Welcome

What’s the “Tech” in Balanced Literacy and Technology?

Unit Overview

About the Lessons

Differentiated Instruction

Tools for Collaboration

Tools for Publishing

Terms and Tips

Recommended Research

Credits

Welcome to Writing Editorials

It is with great excitement that we at Teaching Matters welcome you to Writing Editorials. Providing teachers with 21st century approaches to teaching and learning core curriculum has been Teaching Matters’ mission for over ten years. We know from our experience working with thousands of New York City teachers that effective literacy instruction is a high priority and the linchpin to academic success.  The resources presented here therefore aim to support you in helping students develop their skills as writers.

Our goal has been to develop a program that:

• respects best practices in teaching writing, drawing from the extensive body of research on balanced literacy and the “workshop model,” as well as the recommendations and concerns of educators “on the front line”

• harnesses the power of technology to meet the professional development needs of teachers and to motivate and engage their diverse student populations

The culmination of this process will be a classroom e-zine for each and every participating classroom as well as an opportunity to publish in Writing the City, a city-wide publication that will showcase exemplary student writing for an audience of peers, families and educators.  Research has shown that "not only does publishing encourage students to write by creating purpose and vision, but it also serves to improve writing skills”. (Ensio & Boxeth, 2000)

We are pleased that you are participating in Writing Editorials.  Your experience using the unit will help inform our process as we expand our lessons and tools based on your feedback as teachers and literacy coaches.

Welcome

What’s the “Tech” in Balanced Literacy and Technology?

Unit Overview

About the Lessons

Differentiated Instruction

Tools for Collaboration

Tools for Publishing

Terms and Tips

Recommended Research

Credits

What’s The Tech in Balanced Literacy and Technology?”

By Dana Cammack, Ed.D.

Technology brings new tools to teachers and students.  In the field of balanced literacy instruction, there are many resources to enhance the editorial writing process including word processing tools, online graphic organizers, sites for publishing writing and getting feedback, online search engines for doing research, and many, many more. As middle-school-aged children become more and more tech savvy, they turn to the Internet and computers as a matter of course – but does that mean they’re making the right decisions and using the right tools? Writing today means using technology to help organize your thinking, get down your ideas, research information, and produce polished pieces – but what are the right software programs and websites to use, and how do I know?

Part of the goal of this initiative on editorial writing is to introduce you to technology tools that have been tested and found to be useful and even essential in writing for middle school students and teachers. The resources available are growing daily. This is your guide to the best of the best, broken down according to each step of the writing process. Both adults and children have come to rely on the information and tools that new technologies bring to us – imagine writing for the New York Times without the Internet or Microsoft Word. Yet that doesn’t mean “old” skills like spelling and editing go out the window. Good technologies and websites provide new information for teachers as they integrate these tools into their classrooms while scaffolding and reinforcing young writers as they develop critical skills.

“In truth, we do not have a choice if we want our students to succeed in the world in which they find themselves. Functional literacy as we know it means that people are able to process print in their environment, whether it be, for example, newspapers, train schedules, or official government documents” (Wepner, Valmont & Thurlow 2000, Linking literacy and technology: A guide for K-8 classrooms).

Your guide to the best of the best

In General

Technology provides many tools and supports for writing, particularly writing that is taught through the writing workshop approach. Students can not only edit and publish their work easily, but also see themselves engaging in the same writing venture that their parents and older siblings take part in. This makes writing with technology authentic, professional, and important.

Writing with technology is about more than words. With new technologies, students have the opportunity to incorporate visual and interactive images and sounds. While this may take some time to master, technology makes illustrating writing on the computer as easy as on paper with crayons. Students better understand how visual images help in comprehension when they create their own.

The Internet is, in a sense, a vast audience for student writing. Of course there are safety concerns, but by using student-appropriate sites and CDs, teachers can help students see how important writing for a specific purpose and audience can be. Many of these sites also offer students feedback on their drafts, sometimes even by published writers. This can be a fantastic and motivating learning experience.

Much of what is good on the Internet is for teachers to use in terms of their own professional development. Sites like www.ReadWriteThink.org , hosted by the International Reading Association and National Council of Teachers of English, work as clearinghouses for excellent teaching suggestions, teacher resources, and student resources. ReadWriteThink has thousands of lesson plans and suggestions organized by grade level and concentration, all written and vetted by experienced teachers. The home pages of both the International Reading Association (www.reading.org) and NCTE (www.ncte.org) are well worth visiting, if you haven’t already.

