SSRCE P-12 Writing Framework

This framework includes:

• A flexible yearly writing plan for each grade level (P-12) 

• Writing tasks directly connected to each grade’s provincial English Language Arts curriculum

• Integrated writing tasks 

• Authentic, real-life writing tasks

• Inclusive and culturally responsive writing tasks 

• Opportunities for teacher collaboration 

• CLT planning and assessment opportunities

Please remember! The act of composing does not necessarily involve using pencil and paper. Students can accomplish writing through voice writing (speech-to-text) and typing. Our ultimate goal is to create citizens who enjoy writing and feel confident and empowered to use writing to share ideas and use this skill to change the world.

Learning to write is empowering. Writing allows us to communicate, interact, problem-solve, think critically, reflect, and create. Writing is not a skill that develops in isolation; it develops in unison with listening, speaking, reading and viewing skills. Thus, when learning to write, students need many experiences with reading and viewing and the opportunity to engage in conversations about writing. Students also need significant practice writing for different purposes, for a range of audiences, and in different genres. To become engaged, confident and successful writers, they need to have explicit instruction in writing and engage in purposeful and meaningful practice where they can see themselves reflected in their writing experiences. The writing tasks in this framework are designed to capture all of this.

There is some variation between writing types in P-6 and 7-12. 

Primary - Grade 6

The types of writing listed in the grade Primary through Grade 6 curriculum include Narrative, Expository, Persuasive, and Descriptive. Our framework includes two additional types: Expressive and Poetry. 

Expressive Writing
Expressive writing is a mode of writing found in the grade 7-12 curriculum. We felt that this mode of writing is essential to the development of writers and thus we decided to include it in our framework. This mode of writing is about discovery, creativity, and experimentation. It is a personalized form of free writing that allows for idea generation. Examples of expressive writing include: free writes, reading responses, journal entries, learning logs, sketches, research notes, and quick writes, etc. This is the type of writing that we want students to be engaged in daily through writer’s notebooks, journals, etc. 

Poetry
Poetry is a unique type of writing. It does not follow the traditional rules of prose. It also lends itself to many categories - narrative poems, letter poems, procedural poems, etc. The Primary through Grade 6 curriculum includes poetry under Descriptive Writing.  Because Poetry is a special type of writing, we decided to include it as its own category. We want our students to have the opportunity to experiment with using writing to represent their ideas in a variety of ways -- through both prose and poetry. 

Grade 7 - Grade 12

The types of writing in the grade 7 through grade 12 curriculum are listed as expressive, transactional, and poetic. These types of writing terms differ from the terms that appear in grades P-6 (narrative, expository, persuasive and poetry). The purpose of the use of these terms is to preserve the wording that exists in the curriculum documents. The types of writing listed in the Primary to Grade 6 curriculum are embedded within the expressive, transactional, and poetic types in grades 7-12. 

The writing genres selected for grades Primary through Grade 6 include the commonly known genres associated with each type of writing. Whereas the types of writing in Grade 7 - Grade 12 condense into three categories (from five), the genre also condenses. However, there are still a lot of opportunities for students to explore subgenres within each of the genres. Two noticeable additions to Grade 7 - Grade 12 writing plans include: Text Response and Scriptwriting. 

Text Response

Text response emerges as a writing genre in grade 7. A writer responds to a text (or texts) in a text response and cites evidence from the text to support an opinion or ideas. Texts used for responses are not limited to written texts; texts also include audio, video, and other media. Texts can include visuals, Students have been practicing these skills orally and through writing about reading in Primary to Grade 6.

Scriptwriting

Scriptwriting is a genre that is included in the 7-12 curriculum. As a text, it has a specific set of rules and it allows writers to explore plot, character, setting, conflict and theme in a unique way. Writing in this genre can include (but are not limited to) writing scripts for many different occasions such as monologues, performance plays, radio theatre, podcasts, commercials, short films, etc. Scripts do not need to be used for performance but it is strongly encouraged as this allows students to see their finished products in action. 

The overall goal of the writing tasks is to have students produce a piece of writing that is taken through the full process of writing (see below for more details about the writing process). These tasks can be done in any order and teachers are encouraged to choose to work through the tasks in an order that works best for their long-range plans. These tasks are suggested to be used for summative assessment purposes.  

The Prompts

Each grade level has been provided with a sample unique writing task connected grade-level ELA skills/outcomes and can be integrated into other grade-level subject areas. Each prompt is categorized under a specific type of writing in order to ensure a variety of writing throughout the year/course. These tasks were designed to be inclusive for all students and, as with all of the work we do, should be used with a culturally responsive perspective in order to be responsive to all students. 

Teaching and Learning 

The intention is not for students to write these tasks in isolation from teaching units. The tasks should be a part of the teaching and learning process and should be connected to units/topics. These tasks should be used during a writing workshop and should be accompanied by mini-lessons on skills specific to the writing type. 

Assessment 

These tasks should be used as a part of a balanced classroom assessment. Along with conversations and observations, the completed writing task can be used as a product that can be assessed.

The writing process outlined in Nova Scotia’s English Language Arts curriculum includes six steps in P-6: 1) Pre-Writing, 2) Drafting, 3) Revising, 4) Editing 5) Proofreading, 6) Publishing. 

In grades 7&8 it includes five steps: 1) Pre-Writing, 2) Drafting, 3) Revising, 4) Editing & Proofreading, 5) Publishing. 

Whichever process you follow, it is necessary for students to understand that writing is not a linear process and students can move back and forth through the steps as they write; however, we teach these “steps” to help the students understand that writing is a process and that writing encompasses all of these elements as students take their writing from the planning stage to a publishable, final draft. 

