A Toolbox of Lessons from Fiction Writing Can Lift the Level of All the Writing that Kids Do

Here are some more notes from the archives.  This particular speech was from the August 2007 Writing Institute and was delivered by Colleen Cruz of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project.  As we begin to start up our writing workshops, it is important to keep in mind the lessons that fiction can teach us regardless of what kind of writing we are engaged in - especially personal narrative writing. Disclaimer: However, these are notes, and reflect the thinking and reflections of the note taker, which might not align completely with what the speaker shared.

Kids love fiction! It is mostly what they read.  We need to use fiction for our touchstone texts in other UoS – especially personal narrative.  It is powerful because it draws on the imagination and is not limited to facts (moves toward abstract).

The personal narrative is the cornerstone of writing workshop.  It is the closest bridge to fiction.  The similarities include: dialogue, setting, internal thought – opportunities to preview character action, and in-the-moment writing.

Help Young Writers Develop Setting, Character, Story Tension and Language

Setting

Make sure that we have some, it is ONLY described in-depth when it is significant.  Here are some important tips on when to include setting: it matters to the story because it is connected to the deeper meaning of the text, the setting might show us character emotions, or the setting could be a metaphor or symbol in the story.

Character

A character has to want something for the story to work.  What is the character’s motivation and desire? What is driving them? 

It is also important to remember that the character’s internal and external qualities are connected.  When developing characters think about how the character feels, what the character wants, how they look.

Secondary characters need to play a role and be important and well-developed as we write our stories.  Predictable Problems: Often students will lose the main character OR lose the secondary character (emphasizing one over the other).

Finally, each character needs to have personality traits and quirks – cannot build Flat Stanley characters (characters need depth and dimension).  In order to encourage authentic character development, have students read their pieces aloud.

Story Tension

It helps to keep in mind the traditional story mountain (think of rising and falling action).  We need to throw obstacles in our character’s way to make the story more interesting.  It is important to give our characters a little bit of trouble that grows over time.

Strategy: Highlight the most important moment in the story.  This should be the part of the story that has the most words.

Language (The Grammar of Story)

We need to use specific nouns (tiny details) – names give you images).  Look at objects and be specific – use brand names.

It helps to use strong nouns and verbs (a great go-to conference or small group that immediately makes the writing stronger.)  Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly.  Beware of passive language – get rid of was, have, had, and –ing.

Another great conference or small group work is to look at sentence structure/length. Play with the length of sentences to convey the pace, emotion, tone or mood of the moment (short sentences versus long sentences).

Writing Models for Kids

As we are thinking about demonstration texts for our UoS, it's helpful to think about making sure that our models are inside of our students Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). 

As I was digging through notes from institutes past, I stumbled upon the following notes from a February Institute in 2009 entitled: Using Touchstone Texts to Teach Reading and Writing Well.  This particular small group section was led by Emily Smith, who is now a Senior Research Assistant and Lead Staff Developer at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project.  

She gave the following tips for writing models (or demonstration texts) for young writers:

1. Write forward as best you can (and then write backward) with your students in mind and some of the predictable problems in the UoS.

2. Look at a piece of student writing and try to replicate the writing moves that run through the piece in the demonstration text.  Make your text assessment based: What are your observations of students and their writing based on conferring, and reading their pieces? What trends and patterns are evident in the whole class?

3. Focus on different qualities in your student models depending on the needs of your students. Instead of just focusing on how to elaborate, write through the lens of structure to improve or lighten (write backward) the writing.

Look at the demonstration text below. Which grade level or age group could you imagine using this text with? What moves are evident in the piece? What could you imagine teaching in a conference, small group, mini-lesson etc.?

Reflecting on Writing about Reading with Kathy Collins

What's A Post-It Got To Do With It?

As teachers we have all asked that question as we tour our students bookshelves - What in the world do I do with all of those post-it notes? What am I looking for? What makes a "good" Post-It? 

                                             

What a beautiful fortune teller (sarcasm), so that's what was going on during independent reading . . . 

In our small group morning section with Kathy Collins, we are tackling this topic together.  We started out thinking about our questions and beliefs - What are our core beliefs about writing about reading?

As I consider this question, I think about the following excerpt from Janet Angelillo's classic book Writing About Reading: From Book Talk to Literary Essays: Grades 3-8, "Learning to respond powerfully to books is one of the great truths [we] will learn in school. It reflects [our] thinking and their learning lives. It takes many forms because it is so complex, as [our] learning lives should be. And it cannot be taught in one unit of three or four weeks, because it is too vital to [our] learning."

So here's what I'm thinking are some essential beliefs at the core as I reflect on writing about reading . .  . 

1. We need to provide students with multiple options for writing about reading.  Students responses to texts are so varied based on their personalities, experiences, intentions and learning styles.  

