About Raven Writes

The writing pedagogy used in the kindergarten and first grade units is different than the pedagogy for grades 2-5. Students are quite developmentally different in these early years and are learning foundational skills. Learning activities in the early years need to also support oral language development and vocabulary. For these reasons, the K-1 units utilize story workshop, as explained in the Story Workshop: New Possibilities for Young Writers resource book by Susan Harris MacKay. Raven Writes collaborated with MacKay and Matt Karlson , of The Studio for Playful Inquiry, to include story workshop in our units and provide training and support to teachers. Additionally, SHI published a companion book, Culturally Responsive Story Workshop: A Window Into Juneau’s Practice, to provide further support to teachers.

The units for grades 2-5 utilize Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD), which is a research-based writing pedagogy with proven results. SHI staff collaborated with Dr. Leslie Laud of ThinkSRSD to bring training to JSD teachers and to embed the routines into our curriculum. One teacher who attended our summer seminar and taught the kits in her classroom shared that “The SRSD system has really helped me as a writing teacher. It was a bit life changing, so having it so clearly laid out helped me tremendously.”

Our units come with a complete kit of teacher resources and classroom materials to enhance student learning. The mentor texts in the curriculum are all provided in the kit and were vetted using the Indigenous Book Selection Checklist created by the Raven Writes team. Kits also include SEARHC’s Southeast Alaska Traditional Foods Guide, writing strategy cards, and Kaasei Indigenous Foodways cards. Books to support teachers’ background knowledge are also included, such as Dr. Rosita Worl’s Aas Kwáani People of the Trees: Ancient Ceremonial Rites  in the first grade kit.

For units that require more materials for the shared experiences, such as harvesting and processing s’áxt’ (devil’s club) in the fourth grade classroom, supplemental kits are available to borrow. Materials such as garden shears, leather gloves, butter knives, crock pots, etc. are all included in these kits. Other supplemental kits may include items for students to see and feel up close, like model traditional fish traps in the fourth grade opinion unit.

Each of the units, K-5, culminates in a gathering for students to share their writing and what they have learned with their families. These events are highly anticipated and increase both student and family engagement. Student work is presented to families in a variety of ways, such as a gallery walk or slideshow. If a unit includes a harvesting and processing shared experience, students will share something they’ve made as a class with their families.