Studio WISE…a mosaic of literacy, history, and creativity

Argumentative writing is all around us. It’s everywhere in the real world. When we teach our children this mode of writing, we are preparing them for their tomorrows. Argument writing is not new and includes

• Professional debates
• Cover letter pitches
• Interviews
• Grant Applications
• Executive summaries
• Letters-to-the-editor.

What it is NOT: It’s more than throwing a persuasive prompt at students every now and then.

What it IS: It’s the heart of all career-based writing.

What do we need to remember?

• The writer must take a prominent position.
• We must develop an eye for argument in students and comfort in the genre.
• We need to know how to teach and to assess it.
• We need to be familiar with the standards.
• Textual evidence is needed.

How do we get students to see connections?

• Showcase various subjects in the world.
• Post examples on the bulletin board and webpage.
• Bring in articles about the subject.
• Find examples in texts, movies, noels, picture books, life.

Needed Components

• Thesis statement (needs to taught in ELA)
• Added commentary (Expanding the evidence)
• Transition stems
• Counterarguments

Adding Commentary (expanding the evidence)

1. Make a prediction on the basis of argument.
2. Pose a thoughtful question.
3. Connect topic to self/world/current events.
4. Find metaphor.

Transition Stems

• nevertheless
• admittedly
• according to
• in other words
• conversely
• what the expert means is…
• on the other hand
• in addition
• As one may see,

Summarizing: GIST

Counterarguments:

Remember that those who disagree may have vital points. Start by recognizing authors’ and characters’ perspectives.

Let’s think about…

1. How can writing teachers incorporate more content-area writing into ELA classes?
2. How can content-area teachers incorporate more writing into their subjects?

An example of a topic:

Choose two civilizations. Write a paper arguing the benefits of living in one of the civilizations rather than the other. Use evidence from your text to support your answers.

Strategies for teaching argument (Remember to support claims with relevant evidence.)

1. Explicit
2. Active engagement
3. Modeling
4. Scaffolding

The biggest difference between argument and persuasion is that argument relies on evidence. Persuasion uses more of an emotional appeal. Persuasion aims to persuade the reader that the position is correct…trying to win over. Argument presents a strong claim and supports that claim with evidence and reasoning.

Is a process followed? Yes.

Pre-writing/planning is VERY important.

• Choose topic.
• Explore and decide the position.
• Predict opposing arguments.
• Who is the audience?
• Decides points of discussion.
• Write a focused thesis.
• Research for facts, statistics, and testimony from experts.
• Analyze the data. What will be used? What will be directly quoted?

Write your first draft/rough draft/sloppy copy. Revise. Edit. Make a final copy. (Information about these are in other posts.)

Stay focused. Happy writing.

Good writers follow a process. Teaching students the writing process is setting them up for more success. The first copy is also called a rough draft or a sloppy copy and is created after the prewriting step. Once the sloppy copy is complete, students need specific, descriptive, and formative feedback. Rough drafts/sloppy copies are part of the learning process.

Feedback on writing is formative and motivates students to complete a written piece used as a summative evaluation. Summative comes only after feedback and corrections. Typically, corrections come through revision and editing. I like to think about revision as a way to change the way a piece of writing sounds, not how it looks on the printed page, which is editing.

Here, we will look at revision and how it is used to improve a written assignment. What exactly is revision? Revision is working with words and ideas to make a paper more interesting and detailed. The skills and procedures used in revision must be taught and understood by students if revision is going to help. We cannot assume that students already know what to do when asked to revise a paper.

Teaching techniques through mini-lessons and then having students apply these in their own writing is key. Students also need to see adults revising their own work. Teachers need to model the process for whole class, in small groups, and individually with students.

When revising, reading a paper aloud can really benefit the process. In revision, we work on vocabulary, order of sentences and paragraphs, effective introduction and conclusions. (Spelling, punctuation, formatting, and capitalization come during editing.)

Almost forty years ago, a consultant from Fulton County, GA, worked with some of us as we wrote a school’s writing plan. Something I took away from her was a strategy for revision that she called “Cleaning up the Mess.” I used it faithfully in my classroom and have taught it to hundreds of teachers since then. It WORKS. MESS is an acronym.

“Cleaning up the Mess” is a strategy that can be done alone, with partners, in groups, or with the teacher. Research shows that collaboration does make a difference. Having students reading their papers aloud to one another is beneficial for helping students hear their errors.
Students also need mini-lessons and MUCH practice before being expected to use any strategy.

