Professional Development ~ Writing
Unit Title: Professional Development ~ Writing
Session Title: The Writing Process
Essential Questions:
 Why write?
 Why do effective writers use the five-step writing process?
 How does using the writing process help with descriptive, narrative,
persuasive and informational writing in all grade levels and across all
disciplines?
 How does assessment drive better student writing?
Participants will KNOW:
 The five steps of the writing process
 How to use the writing process for a descriptive, narrative, persuasive and
informational composition (content areas)
 How to use classroom assessment for learning to improve writing
Participants will UNDERSTAND:
 The writing process is not an option for your students but a necessity for
predicting academic success and for participation in the global community.
 Process writing involves many interwoven activities, including:
o creating extended opportunities for writing
o stressing ownership of writing
o encouraging self-reflection and evaluation
o emphasizing writing for authentic purposes
Participants will be able to DO:
 Use a sorting activity to define the components of the writing process
 Participate in prewriting, drafting, revising and editing strategies to learn about
the components of the writing process
 View practical applications of writing from Thinkfinity site
 Assess writing using rubrics
 Develop focused feedback through conferencing
 Create a writing lesson for the classroom
Learning Plan and Notes
Sponge Activity: Admit Slip (Answer the question – Post on the wall)
Ask participants to take a Post-it note and write one example of how you use writing in
your classroom. As one presenter continues with the welcome and introductions, other
presenters will categorize the Post-it notes for the participants. Present this to
participants after the introductions.
Welcome and Introduction of Presenters: (10 minutes) (Introductory slide- Slide 1)
Participant Introductions:
 Take one object out of your purse or pocket. Introduce yourself to someone and
talk about the importance of that object to you. (a prewriting activity)
 Discuss the Sponge Activity-How are the participants using writing in their
classrooms?
*Note to presenter: This is an optional activity.
Participants will KNOW: (Slide 2)
 The five steps of the writing process
 How to use the writing process for a descriptive, narrative, persuasive and
informational composition (content areas)
 How to use classroom assessment for learning to improve writing
Participants will be able to DO: (Slide 3)
 Use a sorting activity to define the components of the writing process
 Participate in prewriting, drafting, revising and editing strategies to learn about
the components of the writing process
 View practical applications of writing process with Thinkfinity
 Assess writing using rubrics
 Create a writing lesson for the content area classroom
Essential Questions: (Slide 4) Leave this slide up throughout Activating Prior
Knowledge and Vocabulary
Activating Prior Knowledge: (15 minutes)
Imagine for a moment that you have to stop at the grocery store and pick up four or five
items. Write yourself a reminder of what you have to buy. (Give out Post-it notes to do
this) Now imagine that something has come up so you can’t do your shopping yourself.
Someone else has to do your shopping for you. Make whatever changes you need in
order to ensure that the person understands what you want. (Participants change list).
Let’s look at the process of communication. Before you began, you probably made a
decision- a kind of prewriting- to write the reminder in the form of a list. Lists serve a
purpose: they provide the key information without extraneous detail. Next, you drafted
your list. But when you realized someone else was going to use it; you began adding
detail-changing your text to suit an outside audience-you were revising. Finally, you
might have recopied the list, corrected careless spelling-editing. Publishing is when you
share a piece with its intended audience. In this case you gave it to your
friend/husband/child.
Skill Lesson through direct instruction and modeling:
The Writing Process (50 minutes)
1. (Slide 5) Presenter will explain how the writing process moves along a
continuum, from fluency to control and to precision and how pre-writing to
publishing moves along the continuum but is also recursive. (follow notes on
slide 3)
2. Vocabulary Development: (03 Handout for vocabulary sort and answer key)
Participants will identify the terminology of the writing process with a vocabulary
word sort. In groups of 4, the presenter gives each group an envelope containing
the 5 steps of the writing process and the definition or examples of each. The
groups will complete the sorting activity by matching the component of the writing
process to the definition or example. An answer key will be given to each group
after the activity.
3. Give each participant the writing process chart (04 Handout). The presenter(s)
will choose a tool and model each component of the writing process.
Prewriting – The Cheese Stands Alone (narrowing the topic)
The participants will write three different reasons why they like summer vacation on
three strips of paper (three strips of paper). Everyone stands. The presenter collects the
reasons and reads a strip. The person who wrote the reason and anyone else that has
the same reason will sit down. The presenter continues to do this until only one person
is left standing. Discuss why this person is left standing (this topic has been narrowed
so that no one else has the topic). Note: You might have to do this more than once
with your class. Each time you do this activity, students will become aware of how they
need to narrow their topics in order to be the “cheese.”
