Notes Packet ASE LA 1: Production and Distribution of Writing

Steve Schmidt schmidtsj@appstate.edu

Today’s Inspiring Quote “The desire to write grows with writing.”

- Desiderius Erasmus

You Can Write on the Packet! You can find everything from this workshop at: abspd.appstate.edu Look under: Teaching Resources, Adult Secondary Resources, Language Arts/Reading, ASE LA 1 Production and Distribution of Writing.

Agenda8:30 – 10:00 Three Buckets of Writing

Cause and Effect Writing: Migration

10:00 – 10:15 Break

10:15 – 11:45 Adult Ed Content StandardsDescriptive Writing: Draw, Label, Caption

11:45 – 12:45 Lunch

12:45 – 2:00 Standards Writing ShiftsProblem/Solution: Bridge Builders

2:00 – 2:15 Break

2:15 – 4:00 Writing about Reading: St Augustine, 1964Narrative Writing: Everybody Has a Story

Page 1| LA 1: Production and Distribution of Writing, Steve Schmidt (schmidtsj@appstate.edu)

This course is funded by:

Today’s Objectives Participants will:

Learn strategies for teaching informative/explanatory writing including cause and effect, problem/solution, and compare/contrast

Understand the adult education standards writing shifts and methods to help students meet them

Apply techniques for teaching narrative writing

Be able to access resources including graphic organizers and writing frames

The Three “Buckets” of Writing (Genre-Specific Text Types)

Informative/Explanatory writing asks students to:

- Describe - Cause and effect - Problem/Solution - Compare/Contrast - Sequence

Informative/explanatory writing is our workshop’s main focus. This type of writing also appears on the TASC and HiSET high school equivalency exams.

Narrative writing is the focus of College and Career Readiness Anchor Standard 3. It does not appear on any of the high school equivalency tests. In narratives, students are asked to “develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.”

In argumentative writing, students are asked to make a claim and back it up with evidence. This type of writing appears on all three of the high school equivalency exams.

Argumentative writing is the subject of the ASE LA 2 workshop, Using Research in Writing. Materials from the LA 2 workshop are found at abspd.appstate.edu Look under: Teaching Resources, Adult Secondary Resources, Language Arts/Reading, ASE LA 2 Using Research in Writing.

Source: Corley (2014)

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Informative/Explanatory

Narrative (Story)

Argumentative

Lesson 1 - Cause and Effect Writing

This lesson focuses on teaching students cause and effect writing as well as the social studies concept of migration. Students will learn how to write a cause and effect explanatory essay while examining the push and pull factors that caused a migration (move) in their family and describe what effects the move had on them.

Items Needed:

World map Something to ID a location on the map like sticky note or push pins

Directions:

1. Have students identify a move they or someone in their family made. Students can put a marker (like a small sticky note) on a map showing where the person moving left from and/or re-settled. Lead a class discussion on why people move.

2. Introduce the terms migration (synonym for move) and explain the reasons why people move can be divided into two major groups: push and pull factors. Push factors encourage someone to leave where they are while pull factors encourage someone to settle in a new area. Google the video WG.6 Migration Push & Pull Factors to give further examples of push and pull factors.

3. Use the pre-writing activity Talk, Then Write to get students thinking about what they will write.

4. Model for students how to use the Cause and Effect Graphic Organizer to write about the migration.

5. Explain to students the parts of the Cause and Effect Model Essay and demonstrate how to move from the graphic organizer to the essay.

6. After completing the first draft of their essay, have students edit and revise it to create the final draft.

Are You Familiar with the Content Standards?The content we will examine today comes from The North Carolina Community College System College and Career Readiness Adult Secondary Education Content Standards. These standards may be found at: abspd.appstate.edu Teaching Resources, Evidence Based Instructional Resources, Applying Content Standards: GPS for Success.

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Lesson 2 – Descriptive Writing

This lesson focuses on teaching students how to write an informative descriptive essay with pre-writing help from a Draw-Label-Caption graphic organizer. It also uses the social studies concept of sustainability.

Items Needed:

One piece of plastic for every two students Draw-Label-Caption graphic organizer Model Descriptive Writing Essay

Directions:

1. Explain to students that although there is an emphasis on recycling, 32 million tons of plastic ends up in landfills every year! Introduce the concept of sustainability which means working with methods that do not use up or destroy natural resources. Ask students, “What can we do with all the plastic waste that never gets recycled?”