Question: How do we manage this as teachers? As teachers we depend on structures and routines that help us to look across the work of our students and hold against shared expectations, when responses are so varied, how do we provide students with flexible options and still 'manage it'? 

2. We need to practice what we preach.  If we want our students to write about their reading, we need to do it ourselves.  

3. This leads me to a third core belief, that our writing about reading needs to be purposeful and public. I think writers need an audience, and I think this is true for writing about reading, too. I know I write eager to see what others think about a book, article, poem etc. when I jot down thinking.  Students need to write to prepare for talk, 'think on paper', have others respond to their thinking. 

4. We are not satisfied with 10, which is the reason there is an eleventh CCSS in Reading for Literature K-5.  Students need to have a medium for responding to literature that supports deep interpretation ergo . . . . writing about reading.  

A fourth core belief is that in order for students to meet the ambitious expectations outlined in the CCSS, it important for us to create multiple opportunities for students to respond to texts - writing about reading is one possible path toward this goal.

CCLS RL 11. Respond to literature by employing knowledge of literary language, textual features, and forms to read and comprehend, reflect upon, and interpret literary texts from a variety of genres and a wide spectrum of American and world cultures.

Question: The standards seem to honor readers making connections to texts in the eleventh standard as we look across the progression at K-2, and then move toward interpretation and critique in 4,5: Do we agree with how the CCSS defines the eleventh standard in the progression?

5.  Writing about reading supports rehearsal for talk and if talk is so critical to learning, thinking and reading, then it is a non-negotiable for reading workshop teachers to provide students with explicit instruction in reading response so that the readers in our classrooms can prepare for grand conversations about literature.

Question: I am afraid that writing about reading can make reading feel cumbersome or rob students of  'reading for its own sake'. How do we ensure that writing about reading doesn't steal time from students just reading? I think this is a huge argument for teaching students to write-on-the-run, but at the same time I think meaningful reflection takes time - how do we strike a balance?

I hope to answer some of these questions this week and revisit these beliefs at the end of the week. How would you answer this question? What are beliefs at your teaching core for writing about reading?

Warming Up for July Reading Institute at TCRWP with an E-mail to Kathy Collins

Hi Kathy,

It is so great to hear from you.  I am in search of some of some of the items, but below are thoughts re: the questions that you posed in your e-mail. I am looking forward to a great week! Do you have a twitter handle - mine is @rscalateach. Thank you for reaching out and giving me this space to reflect.

Best,

Ryan

1) Where do you teach and what grade will you be teaching next year? How long have you been teaching?  If you're not a classroom teacher, what is your role in your school?

I teach in East Hampton, NY in a K-8 school known as Springs School.  It can be found at www.springsschool.org.  I have been teaching since September 2002 so this upcoming year will mark my eleventh year as a teacher.  I have taught fourth grade for the past ten years and will be teaching 3^rd grade next year.  This will be the first time I am attending a primary advanced section at a summer institute.  

Also, this upcoming year will mark the third year that I will be serving as a Literacy Co-Coordinator K-8.  Therefore, while I will be attending with a teacher’s hat, I will also be attending with the Literacy Co-Coordinator hat so that I can provide additional support for our K-2 teachers. 

I aspire to work as a staff developer with the TCRWP in the near future.  I was fortunate to find the project early in my career, and the TCRWP has been a source of knowledge and inspiration throughout my career.   We are an affiliate school with the project and our staff developer, Colleen Cruz, works with us several times across the year in grades 3-5.  In addition to our work with Colleen, we will have the support of a staff developer at K-2 next year.   I have had the privilege of hearing several of your keynotes over the past ten years, and love the blend of humor, inspiration, light-heartedness and wisdom embedded in them.  I am looking forward to spending the week learning alongside you and am delighted to be part of this group as we dig into this topic together.

2) What are your questions/concerns/issues about writing about reading/response to reading that you would like us to think about during our work together? Or what is your point of interest in this topic?

The idea of writing about reading has always been of interest to me and I want to study closely the possibilities of what this work might look like at the primary grades, in that, teachers at K-2 in my school have expressed the challenges of having kids use post-its, stop and jot and write about their reading in these earlier grades.  

I want to be able to support these teachers and show them the value of this work. 

The following are some questions that I have re: Writing about Reading and Helping Readers Craft Authentic Responses to Reading:

1. How can we ensure that writing about reading enhances the experience and is worth the time that it would take from reading?

2. What are some different options we can share with readers for managing the materials that support the work of writing about reading (think marks, post-its, charts etc.)?

3. At what point (grade), would we introduce readers to keeping a reader’s notebook? What are some of the differences between how K-2 readers would use the notebook to support their reading life versus 3-8?