As stated earlier, MESS is an acronym for Movability, Expansion, Sentence-combining, and Slotting.

Movability: Capable of being moved or rearranged

• This involves moving words, sentences, ideas, and even paragraphs to enhance organization and clarity. It is where we cut clutter and redundancy in our writing.

Expansion: Think about expanding.

• This is where students expand ideas. They tell the who, what, when, where, and why of the matter.
• Students can circle places they need more detail and then add it.
• They can add specific details that apply to the senses. They can add word illustrations, and examples. For example, instead of ” her hair was in a ponytail,” maybe say “her frizzy hair was in a messy ponytail,”

Sentence-Combining:

• Sentence-Combining involves combining short, choppy, simple sentences into more advanced compound and/or complex ones. (This is the perfect place to teach students the appropriate usage of commas in compound and complex sentences.)
• Combine elements like subordinating one clause to another. Use appositives to connect participial phrases. (Maybe stop and teach a min-lesson about appositives.)
• Vary sentence structure and length.

Slotting:

*Students read their papers and listen for overused or dead words. Students choose these in their papers and take them out. They then fill in the SLOTS with new and more descriptive words.

• Change verb tense during slotting.
• Change active to passive voice, etc.
• Avoid weak helping and linking verbs and replace/slot with interesting action verbs.
• Give things and people the dignity of a name: nouns
• As a way to practice slotting, use nursery rhymes and songs and slot for different words and then have students work on their own papers.

If students peer revise, have them

• Check for one skill at a time.
• Check the beginnings of sentences to see if they begin in a variety of ways. (I had my students look at their own papers and circle or highlight the first word in each sentence. I told them they could have no more than two sentences beginning with the same word. That forced them to write different types of sentences.
• Use a checklist with students. Before turning them loose with the list, please teach them what they are looking to change.

OTHER IDEAS FOR REVISION:

• Choose 2 (or another number) places to “zoom in” for detail. Maybe have younger students use magnifying glasses as a hook to revision.
• Post a “DEAD WORDS” wall. Place words that are overused on that wall. Give students or have them find synonyms for these words. They can slot in their writing using this wall.
• Have students write about a certain topic (like a sunset) or write one as a class. Then read to them a description of a sunset and have them make comparisons to their papers. They can make changes by adding more.
• Musical papers: Music starts as all students move around the room. When it stops, they all pick a desk nearby and help revise that paper for specific skills, whatever has been identified beforehand.
• This could also be done with papers being passed up and down rows or around a table if teachers aren’t comfortable with all the movement.
• When new skills are taught, students should be required to use those skills in their writing.
• Celebrate all successes!

Writing FORCES thinking, about the unknown, as well as the known. This forces ACTIVE learning. Writing strengthens understanding, allows connections with prior learning, increases retention, and helps develop vocabulary. Since this is all accurate, why are we not having our students, even those science students, writing every single day?

Writing is writing, but it should be pertinent to the subject matter being taught and reflected upon. Science writing is objective, logical, and precise. Writing in science can take on many faces.

• Lab reports
• Writing prompts to summarize
• Writing text to explain graphs
• Analyzing
• Writing journals to outline procedures and findings
• Writing to evaluate lectures and seminars

Summarizing in informational texts should not be a problem if students have strategies to use.

• One-sentence summaries
• Cornell Notes
• Big Picture Questions
• Synthesizing
• RAFT: Helps writing appear more authentic

Creativity has a place in science writing, as well. Examples:

• First Person account of a major volcano
• A story describing food’s journey in the body
• A child’s book explaining a scientific concept
• You get the idea…

Writing is the perfect way to see what our students are actually learning.

Valentine’s Day. For many, it’s a day of love, endless joy,

and doting on those we hold dear.

Chocolates, flowers, handmade cards,

and words of affirmation pepper the atmosphere.

For others, it’s a reminder of the hurt from the past,

when possibly a heart was torn in two

that left a weary soul grasping for love

not knowing what else to do.

For those a change of heart is needed

and maybe even a reminder of God’s love.

He’s there to mend a heart broken

as he rains down love from above.

Sometimes finding love in our lives

means letting go of the past

in order to move into the future

to find hope that will last.

So commit to letting go of pain

and realize it is our own choice

to release the hurt and sadness

and help our broken heart rejoice.

