presenters name goes here

1

Developing Writing Skills in Afterschool
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONTechnical Assistance
and Professional Development for 21st Century
Community Learning Centers

• (presenters name goes here)

2

• Effective writing is essential, not merely to
  the nations economic well-being but to its
  future as a vibrant, informed, and humane
  democratic society
• - National Commission on Writing, Writing and
  School Reform (2006)

3
Who We Are

• U.S. Department of Educations Office of
  Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE)
• Southwest Educational Development Laboratory
  (SEDL)
• Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL)
• National Center for Research on Evaluation,
  Standards and Student Testing (CRESST)
• Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning
  (McREL)
• SERVE Center at the University of North Carolina
  at Greensboro (SERVE)
• WGBH Educational Foundation (WGBH)

4
Goal of the Partnership

• Improve afterschool academic enrichment,
  teaching, and training in six areas literacy,
  mathematics, science, the arts, technology, and
  homework/tutoring

5
Following this session on writing in afterschool,
participants will be able to

• Locate resources for afterschool writing at the
  online Afterschool Literacy Toolkit
• Identify key points from research on writing
  instruction K-12
• Apply experience with writing strategies to
  afterschool activities and instruction
• Consult additional resources focused on writing
  in afterschool

6
Icebreaker

• Speaking in pairs
• Try to remember something you wrote when you were
  a K-12 student (alone or with a group) that
  really engaged and excited you
• What was the writing activity?
• Why do you remember it?

7
What do we think about this statement?

• If students are to make knowledge their own,
  they must struggle with details, wrestle with the
  facts, and rework raw information and dimly
  understood concepts into language they can
  communicate to someone else. In short, if
  students are to learn, they must write.
• - National Commission on Writing, The Neglected
  R (2003)

8
National Commission on Writing conducts surveys
of US employers to report

• In US companies and government agencies
• Two-thirds of salaried or professional employees
  are responsible for writing
• 80 of companies in FIRE sector assess writing
  during hiring process
• 91 of state agencies ask for writing samples
  when hiring professionals 50 when hiring
  clericals
• Remedying writing deficiencies costs US firms as
  much as 3.1 billion annually
• - NCW Reports A Powerful Message from State
  Government (2005) A Ticket to Workor a Ticket
  Out (2004)

9
National testing creates alarm

• National assessments in both reading and writing
  show that less than half of students perform at
  proficient or advanced levels in either skill
  (most students show basic or below basic skills)
• Writing scores are significantly lower than
  reading scores, but between 1998 and 2002 the
  scores do show some improvement
• Lets look at the data.

10
Reading Improvement Lagging (especially in
middle school)

• National results show reading scores are
  improving some at the fourth grade level, but
  only slightly for middle school students

Source National Assessment for Educational
Progress, Reading Report Card, 1998/2005
11
Most Students Behind in Writing

• Almost all students lack ability to create prose
  that is organized, precise, engaging, coherent or
  convincing.
• --National Commission on Writing Report, 2006

Source National Assessment for Educational
Progress, Writing Report Card, 2002
12
National Commission on Writing looks at the
classroom

• 97 of elementary students write 3 hours or less
  each week
• 49 of 12th graders assigned papers of three or
  more pages once or twice/month
• 39 say they never or hardly ever get
  assignments over one page
• Extended research papers rarely required

13
National Commission on Writing makes policy
recommendations

• Most pertinent to afterschool programs
• Amount of time students spend writing should
  double and occur daily
• Out-of-school time should be used more for
  writing
• Students should be encouraged to write across the
  curriculum
• Technology can provide important supports to the
  development of student writing

14
Afterschool Training Toolkit

• www.sedl.org/afterschool/toolkits

15
Quick Tour of the Literacy Toolkit

• About Literacy in Afterschool
• http//www.sedl.org/afterschool/toolkits/literacy/
  index.html
• Quality Literacy Instruction
• Resources and References
• Promising Practices in Literacy
• Based on research and relevance to afterschool
  settings
• Book Discussion Groups and Literature Circles
• Read Aloud
• Story and Literature Dramatizations
• Writing
• Family Literacy Events
• One-on-One and Small Group Tutoring