The writing traits are the grade-level skills that students will develop and use through teaching and learning cycles. These traits were taken from each grade level’s curriculum and, when the curriculum was vague, the skills were developed in consultation with the skills from the grade levels above and below. 

Ideas

Includes the presence and quality of a main idea, the extent to which the main idea is developed through details, and the quality of the details used to support the main idea.

Organization

Includes the way the writing is organized as a whole as well as how it is organized throughout (internal and external organization). There should be a beginning, middle, and end and a logical sequence between ideas. Transitions include transitional words or phrases and the way the writer transitions from one idea to the next.

Language Use

Includes voice, word choice, sentence style, syntax. Sentence structure is considered in terms of writing style in this criterion, not the grammatical correctness of sentence structure since correctness is assessed under the Conventions criterion.

Writing Conventions  

Includes spelling of commonly used words (including homonyms), punctuation, capitalization, sentence structure, verb tense agreement, noun/pronoun agreement – these are grounded in what’s appropriate for the given grade level.

The overall goal of the on-demand writing prompt is to collect evidence of writing skill development during one independent writing session. This writing is draft writing which means that the full writing process is not used. Students develop fluency and control over their writing skills through scaffolded explicit writing instruction and intentional practice. When students write on-demand, teachers are provided with an opportunity to understand the depth of their students’ independent control of specific writing skills. It is important to remember that on-demand writing is more about understanding the impact of writing instruction than it is about scoring and classifying students. The evidence and information gathered from these prompts are intended to be used as a catalyst to move writing instruction forward.

The Prompts

Each grade level is provided with a unique writing prompt for each reporting period. Unlike the writing tasks at the top of each grade level writing map, the prompts are intended to stand alone and should not be connected to a teaching unit or lesson in order to capture an authentic picture of the students’ writing skills. 

Administrating the Prompt

These prompts are designed to be inclusive for all learners (students with DAs, IPPs, etc.). As with any assessment, students should write in the way that they would normally write (e.g. by hand, computer, with a scribe, etc.). Teachers are encouraged to have students respond to these prompts during a time in the reporting period that makes the most sense in their program delivery.  Students should spend no longer than one typical writing period responding to the prompt. For example, if your writing workshop is typically 45 minutes, dedicate this amount of time for on-demand writing with the understanding that some students may need more time.

Begin your class by introducing the prompt to the students. Allow 3-5 minutes for students to talk about the prompt before they begin their writing. This discussion can be a partner discussion, small group discussion, and/or whole-class discussion and when the discussion is finished, they may begin independently writing. 

Use in Collaborative Learning Teams

Along with guiding instructional practice, these on-demand prompts can also be used to support collaboration with colleagues. When used as a part of Collaborative Learning Teamwork, these writing samples can be used in a variety of ways. For example, teachers can use their students’ on-demand writing to guide professional conversations about writing instruction and skill development, participate in co-assessing to develop a common understanding of writing skill fluency and control, calibrate expectations to develop grade-level exemplars, and support future literacy planning.  

Data Wall Development 

Data walls are used to make student learning and growth visible. Schools can track their students’ control of writing through the data collected from the on-demand writing prompts by using a common rubric that focuses on the properties of a well-written text (Ideas, Organization, Language Use, and Conventions).  

While there are no single best approaches to writing, the following practices create an environment that promotes student success. 

Teach, Practice, Share & Reflect and The Writing Workshop 

Strong writing instruction occurs in the writing workshop (the teaching, practice, share/reflect model). Students need to write daily and they need regular, intentionally planned time to develop their skills. 

Teachers must create a supportive environment in which they provide instruction through focused lessons that include explicit teaching and modelling. They must also monitor progress, provide feedback and allow for sharing and feedback among their students. 

Feedback from both peers and teachers is necessary as their written texts unfold. These responses to their writing during the development of texts enable writers to refine their thinking and ensure that ideas are communicated effectively to a reading audience.

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP)

Writers need personal, meaningful reasons to write. Encouraging students to explore what is important to them in writing is key for creating a positive and productive writing workshop. Students invest themselves in their writing and assume greater ownership of their written texts if they write about topics and ideas that are personally relevant and important to them. 

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) 

UDL is a teaching framework that provides all learners with equal access to learning and empowers students to become independent, confident learners. Students learn in a variety of ways and show their learning through various formats. Thus, in a true UDL classroom, assessments are flexible. The tasks in this writing framework ask for students to demonstrate their writing skills. We recognize that this is not a flexible form of assessment; however, the overall purpose of this framework is to teach the skill of writing. Lesson delivery must still be flexible, customized, and adjusted for individual needs. Student voice and choice are woven through the writing tasks in order to increase topic engagement. Teachers are reminded that there are multiple ways of composing (see first page) and that in the UDL classroom, writing is not solely a pencil-to-paper task. 

Curriculum Integration

Engaging students in topics that are connected to additional curriculum will help to deepen their understanding of that topic. This writing plan was designed to allow for integration opportunities at multiple times throughout the year. Some of the writing tasks are accompanied by integration suggestions and teachers are encouraged to further explore curriculum connections to the writing tasks in their grade level. 

Mentor Texts

Using a mentor text to support writing instruction is a proven, effective way to support writing development in all grades. Through the use of mentor texts, a teacher can highlight specific writing skills and provide students with the opportunity to see those skills in action. Students can also have personal mentor texts to help guide their learning. Teachers are encouraged to use mentor texts to support their writing instruction work as much as possible. If you have found a great mentor text that pairs well with a writing task, please share it with us!