Reading for Writing: Modeling the Modern Essay

Teaching Strategies

The following strategies are to be used throughout the unit as the children familiarize themselves with more frequent an in-depth writing.  Because this is a transformative project, it is imperative that many of the strategies be implemented at the beginning of the school year.  They will need to be conditioned little by little as they venture into their transformation as young writers!  Some students may experience small amounts of discomfort in the beginning as they get used to writing on this level.  We will begin the year with several strategies aimed at refining these new skills and sharpening each child’s sense of expressive, and self-reflective writing.  What is important to remember, is that this is a unique situation for incoming students at the third-grade level.  It is essential that while all strategies listed are useful, not all have to be used at once.  A meaningful combination of the following items as a “toolbox” will do. 

In their primary years, the children struggle with the turnaround as they transition from primary, foundational reading (learning to read), to intermediate reading (reading to learn), in which they are expanding on their skills as well as discovering new text, such as chapter books, higher instances of non-fiction, reference books and more.  What the students are not aware of is their parallel journey to that of a butterfly.  Each step in this process is, as stated earlier, transformative in nature for the children.  This underlying effect is to be revealed at the end of the unit in a culminating journal of pieces that track this experience. 

Journaling-Daily writing that touches on various skills learned through minilessons and continuous peer interaction.

Through journaling, students strengthen the skills and strategies they have learned in class.  They also use the journals as a safe way to explore expression and the gathering of ideas for other pieces.  The children also build stamina by writing more and more during this process.  As any athlete would build endurance toward a goal, so do they.  Daily journaling can also remove any fear the student may initially feel toward this initial undertaking.  Kept in a specific file with writing tools readily available, each child gradually and meticulously constructs a routine that will instill a new curiosity, if nothing else, for the writing process.

Mentor Texts-Carefully chosen stories that model examples of style, voice and more.  These texts provide students with the background information needed to move forward in the style presented.

The mentor texts are an especially significant part of this process.  Due to their informative nature each student is exposed to exemplary writing from well versed, award winning authors.  Through listening, discussion and analyses of the texts, the students will gain insight as to the style and format of the writing that they will recreate.  They provide, in detail, what “good writers” do.  For this particular unit ten texts have been chosen.  They are as follows:

1. The Relatives Came-Cynthia Rylant: students will find great examples of specific detail to connect with readers, such as “all of that new breathing in the house!”
2. Smoky Night-Eve Bunting: the discussion of such a harrowing event as rioting can help children hone their skills on writing about deep emotion or fright as it relates to experiences.
3. Fly Away Home-Eve Bunting: promotes understanding and empathy regarding different family dynamics, homelessness and perseverance.
4. Owl Moon-Jane Yolen: personal relationships and personal experience. Promotes the importance of detail in storytelling.
5. Blackout-John Rocco: similar to Bunting’s Smoky Night with a city setting and frightening experience.  Students learn to write expressively about a tense situation.
6. Jabari Jumps-Gaia Cornwall: helps children with writing on a topic of courage. Can model sequencing and build-up of the story.
7. Those Shoes-Maribeth Boelts: promotes experiences in friendship and loyalty.
8. Enemy Pie-Derek Munson: promotes friendship, kindness and other positive character traits that are great to share with writing.
9. Fireflies-Julie Brinckloe: models experience with moral decision-making and pride.
10. Mango Moon-Diane de Anda:  students learn how to write about experiences that are intense or frightening.  Sharing challenges, cultural differences and tolerance are all modeled through this story.

Read Aloud-Promotes better and more informed reading, which leads to the overall improvement of other literacy skills such as writing.

Reading aloud to children of all ages is said to be a great predictor of children’s early literacy and language skills.  Unfortunately, these days, it is happening less and less for children in the United States.  Not only does it provide immense entertainment, it provides children with the listening and comprehension skills that they will need when venturing into their writing.  As with mentor texts, reading aloud is a perfect way to show what “good readers” do.  Furthermore, students can use this strategy in small groups or pairs when taking part in Readers’ Workshops.  It helps with fluency, comprehension, prosody and even grammar due to the punctuation and new vocabulary involved.