Another good page on middle school writing with links to information on grammar and style pages, as well as a sample middle school magazine is at:
http://www.kenton.k12.ky.us/tr/midschwrite.html

For Brainstorming

Inspiration (http://www.inspiration.com/): Inspiration makes the easiest mind mapping, or concept webbing software out there, and it is available at two levels. The straight Inspiration is great for middle schoolers to use in planning writing. Getting students to pre-write in any case can be difficult; the easy interface with colors and motion motivates students to begin thinking about their writing visually. The software toggles between concept webs and outline form, providing an easy way to teach outlining skills. Students’ prewriting plans tend to be much more detailed than those without software support.

Students can also use Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, and other word processing or text/graphics programs to brainstorm – they don’t have the same layout capabilities that Inspiration has, but they may already be installed on your machines and students may get many more ideas down if they type them, rather than trying to plan out their writing by hand.
 
For Researching

Obviously, for research, you want to spend much of your time using the Internet. It’s how you use it, though, that makes all the difference. First of all, the specific search engine you use is important. Most K-12 teachers use Google (http://www.google.com), but there are other good search engines including yahoo.com, dogpile.com and metacrawler.com among others.

For Writing and Revising

Not only do word processors like Word, Word Perfect, Apple Works and others offer the easiest way for students to write, save, edit, revise, and publish their work, but they also have special features such as “track changes” and “comments” that can be used for editing. A peer or teacher can make suggestions throughout a piece of writing using the track changes function and the writer can choose whether or not to accept those changes. This function also allows the teacher to see what changes a peer has suggested in order to monitor how well peer editing is working.

Content management tools such as Moodle can provide a virtual space where students and teachers post and save drafts and provide related feedback.  Not only does this new capability keep the writing process organized, but it also creates a built-in writing portfolio, demonstrating student progress over time. 

For Publishing

Publishing is the culmination and centerpiece of any writing project, yet a complex challenge for teachers to undertake. Today’s new tools make the process more manageable than ever before. Technology-based templates, for example, allow teachers to easily collect student writing, store it and review it for in-house publishing.  Using simple web tools, student work can be given a professional appearance and polished look, and then distributed widely.  Writing Editorials provides a set of straight forward tools that serve this purpose. Popular online publications accepting student writing include Kid Pub, http://www.kidpub.org/kidpub/; KidsSpace, http://www.kids-space.org/story/story.html and Kids Scribe, http://web2.airmail.net/def/, among others.  Whether the publication is “home grown” or one that accepts work from youngsters nationally, it provides a highly motivating way for students to express their ideas and creativity before a “real” audience.

About the author: Dana Cammack, Ed.D. serves as a consultant on the development of Teaching Matters' Balanced Literacy and Technology programs. She is an Assistant Professor in the department of Early Childhood, Elementary and Literacy Education at Montclair State University.

Welcome

What’s the “Tech” in Balanced Literacy and Technology?

Unit Overview

About the Lessons

Differentiated Instruction

Tools for Collaboration

Tools for Publishing

Terms and Tips

Recommended Research

Credits

Unit Overview

The Genre
Author Heather Lattimer describes editorials as reflecting “the essence of our democratic society. Here is a form of writing that is entirely dedicated to civic discourse, changing minds, and effecting change.” This writing genre can be particularly motivating to young adolescents as they wake up to their surroundings and the associated challenges and frustrations.  As teachers, we can capitalize on our students’ emerging passion and their attraction to the controversial by providing them with ways to thoughtfully express themselves on the issues that matter. 

Unit Objectives
Middle School writers will:

• understand the purpose, craft, and structure of editorial writing
• write an editorial that contains a clear and convincing argument
• use technology to research, write, revise, and publish their writing

Prerequisites
Prior to beginning the unit, students should be immersed in persuasive writing; including editorials and other opinionated texts on social issues. Students should also read books or short stories that deal with social issues independently, in literature circles, and/or in book clubs. Students should read about controversial issues during the reading time allotted during literacy instruction. This will give them a basis for understanding topics that are arguable.  

Technology Requirements
This project is designed to enhance all aspects of teaching and learning through the use of technology. All the lessons are designed to make use of a computer with Internet access and a LCD projector for the teacher, and computers with Internet access for students. However, every lesson also includes strategies for situations with limited access to equipment. Certain points in the process, however, require students to use technology. In Step 1, students will use the Internet to research their topics. In Step 5, students will need access to computers with a writing software application, like Microsoft Word, to type their final drafts. In Step 6, students will need Internet access to upload their final drafts to the Writing Editorials website in order to publish their editorials.

