Summer 2012
Educator Effectiveness Academies
English Language Arts
Transitioning to the CCSS by Making
Strategic and Informed Choices in the Classroom
Day 2, Session 2
Making Strategic Choices in
Writing Instruction
1
Preparation for Day 2, Session 2
As you embark on your Day
2 journey, for Session 2 you
will need:
 Myth or Reality Handout
 Chart paper and markers
 Please remove the 3 slide
handout from the
participants’ binders
Session Outcome
Participants will
develop knowledge to
make strategic choices
in writing instruction.
Overview of the
Writing Standards
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Expect students to compose arguments and opinions,
informative/explanatory pieces, and narrative texts based
What do you think are the big ideas
upon sources
or themes in the CCSS writing
Focus on analytic writing and the use of reason and evidence
standards?
Emphasize ability to conduct research – short projects and
sustained inquiry
Require students to incorporate technology as they create,
refine, and collaborate on writing
Expect students to meet each year’s grade-specific standards
and retain or further develop skills and understandings
mastered during the preceding grades
4
Organization of the Writing Strand
Standards 1, 2, and 3 are the writing types:
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argument (secondary)/opinion (elementary)
informative/explanatory
narrative
Organization of the Writing Strand
Standards 4 , 5, 6 (Production and Distribution) apply to all
three of the writing types:
 W4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the
development, organization, and style appropriate to task,
purpose, and audience
 W5: Develop and strengthen writing as needed by
planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new
approach.
 W6: Use technology, including the internet, to produce
and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with
others.
Organization of the Writing Strand
Standards 7, 8, and 9 (Research) can include all three types of
writing:
 W7: conduct short as well as more sustained research
projects based on focused questions, demonstrating
understanding of the subject under investigation.
 W8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and
digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each
source, and integrate the information while avoiding
plagiarism.
 W9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to
support analysis, reflection, and research.
7
Organization of the Writing Strand
Standard 10: Range of Writing
Wrapping it all Together:
Practice, Practice, Practice
Write routinely over extended time frames (time for
research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time
frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of
tasks, purposes, and audiences.
8
The Writing Standards
Standard 10: Range of Writing
Standards 4, 5, 6: Production and Distribution
Standards 7, 8 , 9: Research
The Core:
Standards 1, 2, 3:
The Writing Types
Myth or Reality?
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Complete the handout identifying
whether each statement is a myth or
reality.
Do not share responses. These will be
revisited and discussed at the end of this
session.
Common Core State Standards
An Instructional Shift in Writing
Analytic Writing by Writing to Sources and Writing
Using Sources—student writing (argument,
informational, narrative) is in response to text, rather than
de-contextualized writing prompts. Students stay
grounded in the text, responding to high quality textdependent questions with evidence-based written
responses.
Rationale
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According to ASCD*, 70% of writing that students
have been doing in K-12 does not actually require
reading from text.
Using textual evidence in writing and speaking is
important on the NAEP national assessment and on
international assessments as reported by PIRLS. This
applies to both literature and informational text.
It makes writing authentic and relevant. Using
evidence in writing and speaking is important for
both career and college writing.
*ASCD is the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
How Do We Know that
Students are Writing to Source?
Ask yourself:
Can students respond to the writing
prompt without reading the text?
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain
Tom and Huck discuss different
methods of removing warts, such as
saying charms and using dead cats
and frogs. They speak in the dialect of
their time period. Devise your own charm to
remove warts. Use cultural ideas or artifacts from
today that could be used in the charm. Develop a
method that would incorporate items and dialect
from today.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain
Tom hesitates to allow Ben
to paint the fence. Explain
why he hesitates. Analyze
how his word choice reflects
that hesitation and the effect
Tom’s hesitations have on
Ben.
Writing to Source
How does it look in the state
unit writing?
How does this look in our units?
Grade 9 Unit, “Identity”
In this Lesson Seed students compare
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and Lipstick
Jihad by Azadeh Moaveni by writing an
essay arguing which author is more
effective in communicating her purpose.
How does this look in our units?