Find folks who make your heart happy

and allow peace to enter in.

There is someone waiting out there

just longing to be your friend.

When days like today bring sadness and pain,

just know it doesn’t have to be.

You can choose happiness again

and set your hurting heart free.

SL Holbert 2/14/22

• Rubrics
• Extra Instruction
• Reteaching Skills
• Mini-lessons
• Modification
• Allowing extra time
• Praising performance and effort
• Increasing student writing conferences
• Pairing up peers
• Revise and edit one skill at a time.
• RTI

What are you currently doing to gauge your students’ writing performance?

Yes, many Gifted students also have been diagnosed with ADHD. Knowing this and appropriate writing strategies will make your life…and theirs…much better. To be honest, any students who have characteristics of ADHD, though not diagnosed, may benefit just as well from the following information.

These students have a difficult time sustaining attention and impulses. Increased movement and distractibility are evident with ADHD students, Gifted or not. Some may even have anxiety and other behavior disorders.

Frustration occurs with these students when concentration is needed in activities such as writing that require sequencing and follow-through. Many times organizational skills are weak and these students may work at a slower pace than others.

The following strategies and accommodations work well with these students, and frankly, work for ALL students. In today’s educational climate, most of us deal with a bit of ADHD, I think…

• Encourage proofreading for only one type of error at a time.
• Teach the writing steps in a linear way. Reward even small steps.
• Allow choice.
• Use many exemplar papers.
• Provide outlines.
• Provide a checklist for each assignment and allow them to use a sticker or check mark as steps are completed.
• Allow artwork to accompany writing.
• Encourage peer learning.
• Offer authentic writing assignments.

Accommodations:

• Provide access to assistive technology if needed.
• Teach self-regulation.
• Have students dictate stories to teacher, take notes, and build sentences from this.
• Provide clear written guidelines.
• Allow movement around the classroom at certain steps of the process.
• Allow additional time.
• Immediately reward focused behaviors.

From a brochure by Niki Mott, New Mexico

Think about the ways you learned new vocabulary and then throw that information away. Times have changed, and to be honest, some of the ways we were taught new vocabulary did not work. Research and student observations in our own classrooms give us all the information we need to change how we are teaching vocabulary.

One thing for sure, copying definitions is not the answer. I’m not going to lie; I was a victim of that strategy and also encouraged it until I learned better over 35 years ago. If you are a teacher and have asked students to copy the definitions and to memorize them for Friday’s test, you might have had students pass the test without ever really understanding the vocabulary or how to apply it. Forgive yourself and move on.

I have also learned that when students are asked to write the definitions, they generally write down only the first of what might be several definitions. In this process, they may fail to even select the vocabulary definition they need in context in their reading. Ok, now that you know copying definitions is not a strategy we want to use, let’s move forward with what does work.

Less is more. I remember with horror, my first few years of teaching sixth grade and attempting to follow the reading basal ( that I never enjoyed and always veered from…) which always had about 50 words for every story we taught. I didn’t know. I didn’t know. So what did I do? I had them copy definitions. (If any of my early former students are reading this, please accept my heartfelt apology.)

I did discuss the words and the more I learned, the more application of the words that I required. Hopefully, I didn’t do too much damage. Basals don’t really provide for much differentiation. Ok, as stated earlier, less is more. Select words that they really need to know. Briefly explain others in context and move on. Choose however many you feel are necessary and that can really be taught. Concentrate on these.

How do you teach vocabulary if copying definitions doesn’t get the job done? Start with giving background knowledge. Read the word in context. Ask the students to listen throughout the day for the words in other people’s conversations. Read definitions and have students paraphrase them. (Teach how to paraphrase.)

Another suggestion is to use the Word (or two) of the Day. Post these on your Word Wall. (Oh, a Word Wall is not just for decoration.) Refer to them throughout the day.

Try Vocabulary Bingo with the students. This is a really good Center if your classroom is “center-centered.” Pictionary works as well.

Give students a choice of several ways to learn the words. For those creative souls, have them write stories, poetry, or songs using the words.

Read aloud to students and stop to elaborate on vocabulary words and different ideas that need explanation. I have such fond memories of teachers that read to me. I loved reading to my students, also. Research supports reading aloud to students even into the college years.