Think Pair Share-Working collaboratively to analyze reading.  The sharing of ideas that were first pondered individually, then discussed with a partner to be shared out with the rest of a larger group.

It’s difficult to incorporate read alouds and mentor texts without the inclusion of a Think Pair Share (TPS) session. Children need to process information as it comes in when reading.  Doing this generates questions, which in turn generates thoughts on answers, leading to all around comprehension of a concept.  Additionally, student engagement is key in literacy.  The children must get their juices flowing before, during and after reading a text.  This rounds out their ability to show their instructor that they’ve obtained a healthy mix of the five components of reading, namely fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Student Choice-Allows the child to be a part of their own inquiry and growth during the writing process.

This strategy is extremely helpful with students who may feel defeated by assignments that give them no sense of “purpose.”  Many of the writing assignments required at this grade level are very specific in nature and come with an even more specific listing of components for the students to include.  This can stifle the child’s excitement for the subject and make them feel as if what they’re producing is simply not their own.  In reflecting on moments like these one writer shares the feeling of being able to make his own decisions when choosing a topic.  “I was liberated from having to fill somebody else’s expectations, which were not the right ones for me.  I was free to succeed or fail on my own terms.”

It is paramount that young writers feel a sense of freedom to an extent, in order to feel truly successful and hungry for more.  Remember, the goal is for writing to become a part of the child’s life as an innate part of their academic personalities.  If they are hampered, this feeling can fade.  It is also important to remember that no teacher wants twenty-five copies of the same person writing about the same topic.  What we’re all looking for-what we want to see pop out of your papers-is individuality.  We’re looking for whatever it is that makes you unique.¹⁰

Brainstorming-The gathering and organizing of thoughts and the steps it will take to pull them together to form a cohesive piece of writing.

Even though the idea in this unit is for students to be more open and free with their explorations in writing, there are still times when a little scaffolding is needed to keep a forward momentum.  Starting a piece can sometimes be the hardest part of writing even when you have a clear topic in mind.  Students will take part in a minilesson on getting started and other aspects of hitting the ground running in their writing. 

English/Grammar Mini Lessons-Reflecting on the mechanics of good writing, these are short lessons designed to inform students and provide a firm background on the conventions of writing.

Keeping in line with the Common Core State Standards of Pennsylvania, students will partake in brief lessons that help keep good form and promote a well-informed piece that audiences of all kinds can enjoy.  Students will take part in exercises that will remind them of core English and Grammar principles in areas such as parts of speech, sentence structure, punctuation and other foundational English practice to be used in their writing.  These conventions will be a standard part of their writing guidelines within their journals as well as their individual pieces. 

Literary Elements and Technique-Character, setting, plot, etc..  Also, figurative language, and mood.

Similar to other minilessons, students will review various elements and techniques that will enhance their pieces and set them apart from their classmates.  The discussion of these elements and techniques goes along with various Common Core State Standards for Pennsylvania.  Moreover, this will be an introduction into adding color to writing and creating a well-rounded and understandable piece.  Having a thorough knowledge of these items will be a major part of the transformation that occurs within the students.  Knowing that these staples are in place helps to drive not only their individual work, but aides in discussion with peers and editing/revising before publishing and sharing.

Writers’ Workshop-The process of working collaboratively as well as individually to create and share writing of any genre.

One of the most important strategies when teaching Writing is using the Writers’ Workshop.  During these sessions, students use a highly structured lesson format that yields thorough understanding of how to craft a piece of writing, but how to revise it and share out publicly.  Furthermore, students can take full ownership of their work and showcase it with an appreciative audience of their peers who have just completed the same process.  The Writers’ Workshop can look different from day to day as the teacher may include a myriad of lessons planned by using valuable formative assessment data gathered during either individual or small group conferencing.

Vocabulary Study-Vocabulary and the study of words overall is something that joins Reading and Writing together. Having an immense vocabulary at early ages has been said to be a fairly accurate predictor of success in students.

Vocabulary used in Reading helps to break down barriers and leads to a more thorough understanding of text.  It heightens comprehension and provides students with a never-ending source of learning within many intelligences.  Using Latin and Greek roots to construct meaning is an invaluable tool that arms students with all they need to unlock any subject area, familiar or unfamiliar.  It catapults children farther than any competitor and contributes to the explorative aspect of literacy for youngsters.

