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EXPLORING PURPOSE AND AUDIENCE WITH MIDDLE LEVEL WRITERS
Reasons to Write
Alisha Bollinger – [email protected] Nebraska Reading Conference
A little about me …
13 years as a educator Special Educator K-12 Elementary Educator 3-5 K-12 Reading Coach
Passion for writing instruction Reluctant writer Underprepared to teach writing
WHY IS WRITING IMPORTANT
Why focus on writing?
Why Focus on Writing?
Brainstorm: How is writing used in K-12 settings?
Students use writing to…? How is writing used in post-secondary
settings (e.g., college/university, workplace, personal)? Adults use writing to…?
Importance of Writing
Individuals use writing… In K-12 schooling
To acquire and demonstrate knowledge To succeed on assessments
In higher education To gain admittance To interact with information
In the work place To collaborate To communicate with stakeholders
In their personal lives To connect with family and friends To deal with stress
Current Writing Achievement in U.S.National Assessment of Education Progress, 2011
Grade 8 Grade 120
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20
30
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50
60
70
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100
AdvancedProficientBasicBelow BasicP
erc
en
t
IES PRACTICE GUIDE
Framework for today
Structure of the Writing Practice GuideTable of ContentsReview of RecommendationsAcknowledgementsLevels of EvidenceIntroductionRecommendations 1-4GlossaryAppendix
Practice Guide AuthorsConflicts of InterestRationale for Levels of Evidence
Overview of Practice Guide Recommendations
The panel made 4 recommendations in the practice guide. Provide daily time for students to write Teach students to use the writing process for a
variety of purposes Teach students the foundational skills of writing Create an engaged community writers
Teach students to write for a variety of purposes.
1. Help students understand the different purposes of writing.
2. Expand students’ concept of audience.
3. Teach students to emulate the features of good writing.
4. Teach students techniques for writing effectively for different purposes.
Think-Pair-Share
What is your knowledge of writing purposes, genres, and audiences?
Reflect, and then share with a table member
You can only teach what you know! Provide opportunities for teachers to develop their own knowledge of purposes, genres, and audiences within a school/grade
WHY DO WE WRITE?
Help students understand the different purposes of writing.
Writing Purposes
Purpose drives all decision making in writing
Why am I writing this? What do I hope to accomplish?
What is the best genre to accomplish my purpose?
Thinking about Writing Purposes
On your handout, brainstorm 5 different writing purposes Writing to…
For right now only concentrate on the writing purpose column
Thinking about Writing Purposes
There are many different purposes for writing.Four common purposes are:
To describe To narrate / entertain To inform To persuade
There are genres that relate to each purpose, but genres can be used for various purposes
First Steps: Talk about purposes for writing all of the time!
Reading: What was the
writer trying to accomplish with his writing?
Were they successful? Why or why not?
Writing: What are you
trying to do with your writing?
What do you want your audience to feel or do as a result of your writing?
Make the connection
Have students write for real purposes!
Help them identify what genre might fit best with their purpose.
Allow them to take their writing out for a trial run!
WHO DO WE WRITE FOR?
Expand students’ concept of audience.
Audience
Audience goes hand in hand with purpose. It also drives many of our decisions. Who am I writing for? Who will read
what I write?Audience impacts tone and word
choice
Developing this skill
Activities Have students identify their audience as part of the
prewriting process Help students to identify characteristics of their
audience Have students write about the same topic for different
audiencesStudents need the opportunity to write for
real audiences! Assign writing where you are not the primary audience Allow students receive feedback from real audiences Help students identify with their audience
Thinking about Audience
Go back to your handout Writing Purposes, Genres, and Audiences
For each purpose, brainstorm two different genres that will meet that purpose, and two different audiences that would read that genre
Goal Setting Engagement
Have students set specific goals for their writing based on purpose, audience, and genre
Build student engagement and motivation to write
Putting it together
Have students set specific goals for their writing based on purpose, audience, and genre
I will persuade my mom to let me play basketball this summer by writing a persuasive letter that includes three good reasons.
I will entertain my peers by writing a personal narrative that includes language that makes them laugh.
I will teach first graders about outer space by writing a feature article that includes definitions for all content area words and a glossary.
23
Build student
engagement and
motivation
Allow students to choose their audience and purpose.
Creating assignments that are “real world” or meaningful to students.
Help students have a personal stake in the writing.
Create a supportive environment where students feel safe to write
WHAT DO GOOD WRITERS DO?
Teach students to emulate the features of good writing.
Using Mentor Texts – First Steps
Determine instructional goals? What is the focus:StructureWord choiceSentence structuresLeads or conclusionsSomething else?
Using Mentor Texts -- Selecting Text
Teachers should select texts that:Include features related to
instructional goalsAre appropriate to students’ reading
levelHave exemplary models of the feature
Using Mentor Texts – Sources
Use texts from a variety of sourcesPublished textsTextbooksTeacher created writingPeer samples
Think-Pair-Share
What have been some of your experiences using mentor text? Are there good sources you have found in your teaching?
Reflect, and then share with a neighbor
Using Mentor Text – Exploration
Focus on exploration of features related to instructional goals
Develop questions
Model how to explore a text
Provide students opportunities to practice
Genre exploration supports both reading and writing!
Explore Mentor Texts!Activity 1
One purpose of mentor texts can be to explore the components of a specific genre.
Activity – WWW, What-2, How-2 Who is the main character? When does the story take place? Where does the story take place? What do the characters do or want to do? What happens then? How does the story end? How do the characters feel?
Explore Mentor Texts!Activity 2
Another purpose of mentor texts can be to compare different genres.
Activity – Genre Exploration
What is the same across two or more genres? What is different across two or more genres? How would you summarize the key features of each
genre?
Using Mentor Texts – emulating text
Once students understand the features of the text, they can use this information to create their own writing Students need modeling and guided practice
before they can do this independently I do ~ we do ~ you do
Explore Mentor Texts!Activity 3
Mentor texts can also provide a model for students to emulate.
Activity – Emulating Text Provide students with a sample text Identify key features Provide frames for younger / less experienced
writers Encourage creativity
Roadblocks
There’s not time in the school day to teach these skills.
The school’s writing or English language arts curriculum doesn’t cover these topics.
The state assessments ask students only to write in one particular genre. If I spend time teaching other genre and purposes I’m not meeting assessment goals.
Questions