I’m sure you have many other strategies that work, as well. Let’s use the research-based knowledge we have to ensure that our students are achieving at a level as never before. We must find a way to fill in the gaps. They are our future and worth every single effort.

When students are asked to write in a social studies classroom, they are generally being asked to write to demonstrate the knowledge they have been taught. They are being asked to write to see what they have learned.

Writing in a social studies class is the perfect opportunity to clarify understanding. Because these classes involve people and events, endless opportunities for writing are available.

Some suggestions for writing in social studies classrooms:

• Quick Writes
• Journals
• Letters
• Oral History Projects
• Writing a school’s history
• Summaries
• Research papers
• Test essays after practice in class
• Writing news articles in a class newspaper or blog
• Remember to use artifacts, pictures, quotes, photos, and drawings.

Writing gets inside students’ minds. Writing is thinking! Let’s get ALL students thinking.

After having taught students for over 40 years, I know writing instruction is not easy. It is downright hard even for those of us who are comfortable with teaching it. I have seen so many teaching “fads” come and go over the years, but one thing has remained constant: literacy is the backbone of all of education. If one can’t read and write, one is doomed to struggle.

Strategies may change, but basic writing instruction does not. Those who know me or have followed me for any length of time know that I am not a fan of canned writing programs, but I also am not totally opposed to using a program if it is paired with teacher instruction and much feedback. That is only possible if data is compiled from the program and analyzed regularly. We cannot take out the human aspect of teaching and really educate our students. Perhaps they will perform on a standardized test, but I don’t think from my own experience with teaching that they will fare well in the real world as they must be prepared to adequately use their writing skills.

That being said, what I am offering here and in other posts can be applied immediately as part of an already established writing plan, or it can be used to assist in creating a writing plan for homeschooling parents or for school districts across the country. (I can be contacted at slpholbert@gmail.com for more information about your writing plans.)

What does writing instruction look like at your school? Is it planned or an afterthought? Is it relevant or just a ritual that all children go through occasionally? Is it just one more thing on your plate of leftover strategies or is it a buffet of deliciousness ready to feed hungry students? Take some time and really think about it. Be honest with yourself. Is writing time appealing to students? Do teachers look forward to it or is it dreaded? Regardless, please keep reading with an open mind.

Just remember to maintain a balance between time actively writing and time teaching students the strategies and skills needed. More time is needed for the application of skills. Integrating skills into the writing is the answer to getting it done.

Recommendation 1:

Dedicate time to the students and to the teachers who need support and training. Students will NOT make much progress if they are NOT given enough time and opportunities to develop as writers. They need frequent and sustained writing. At least 45-60 minutes daily in the process of writing is recommended. Students also need writing for multiple purposes across all content areas.

What are multiple purposes? Letters, notecards, emails, reports, how-to’s, summarizing, persuasion/ argumentative, logs, journals, stories/narratives, plays, poems, autobiographies, book evaluations , tests involving writing, and so forth…

Remember as William Hazzlitt, a 19th century novelist, said, ” The more a man writes, the more he can write.”

Recommendation 2:

Increase students’ knowledge about writing. How is that done, you might be wondering.

• Start with discussing with the students the characteristics of good writing. What does it look like in action?
• Have them read well-crafted literature.
• Talk about the different purposes and forms of writing.
• Ask what authors are trying to achieve and have students apply these procedures to their own writing.
• Provide models/exemplars of specific types of writing.

Recommendation 3::

Search for opportunities to motivate students to write. Most students begin their school experience wanting to learn to write and read. Are we the reason some of them lose this desire? I pray not.

• Create an environment where students flourish.
• Have a supportive and pleasant classroom environment.
• Let students collaborate in a structured way.
• Make assignments real and meaningful.
• Accept and encourage writing efforts.
• Be enthusiastic about writing yourself…even if you have to fake this excitement.
• Share your own writing.
• Celebrate success.
• Set high, but realistic, expectations.
• Provide enough support so students progress, but encourage them to do as much as they can on their own.

Recommendation 4:

Help students become strategic writers. Most of what happens during writing happens inside the writer’s head.

• Set up a predictable writing routine.
• Expect students to plan, draft, revise, edit, and share. Remember this is a fluid process.
• Give direct assistance to application processes.
• Use think sheets and graphic organizers.
• Teach them simple strategies that they can use independently like brainstorming, semantic webbing, etc.
• Use the following process for teaching writing strategies. (Graham, Perin, Rogers, 2007-08) 1. Describe the strategy and the purpose for learning it. 2. Make it clear when they should use the strategy. 3. Show students how to use it. Model. 4. Provide practice and give assistance as needed. 5. Continue instruction until students can use strategy independently. 6. Encourage students to apply the strategy. 7. Let students give feedback about how this strategy improved their writing.