4. Which (and how do the) components of Balanced Lit could support the writing about reading work students are doing (reading workshop, interactive read aloud, shared reading, guided reading)? How can social structures (reading clubs, partner work) support and further the writing about reading students are doing?

5. What are the horizons within the reach of K-2 readers in terms of interpretation and deeper reading of texts? What would a continuum of growth look like across the grades so that teachers could have a sense of what aspirations we might have for writing about reading across the grades?

6. One of the biggest challenges of writing about reading is that it often lacks audience with the exception of the teacher or a reading partner, what are some authentic genres for writing about reading that we can use with our K-2 readers?

7. What are some portable tools that we can make/use to support writing about reading in conferences and during small group work?  How can we design our classroom environment to support independence in writing about reading?

8. Technology is currently something I am very invested in so I am curious about how (and if) we can use technology and social media (Twitter, GoodReads) to support even our youngest students in responses to texts?   

3) What kinds of things do you need as a learner when you're participating in professional development?  In other words, what would help to make our five days together work really well for you?

I appreciate multiple opportunities to share thinking with partners and small groups of teachers. I like to leave these sessions with something to bring back to the school and artifacts that document some of the learning that we did, along with artifacts that I can use in the classroom to support students with their own writing about reading work.  

I learn through ‘doing’ so I appreciate a balance of seminar, and workshop where we have opportunities to plan and lead (practice) mini-lessons, conferences, small groups that will support student’s writing about reading.  

Summer is the perfect time to nourish our own reading life so I also value time spent reading both adult and children’s literature so that I can practice the work and speak to it as an insider, but also just to have the gift of enjoying stories and sharing our thoughts, questions, and insights about books with others.

4) What are your teaching strengths and struggles?

I think that a strength that I have is that I love getting to know students and connect with them as individuals, learning their interests and bringing that into our lessons, and conversations to boost engagement and motivation (but also just because I love getting to know the kiddos as 'little people'). 

I also have a deep investment in and ever-growing knowledge base of reading and writing workshop. I love to read, but I feel sometimes I am a bit unbalanced and read a lot of professional literature, when I should be reading more adult and children’s literature (reading for the sheer love of it).

I think that I can tend to take myself and the work we do too seriously and so sometimes I forget to find ‘the fun’ in my teaching.  

I feel like the pressures are so HIGH these days that sometimes it crowds out purpose and intention – almost causing me to lose sight (at times) of the reason I do what I do in the first place.

5) What are you looking forward to this summer?  

This year was one of the toughest of my career and I am looking forward to recharging my batteries and learning alongside like-minded colleagues.  I am attending the July Reading Institute and August Writing Institute.  I look forward to sunny weather, spending time at the beach and cherishing the time to read, write and spend time with family and friends.  

I hope to walk into the school in late August both refreshed and raring to go with fresh ideas and insights that will make me a stronger teacher than when I left school in June.

---

From: Kathy Collins 

To: Kathy Collins 

Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 5:38 PM

Subject: 2013 July Institute on the Teaching of Reading

Greetings, Everyone!

My name is Kathy Collins, and I'll be your section leader for your morning advanced section at next week's reading institute at Teachers College.  Our section title is officially, Writing About Reading:  Using Talk and Writing to Lift the Level of Comprehension.  I'm revising the title slightly to:  Responding to Reading: Teaching Children to Make Meaning and Find Significance in their Texts, Their Talk, and Their Ideas.  I will cover topics and details around 'writing about reading' but I also want to take a wider view of what is gained when K-2 children to respond to texts in a variety of ways. 

I'm really looking forward to our days of working and thinking together.  In looking over our roster, we have so many educators working in diverse roles in settings from all over the world.  It will be so wonderful to put our minds together to consider how to make response to reading (especially writing about reading) work for all learners...and all teachers!

In an effort to plan for days that will be closely tailored to your needs and interests, I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind answering a few questions:

1) Where do you teach and what grade will you be teaching next year? How long have you been teaching?  If you're not a classroom teacher, what is your role in your school?

2) What are your questions/concerns/issues about writing about reading/response to reading that you would like us to think about during our work together? Or what is your point of interest in this topic?

3) What kinds of things do you need as a learner when you're participating in professional development?  In other words, what would help to make our five days together work really well for you?

4) What are your teaching strengths and struggles?

5) What  are you looking forward to this summer?  

Also, could you bring the following to  Teachers College, if possible ? (I know that some of you might be far from your schools at this point.)

a) an artifact from your classroom that means a lot to you or that represents you as a teacher (or a sketch/photo of an artifact)

b) a photograph (or a few) of your classroom and of a part of your school that you love (if possible)

c) your favorite read aloud book (picture book, chapter book, anything goes, as long as you and your kids LOVED it)

d)  a grown-up book you're reading 

Thank you so much for taking the time to consider these questions and list of items.  If you are able to respond before the institute begins, that would be great! I wish you smooth travels.  See you next week!