16
Tour through the writing practice

• Each of the promising practices sections contain
• Explanation of the practice
• Sample age appropriate activities
• http//www.sedl.org/afterschool/toolkits/literacy/
  ex_recycling_lesson.html
• Video demonstrations (two from middle school)

17
Looking at writing activities

• My First Book, K-2
• Recycling, 3-5
• Require analysis of models (stories, poems,
  features of a book)
• Include discussion to help children ask
  questions, make connections, and create stories
• Do not specify collaborative writing activities,
  but can be set up that way

18
Current research supports these primary
instructional elements

• Four with large effect sizes (.82-.70)
• Writing strategies (planning, generating,
  revising and editing)
• Summarization
• Collaborative writing
• Specific product goals (purpose, audience, and
  characteristics)

19
Secondary instructional elements

• Two with medium effect sizes (.55-.50)
• Word processing
• Sentence combining
• Five with small effect sizes (.32-.23)
• Pre-writing
• Inquiry activities
• Process writing approach
• Study of models
• Writing for content area learning
• -Graham and Perin, Writing Next Effective
  Strategies to Improve Writing (2007)

20
Activity 1 Project-based writing

• View the video Writing Analyzing media
• http//www.sedl.org/afterschool/toolkits/literacy/
  pr_writing.html
• Consider these questions
• What can we tell about student/community
  characteristics?
• What works about the writing they are they doing?
• How can this project be extended?
• Working with the chart
• Fill out the blanks with community/student
  characteristics
• Frame an idea for a student/community writing
  project

21
Activity 2 Daily practice with journals

• Journals are personal summaries of your unique
  response to experience
• What you notice
• What moves you
• What really matters that you want to remember
• Journals can contain ideas, perceptions,
  memories, facts, quotes, images, slang, lists,
  descriptions, and odds and ends of all kinds

22
Activity 2 Initiate the habit of writing

• Prompt Listen to the poem,
• You Reading This, Be Ready, by William Stafford
• Use your unique personal response to the poem to
  write about this moment in time
• What you notice
• What matters to you
• (4 minutes, then discuss)

23
Activity 3 Freewriting unplug the critic

• Different from a journal because of shared or
  collective prompts, freewriting and can be
• Creative (suggesting a poem/story)
• Applied to content areas (history, science,
  medicine)
• Used as brainstorming for assignments (debates,
  theme papers, descriptions)
• A very effective writing warm-up

24
Activity 3 (cont.) Freewriting practice

• Write for 4 minutes without stopping on this
  prompt
• No one in the room ever expected that
• If your brain flatlines, just write waiting,
  waiting, waiting until something comes to you
• Forget about grammar and punctuation
• Keep moving forward (no going back, rereading, or
  making corrections)

25
Activity 4 Collaboration and model study

• Some common short forms for collaboration
• Poems haiku, limericks, book extensions
• Media ads jingles, scenes, songs
• Newspaper formats advice, astrology, cartoons
• Mini-fiction One person writes a line, next
  person writes the next line, etc.
• Music lyrics new verses/familiar song, or
  original songs

26
Activity 4 (cont.) Group limericks

• Review the limerick form on handout 4
• Work with your table to create a limerick about
  spring
• You have 4-5 minutes
• Prepare for a limerick slam, each group reading
  aloud in unison

27
Parting Thoughts What afterschool writing can
do

• Create low pressure occasions for writing
• Instill the habits of writing
• Elicit and praise individual student voices
• Practice the process of drafting, revising, and
  review
• Continually use writing to illuminate projects
• Share writing with families and community

28
Evaluating this Session

• Please note that you leave this session with
• Knowledge of Web site resources for writing in
  the Afterschool Literacy Toolkit
• Sample activity forms
• Experience with writing activities
• Resources for continuing/initiating the practice
• (look at Handout 5)
• Thank you for coming! Please fill out the
  evaluation form and indicate
• What worked/ didnt work for you?
• What will you use at your site?

29
Please contact me directly for

• Answers to questions
• Additional materials
• Implementation advice
• Tips on the toolkit
• (your contact information here)