Recommendation 5:

Teach basic writing skills to mastery. This is a great place for mini-lessons and the application of skills.

• Handwriting, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, word processing, etc. are included in basic skills.
• Until mastered, these require a lot of the writer’s mental energy.
• Basic skills need to be taught explicitly and directly and then applied.
• Students must receive explanations, modeling, and guided practice.
• Sentence-combining needs to be taught so that students know an effective way to form more complex sentences.
• Model and model again.
• Have students practice and apply it in their writing.
• Additional instruction for those students having trouble can have a positive impact on their writing.

Recommendation 6:

Take advantage of technological writing tools.

• These support developing writers, especially struggling writers.
• Word processing helps make revisions easier, allows for professional-looking formats, and helps students who have fine motor difficulties produce text in an easier manner.
• Speech synthesis programs and word prediction programs are also available.
• Outlining and semantic mapping software is helpful.
• Collaboration can be achieved through the use of computer networks and internet.
• Google has many helpful resources.

Recommendation 7:

*Use assessment to gauge students’ progress and needs. We need to ask if the writing instruction is working, if it needs adjustment , and who needs extra help.

• Are ideas clear and fully-developed?
• Is the text logically organized?
• Are words used effectively and precisely?
• Are sentences varied?
• Is the tone or mood appropriate to the genre?
• Are there spelling, usage, and grammar errors?
• Is the finished product legible and attractive?
• Some tools to assess writing are rubrics, student logs, journals, and conferences. Logs can be used to record what they did while writing, and journals can be for explaining how they felt before, during, and after.
• An important part of assessment is identifying students who need extra help and then giving them the help.

STRUGGLING WRITERS:

• Provide extra instruction in the writing process and sentence-combining.
• Reteach.
• Develop small-group and individual mini-lessons.
• Modify writing assignments.
• Allow extra time.
• Praise performance AND effort.
• Increase frequency of conferences.
• Establish procedures for peer help.

Where do you start?

• Write every single day.

• Use the writing process.

• Know the genres and teach them

• Support and engage ALL students.

• Have students write for a variety of audiences and purposes.

• Have students share their writing or parts of it.

Recommendation 8: Teach vocabulary.

Effective Writing Instruction for All Students by Steve Graham is a great resource.

The goal for all students is the same–to develop knowledge about forms of writing, basic writing skills, strategies for effective writing, and motivation. All students need to be taught strategies for planning, revising, and self-regulation. Strategies take several weeks to teach, so teaching 3-4 strategies WELL yearly is an attainable goal. All students need feedback. Special Needs students need a framework and more explicit teaching, as well as more feedback. Following is a comparison of needs of proficient and struggling students.

Proficient Writers

• Basic framework
• Use of technology
• Writing Process
• Frequent writing
• Peer conference for direct feedback
• Set goals.
• Revise extensively.
• Rubrics needed for planning and evaluating
• Use exemplars.

Struggling Writers

(High percentage of minorities, ELL students, and low socio -economic)

• Need more support
• More intensive, explicit instruction in skills and strategies but not in place of the writing–Both needed–need balance–handwriting, spelling, punctuation, and sentence formation hinder writing, so these need to be taught along with the writing.
• Self-regulation strategies need to be taught.
• Set goals.
• Teach the use of technology, but balance that with handwritten pieces, as well.
• Teach the process.
• Write frequently.
• Give direct feedback.
• Make connections to other curricular areas.
• Monitor often and regular.
• Build fluency and stamina.
• Do more planning before writing.
• Have short skills practice sessions with immediate application in a meaningful writing task.
• Use exemplars.

Spelling for all:

Teach patterns of words. Memorize high-frequency words. Give wordlists. Use word walls. Provide dictionaries and teach to use them. Teach strategies for studying spelling.

BUILD INTO ANY WRITING PLAN SUPPORT FOR STRUGGLING WRITERS. THE SUPPORT NEEDS TO BE IN ADDITION TO THE TEACHER’S REGULAR INSTRUCTION AND NOT IN PLACE OF…