2022 Literacy Symposium: Writing Strand

Participants in this workshop will learn why summarizing has been identified through research as highly effective for developing both comprehension and writing. Practical suggestions for explicit teaching of summary writing based on text and non-text sources will be shared, including scaffolds.

This session highlights the importance of spelling to literacy development and how it can be analyzed to inform instruction and intervention. Classroom and individual analysis of spelling inventory results will guide participants in drawing conclusions for core and individual instruction to accelerate learning. (k-5)

Readers must derive meaning from individual sentences in order to attain text-level comprehension (Scott, 2009). Additionally, the sentence is the linguistic environment that determines the meaning of many words making the relationship between syntax and vocabulary important to reading comprehension. This session explores these relationships, including words with multiple meanings, word meanings altered by morphological markers, word order implications, and word functions.

To promote growth in writing in the upper grades, students must write short products often not just long products seldom. This session will focus on short writing in all domains that will foster learning content while improving writing skills. Emphasis will be placed on using frames and think sheets to scaffold writing of summaries, arguments, comparisons, and explanations in a variety of domains.

Participants in this workshop will learn why summarizing has been identified through research as highly effective for developing both comprehension and writing. Practical suggestions for explicit teaching of summary writing based on text and non-text sources will be shared, including scaffolds.

Effective spelling instruction starts with matching sounds to letters and moves to understanding morphology. Students learn to spell better when spelling patterns are emphasized. Students who are not natural spellers need instruction that specifically teaches pronunciation of the word, ties spelling to the pronunciation, and that, when appropriate, focuses on meaningful word parts. This session includes focused activities and practice that lead to accurate spelling not only on Friday’s spelling test but also in students’ written assignments.

If we, as educators, know a great deal about the writing system, will that make even those at the less fortunate end of the scale better spellers? Lyn argues ‘yes’. In this address, Lyn shows, through practical demonstration, the benefits of systematically teaching the orthographic patterns of written English. Drawing on principles of cognitive load theory, linguistic analysis and her vast experience in varied educational settings, Lyn offers suggestions for implementing high quality spelling lessons into everyday classroom instruction.