Learning Links:
Video/Film Scripts / Journals / Advertisements / Notation / Speeches / Letters / Manuals / Reports / Literature / Newspapers / Songs
Demonstrators should be read from top to bottom, but need not be demonstrated sequentially.
Elementary Demonstrators
• Express thoughts/ideas through verbal and/or symbolic representation (e.g., pictures, scribbles, words).
• Generate ideas that stimulate language expression (e.g., brainstorming, free writing, storytelling, reading).
• Exhibit fluency.
• Use a process approach to writing.
• Write for a variety of purposes (e.g., expressive, transactive, imaginative) and forms (e.g., journal entry, letter, poem/story) to a variety of audiences.
• Use writing as a learning tool.
• Establish and use criteria for effective writing to evaluate own and others' writing.
Middle School Demonstrators
• Enhance ideas that stimulate language expression and form (e.g., cluster, discuss, question, read).
• Exhibit fluency and organization.
• Practice a process approach to writing.
• Write for a variety of purposes (e.g., expressive, transactive, imaginative) and forms (e.g., journal entry, letter, poem/story) to a variety of audiences.
• Refine writing as a learning tool.
• Establish and use criteria for effective writing to evaluate own and others' writing.
High School Demonstrators
• Expand and refine ideas that stimulate language, expression, and form.
• Exhibit fluency, organization, and correctness.
• Internalize the use of a process approach to writing.
• Write for a variety of purposes (e.g., expressive, transactive, imaginative) and forms (e.g., journal entry, letter, poem/story) to a variety of audiences.
• Internalize writing as a learning tool.
• Establish and use criteria for effective writing to evaluate own and others' writing.
Sample Teaching/Assessment Strategies:
Collaborative Process: Peer Tutoring / Community-Based Instruction: Anecdotal Records, Checklist, Conferencing, Interviews, Observation, Portfolio Development, Self-Assessment, Performance Events/Exhibitions / Graphic Organizers / Problem Solving: Brainstorming, Questioning, Debate, Interviews, Research / Technology/Tools: Computers, Multimedia, Telecommunications / Whole Language Approach / Writing Process
These sample strategies offer ideas and are not meant to limit teacher resourcefulness. More strategies are found in the resource section.
Ideas for Incorporating Community Resources:
• Invite a writer from the local paper to discuss how different purposes (e.g., news reporting, editorials) are used.
• Interview a local author to discuss how ideas are developed.
• Visit an advertising firm to discover how words are used as tools.
Core Concept: Writing
Sample Elementary Activities
• Write new lyrics for familiar songs. PE
• Create a class joke book. PE
• Create greeting cards for a variety of occasions. Organize a campaign to market your product. PE
• Use telecommunications to establish a project partnership wit a school in another geographic location. PE, OE
• Explore the use of writing in real life by interviewing people from different occupations. Chart the types of writing used. PE, P
• Write a letter to a business praising a product or service. OE, P
• Keep a log of ideas and understandings about a content topic. OE, P
Sample Middle School Activities
• Write an information guide for next year's class of students. PE, OE
• Write a fairy tale from a different point of view and share with a younger audience. PE, OE
• Research a planet. Create a life form. Interview the "creature" about life on the planet and write a news article on the visitor. OE
• Identify and study a school or community problem. Design a plan of action with multiple solutions. Present the plan to the appropriate audience. PE, OE
• Compose a letter to a family member persuading him/her to change an unhealthy habit or lifestyle. OE, P
• Write a script for a commercial. OE
Sample High School Activities
• Create an informative portfolio representing yourself. P
• Write a song (e.g., rap, opera, rock, country) about one of your teachers. OE
• Prepare a resume and letter of application for an actual job advertisement. OE
• Write a handbook, survival manual, or books of tips for high school students to sell to middle school students. PE, OE
• Construct an operations manual for a piece of equipment (e.g., lawn mower, blender, wheel chair). OE
• Write slogans to encourage classmates to follow school safety rules. PE, OE