Constructed Response--Open-ended Questioning

Many classrooms are using constructed responses to prepare students for those open-ended essay questions that are used on standardized tests. These questions are to show if the reader demonstrates cognitive knowledge and reasoning. Looking at the Common Core Standards, students are to not only give an answer but also demonstrate evidence to support that answer.  One new way of doing this is introduced in the website:http://www.brighthubeducation.com/help-with-writing/33366-constructed-response-essay-question/

The site gives the acronym "RACE"---reword, answer, cite, and explain. It is stated that if students can reword the answer, answer the question and then cite evidence and finally explain their thinking, they will do well on the exam. The part that usually trips up the reader/writer is the part where they need to cite the evidence and explain their thinking. This part of the exam is meant to show how well the reader comprehended and could use inferences.

R-rewording the question: Simply turn the question into a statement. If the question is: How do you know Kay likes winter?  The rewording would start with: "I know Kay likes winter because..."

A-answering the question: Continue on with the first statement: "...because in the story it said she loves to go sledding."

C-citing evidence: Using specific details that show how much Kay loves sledding and even quoting a line from the story, would be proof for the statement.

E-explain the answer: Now is the time for the reader to give reasoning for why s/he thinks this is evidence. This must be a complete explanation in order to get the most points for the question. This is not meant to demonstrate opinion, but to show how to extract information and support it.

Sharing this idea with students is just the first part of helping them to do better with this type of question. Doing several of the questions and answers in whole group teaching, having the students work with partners in active engagment and then allowing them time to work on their own with support will ensure success when they encounter this type of questioning.

Informational Writing--Non Fiction Picture Books

This month many fifth graders are working on Informational Writing and putting these pieces into picture books.  Last  month I had the opportunity to work with a fifth grade class as they did these books. The outcome was amazing. The books all looked different...no cookie-cutter books here. There were huge, BIG books. There were books with pages that had been torn around the edges to give it an "old" look. There were typed books and handwritten books. This teacher had taken subjects from their social studies to have the children choose what they would do research on and write their book.  They did content writing. Each student knew who their audience would be...4th graders coming into 5th grade next year or younger students who didn't know much about the subject. Knowing that helped the writer know what research to do.

How did they get to that point? What did they do to come up with such interesting, unique books?

Writing these books is very similar to doing the Feature Articles that we have done in the past. The format will be different for publishing and the text features might be more interesting and diverse, but still the same thinking is behind it. So, because of that, I will refer you to the All Write website. On the left side of that page you will find lessons for "Feature Article" Writing. This will give you some lessons to help out with this genre.

Hopefully, you have been immersing the students in this type of writing by reading lots of nonfiction picture books. You will do reading as readers and then reading as writers to see what things those authors do to teach the reader. The children should come up with an author or book that they can use as a mentor text. This will help them to have a form to follow as they begin their writing.

Allowing the students to have a vision for what their book will look like, is something that will give them choice and freedom.  This will help them to have ownership in this writing. Another thing that is so important is, as I stated before, having an idea of who the audience is, will help that, too.  Thinking ahead and planning a celebration at the end of this unit lets the students know that their book is not going to simply go into a folder or get graded and sent home. Sharing their books is a great way to help students to love writing and therefore become better writers! 

Have fun with this unit as you do research and learn along the way!

Realistic Fiction--Day-by-Day Lessons

Writing realistic fiction is a perfect step from the unit of study of personal narrative. However, it is a new unit of study for many primary classrooms. To begin this unit, it might help to give the students structure to follow. Writing this genre is new, so the students will need to have the teacher modeling and doing a shared story with the entire class, in order to get the idea of how to begin writing. To do that, I will be sharing an idea for a day-by-day lesson plan to go with this unit. This is something that I saw done in a fourth grade classroom while I was studying under Carl Anderson with the All Write mentors.  Here is how it goes:

Reading LOTS of fiction during reading time, is a MUST for this unit. Doing read-alouds with realistic fiction and discussing the idea of problem/solution is so important.