Warmly,

Kathy Collins

Courage

This year my word is courage – The courage to take risks and forge new paths. I find myself at a crossroads in many places in my life, and don’t want the decisions that I make to be shaped by a fear of the unknown (or the voices of others), but by courage and heart (my own inner voice). I appreciate the words of Steve Jobs in the quote below . . .

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
Steve Jobs

"We will forever remember the places in which we've played" (Donald Graves comment from In the Company of Children by Joanne Hindley).  I also promise to remember that I chose teaching because kids are fun.  Even with all of the external pressures pressing down on us, I don't want to forget that we learn best when we are engaged in what we are doing, and what does it mean to be engaged, when all is said and done, engagement, at it's highest level, is about having fun, being interested, igniting passion, loving what we are doing and so I want to always remember to infuse work with a little bit of fun.

Workshop Resolution

Conferring is the heartbeat of workshop teaching.  In order to teach well; learn to confer well.  Although the coaching institute was interrupted due to a hurricane, what I learned in those few sessions will provide me with much to reflect on in the coming months. 

Over the next few weeks, I am going to really work at growing stronger at conferring.  It feels like a critical component of conferring is the research.  It can make you or break you.  The research lays the groundwork for all of the other components of a conference.  It is differentiation at its best.  When you research well, you provide yourself with a storehouse to draw on for your teaching.  Here are a few tips for researching well from the TCRWP.

• Try to be conversational in tone.  We are more likely to be honest and demonstrate investment when we feel comfortable, cared for, and at ease.
• Keep notes to help you forge a pathway of learning.  Otherwise, our conferences will be like a game of hop-scotch and will lack traction.  Traction provides students with additional practice and scaffolding – a trajectory of growth.  This will allow you to layer your teaching and ensure that your conferences are driven by visible goals and feedback.
• Always take a few moments to observe the writer – What are they almost doing? Skim their writing and look for patterns.  This will help you formulate strong research questions. Why did you  . . . ? What were you or are you trying to do here? Point to their writing when researching – It will help ground your teaching, but be careful to look for patterns – not too specific – otherwise you will fall into the trap of teaching the writing instead of the writer.
• Try to stay away from the content. Instead ask the writer: What strategies have you been using? What goals or plans are you working on? Ask: What do you plan to do next?
• It helps to think about lenses through which you can confer.  Find out what a student knows about a particular writing habit or skill.  This will help you stay within the students ZPD.
• Stay inside the research part of the conference for a while – after pursuing one line of inquiry – ask a question designed to take you on another.  Look for multiple learning pathways.  Only after researching for a while, should you decide and choose what to compliment and teach.

Things to Keep in Mind When Working with Striving Writers within a Whole Class Community

I have learned a lot about this particular topic from mentors, such as Lucy Calkins, Katherine Bomer, Mary Ehrenworth, Colleen Cruz, and Chris Lehman over the years.  Here are some of the bigger ideas I have extrapolated from conversations, speeches and/or workshops I have attended.

Principles We Can Reflect on When Working with Striving Writers

1. Expect ALL students to achieve goals in writing and celebrate milestones toward those goals.
2. When students are able to complete the work with independence, the modifications are successful.
3. Build on a student’s strengths versus focusing or working on areas of weakness all of the time.
4. Be explicit when teaching writing stamina (Quantity before Quality, at least, at first) – Teach into it – it doesn't happen overnight.
5. Help students discover his/her writing passions – Ralph Fletcher calls these life topics, which are topics we revisit again and again.

Some Practical Tips to Keep in Mind when Working with Striving Writers

• Keep teaching points the same for all students – the way that students access the teaching point will vary.
• Modify the levels of support needed for students to learn the teaching point according to the strengths and needs of all students.
• The work will look different from student to student, however, the process students will have gone through, will have been similar.
• Focus on the main objectives of a UoS (Unit of Study) and or m.l., rather than getting caught up in the small details – what are the big goals of the unit – see CCLS for direction with this in planning.
• Read aloud the child’s writing to him or her on a somewhat regular basis, and do it with an incredible read aloud voice (read it as literature).  Calkins calls this reading it ‘like it’s gold’
• It helps to think in 3s – What are three goals for this student inside of this unit?  Remember that we can build smaller milestones into larger goals.
• Provide students with alternative methods for planning and drafting: storyboarding/booklets, planning boxes, webs, index cards
• For ELLs, encourage sketching and labeling as an access point to expressive language.

Community is everything.  Build a place that honors struggle, reflection and goal-setting. Make all kids an expert at something, so that we have ‘go-to’ people for help.  Create charts that teach.  Recognize and celebrate the efforts of all, while nudging writers toward new heights and more ambitious goals.