Scarsdale Elementary ELA News!

Writing Component Work

Shared Writing:

During shared writing, the teacher and students compose the text together while the teacher acts as a scribe. Shared writing exposes the writing process for students in a concrete manner and allows all students to participate. The teacher vocalizes what is typically internal thinking and explains each decision made when creating the piece. The purpose of shared writing is to move students to write independently. This process is done by incorporating phonetic elements that were previously taught.

Together, the teacher and the class work out the conventions of print, spelling, and grammar. In the upper grades the teacher demonstrates or models what a proficient writer does when composing text. The students view a writer at work and review the process of composing, revising, and editing.

Teacher’s Role

Scribes the writing
Encourages students to contribute to writing
Thinks aloud about the phonics work
Models various craft techniques
Re-reads to class

Student’s Role

Contribute ideas to the writing
Re-reads with the teacher

Interactive Writing:

During interactive writing the teacher shares the pen with either the whole class or a small group and collaborates to create a written piece. Interactive writing helps children attend to print, while using their knowledge of spoken language. It also models strategies for problem solving as a writer. Children share the pen with the teacher to practice letter writing, high-frequency words, spelling, and punctuation. This activity supports the concepts of directionality, one-to-one matching between spoken and written words and conventions of print.

Teacher’s Role

Shares the pen
Teaches at a level beyond student’s independent level
Teaches writing conventions
Models reading and writing strategies

Student’s Role

Shares the pen
Composes with the teacher
Participates in discussion

Grammar:

Grammar instruction is encouraged through a constructivist approach, where lessons are explicitly taught and students mine their writing to incorporate skills and strategies. The study of grammar promotes clear and concise writing. It enables the student to communicate more effectively. Grammar and conventions are authentically embedded and integrated throughout the writing process. Lessons are targeted based on student need and students are led to identify approximations in their own work. Proficiency happens when children have opportunities to recognize and practice proper grammar in the context of their own writing projects.

Word Study

Word study instruction can be delivered in many formats: demonstration, direct instruction, inquiry, whole class, small group, or one-on-one and should include an extensive range of activities that provide students independent practice.

In reading, word study focuses on both decoding and deriving meaning from a text. In writing, word study fosters the development of spelling skills and the study of grammar and punctuation. Assessment is a key component of word study; it allows the teacher a glimpse into each student’s skill set and allows for differentiation.

Students learn the regularities, patterns, and conventions of English orthography, needed to read and spell. They learn how to examine words through active exploration using a hands-on, manipulative approach. Students also discover generalizations about spelling, instead of just spelling rules. Word study increases students’ specific knowledge of words; relating to the spelling and meaning of individual words. Students’ reading and writing should be frequently studied to inform instruction and identify trends.

Word study in primary grades lays the foundation of word formation; cultivating an understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes). Word study is integrated into the reading and writing workshop. This phonological awareness, ability to hear and record sounds, and the understanding of the letter-sound relationship, fosters a students’ ability to read and write. Through the continued study of words, students develop their understanding of spoken language, letter knowledge, spelling patterns, word structures, deriving word meaning, and enables students to decode and comprehend. In word study, students learn how to recognize, isolate, and pronounce individual sounds, and build upon this skill by manipulating phonemes to create new words (verbally and in print).

In the upper grades, word study builds off the foundation set in the primary grades and is woven throughout the reading and writing workshop. Though word study begins with the development of phonetic awareness, it continues through learning the structural analysis of words. It builds on the foundation of phonics instruction (phonemic awareness, sound-symbol correspondence, segmenting, blending, and syllabication) and guides students to engage in inquiry: examining words to discover the regularities, patterns and conventions of English orthography and morphology, which are needed to read and spell. In order for word study to be meaningful, our instruction allows for transference so that our students comprehend and internalize linguistic concepts. This enables students to flexibly access their understanding of language when they encounter a new word. The better students understand how words are created, the better they will be at decoding, spelling, and inferring meaning.

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