Day One--- Come up with a character for the whole class.  Choose the sex, size, name, other features (hair color, eye color, type of clothes, etc) and draw it on chart paper. Now go deeper with the character. What does s/he like to do? Does s/he like to play sports? What does s/he do in spare time? Now think about what s/he feel about things. What does s/he love? What food? Have pets? Personality...caring? bossy? shy? bold? I suggest putting thought bubbles for the feelings and thinking and a heart to enter the character's favorite things.  After doing this as a class....the children do this on their own.

Day Two---You will be coming up with people who are important to your character. Do this again with the class character first. Make a list of people who are important.  List names: 5 family members, 3 friends, 3 other important people like teachers, coaches, neighbors. After doing this as a class...children do this on their own.

Day Three--You will be working on the setting for the story today. Think about where your character will spend MOST of their time...maybe their bedroom, the playground, grandma's house, the football field...Close your eyes and see it. Really get specific with colors and details. Now you will draw a map of it on chart paper. After doing this as a class...children do this on their own.

Day Four---You should now know your character REALLY well, kind of like your best friend. You will come up with a problem for your character today. Think about things that the character liked...what could be a problem with that? If they like football, would they have a problem getting on the team? Does the character have an older sibling that could give them trouble? Write a few problems for your class character on chart paper. Pick a problem and come up with a few solutions...remember, you will need more than one way to solve it so the story gets interesting. After you have done this as a class...children will do it on their own.

Day Five--???:  Now you will do normal writing mini lessons such as: good leads, using a story arc, the power of sound, using dialogue, show not tell, good endings. Let your students' writing direct your lessons.

Hopefully, this will help as you travel through this  new adventure of writing realistic fiction!

Interpretive Essays Using Book Characters

I spent Sunday afternoon at Jefferson Point, an outside shopping mall in Fort Wayne.  No big deal, lots of people do that. What made that day's visit special was meeting with two fifth grade teachers from different school districts. The idea was to share ideas from their classrooms...and share they did...for over two  hours on a SUNDAY!  They talked about how they had taught specific genres in writing. They shared work their students had done. And, finally, they shared email addresses so the networking could continue.

 One of the classrooms is finishing up their interpretive essays with characters this week. In this room, the students had posters with a name of a character on each one. They were all from their read-aloud book: because of mr. terupt  by Rob Buyea. The posters were placed around the room. Students were paired with a partner and in their notebooks they were to list characteristices for each character. Then, as partners, they went from poster to poster to add characteristics in marker. After several minutes, they shared the posters.

 

This class could take one of those fiction people  from their read aloud book or pick someone from a former read-aloud or picture book they had read. They could even pick someone from a story in their basal. The essay would have the same format as the personal essays they had just written earlier this month. 

The students picked a thesis statement for their character. But first, the whole class made a list of possible statements for several of the read-aloud characters. Students could use one of those or do their own for their character. Remember, it didn't have to be from this book!

As the students finished their pieces, they would check the rubric to be sure they had completed every area. At the end of writing time, everyone sat in a huge circle. They each shared what character they had written about and from what book. How exciting it was to hear students speak confidently about writing in such an important genre!

Great Fall Books for Read Alouds

Both of the books I am talking about today are by my favorite author, Cynthia Rylant. These books are a 'must read to students' for November. They have been around for a long time and are nothing new, but I had to remind teachers that they are out there. These are books that students can hear over and over and over and still learn something new from them. I know I do!

In November, just makes you feel warm and cozy. Even though we know that winter is around the corner, coming fast, this book helps you feel that maybe that's okay after all.  The craft in this book would fill a writer's workshop for a whole month of mini lessons.  From the descriptive words and phrases to the repeated lines, it is full of ways to make your writing better. The illustrations by Jill Kastner are amazing. I just LOVE this book and look forward to November when I can read it again!

I can't read Scarecrow without hearing Katie Wood Ray's voice reading it and even picture her delivery of it.  She would read it in her Carolina voice as she walked around the room.  No book in sight. She really wasn't reading it, she was reciting it. I didn't look at the typed text in front of me as she read...I watched her. She loved that story. She believed in that story. She WAS that story.  She always told us that we should know the books we read so well that we don't have to look at the words. She made that book sing for me. I could actually see that scarecrow in the field.