Assessment
Assessment is a critical component of this unit.  Each lesson offers corresponding strategies for evaluating students’ mastery of the particular skills addressed.  Moreover, teachers are advised to consistently monitor student progress in individual conferences and via their writer's notebooks.  Another key assessment vehicle is the rubric created collaboratively which provides the criteria upon which students and teachers may ultimately determine if an editorial is ready for publishing.

Professional Development/Support
This unit includes a professional development institute and in-class support for teachers. For more information on participating in this and other literacy units, please contact Jane Condliffe, Deputy Director of Teaching Matters at jcondliffe@teachingmatters.org

New York City Standards
The lessons in this project support the New York City ELA Middle School Performance Descriptions for writing a persuasive essay. (E2e)
According to the Standards, “a student produces a persuasive essay that:

• Engages the reader by establishing a context, creating a persona, and otherwise developing reader interest;
• Develops a controlling idea that makes a clear and knowledgeable judgment;
• Creates and organizes a structure that is appropriate to the needs, values, and interests of a specified audience, and arranges details, reasons, examples, and anecdotes effectively and persuasively;
• Includes appropriate information and arguments;
• Excludes information and arguments that are irrelevant;
• Anticipates and addresses reader concerns and counter arguments;
• Supports arguments with detailed evidence, citing sources of information as appropriate;
• Provides a sense of closure to the writing"

New York State Learning Standards for Middle School

ELA 3.1 Speaking and Writing
Present (in essays, position papers, speeches, and debates) clear analyses of issues, ideas, texts, and experiences supporting their positions with well-developed arguments

Develop arguments with effective use of details and evidence that reflect a coherent set of criteria (e.g., reporting results of lab experiments to support a hypothesis)

Monitor and adjust their own oral and written presentations according to the standards for a particular genre (e.g., defining key terms used in a formal debate)

Use standard English, precise vocabulary, and presentational strategies effectively to influence an audience

ELA 4.1 Reading and Writing
Write social letters, cards, and electronic messages to friends, relatives, community acquaintances and other electronic network users

Use appropriate language and style for the situation and the audience and take into account the ideas and interests expressed by the person receiving the message

Read and discuss social communications and electronic communications of other writers and use some of the techniques of those writers in their own writing

About the Lessons

The Writing Editorials unit is a six-week roadmap to the writing workshop, moving students from brainstorming (planning) through organizing information, drafting, revising, conferencing, editing and publishing. 

For teachers, both new and experienced with the writing process, we provide a wide range of tools and resources on the teacher’s website including:

A Complete Set of Lessons
Each of the 45-minute lessons is centered around a focusing question, and begins with a Mini Lesson, followed by Writer’s Work Time, and a Sharing and Lesson Summary.  Lessons are presented as guides, primarily for teachers who are learning how to structure a writing workshop that incorporates technology. Lessons include explicit strategies for differentiated instruction. They should be adapted to target the unique needs of each teacher’s classroom.

Lesson Visuals
These eye-catching images and text provide classroom visuals to focus the attention of students on key concepts presented in the lesson.  The Lesson Visuals can be used by teachers as they move through a lesson and can be viewed again by students for reinforcement and review.

Welcome

What’s the “Tech” in Balanced Literacy and Technology?

Unit Overview

About the Lessons

Differentiated Instruction

Tools for Collaboration

Tools for Publishing

Terms and Tips

Recommended Research

Credits

Differentiated Instruction

For students, we capitalize on technology to accommodate diverse learning styles and motivational and academic levels by providing tools and resources on a student website including animated programs, think alouds, sample writer’s notebooks and more.  

Animated programs
These six light-hearted cartoons introduce each step of the writing process and can refocus a class on the task at hand. The 3-D animated characters follow our young writers DD and JT as they are introduced to each step of the writing process by their editor, Mr. E. At the end of each program, DD and JT look at one another and ponder the challenge ahead of them—often with confusion. The programs are designed to clarify each step of the writing process.

DD and JT Think Alouds
These multi-page guides let students learn how DD and JT think through their writing assignments. The Think Alouds reinforce key concepts presented in the lessons. The Think Alouds have audio narrative and are illustrated with our cartoon characters, Mr. E and writers DD and JT. These student-friendly guides offer modeling and reinforcement for students as they face new tasks. The Think Alouds are also helpful for differentiated instruction, scaffolding struggling writers who need additional support.

Sample Writer's Notebooks
JT and DD provide contextualized examples of what students might write in their writer's notebooks as they develop their editorials. These resources reinforce ideas communicated in mini lessons. 

Mentor Texts - Professor P’s Office
This area contains mentor texts. These texts offer rich examples of the genre and showcase different approaches to the writing of editorials. Teachers and students will have the opportunity to add, share and discuss additional mentor texts in the Writer’s Room.

