clock say?
• How many people in the room are wearing glasses?
• What would be the best way to arrange the tables and
chairs in this room for discussions?
• Would it be destruction of property or art to draw on
the walls with markers?
Level 1
• What time does the clock say?
• What did you have to do to get this answer?
• Right there Question
Level 2
• How many people in the room are wearing glasses?
• What did you have to do to get this answer?
• Pulling It Together
Level 3
• What would be the best way to arrange the tables
and chairs in this room for discussions?
• What did you have to do to get this answer?
• Author and Me
Level 4
• Would it be destruction of property or art to draw
on the walls of this room with markers?
• What did you have to do to get this answer?
• On My Own
Reading the Room - Write one
question for each level
• Right There
• Pulling It Together
• Author and Me
• On My Own
David
• Read
• Annotate text
• Identify type of question
• Answer the question
You Try
• Reread After Twenty Years
• On your own, compose a question for each type.
• With your table, decide on two questions for each
type and write on the poster
• QAR Carousel
CST & CAHSEE
Connection
• Read through some of the Released Test Questions
• With a partner, identify the “types” of questions
asked on the tests.
• The Study Guide can be downloaded from the CDE
Website:
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/hs/elaguide.asp
Goal: Respond to the prompt: Based on the
characterization in the short story “After Twenty
Years” by O. Henry, Jimmy is someone who would
honor his friendship with Bob and honor his
responsibility as a policeman.
Activities and Assignments: Find three (3) examples
in the text to support the premise of the prompt.
Strategies: 1). Use the STEAL charts to record what
the text reveals about the two. (2) main characters. 3).
Use sentence frames to incorporate or paraphrase a
quote from the story.
Writing
• According to researcher Douglas Reeves, writing
improves reading comprehension and student
performance in several academic areas, including
social studies, science, and mathematics.
• He also asserts that writing, particularly when paired
with analysis, editing, and rewriting, will improve
students’ abilities to communicate and succeed on
state and local writing tests.
Douglas B. Reeves, Reason to Write: Help Your Child Succeed in
School
and in Life Through Better Reasoning and Clear Communication. New York:
Kaplan Publishing, 2002, p. 3.
7th Grade Writing
Proficiency/California High School
Exit Exam - CAHSEE
The California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) requires all students to demonstrate
their writing ability. As a result, the middle grades become a gateway for preparing students with
the writing skills they need to succeed in high school and beyond. The seventh-grade writing
proficiency results from the California Standards Test provide eighth-grade teachers with an
important tool for assessing student progress and targeting strategies intended to bring students up
to grade-level proficiency before the transition to high school.
California Department of Education Publication - Taking Center Stage – Act II (TCSII) A Portal
for Middle Grades Educators
The 7th grade writing task should directly correlate with the
CAHSEE writing task.
• Compare Grade Seven
and CAHSEE scoring
rubrics:
• genre
• organization and focus
• sentence structure
• conventions
Score
4
3
2
1
Genre
Organization
And Focus
Sentence
Structure
Conventions
Discuss Findings
What did you find?
What do we need to do to remain faithful to grade
level standards and expectations and prepare our
students for high school and beyond?
The Writing Process
• No matter how
complex the writing
task, it still breaks down
to:
pre-writing
writing
revising
editing
publishing
REMEMBER
Expect even your best
students to take a long
time to complete one (1)
good, well-developed
paragraph.
What about Bob and Jimmy?
Use a highlighter to mark what Bob says about himself and
about Jimmy…this will make it easy to fill out the
chart…create a chart for each character.
Types of Indirect
Characterization
Speech
Thoughts
Effect on others
Actions
Looks
Examples
Explanation
Based upon the characterization in the
short story “After Twenty Years,” Jimmy
is someone who would honor his
friendship with Bob and honor his
responsibility as a policeman.
Find three (3) examples from the text that
support your choice.
Practice and Discussion
Share out pre-writing ideas from STEAL charts and
“Based upon…”
• Why are these effective strategies?
• What are some ways you might adapt the strategies for
your student population?
Sentence Frames
The best way to learn how to write is to read as much good
writing as you can.
_________________ and _______, in their book
____________________, contend that
_________________.
Use the sentence frames handout to refashion
your ideas for the paragraph.
Practice and Discussion
Share out sentence ideas.
• Why is this an effective strategy?
• What are some ways you might adapt this strategy for
your student population?
Next Steps
Decide why these are/are not good examples to
showcase the honesty of Jimmy’s character.
The product of this discussion can become the basis
of the commentary.
Then: writing/editing/revising/publishing.
Grading
“Comment rather than correct.”
• Address writer by name
• Begin with a positive
• “However” or “But” – suggest ways the student
could improve the essay
Jago, Carol. Papers, Papers, Papers An English Teacher's Survival Guide.
Chicago: Heinemann, 2005.
Sample Comment
Dear Sam,
Your essay exudes an enthusiasm for Gaines’ story that
is infectious. Be careful not to allow your strong
feelings for the book turn what should be an analytical
essay-remember the key prompt verb: ANALYZE-into
an evaluation of the novel. This shouldn’t be a book
review but an analysis of the irony; implicit in the
teacher being the one who learns a “lesson.” Thanks so
much for being such a terrific leader in your literature
circle. You really helped your group understand what
they read.
Practice Scoring
• Trade papers
• Read the individual’s paper and write a comment to
this person
• Offer a rubric score based on the CAHSEE rubric
we looked at earlier.
Ten Tips for Handling the
Paper Load
1. Do it now
2. Set aside extended
periods of time for
grading
3. Use a timer
4. Stretch between
each paper
5. Investigate
computer scoring
6. Use a rubric
7. Avoid reading
papers when you are
exhausted
8. No interruptions
9. Make sure your
students read your
comments
10. Save all student
papers
The Big Picture
Take a look at the entire unit of study –
How were metacognitive strategies
embedded?
How were the standards addressed and differentiated?
What other ways might you adjust the structure of the
lesson to meet the needs of your students?
Lesson Plan
Write a lesson that embeds the information you
learned from today’s workshop for teaching writing
of a literary analysis paragraph/essay.
Standards:
Writing 2.0
Write responses to literature (The standard varies by
grade level.)
Writing Resources
• UHS Student Writer’s Handbook
• Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. They
Say/I Say The Moves That Matter in Academic
Writing. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005.
• Check out many other sources on the Internet
• http://www.angelfire.com/wi/writingprocess/
Ticket Out the Door
• Please use the sentence stems and complete your
ticket out the door as a reflection of today’s learning.
Works Cited
Allsburg, Chris Van. The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1984.
Beers, Kylene. When Kids Can't Read: What Teachers Can Do. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann, 2003.
Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say/I Say The Moves That Matter in
Academic Writing. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005.
Jago, Carol. Papers, Papers, Papers An English Teacher's Survival Guide. Chicago:
Heinemann, 2005.
Marzano R. Designing and Teaching Learning Goals and Objectives: Classroom
Strategies That Work. Bloomington, IN: Marzano Research Laboratory,
2009.
Reeves, Douglas. Reason to Write: Help Your Child Succeed in School and in Life
Through Better Reasoning and Clear Communication. New York:Kaplan
Publishing, 2002.