Grade 9 Unit, “Identity”
This lesson focuses on the story “Sweet Potato Pie”
and the painting “Hoeing.” Students write an essay
that explains several ideas found in both the story
and the painting, as well as one idea in the short
story that is not represented in the painting.
How does this look in our units?
Grade 12:
Searching for Justice by Reacting to Injustice
In this lesson plan students answer the following
prompt in the form a multi-paragraph essay:
Select two non-print texts from different
periods in history and explain how they show the
evolution of American justice over time.
Writing to Sources
Discussion:
How can we include more text dependent
prompts in our lesson planning?
 How can text dependent prompts be
incorporated into routine writing for short
as well as extended time frames?
 Why is it important to include text
dependent prompts in student writing?
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For Consideration . . .
Does this mean that
we never have
students write to
NO!
prompts that are
not text dependent?
Writing Using Sources
Writing, using text as a
stimulus.
On the PARCC assessments,
students could be asked to
write a narrative using a piece
of text as a stimulus.
What could this look like?
Writing Using Sources
From our units . . .
Grade 1 Unit, “Teamwork”
This Lesson Seed asks students to read the
short story, Mama’s Coming Home and write a
narrative about a time when members of
their families worked together as a team.
Text as a Stimulus for Narrative Writing
From our units . . .
Grade 7 Unit, “The Choices We Make”
This Seed asks students to use the choices
made by the characters in the various unit
texts to write a narrative about a choice.
The student may choose to make this
autobiographical.
An Instructional Consideration
What does Blending Writing Types
and Purposes Mean to You?
Student writing that uses a blend
of narrative and expository
structures and demonstrates
multiple writing purposes and
multiple writing types.
Blending Writing
Good writers often mix . . .
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writing purposes—Often one piece of
writing will combine two or more
purposes in one piece of text—writing
argument or to inform or explain.
 writing types—narrative, exposition, and
argument. Often one piece of writing will
combine two or more types of writing in
one piece of text.
Blending Writing
Some Examples . . .
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Writing an introduction—students can use
a narrative/anecdote as a hook or lead
Writing an argument—insert a anecdote to
support a claim or write an argument in a
narrative structure
Writing a narrative essay—insert a section
written in an expository structure (or vice
versa).
Blending Writing
Writing for relevant
real-life situations
rarely isolates one
purpose or one type
of writing.
What is an essay?
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According to Merriam-Webster: an analytic
or interpretative literary composition usually
dealing with its subject from a limited or
personal point of view
According to Dictionary.com: a short
literary composition on a particular theme or
subject, usually in prose and generally
analytic, speculative, or interpretative
A Final Instructional Implication . . .
How does a narrative essay
differ from an expository
essay?
The Narrative Essay
Summarizes events and experiences
 Usually employs the first person
 May mix scholarly and non-scholarly content
 Voice may be conversational and first person
 May be used as a medium for writing argument
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Making Strategic Choices
in Writing
What are the advantages of
choosing to write an essay in a
narrative versus expository
structure?
The Narrative Essay
Allows for symbolism and emotion
 Allows the reader to discover
 Includes the human element
 Voice may be conversational and first person
 Allows for creativity and the use of vivid verbs
 Allows for a sense of meaning that is hard to
achieve in an objective, scholarly way
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PARCC Assessments
What do we know about how
writing will be assessed in the
PARCC Assessments?
What We Know Now!
Grades 9-11
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Write an objective summary
Write an analytic essay that incorporates
evidence from multiple sources.
Write a narrative using text as a stimulus or as a
narrative essay.
Writing may blend types and purposes
*Note: this is subject to change as the PARCC
assessments are written and revised.
For Discussion:
What are the Instructional
Implications of the way we
believe that PARCC will be
assessing writing?
Myth or Reality?
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Complete the last two columns of
the handout identifying whether
each statement is a myth or reality.
Compare your answers to those from
the beginning of the session.
Discuss the differences with the
members of your small group.
List your “Big Ideas”from the session on
chart paper.
Reflection
Day 2, Session 2
3-2-1
3 Name 3 ideas or points from this session
that caught your attention.
2 Name 2 ideas or points you plan to explore
further.
1 Name 1 idea or point that you think is
critical for discussion during your school
team time later today.