Tools for Collaboration

The Writer’s Room
The Writer's Room offers a state-of-the-art portal for teachers to give assignments and retrieve student work. The Writer’s Room is the doorway, from the student site, to a virtual classroom space where students can get new assignments and post their completed work for review and feedback from their teacher.  Discussion boards are also available in this area.

If you have any questions related to using all the features of the Writer’s Room, please contact your Teaching Matters’ Educational Consultant.

Tools for Publishing

Publishing Student Writing
Both teachers and students can engage in a writing classroom that extends beyond the boundaries of the classroom.

The Class E-Zine
As the culmination of the unit, students publish their work online for their peers, communities, and parents.  Teachers can customize the E-zine as well as elect to keep specific writing submissions public (available to the world) or private (available only to an approved community).

Writing the City: a City-Wide Publication
Teachers and their students can select articles from class E-zines to submit to Writing the City, a city-wide publication managed by teens for teens.

If you have any questions related to using all the publishing features, please contact your Teaching Matters’ Educational Consultant.

Welcome

What’s the “Tech” in Balanced Literacy and Technology?

Unit Overview

About the Lessons

Differentiated Instruction

Tools for Collaboration

Tools for Publishing

Terms and Tips

Recommended Research

Credits

Terms and Tips

Best Practices in Teaching Writing
All the current approaches to teaching writing lean on the foundation of Best Practices in Writing. These Best Practices were developed through research and writing by consultants and testing in the field. They include:

• Following the Steps of the Writing Process (Brainstorming-Planning, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Conferencing, and Publishing)
• Teachers are modeling what good writing looks like
• There are responses from an audience to student work
• Writing is done with a real purpose in mind
• Teachers help students find real purposes for their writing
• Students take ownership and responsibility for their independent writing
• Teachers and peers help students revise and edit 
• Grammar and mechanics are learned in the context of real writing
• Student generated rubrics are used to evaluate the writing throughout the process based on Performance Tasks outlined in ELA Standards in Writing

Writing Workshop Model
Writing Editorials is a road map for implementing the writing workshop in your classroom. The Writing workshop emphasizes writing instruction over an extended period of time, incorporating high levels of modeling with mentor texts and the teacher’s writing, student choice and attainment of individual student goals within a whole class focus. Teachers are encouraged to employ this roadmap as a guide. Different classrooms and different students require adaptations and modifications. 

Mentor Texts
Mentor texts are sample editorials that serve as models throughout the writing process. Teachers read aloud to students, using pieces of writing created by adults as well as youngsters.  Works selected emphasize skills addressed in the mini lesson. Mentor texts are housed in Prof. P’s office where students can review materials that were presented earlier. Teachers are encouraged to recommend/share additional texts that resonate with their students. 

Teacher Conferencing
Teacher Conferencing is ongoing throughout the project. It is suggested that every teacher have a binder with a section for each student in his or her class.  When conferencing with a student, teachers should note the date of the conference, the genre of writing the student is working on, the key teaching point during the conference, and next steps the student will take to revise his or her writing.  Students should have three or more conferences with the teacher during the project to make sure they are on task and doing their best work. A teacher should be able to conference with two to three students per lesson during the Writer’s Work Time.

Writer’s Notebook
The writer’s notebook is a key component of the writing process.  Its purpose is to provide students a place to brainstorm, collect ideas, practice writing craft and writing mechanics.  It is also a place where they can take notes on the mini lessons.  There is no one way to organize a writer’s notebook.  For more information on writer’s notebook, we recommend: Notebook Know How (Aimee Buckner, 2005).

Student Folders
Student Folders are used to store writing drafts and could also be used to collect mentor texts and other resources. 

Think Aloud
In the workshop model, teachers explicitly demonstrate how to think through a particular reading or writing task. Teachers model their own thinking process, showing rather than telling students how to select a topic, research facts, recognize persuasive language, etc.  

Guided Writing Group
In a guided writing group, students create their own writing with the teacher as guide. Activities associated with guided writing take place in small homogenous groups of students gathered together to work on the same skill. Teachers mentor students in that particular skill.

Mini Lessons
Modeling teacher writing is crucial for every mini lesson. The teacher writes his or her own editorial along with students on a daily basis and shares the writing during the mini lesson. Though we have provided examples of “topics” appropriate for the Writing Editorials unit, we would hope that every teacher has their own passions and observations which can be developed into modeled writing for each classroom. By tapping into one’s own interests, students will be more motivated to tap into theirs and the classroom will be filled with excitement about the project.

Differentiated Instruction
Each lesson includes a diverse set of strategies to employ during the Writer’s Work Time to accommodate the needs of different types of learners including struggling writers, students who require more challenges, English Language Learners and special needs students.

