WRITING CONVENTIONS
P-12
Loddon Mallee Region
Our purpose as teachersto teach the writer not the writing
Lucy McCormick Calkins
Session Outline
• What are Writing Conventions
• Are they important?
• Writing conventions in context of AusVels
frameworks and standards
• Delving deeper
Two rows of
chairs facing
each other.
Sitting opposite
One person
moves after
each question
What are writing conventions?
Why are they important?
What are some
concerns about teaching
grammar?
What have you done with
writing conventions since
last time we met?
–staff
Students
Writing provides spelling with its
context: without writing spelling
has no purpose and no audience
(Talk about)
Does texting impact on
spelling?
Which forms of punctuation
are taught at each year
level?
Talk about the value of
teaching efficient keyboarding
skills instead of handwriting
What explicit teaching
happens in your school on
layout?
Talk about something that
your school is doing really
well with writing conventions.
• How can I use this activity
with my staff?
Teaching Writing
Conventions
Effective Writers Think about:
• What to say and how to say it clearly
• How to write so the reader is
interested and engaged
• Real life purposes for writing
• The important role of conventions
Need someone to talk to?
• Using grid, network resource
Scope and Sequence Resources
being used for
Writing Conventions in our Schools
School Di
Snowball
Student
book
Literacy Frameworks
Make informed decisions
about learning needs of group
and individuals
Writing conferences
and guided writing
groups personalise
learning
Check
data
against
VELS
It is the teacher’s role
to know what writing
conventions the
students have control
over and what they
need to learn through
explicit teaching
GRADUAL RELEASE OF RESPONSIBILITY
DEGREE OF CONTROL
Role of the
teacher
MODELLING
SHARING
GUIDING
APPLYING
The teacher
demonstrates and
explains the literacy
focus being taught.
This is achieved by
thinking aloud the
mental processes and
modelling the reading,
writing, speaking and
listening
The teacher continues
to demonstrate the
literacy focus,
encouraging students
to contribute ideas
and information
The teacher provides
scaffolds for students
to use the literacy
focus. Teacher
provides feedback
The teacher offers
support and
encouragement when
necessary
The student
participates by
actively attending to
the demonstrations
Role of the
student
Students contribute
ideas and begin to
practice the use of the
literacy focus in
whole class situations
Students work with
help from the teacher
and peers to practice
the use of the literacy
focus
The student works
independently to
apply the use of
literacy focus
20
Pearson & Gallagher
LITERACY ELEMENTS
• Read Aloud
SPEAKING &
LISTENING
• Write Aloud
• Shared Reading
• Shared Writing
• Guided Reading
• Guided Writing
• Independent Reading
OBSERVATIO
N
&
ASSESSMENT
• Independent Writing
Reading around Grammar
• A systematic approach to Grammar Instruction Joan
Berger
• Integrated Word study: Spelling grammar and Meaning
in the Language Arts Classroom Marcia Invernizzi et.al
• To Grammar or not to Grammar: that is not the
question Weaver et.al Part 1
• Putting conventions into perspective and helping
students edit Weaver et.al Part 2
Process for Readings
• Form a group of 4
• Choose text
• Expert group
20 minutes to read
• What is the text mostly about?
• How is Grammar taught in the article?
• Implications for different year level teaching?
(15 minutes)
Home group
Share a synthesis of your expert group discussion
(20mins)
Discussion to report back to home group
• What is the text mostly about?
• How is Grammar taught in the
article?
• Implications for different year
level teaching?
The big question…
What aspects of
grammar…enhance
and improve student
writing and when and
how can we best teach
them?
Text to self – What
will I take back to my
school?
How do you take information
back to school?
• Talk at table
• Report back to whole group
• Record on chart
What are the challenges?
What could help?
2013
Time to Start Planning
• There will be not external driver for Literacy
development beyond 2012
• What will our schools need from a network
Make a list
• Have us for one term
• What would you like us to do to support the transition
2013 and Beyond
• History of network?
• What could/should happen?
• How can we get it to happen?
The future
•
•
•
•
•
What do we have now as a collegiate group?
In moving forward what is our goal?
What method/approach will we use?
Resources available to us
How do you picture achieving dynamic equilibrium?
(sustainability)?
After School Sessions
• 3/4 at Newham –
August
th
• P-2 at Riddell - 29 August
th
• 5/8 at Malmsbury – 5 Sept –
nd
22
probably need to be changed as pending
strike!
•FOCUS?????
GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT
As we work through these
Think about yourself as a learner – what knowledge
you need
Think about a year level each activity could be used
for
Think about a text that you know that could be used
at different level
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/in
teractives/word_mover/words.01.html
One way of publishing
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/in
teractives/multigenre-mapper/
Activity 1.
Think about yourself as a learner – what knowledge
did you need?
What year level this could be used for?
Think about a text that you know that could be used
at different level
Activity 2.
Think about yourself as a learner – what knowledge
did you need?
What year level this could be used for?
Think about a text that you know that could be used
at different level
THE VANISHING
GLASS
Chapter 2
Quickly skim
the chapter to
orient yourself
to the text
USING VERB GROUPS TO BRING
TO LIFE THE ACTIVITIES IN THE
STORY
• Action verbs
•
Action verbs tell about something a person,
animal, force of nature or thing can do or be
After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and
dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind
the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling
and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and
Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick,
man‐crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest
snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice
around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash
can‐‐but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it
was fast asleep. Dudley stood with his nose pressed
against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.
"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon
tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge. "Do it
again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass
smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.
"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.
After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was
cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the
walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and
snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of
wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see
huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man‐crushing
pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in
the place. It could have wrapped its body twice
around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a
trash can‐‐but at the moment it didn't look in the
mood. In fact, it was fast asleep. Dudley stood with
his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the
glistening brown coils. "Make it move," he whined at
his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but
the snake didn't budge. "Do it again," Dudley
ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly
with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.
"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.
What next?
Think about yourself as a learner – what knowledge
did you need
Think about a VELS level this could be used for
Think about a text that you know that could be used
at different level
Activity 3
Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had
a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't
be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he
couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food. He'd
lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable
years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd
been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash.
He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents
had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory
during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a
strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a
burning pain on his forehead. This, he supposed, was the
crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green
light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all.
His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of
course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no
photographs of them in the house.
Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a
watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be
sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he
couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food. He'd
lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable
years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been
a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He
couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had
died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during
long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange
vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on
his forehead. This, he supposed, was the crash, though he
couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He
couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle
never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to
ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the
house.
Activity 4
Underline some
good examples of
adverbials
Use excerpt on
page 25
Let’s remind ourselves
Think about yourself as a learner – what knowledge
did you need
Think about a VELS level this could be used for
Think about a text that you know that could be used
at different level
Activity 6
Year 5
Year 7
Resources
• ACARA- AustralianCurriculum
www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/Australian_Curriculum_-_English.pdf
• AUSVELS
http://ausvels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/
• LATL First Steps
• VCE http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/english/English-ESL-SD-2007.pdf
• VELS- Writing Continuum
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/teachingresources/english/englishcontinuum/writing/d
efault.htm
• Writing Essentials, Regie Routman
• Language conventions P-10 planning & teaching
Diane Snowball and Faye Bolton
• NAPLAN marking guide
Reflect
• FEEDBACK- please complete the feedback form
EMBRACE
• One thing I will do tomorrow!
Conferencing Student Writing
1.content
2.text structure and sequence
3.sentence structure, grammar and
vocabulary
4.spelling,handwriting, punctuation
Deb Sukarna