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| Pam Gentry / Education Consultant |
| Growing-Writing-Reading |
| Keeping it Real |
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| with a bit of help from D. M. Murray (1982) Learning by Teaching. Boynton /Cook Publishers :N.J. |
| BECAUSE a writer is an individual�
do Real Writing: Real Choices for Real Reasons addressed to Real Readers (Roessing, 20005) use inquiry learning to build writing on student choice use good prompts that connect to students meaningfully in pre-writing ask: who will read this and what do you want to tell them? in drafting refer text back to purpose and audience, asking: did you create the right meaning? |
| BECAUSE a writer is an individual who uses language� to discover meaning in experience
do what Real Writers do (Tompkins, 1993) create �What Good Writers Do� lists and post them for students� self-evaluation use author studies to introduce good writing models and the processes that real writers use give Tompkin�s (1993) Revision Hierarchy chart to students who don�t know what to revise focus on meaning before conventions by the questions you ask the questions you teach them to ask each other be a writer yourself and model the writing process by using Think Aloud and enlisting the students to review your work |
| BECAUSE a writer is an individual who uses language to discover meaning in experience
� and communicate it be Real Clear about Expectations using Rubrics (Spandel, 2000) give opportunity for Real Responses as much as possible avoid the trap of analyzing/judging every piece of work by looking for how meaning is conveyed give direct instruction in how to do give useful feedback during peer review do frequent mini-conferences seek out opportunities for self-publishing and commercial publishing |
| BECAUSE a writer is an individual� who uses language
assess Real Language Use in an authentic way (Kixmiller, 2004) use a variety of assessments assess developmental progress of the student in comparison to himself and standards assess development of a particular piece of work assess development of writer over the course of the school year assess effectiveness of communication using trait rubrics which reflect balance uses assessment to inform instruction plan instruction that involves Real Language Learning (Holdaway in Routman, 2005) by using reading, writing, speaking and listening for learning language by focusing on meaning in to learn for learning to use language skillfully by aiding revision with direct instruction about writing conventions for learning about language |
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| click here for a print friendly copy of this tipsheet: keep_real.doc 41 kb |
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| It is very wise to let children choose exactly what they like, because they are very foolish and inexperienced, and sometimes they will choose a really instructive thing without meaning to. from Five Children and It by Edith Nesbit |
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