Homework
Homework is not required as part of this unit.  Lessons have been designed so that writing is done in class during the 20-25 minutes of Writer’s Work time. If teachers wish, they may assign homework based on individual classroom settings and student progress to complete the unit within a reasonable time frame.  We encourage students to participate in our virtual Writer’s Room during and outside of class time.

Welcome

What’s the “Tech” in Balanced Literacy and Technology?

Unit Overview

About the Lessons

Differentiated Instruction

Tools for Collaboration

Tools for Publishing

Terms and Tips

Recommended Research

Credits

Recommended Research

On Writing

Buckner, Aimee. Notebook Know-How: Stratefies for the Writer’s Notebook. Portland: Stenhouse Publishers, 2005

Calkins, Lucy. The Art of Teaching Writing. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1994.

Fletcher, Ralph. Writing Workshop-The Essential Guide. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2001. 

Fletcher, Ralph. What a Writer Needs. Portsmouth:  Heinemann, 1992.

Freeman, Marcia S. Building a Writing Community: A Practical Guide. Gainesville: Maupin House Publishing, 1995.

Graves, Donald H. A Fresh Look at Writing. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1994. 

Heard, Georgia. The Revision Toolbox: Teaching Techniques that Work. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2002.

Ray, Katie Wood. Wondrous Words: Writers and Writing in the Elementary Classroom. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English, 1999.  

Ray, Katie Wood. The Writing Workshop:  Working through the Hard Parts (And They’re All Had Parts). Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2001.

On Reading and Balanced Literacy

Ainsworth, Larry. Student Generated Rubrics: An Assessment Model to Help All Students Succeed. New York: Dale Seymour Publications, 1997.

Anderson, Carl. How’s it going?: A Pratical Guide to Conferring with Student Writers. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2000.

Anderson-McElveen , Susan. Literature Models to Teach Expository Writing. Gainesville: Maupin House Publishing, 2001.

Beers, Kylene. When Kids Can’t Read – What Teachers Can Do. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2002.

Booth, David. Literacy Techniques: For Building Successful Readers and Writers. Portland: Stenhouse Publishers, 2004.

Daniels, Harvey. Literature Circles: Voices and Choice in Book Clubs and Reading Groups.  Portland: Stenhouse Publishers, 2001.

Goudvis, Anne. Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension to Enhance Understanding. Portland: Stenhouse Publishers, 2000.

Hindley, Joanne. In the Company of Children. Portland: Stenhouse Publishers, 1996.

Serafini: Frank. The Reading Workshop: Creating Space for Readers.  Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2001.

Zemelman, Steven.  Best Practice: New Standards for Teaching and Learning in America’s Schools (2nd ed).  Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1998.

Research Articles for Additional Reading
Carnegie Foundation (2005). Living the Life of A Reader and Writer. Retrieved March 2006 from http://quest.carnegiefoundation.org/~dpointer/jennifermyers/workshopapproach.htm (Take particular note of the video clips)

Fox, M. (2001). Radical Surgery in the Writing Curriculum: Replacing the Meaningless with the Meaningful. Reading Online. Retrieved March 2006 from
http://www.readingonline.org/international/inter_index.asp?HREF=fox/index.html

Fox, Mem. (2002). Review of the Literature Regarding The Benefits of Student Publishing.Retrieved March 2006 from http://www.publishingstudents.com/researchbenefits.html

Karchmer, R.A. (2001). The journey ahead: Thirteen teachers report how the Internet influences literacy and literacy instruction in their K-12 classrooms. Reading Research Quarterly, Vol. 36 (4).Retrieved March 2006 from
http://146.145.202.164/Library/Retrieve.cfm?D=10.1598/RRQ.36.4.5&F=RRQ-36-4-Karchmer.pdf

Welcome

What’s the “Tech” in Balanced Literacy and Technology?

Unit Overview

About the Lessons

Differentiated Instruction

Tools for Collaboration

Tools for Publishing

Terms and Tips

Recommended Research

Credits

Credits

Development and Design Team

Thanks to teachers and students at Bronx Academy for the Future for allowing Teaching Matters to pilot Writing Editorials in their classrooms.

For more information on Teaching Matters and our other Balanced Literacy and Technology programs please visit us at www.teachingmatters.org

About the 3-D Animated Programs

The six original animated programs featuring our 3-D characters Mr. E the Editor and young writers DD and JT were developed by a team of designers. The creative and technical process used to create our trio, plus the well read Professor P, is the same used for blockbuster 3-D films appearing in your movie theatres.

Credits