Burlington Edison’s Balanced Literacy Model (A work in progress) Writing Subcommittee January 2012

BURLINGTON EDISON’S BALANCED LITERACY MODEL

(A WORK IN PROGRESS)

WRITING SUBCOMMITTEEJANUARY 2012

ACTIVATING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE….“Our Writing Beliefs…..”

MEETING AGENDA

I. Introductions/NormsII. History/BackgroundIII. Current Research/DataIV. Planning for Steps in the Writing

Committee's "charge"V. Delegating tasks/itemsVI. Next Steps

Questions/Comments

FORMAT AND PURPOSE OF THIS MEETING…Format

Work Session: To provide interactive time to share with our colleagues, process and provide feedback

Purpose To create a Balanced Literacy Model for our district that

encompasses best practice, high yield thinking strategies and provides the most appropriate literacy instruction for all students while supporting teachers with the most user friendly documents, tools and resources to deliver that instruction

Roles Your expected role is to provide constructive feedback,

share expertise and provide a clear, meaningful and supportive direction to incorporate writing into our balanced literacy framework.

OUTCOMES FOR TODAY AND BEYOND! Develop a deep understanding of Writing

standards, Data, Research and resources we currently use to make informed decisions and plans for incorporating a more cohesive writing plan within our balanced literacy model.

Create a plan for strengthening our Daily Learning guides to incorporate writing.

Develop a PD plan for guides and roll-out Be a liaison for your grade level/buildings to

represent all teachers

PROTOCOLS… Please take a couple of minutes to suggest

one or two “norms” that will support our work together. (Share Out)

LET’S GET STARTED!

GOALS OF LITERACY CADRE Support the Burlington-Edison Preferred Vision for a

Comprehensive Literacy Program Align the standards with our district adopted resources Create a Daily Learning Guide (DLG) that maps the skills and

resources out throughout the year and grade level Provide a structure for our literacy block that supports all

students at their varying levels and skills Provide meaningful professional development and resources that

teachers feel confident utilizing and will bring back to share with other staff members

Training Paraprofessionals in the area of Literacy to help support our Comprehensive Literacy Program

Develop/or find a variety of meaningful formative and summative assessments aligned to our pacing guide

Motivating students to read and write outside the day Leveling books for students/teachers

Burlington-Edison Preferred Vision for a Comprehensive Reading Program

Essential Components of an Effective Reading

ProgramImplications from Research

Daily Reading•Reading to students•Shared reading (modeling reading strategies)•Independent reading practice (at an appropriate level for students)•Guided reading (students reading at instructional level with teacher guidance)•Encourage reading outside school

Differentiated Classroom Environment•Balance of whole group, small group, and individual instruction•Focus on thinking, learning, and problem-solving•Student interaction•Flexible grouping•Active strategies/Student monitoring•Student friendly EALRs/GLEs discussed and posted•Reading strategies discussed and posted

Explicit Instruction•Critical thinking skills with consistent strategies and graphic organizers•Tiered instruction•Phonemic awareness and phonics•Fluency•Comprehension strategies•Vocabulary

Variety of Materials•Fiction•Non-fiction•Various forms/ genres•Variety of levels available

Assessments•Variety of meaningful, ongoing assessments, e.g. performance, objective, and student self-evaluation•Formative and summative assessment•Align assessment with GLEs•Common assessments district-wide

Response to Reading•Opportunities to respond to reading in various ways, e.g. writing, discussion, drama, etc.

Proficient Practitioners•Professional development•Best practices based on current research•All staff involved in on-going training•Time to research, plan and collaborate•Reading instruction occurs in all content areas•High expectations

THE LEVEL OF DEPTH WE WANT TO TAKE THIS LITERACY MODEL… Provide a clearly articulated learning progression

that represents our standards in our DLG Providing meaningful strategies to support a

Balanced Literacy Program Provide professional development that aligns and

supports a Balanced Literacy Program and the Daily Learning Guide

Provide meaningful common/formative assessments Provide a suggested Schedule for Literacy Block that

includes all of the key components for a Balanced Literacy Structure

Be “flexible” with the format we have created to consistently view it as a “draft” and add appropriate materials and resources (Interactive)

WHERE WE START…. Looking at the Data Digging into the Research Deepening our understanding of the

Standards, and David Matteson Benchmarks Deep Curriculum Alignment– Specifically,

aligning the standards with our current writing curriculum find the strengths and the “holes”

Create a “Draft” writing component on our DLG’s

Created a “Draft” District Grade Level One pager

Where we are now…..

MSP/HSPE DATA

http://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/waslTrend.aspx?groupLevel=District&schoolId=206&reportLevel=District&orgLinkId=206&yrs=2010-11&gradeLevelId=4&subjectType=1&year=2010-11&waslCategory=1&chartType=2


















TAKING A LOOK AT OUR INDIVIDUAL CLASSROOM DATA…

Guiding Thinking Points What MSP Level are the majority of your students? How do the other writing assessments you provide in

your classroom correlate with these results? How would you/do you group these

students according to this data? What needs do you see? How does our current writing curriculum help support

these students?

OUR AHAS…







“Writing is not simply a way for students to demonstrate what they know. It is a way to help them understand what they know.”