Again, Cynthia Rylant has used loads of craft in her writing. Again, there are tons of mini lessons in this one book.  If I had to pick only two books to be in my library to use in workshop, these would be the two. They are so full of craft that you have everything you need to help children be great writers.

One of my former second graders, who is now in college, used Scarecrow as her mentor text when she was a student in my classroom.  Here is her story about The Rocking Horse.  Thanks, Paige!



 

His legs are made from oak wood.

His back is made from oak wood.

His tail is made from oak wood,

even his head is made from oak wood.

But maybe his mane was made

from that special cloth that your grandmother gave you back in 1983.

 

So, do you think he is just there to be a decoration?

Or do you think he is there to brighten your day

and  to make everything seem easier?

 

Well, maybe he doesn't talk and maybe he doesn't walk,

but he is still there to make you happier

or to be your friend.

Or maybe he is just there to sit around

and rock in the breeze on a breezy fall morning.

End of Unit---Celebration Time!!!

I had the privilege of being invited to the celebration of the end of unit study on informational books by a classroom of fifth graders.  Naturally, I accepted. How could I not visit a room full of writers, illustrators and just plain great kids?

Students listened as classmate shares.

As I entered the room, I could tell it was a different day from my usual visiting time. The children were a bit more chatty. They were definitely excited. On their desks were several papers: rubric used on the piece, reflection sheet they filled out, a blank sheet for appreciations, and THEIR BOOK!  The teacher gave last minute instructions. They were to go from desk to desk and read their classmates books and leave appreciations. If all the books were being read, they were to go to the front of the room where various students were reading their favorite chapters. Anyone could do this...read or listen.

Fourth grader adding an appreciation

The music started softly in the background. Students got up and moved around the room. It wasn't quiet, but it wasn't noisy either. You could hear all kinds of comments.

• "You've got to read Maddie's book. It is so cool."
• "Did you see Jacob's pictures?"
• "I love Katie's dedication to her grandparents."
• I cried when I read Addie's. The poetry in it was great!"

Reading a classmates work

The fourth grade classrooms, along with the principal and building coach were also invited to the celebration. They moved among the tables and added their comments to the books.

When the time was up and visitors had gone, it was time to go back to their own desks and their books.  Children were saying, "I can't wait to read the appreciations."

From an informational book.

This is the REAL reason we write.  It is almost always for others. As teachers, we can't forget to be sure students are aware of their audience. Who are they really writing for?  We must give them REAL reasons to write...not just for their writing folder or the teacher.

Great Job, Mrs. Norton's Fifth Graders!  I'm proud of all of you!!!!

Reliatic Fiction for First, Second and Third Grade

As students are getting started with the next unit of study, Realistic Fiction, they will be developing the character. Coming up with the problem and solution for this story is a major event. There are a couple things students must think about: what the character wants and then what keeps them from getting it. As the story continues the problem seems to get worse and worse. This becomes the 'story mountain' that the writer is developing. The writer, also, will not come right out and say what the character wants, but will use the skill of show not tell to do this.

In the lessons for this area, a mentor text which the entire class knows well will be used. This will not be read during the mini lesson since it is a well-known short text. After discussing the possibilities of character wants and things that keep the characters from getting what they want, you will refer to the mentor text and show how the author has shown that. You will want your writers to do this in their stories by giving examples in little small moments.

In mini lessons, the teacher will show how to develop the troubles the character is experiencing through modeling. The troubles need to make sense. If students are having difficulty with finding problems for the character, they might want to look at the internal and external qualities of the character to see if there is hidden troubles there. If students have not made lists of these qualities for the character, they could do that first.

The character might love baseball so the problem might be getting on the team. The character might wear a certain type of clothes and others make fun of her. The character might be shy, but she wants a part in the school play. These problems become believable because the writer knows the character so well.

After students have made a list of problems and solutions, they can look them over and decide which make the most sense for the story.