2. With a partner, have students review a typical day and make a list of the plastic items they used that will eventually be thrown away. For example, “I get up in the morning and take a shower. My shampoo comes in a plastic bottle. I brush my teeth. Both the toothbrush and toothpaste tube are plastic.”

3. Divide students into groups of two and give them a piece of plastic and the Draw-Label-Caption graphic organizer. First, ask each group to brainstorm a list of ideas on what could be done to reuse the piece of plastic they have. Then, have them decide on the best idea.

4. Show students how to use the Draw-Label-Caption graphic organizer. Students will describe their idea for re-using the plastic on the graphic organizer.

5. Explain the Model Descriptive Writing Essay and show students how to develop their essay from the graphic organizer.

6. After completing the draft of the essay, have students edit and revise it to create the final draft.

Teaching Using Models

One major reason writing assignments fail is that students do not know exactly what is expected of them. It is a best practice to show students a model of a finished writing assignment and explain the step by step process of how to do the writing. Each of the lessons in this workshop has a model essay to show your students that also contains helpful hints.

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Lesson 3 – Compare/Contrast Explanatory Writing

This lesson focuses on teaching students how to write a compare/contrast explanatory essay. We will use a graphic organizer and a writing frame to help students plan and write their essays.

Items Needed:

Two different drinks Cups Green Acres Theme Song video (YouTube)

Compare and Contrast Writing Frame ______ vs. ______ Graphic Organizer Compare and Contrast Model Essay

Directions:

1. Explain to students that they will write a compare/contrast essay where they will describe how things are the same (compare) and how things are different (contrast).

2. To practice this skill, play the YouTube video Green Acres Intro HD with Lyrics . Use the ________ vs. ________ Graphic Organizer to show how farm life and New York city life compares and contrasts.

3. Have students work in pairs and give them two different kinds of drinks (poured in cups) and the __________ vs. __________ graphic organizer. Have them taste both drinks and then fill in the graphic organizer. When finished, have students share their responses from the graphic organizer with the whole class.

4. Model for students how to use the information from the graphic organizer to fill out the compare/contrast writing frame. Show and explain the Compare and Contrast Model Essay.

5. Use the writing frame as the basis for the draft of the compare/contrast essay.

6. After completing the draft of the essay, have students edit and revise it to create the final draft.

Other Ideas for Compare/Contrast Essay Topics:

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Adult Education Standards Writing Instructional Shifts

Writing for a variety of purposes

Students should practice writing informative/explanatory, narrative, and argumentative essays

Writing about reading

Create writing prompts that focus on reading passages

Reading a range of texts

Have students read informational and literary texts. GED 2014 is 75% informational and 25% literary.

Guided practice of close analytic reading

Since students are writing about reading, we need to model for students how to get meaning from texts. One way to do this is to practice close reading strategies.

Using text evidence to support claims

Ask, “How do you know?” Move students away from their opinions to using text based evidence to back up their arguments.

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Lesson 4 – Problem Solution Bridge Builders

This lesson works on helping students learn to write a problem/solution explanatory essay while developing the thinking skills students need to tackle Webb’s Depth of Knowledge Levels 2 and 3 thinking in a language arts context.

Directions:

1. Before the lesson, put the following items in a gallon plastic bag:

5 sheets of 8.5 x 11 paper 1 roll of masking tape 15 paper clips

10 index cards 3 feet of yarn 25 popsicle sticks

Other items can be substituted for the ones listed.

2. Divide the class into groups of two to four students. Give students the Bridge Builders Handout and the Plastic bag with the items listed in step 1.

3. Decide how long to give students to work. Divide the time between brainstorming with the worksheet and the actual bridge building.

4. When students have completed their bridge building, test each bridge with water bottles or other heavy objects to see which bridges are the strongest.

5. Debrief the activity by asking students what their biggest challenges were and how they overcame them. Also ask students why the stronger bridges held up better than the less strong bridges.

6. Model how to use the Tell Show Graphic Organizer to do the problem/solution essay pre-writing.

7. Use the Problem/Solution Model Essay as an example when helping students move from the graphic organizer to their first drafts.

8. After completing the draft of the essay, have students edit and revise it to create the final draft.

I’ve Been Thinking about . . . . About 80% of the questions on the current generation of high school equivalency exams (GED, TASC, HiSET) ask students to do something beyond basic recall skills. They focus on Webb’s Depth of Knowledge Levels 2 and 3 thinking. These higher level thinking tasks ask students to do things like explain complex issues, convert information from one form to another, or solve real world problems using analysis and evaluation skills.