-The Neglected “R”, 2003

WRITING NEXT…. EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE WRITING….. Jigsaw

ALL: Executive Summary Introduction p. 7-10 Recommendations: p. 11-14 The 11 Key Elements: p. 15-18 The 11 Key Elements cont. p. 19-21 Implementing the Elements p. 22-24 Accumulation of Research : p. 25-28

Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing, co-authored by The Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and the National Writing Project (NWP), state that “writing activities and assignments should be designed with genuine purposes and audiences in mind (from teachers and other students to community groups, local or national officials, commercial interests, students’ friends and relatives, and other potential readers) in order to foster flexibility and rhetorical versatility.Standardized writing curricula or assessment instruments that emphasize formulaic writing for non-authentic audiences will not reinforce the habits of mind and the experiences necessary for success as students encounter the writing demands of postsecondary education” (2011, p. 3).Writing dispositions/ habits of mind (or the ways writers approach writing) include: engagement through making connections among ideas; persistence to grapple with challenging ideas and texts; responsibility to incorporate ideas of others, giving proper attribution; flexibility of approaches and styles to match purpose; and utilizing met-cognitive skills to reflect on their development as writers.

BEST PRACTICES IN TEACHING WRITING1. Establish a positive atmosphere for writing, reading

and learning.2. Organize for writing.3. Provide meaningful student writing activities.4. Ensure that students read, respond to, and use a

variety of materials written for a variety of purposes and audiences.

5. Write regularly across the curriculum and grade levels.

6. Arrange for students to have constructive response to their writing and to offer response to other writes.

7. Provide opportunities for students to collaborate as writers, thinkers, and learners.

8. Conduct effective mini-lessons.

FRAMEWORK OF WRITING INSTRUCTION The Writing Process

Prewriting Drafting Revising Editing Publishing

The Structure of Writing Genre Forms and Structures

Writing for Meaning/Response Writing Across Content Areas Writing with Spelling, Handwriting and Conventions

FOUR COMPONENTS OF WRITER’S WORKSHOP (ROUTMAN, 2000; FOUNTAS AND PINNELL, 2001)

Writing AloudShared WritingGuided WritingIndependent Writing

PRACTICES THAT HAVE NOT PRODUCED QUALITY WRITING…. Formulaic Writing. Barry Lane states in his

book After the End that “writers don’t need to be given formulas; they need to be shown possibilities.” Too often, formulaic writing leads to mediocre, dull writing where student engagement with the text is absent.

While a formula may be useful for beginning or novice writers who need scaffolding in organizational techniques and in the crafting of elaboration, it should not be an outcome expectation for student writers at any grade level.

OUR AHAS


Standards, and David Matteson Benchmarks

Deep Curriculum Alignment– Specifically, aligning the standards with our current writing curriculum find the strengths and the “holes”

Create a “Draft” writing component on our DLG’s Created a “Draft” District Grade Level One pager Where we are now…..

COMMON CORE STANDARDS OF WRITING….

To build a foundation for college and career readiness, students need to learn to use writing as a way of offering and supporting opinions, demonstrating understanding of the subjects they are studying, and conveying real and imagined experiences and events. They learn to appreciate that a key purpose of writing is to communicate clearly to an external, sometimes unfamiliar audience, and they begin to adapt the form and content of their writing to accomplish a particular task and purpose. They develop the capacity to build knowledge on a subject through research projects and to respond analytically to literary and informational sources. To meet these goals, students must devote significant time and effort to writing, producing numerous pieces over short and extended time frames throughout the year.

CC ASSESSMENTA second decision was to assess writing of three specific

text types identified as the focusin the CCSS: Writing assessment targets for Claim #2

address all three text types (W1,opinion/argument, W2, informational, and W3, narrative

writing) and their uniquefeatures. Assessment targets for claim #2 make specific

distinctions that align with CCstandards for each type of writing at every grade level. The

wording of Claim #2(Students can produce effective writing for a range of

purposes and audiences) anddescriptions of what sufficient evidence of student

performance should look like addressall three writing genres and a range of purposes.

DAVID MATTESON’S BENCHMARKS Much of the work has already been done Significant investment P-3 and community

partners

WHERE WE START…. Looking at the Data Digging into the Research Deepening our understanding of the Standards,

and David Matteson Benchmarks Deep Curriculum Alignment– Specifically,


Create a “Draft” writing component on our DLG’s Created a “Draft” District Grade Level One pager Where we are now…..

CURRENT WRITING GUIDES Resources Matrix Reflection on strengths/holes Current DLG Current One-Pager Sharing out how we see this all fitting

together

WHY DO WE NEED TO PRIORITIZE? Research tells us that it would take between 22 and 26

years for teachers to teach all the standards and objectives in the state curriculum. (Marzano and Kendall)

Since research tells us this, teachers have two choices: Teach everything equally Teach prioritized standards for a deeper level of

understanding

Prioritizing does not mean eliminating any standards. It means focusing on some standards more than others.

AHAS…







OUR GRADE LEVEL “DRAFT” STANDARDS PACING GUIDE…. Link













WRITING COMMITTEE TIMELINE

WHERE WE ARE GOING NEXT… Completion of Writing portion of DLG Completion of “one-pager” representing

writing Professional development Tools to support

DISCUSSION TIME – COMMENTS/QUESTIONS

Please fill out an Plus/Delta before leaving A Huge Thank You For Attending and

Providing Such Great Feedback! For further comments/questions please

contact: [email protected]

Documents

Burlington Edison’s Balanced Literacy Model (A work in progress) Writing Subcommittee January 2012