Drafting –SEEPS (support/organization) (Slide 6-8)
S-Statement
E-Explanation
E-Elaboration
P-Personal Tidbit
S-so
The participants will learn and practice the SEEPS support for writing. The presenter
will model SEEP and then participants will rewrite and SEEP a paragraph. In groups,
use chart paper to rewrite the paragraph and post on wall. Have a spokesperson from
each group read the revised paragraph and tell how they used SEEP.
Revising – Rainbow Revision (need colored pencils or highlighters)
 Start with a short draft from each student.
 Ask the writer to underline the best part of their writing, using a red
colored pencil.


Rotate papers to the right.
Read the new paper in front of you. Using a yellow pencil or
marker, underline what you think is the best part.
 Rotations continue around the rainbow.
 When you get your own paper back, the part that has no color is
the part you should revise.
 Now add, subtract or change something!
The participants will learn and practice Rainbow Revision. The presenter will model this
process. Participants will practice Rainbow Revision using a seventh-grade paper (or
any grade) with multiple paragraphs.
Editing – (Slide 9) CUPS is an acronym to remind students that when they edit, they
should look for errors in Capitalization, Usage, Punctuation and Spelling. The
presenters model the process by looking at one aspect at a time. Using a sample piece
of writing and four different colors of editing pens, model the process. First, use one
color to note capitalization errors. Then skim the text again, marking errors in word
usage with a different-colored pen. Go through a third time looking for missing or
incorrect punctuation, and a fourth time noting and fixing spelling errors, each time with
a different color. Participants will use a piece of writing to practice CUPS.
Practical Application: (15 minutes) (Slide10)
Presenter will show how process writing is an integral part of teaching in the content
area. Take participants to Thinkfinity lesson using the link on Slide 7. Briefly review the
content of the lesson. Take participants to the “Closing” section online and give each
participant the UbD lesson plan (05 Handout). Using the 05 handout as a model,
participants are to talk in pairs or groups as to how the five-step writing process is used
in this plan. Using the Process Writing Chart (06 Handout) participants will fill in the last
column of the chart
Next, have pairs work with 1 or 2 other pairs to compare and contrast their sponge
activity responses with the Thinkfinity activity on a compare/contrast graphic organizer
(07 Handout) Groups will share responses.
Assessing Writing (slide 9-15) (35 minutes)
Assessment and instruction – Slide 11 – The presenter will explain Stiggins’ quotes and
make connections to training on the session on Process Writing and how writing is used
to assess comprehension and demonstrate learning and real-world connections as
explained at the bottom on the slide in the notes page.
RAFT Explanation – Slide 12 – The presenter using notes page on slide, defines and
explains what a RAFT is and how it can be used across content areas to produce a
product that demonstrates learning and real-world connections.
RAFT Activity – Slide 13 – The presenter will ask the audience to select one of the four
content specific RAFT writing activities and complete a short exercise as they think a
student would complete it. (10 minutes) (need paper and pencil)
RAFT Activity Rubric – Slide 14 – The presenter will ask the audience to pair-up and
exchange their RAFT activity and use this rubric to evaluate the other person’s writing.
(5 minutes)
Writing Rubrics – Slide 15 – The presenter will use the Internet to view various websites
devoted to the creation and development of rubrics. (10 minutes)
Thinkfinity Lesson Rubric – Slide 16 – The presenter will have the audience look at the
RAFT assignment (this is from the UbD lesson 05 Handout). Compose a rubric that you
could use with this RAFT assignment. (10 minutes)
*Note to the presenter: Participants can use a word processor or chart paper to do this
activity.
Conferencing – Slide 17– The presenter will use notes at the bottom of PP to explain
the importance of appropriate and detailed feedback as an introduction to the PQP
slide.
PQP – Slide 18 – Using notes page on slide, the presenter will define and explain PQP
– Praise – Question – Polish as explained in detail on the notes page under the slide.
Active Literacy: (50 minutes) (Slide 19)
Participants will take an example from the sponge, an on line lesson, or a lesson that
they will be teaching soon and use the Understanding by Design (UbD) template (08
and 09 Handout) to design a process writing lesson. Participants may work together in
groups of 3 or fewer or may work alone. If the facilities are available, participants
should be asked to produce the plans electronically (flash drive).
Post Literacy: (10 minutes)
Using the flash drive, participants will share their ideas and/or finished product.
Reflection: (Slide 20) (10 minutes)
Participants will answer the question from the slide and share them in their group.
MATERIALS:
Post It note pads
Three strips of paper for Prewriting Activity
Chart paper
Markers
Highlighters (several colors)
Paper and pencils for writing (PCs are even better)
Student paper (multi-paragraphs)