Writing means sharing. It's part of the human condition to want to share things - thoughts, ideas, opinions. -- Paulo Coelho
Overview
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Prior to working for High Tech High, I taught at Stevenson PACT Elementary School, where my teaching partner and I taught to the Common Core State Standards for Writing. We primarily developed our own curriculum, although I also drew on resources from Write Tools, Ralph Fletcher, Mem Fox, and Writer's Workshop. In my current position, our grade-level team continues to use those standards and resources to inform our work. With my students, I have developed success criteria for all classroom practices, including math assignments, and it is available here.
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Common Core State Standards for Writing
Second GradeText Types and Purposes
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Third GradeText Types and Purposes
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Fourth GradeText Types and Purposes
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Heart Map Exemplars
In order to build students' endurance and confidence as writers and teach them the revision and editing processes, I primarily use strategies from How to Write Your Life Story by Ralph Fletcher and anchor texts from Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid by Ralph Fletcher. I model the process by spending some time each week writing my own memoir in front of the class. During writing conferences, I use the record available here.
2014-2015
2013-2014
2012-2013
Memoirs
Letter Exemplars
In order to teach students how to write both friendly letters and thank you letters, I write sentence frames to scaffold their correspondence. I also match students with parent volunteers with whom they will correspond throughout the year in a Google Doc and write prompts in which they thank our principal, parent volunteers, field trip docents, and relatives. A rubric I use to evaluate student work is available here. During writing conferences, I use the record available here.
2013-2014
- Write a thank you letter to a field trip docent
2012-2013
Opinion Piece Exemplars
In order to teach students how to write opinion pieces, I primarily use prompts from The Kids' Book of Questions by Gregory Stock. Our most recent success criteria for different drafts is available here. A rubric I use to evaluate student work is available here. During writing conferences, I use the record available here. A binder full of sentence frames, descriptive words, and exemplary paragraphs from past students is available here. Writing paper is available here.
Teacher Models
2015-2016
2014-2015
- What are the most important things you learned last year?
- Do you like school or do you dislike school?
- Would you rather have a strict teacher who was fair and taught you a lot or one who was relaxed and fun but didn't teach you much?
- What makes Mr. Graff great?
- Who is your biggest hero? Why do you think this person is so terrific?
- What is your favorite Roald Dahl book?
- What kind of pet is the best -- a cat or a dog?
A collection of restaurant reviews from a 2014-2015 field trip to downtown Mountain View is available here.
2013-2014
- What are the most important things you learned last year?
- Do you like school or do you dislike school?
- Would you rather have a strict teacher who was fair and taught you a lot or one who was relaxed and fun but didn’t teach you much?
- What makes Mr. Graff great?
- Who is your biggest hero? Why do you think this person is so terrific?
- What is your favorite Roald Dahl book?
- What kind of pet is the best -- a cat or a dog?
- Imagine that your principal told you he wanted to make school better and would change it in any one way you suggested. What would you tell him to do?
- If you could have a round-trip ride in a time machine and travel any distance into the past or future, where would you want to go and why?
- What is the most important life lesson you have ever learned?
- If you could have one magic power, what would it be and why?
A collection of restaurant reviews from a 2013-2014 field trip to downtown Mountain View is available here.
2012-2013
- What are the most important things you learned last year?
- Do you like school or do you dislike school?
- Would you rather have a strict teacher who was fair and taught you a lot or one who was relaxed and fun but didn’t teach you much?
- What makes Mr. Graff great?
- Who is your biggest hero? Why do you think this person is so terrific?
- What is your favorite Roald Dahl book?
- What kind of pet is the best -- a cat or a dog?
- Imagine that your principal told you he wanted to make school better and would change it in any one way you suggested. What would you tell him to do?
- If you could have a round-trip ride in a time machine and travel any distance into the past or future, where would you want to go and why?
- What is the most important life lesson you have ever learned?
- If you could have one magic power, what would it be and why?
Informative Text Exemplars
In order to teach students how to write informative texts, my teaching partners and I created prompts based on students' field work. Our most recent success criteria for different drafts is available here. A rubric I use to evaluate student work is available here. During writing conferences, I use the record available here. A binder full of sentence frames, descriptive words, and exemplary paragraphs from past students is available here. Writing paper is available here
Teacher Models
2014-2015
Our Best Writing
2013-2014
2012-2013
Fictional Narrative Exemplars
In order to teach students how to write fictional narratives, my teaching partners and I developed a project with Envision Learning Partners. I also draw from Mem Fox's advice for children's book authors. A rubric I use to evaluate student work is available here. During writing conferences, I use the record available here. Story writing success criteria is available here. A binder full of descriptive words and exemplary stories from past students is available here. Writing paper is available here.
2014-2015
- Where is Trevor?!
2013-2014
- Where is Trevor?!
- What would happen if one morning everyone woke up and found out that animals could talk?
- Write Your Own Ending to The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl
