Reasons to Write
EXPLORING PURPOSE AND AUDIENCE WITH
MIDDLE LEVEL WRITERS
Alisha Bollinger – alisha.bollinger@nsdtitans.org
2015 Nebraska Reading Conference
A little about me …
 13 years as a educator
Special Educator K-12
 Elementary Educator 3-5
 K-12 Reading Coach

 Passion for writing instruction
Reluctant writer
 Underprepared to teach writing

Why focus on writing?
WHY IS WRITING IMPORTANT
Why Focus on Writing?
 Brainstorm:
 How is writing used in K-12 settings?
 Students
use writing to…?
 How
is writing used in post-secondary settings (e.g.,
college/university, workplace, personal)?
 Adults
use writing to…?
Importance of Writing
 Individuals use writing…




In K-12 schooling
 To acquire and demonstrate knowledge
 To succeed on assessments
In higher education
 To gain admittance
 To interact with information
In the work place
 To collaborate
 To communicate with stakeholders
In their personal lives
 To connect with family and friends
 To deal with stress
Current Writing Achievement in U.S.
National Assessment of Education Progress, 2011
100
90
Percent
80
70
60
Advanced
Proficient
Basic
Below Basic
50
40
30
20
10
0
Grade 8
Grade 12
Framework for today
IES PRACTICE GUIDE
Structure of the
Writing Practice
Guide
Table of Contents
Review of Recommendations
Acknowledgements
Levels of Evidence
Introduction
Recommendations 1-4
Glossary
Appendix
Practice Guide Authors
Conflicts of Interest
Rationale for Levels of
Evidence
Overview of Practice Guide Recommendations
 The panel made 4 recommendations in the
practice guide.
Provide daily time for students to write
 Teach students to use the writing process for a variety of
purposes
 Teach students the foundational skills of writing
 Create an engaged community writers

Teach
students
to write
for a
variety of
purposes.
1. Help students understand the
different purposes of writing.
2. Expand students’ concept of
audience.
3. Teach students to emulate the
features of good writing.
4. Teach students techniques for
writing effectively for different
purposes.
Think-Pair-Share
 What is your knowledge of writing purposes, genres,
and audiences?
 Reflect, and then share with a table member
 You can only teach what you know! Provide
opportunities for teachers to develop their own
knowledge of purposes, genres, and audiences within
a school/grade
Help students understand the
different purposes of writing.
WHY DO WE WRITE?
Writing Purposes
Purpose drives all decision making in writing
 Why am I writing this? What do I hope to
accomplish?
 What is the best genre to accomplish my
purpose?
Thinking about Writing Purposes
 On your handout, brainstorm 5
different writing purposes
 Writing
to…
 For right now only concentrate on the
writing purpose column
Thinking about Writing Purposes
 There are many different purposes for writing.
 Four common purposes are:

To describe

To narrate / entertain

To inform

To persuade
 There are genres that relate to each purpose,
but genres can be used for various purposes
First Steps: Talk about purposes for
writing all of the time!
 Reading:
 What
was the writer
trying to accomplish
with his writing?
 Were they
successful? Why or
why not?
 Writing:
 What
are you trying
to do with your
writing?
 What do you want
your audience to feel
or do as a result of
your writing?
Make the connection
 Have students write for real purposes!
 Help them identify what genre might fit best
with their purpose.
 Allow them to take their writing out for a
trial run!
Expand students’ concept
of audience.
WHO DO WE WRITE FOR?
Audience
Audience goes hand in hand with purpose. It
also drives many of our decisions.
 Who am I writing for? Who will read what I
write?
 Audience impacts tone and word choice
Developing this skill
 Activities
 Have students identify their audience as part of the prewriting
process
 Help students to identify characteristics of their audience
 Have students write about the same topic for different
audiences
 Students need the opportunity to write for real
audiences!



Assign writing where you are not the primary audience
Allow students receive feedback from real audiences
Help students identify with their audience
Thinking about Audience
 Go back to your handout Writing Purposes,
Genres, and Audiences
 For each purpose, brainstorm two different
genres that will meet that purpose, and two
different audiences that would read that
genre
Putting it together
Goal Setting
 Have students set
specific goals for their
writing based on
purpose, audience, and
genre
Engagement
 Build student
engagement and
motivation to write
Have
students set
specific goals
for their
writing based
on purpose,
audience,
and genre

I will persuade my mom to let
me play basketball this
summer by writing a
persuasive letter that includes
three good reasons.

I will entertain my peers by
writing a personal narrative
that includes language that
makes them laugh.

I will teach first graders about
outer space by writing a
feature article that includes
definitions for all content area
words and a glossary.
23
Build
student
engagement
and
motivation




Allow students to choose
their audience and purpose.
Creating assignments that
are “real world” or
meaningful to students.
Help students have a
personal stake in the
writing.
Create a supportive
environment where
students feel safe to write
Teach students to emulate the
features of good writing.
WHAT DO GOOD WRITERS DO?
Using Mentor Texts – First Steps
 Determine instructional goals? What is
the focus:
 Structure
 Word
choice
 Sentence structures
 Leads or conclusions
 Something else?
Using Mentor Texts -- Selecting Text
 Teachers should select texts that:
 Include features related to instructional
goals
 Are appropriate to students’ reading level
 Have exemplary models of the feature
Using Mentor Texts – Sources
 Use texts from a variety of sources
 Published texts
 Textbooks
 Teacher created writing
 Peer samples
Think-Pair-Share
 What have been some of your experiences
using mentor text? Are there good sources
you have found in your teaching?
 Reflect, and then share with a neighbor
Using Mentor Text – Exploration
 Focus on exploration of features related to
instructional goals
 Develop questions
 Model how to explore a text
 Provide students opportunities to practice
 Genre exploration supports both reading and
writing!
Explore Mentor Texts!
Activity 1
One purpose of mentor texts can be to explore the
components of a specific genre.
Activity – WWW, What-2, How-2

Who is the main character?

When does the story take place?

Where does the story take place?

What do the characters do or want to do?

What happens then?

How does the story end?

How do the characters feel?
Explore Mentor Texts!
Activity 2
Another purpose of mentor texts can be to compare
different genres.
Activity – Genre Exploration



What is the same across two or more genres?
What is different across two or more genres?
How would you summarize the key features of each genre?
Using Mentor Texts – emulating text
 Once students understand the features of
the text, they can use this information to
create their own writing

Students need modeling and guided practice before
they can do this independently

I do ~ we do ~ you do
Explore Mentor Texts!
Activity 3
Mentor texts can also provide a model for students to
emulate.
Activity – Emulating Text




Provide students with a sample text
Identify key features
Provide frames for younger / less experienced writers
Encourage creativity
Roadblocks
 There’s not time in the school day to teach these
skills.
 The school’s writing or English language arts
curriculum doesn’t cover these topics.
 The state assessments ask students only to write in
one particular genre. If I spend time teaching other
genre and purposes I’m not meeting assessment
goals.
Questions