Greetings!
With Spring in the air, we want to introduce our fresh newsletter format---geared toward you as a Level 2 teacher of The Write Tools strategies. We hope you find the information useful.
Don't miss our coupon at the bottom of this e-mail to receive 15% off our Classroom Instructional Posters! |
 Heather Warakomski
Heather has been a trainer with The Write Tools for five years. Like all our trainers, Heather is passionate about teaching our strategies because of her own success with her students. "A previous class of mine was never very excited when I announced it was time for our writing lessons. However, after teaching these tools, the class cheered when the same announcement was made. My students who once struggled to get a sentence or two on paper at the beginning of the year were now writing complete essays and enriching their papers with their own voice."
Heather's tip for today is about Summary Writing:
Are your kids struggling with writing their summaries from their plan? Some students really struggle with stretching their jot dots into full, detailed sentences. That is why it is imperative to have your students first practice "writing it out loud." It's a step you definitely don't want to skip. In the beginning your students may find it difficult to do this oral practice. When teaching my students or modeling summary lessons with other classes, I have found that if I have the kids write the transition words in their plan, when it comes time to "orally write," they have their first word written down. The transition word acts as a springboard to help them put the rest of the sentence together. This magic trick seems to be the difference on how successful the kids are at the oral writing step. Once they practice with a partner, have them turn to someone new and do it again. Guess what? They'll be more fluent the second time. In fact, the more times they practice writing their summary "out loud," the easier it will be for them to actually write it. Spending extra time doing this will reap rewards later on! Don't forget when introducing summary writing to use a below-grade-level short piece of fiction for your first lesson or two, and then gradually raise the challenge of the material. |
 Alice Greiner to Present at
90/90/90 Schools Summits Sponsored by Doug Reeves and The Leadership and Learning Center, these summits will highlight research and replicable practices used by results-driven, high achieving schools. You will also learn practical strategies to lead and sustain improvement in times of change. You will hear directly from administrators of now-successful 90/90/90 schools about their journeys, challenges, and successes.
The most important practice of all the successful 90/90/90 schools is the emphasis on expository writing. Alice will be sharing The Write Tools strategies at these important summits.
April 26-27, Orange County, CA
May 4-5, Chicago, IL
May 17-18, Atlanta, GA
July 12-13, Denver, CO
|
 Translating "Classroom Speak" into "Test Speak"
Charles Fuhrken, author of What Every Elementary Teacher Needs to Know About Reading Tests, shares his tips on preparing students for upcoming assessments.
In this age of testing, school campuses with a history of performing well on high-stakes tests may get through the first month of a new school year without a single mention of "the test"-- they very well may make it through the fall and winter without mentions of an upcoming spring assessment. That's refreshing, because the sad truth is that this will not likely be the case for the school campuses that have been deemed "low performing" by recent test results; instead, anxiety is felt on these campuses and preparation for a spring assessment begins almost immediately.
Teachers know that students cannot do their best work when they are encultured to view "the test" as something to be feared and something that requires year-long preparation via worksheets. Therefore, practices that will ultimately help students on tests need to be more seamlessly integrated into the teaching of reading. Read this entire article... |
|
|
We're beginning to schedule our summer institutes now. Call us today to secure your dates for your customized training! 303-221-5301.
Sincerely,
The Write Tools, LLC |
|
|
 |
| Something Fun! |
| Kids (especially boys!) love graphic novels. Why not allow your students to create their own comic strips at
www.makebeliefscomix.com |
 |
| Doug Reeves Endorses The Write Tools! |
|
Dr. Reeves believes in the importance of today's students being strong writers. View a short video clip of Dr. Reeves discussing the strategies The Write Tools offers teachers and students. Then examine the data of the outstanding results many schools have achieved on state assessments using these strategies
| |
|