How can we help students tackle these more difficult questions? Activities like Bridge Building and Ban the Books (see the handout packet) are fun ways to help students begin to develop these skills.

Adapted from: Hagler (2012) Take 5 for language arts: 180 bell-ringers that build critical-thinking skills

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Lesson 5 – Writing about Reading

This lesson focuses on writing about reading while also examining the Social Studies content with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Items Needed:

Picture of St. Augustine 1964 Swim In Narrative Writing Model Essay Audio of Remembering a Civil Rights Swim In: “It Was a Milestone” Copies of the Somebody Wanted But So graphic organizer Writing from a Different Perspective handout

Directions:

1. Put up the picture of James Brock pouring acid into the pool at the Monson Motor Lodge in St. Augustine, Florida in 1964. (The picture can be found by Googling: james brock acid pool.) Ask questions such as: “What do you think is happening here?” and “Describe the expressions on the faces of the people in the picture.”

2. Play the audio Remembering a Civil Rights Swim In and have students read Remembering A Civil Rights Swim-In: “It Was A Milestone.”

3. Give students the graphic organizer Somebody Wanted But So. Explain that in addition to helping us organize our thoughts before writing, graphic organizers can also help us better understand reading passages. Have students fill out two Somebody Wanted But So Graphic Organizers based on the Remembering A Civil Rights Swim-In reading. Complete the first graphic organizer from the perspective of James Brock (Monson Motor Lodge Owner) and the other from the perspective of Al Lingo and J.T. Johnson (Civil Rights protestors).

4. As a class go over the two different Somebody Wanted But So organizers and talk about perspectives (how different people view the same event). Ask questions such as: “How are the perspectives of James Brock and Al Lingo/J.T. Johnson different?” and “What effect did this incident have on the Civil Rights Act of 1964?”

5. Have students write a paragraph from the perspective of a United States Senator who would be voting on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (See the Writing from a Different Perspective handout.)

6. Have students share their written responses with other students in the class.

Narrative Writing

Everybody Has a Story

From 1998 through 2004, CBS News ran a feature called “Everybody Has a Story.” Someone threw a dart at a mat, and correspondent Steve Hartman and a cameraman went there. Once arriving, they would flip through the local phone book and choose a name at random. If the person chosen was willing, Hartman did a story on them. They profiled about 100 people across the United States from a 5 year old balloon lover to 87 year old Louisiana grandmother who still did her son’s laundry.

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Lesson 6 – Teaching Narrative Writing

Materials Needed: Transition Action Details graphic organizer and Model Narrative Writing Essay

Directions:

1. To introduce the concept of narrative writing, have students watch two videos from the CBS News Everybody Has a Story series. (Google: Everybody has a story soul food and Everybody has a story adoption ) Explain that narrative writing is like telling a story.

2. Explain to students that they will focus on collecting details that will be used to write a narrative essay.

3. Model how to use the Transition Action Details graphic organizer by going over the sample.

4. Have students work with a partner and ask each one to describe to their partner a significant event in their life. The partner will use the Transition Action Details graphic organizer to record details of the stories.

5. Go over the Model Narrative Writing Essay about the 1964 St. Augustine Swim In.

6. Use the graphic organizer to write the first draft of an essay about the event.

7. After completing the draft of the essay, have students edit and revise it to create the final draft.

Lesson 7 – Editing and Revising

This lesson focuses on helping students edit and revise drafts of their essays. Before doing this activity, make sure students understand the purpose of this activity is to help students improve their writing before creating a final draft. Comments made by the students should be constructive (helpful criticism) and not destructive. The process of reading the essay aloud will help students see where revisions might need to be made.

Materials Needed:

Draft copy of an essay Editing Checklist: Informative/Explanatory Texts handout

Directions:

1. Give students copies of the Editing Checklist: Informative/Explanatory Texts. Model how to use the checklist by going over a draft piece of writing with your students and explaining how to make revisions.

2. Have students work with a partner or in groups of three to four students. Have the student read their draft essay once while the other group members listen. Then have the student read their draft essay again while the other students make notes on the Editing Checklist.

3. All group members should make at least one positive comment about the essay. They will then give the student who read their essay a copy of the revision checklist with their suggestions for improvement.

4. The student will use the checklists to revise their essay and produce a final draft.

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