Best Practices!

Establishing a positive community of writers and organizing structured

writing routines

Ms. Killinger Ms. Wiesemann

Ms. Ditzhazy Ms. Martin
Ms. Branigan
 WHO AM I?

● Helps teachers learn more facts about each other

● Feel more comfortable with each other when
need help or just to see a friendly face
● Research shows team building helps schools
create a sense of belonging and encouraging
● Helps improve communication skills and
atmosphere in the community
 Comparing Cultures to Each Others Activity
● Students get into pairs.
● Student 1 asks Student 2 to name some facts about their culture.
○ Encourage students to talk about customs, traditions, holidays, food, clothing, etc.
● Student 1 will take notes on the handout (next slide).
● Students will switch roles.
● After discussing their own cultures and taking notes, students will take notes
about the similarities and differences between their cultures.
 Traditional Approaches to Teaching Writing
Writing is a product to be evaluated
There is one correct procedure for writing
Writing is taught rather than learned through
experience
The process of writing is essentially linear: planning Writing processes are varied and recursive. One might start at
precedes writing and revisions follows drafting, etc.
Writers must be taught in small, incremental parts.
That is, small parts and subskills must be mastered
before attempting whole pieces of writing
Writing can be done swiftly and on command
Writing is a silent and solitary activity
Process/Workshop Approach to Teaching Writing
Writing is a process to be experienced and, whenever possible,
shared
There are many processes for different situations, subjects,
audiences, authors
The writing experience is coached and predominantly learned
through guided practice and shared experience
different points in the process
Writers learn best from attempting whole texts and learning
about the parts of those texts while in the recursive process of
writing/revising/writing, etc.
The rhythms and pace of writing can be quite slow, since the
writer's actual task is to create meaning
Writing is essentially social and collaborative
 Build-A-Story Activity
● Students will be given three different envelopes labeled “Setting,” “Character,”
and “Event”
● Each envelope will contain different pictures of each category
● Students will pick out one picture out of each envelope and they will create a
story based on the pictures they pick
 Main Idea Mystery Bag Activity
● Each student will be given a bag with different objects inside
● They will look at the items in the bag and guess what they will have to write about
based on the objects
● Once the students figure out what their main idea is, they will be instructed to write a
story during writing time about their main idea
○ For example: If the objects in the bag were a toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss,
and mouthwash, the main idea of the story would be a trip to
the dentist or how to properly care for your teeth
 Collaboration – Snowball Writing

-Each student is given a sheet with a different narrative prompt.

-You can either use picture prompts or written prompts.
-The students starts writing a story based on their prompt, then when the
time is up they crinkle up the paper and throw it to someone else in the
room.
-Every time you do this a new student will add onto the story
using the prompt and what was previously written by
another student.
-This will be fun for the students to be able to put
their own ideas and thoughts into a team paper.
-