Writing Marathons-The act of writing for any given amount of time without stopping.  Completed in areas of all types.

This strategy is one of the most compelling in that it urges the students to push through anything that may be blocking their thought process or creativity.  A writing marathon is really quite simple. It's about setting people loose to write. The emphasis remains focused on the writing. Yes, it involves small groups, a particular protocol for reading and responding, a common setting, some socializing, and a sense of community.¹¹

Transformation

If you are a gardener or simply an admiring spectator of nature, you might find joy in watching a lilting butterfly as it flits through the flowers, pollinating as it goes.  No, you haven’t wandered into another unit; the butterfly and its ability to transform from a caterpillar to this magical new configuration is the metaphor that will drive this unit.  Students will subconsciously transform themselves as writers.  They will begin the unit unaware of the potential that is inside of them as an undiscovered writer.  Each new concept in their writing process will see them enter into another “phase,” until they emerge as young writers with a new sense of agency over their thoughts as they see fresh, undiscovered ideas, words, and pages unfold throughout the unit.

Eggs:  Students arrive to the third grade in the egg stage.  They haven’t really begun to tap into writing due to the foundational nature of second grade.  Though they have had some exposure, according to the standards, to sentence structure, word choice and some parts of speech, they are still preparing to use those skills as a jumping off point into more in-depth approaches to the subject.  With some introduction and practice with basic writing skills that follow the standard, as well as some examples and read alouds from the mentor texts discussed later in the unit, the students will begin the road to transforming. 

Caterpillar:  As the students begin to listen and discuss various readings, they will formulate strategic questions that will enhance their discovery of new writing styles and techniques.  Minilessons on parts of speech, word choice and voice will continue their path forward.  The addition of daily journal writing will be key during this particular phase of reading and writing.  Here, students will begin to discover deeper elements of understanding, personality and brainstorming.  Moreover, the classes will learn about marathon writing and begin pushing themselves to build stamina as they progress.  Here is where the children begin to develop ideas of who they are and a unique identity as emerging writers.

Pupa/Chrysalis:  This stage is one of the most important and most involved stages for the students in that they are really getting into their routine through a homogenous mixture of Reading, Writing, exploring/questioning and practicing.  Through these exercises, a new mindset is forming, and the children should be shedding any inhibitions toward writing.  The pertinent part of this stage is the Writers’ Workshop.  More mentor texts as well as deeper journaling concepts and writing marathons give way to more and more instances of collaboration.  Students will begin to rotate small groups and pairs to spend time writing together as well as individually.  During this stage the children will begin focusing on revising their work, getting used to change.  This will ready them for preparing it to be published and shared.  The students will begin to take ownership of each piece they write.  Minilessons and mentor texts will continue throughout.

Butterfly:  In this final stage of the writing transformation, the students will revisit older works from their beginning stages and make decisions on revisions with their small groups and partners.  Sharing will become more prevalent and the read alouds will now be comprised of student pieces as an addition to the mentor texts alone.  Students may type final drafts to be published and monitor the file in which they keep their pieces.  The class as a whole, with their new-found voices, questioning skills, and all-around approach to writing may ask for opinions on their work.  They may have each other edit and mull over pieces and converse about “glows and grows,” which translates to what works well and what may possibly need improving or additions.

The writing marathon is also quite meaningful due the nature of its spontaneity.  The students involved in this curriculum unit will be subject to several writing marathons as they build their stamina and hone their craft in the area of expressive writing.  It is another tool that helps peel away inhibitions and fears little by little as we move forward in the unit.  The marathon will be used here in many different settings as well.  The reasoning for this is that the more you move the children around, the more inspiration they will find.  Part of the transformative nature in this unit is that the students will surprise themselves with their inner discoveries, moving through the process.  During the marathons, this will happen in the sense of time as well as the sense of content.  Children may find that they can come up with a valid and intriguing piece of writing in smaller amounts of time as they continue with this exercise.  From indoors, to outdoors, and corner to corner of the classroom, children will challenge themselves to literally keep their pencils to the paper and grind out their thoughts on a given topic.  The exercises are meant to be shorter in nature but heavier in outcome.