Teaching Writing: Grades 4-6
In
this teacher-training course, you'll learn from an experienced educator how to
motivate and assist developing writers. We'll begin with an overview of the
writing basics, focusing on the importance of the task, audience, and purpose.
Then we'll delve into how to organize your materials to create an inviting
writing environment.
We'll discuss each step of teaching writing and the strategies you can use with
your students. You'll also work on strengthening your students' writing using
technology. Along the way, you'll develop engaging lessons for literary
response, narrative writing, expository writing, and persuasive writing. We'll
look at the characteristics of each type of writing, and you'll get practical
suggestions for teaching them to your class.
Two writing approaches we'll cover, 6+1 Trait Writing and Writer's Workshop,
will enable you to put everything you learn in this course into a workable
format. You'll also discover the secrets of effective writing assessment as you
learn about evaluation tools like portfolios and rubrics.
To enroll in this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Requirements:
Internet access; e-mail; and the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser.
Syllabus:
All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two
lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do
not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must complete each
lesson within two weeks of its release.
A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each
month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space
the start date for each course at least two months apart.
| Week One |
| Wednesday - Lesson 01 |
| Begin a journey through the writing process with a
look at your fellow travelers: your students! We'll discuss the types of
writers that emerge in grades 4-6 and find ways to encourage and
motivate them. You'll also explore the basics of teaching writing by
learning how to create an engaging writing task with a specific audience
and purpose. At the end of this lesson, you'll pack a writing suitcase
to organize your materials and learn how to create a writer-friendly
classroom. |
| Friday - Lesson 02 |
| Learn the importance of modeling your writing skills
as you teach your students about the writing process. We'll start with
an overview of the process and then focus on the first two steps in our
writing journey: prewriting and drafting. Some intriguing superheroes
will help your students learn effective prewriting techniques like
brainstorming, freewriting, and mapping. And we'll wrap up our lesson
with a friendly monster who will help you teach essay structure. |
| Week Two |
| Wednesday - Lesson 03 |
| Today we'll continue our travels through the writing
process with a study of the last three steps: revising, editing, and
publishing. You'll learn how to help students become confident peer
revisers as they check papers for content and clarity while still
respecting the author's sense of ownership. Next, we'll discuss how you
can help students focus on writing mechanics during the editing step. In
both revising and editing, you'll encourage your students to
collaborate, coach, and correct. Finally, you'll find ways to let your
students share their writing as their voices are fully realized in the
publishing step. |
| Friday - Lesson 04 |
| It's time to get out your barbells because this
lesson is about strengthening your students' writing. We'll focus on
specific strategies for constructing intriguing sentences that vary in
length and style. To be strong writers, your students will need some
nourishment, so we'll learn how to use a submarine sandwich to teach
paragraph structure. Using this formula, your students will become
proficient at writing topic sentences, supporting sentences with
transitions, and concluding sentences. Finally, we'll see how to use
technology as a tool for strengthening writing. |
| Week Three |
| Wednesday - Lesson 05 |
| Reading and writing have a natural relationship. When
students connect these skills, they strengthen both abilities and
enhance their learning. In this lesson, we're going to explore how to
foster an eagerness for writing and teach writing skills using
children's trade books. Then you'll discover and develop writing prompts
that allow your students to effectively communicate their understanding
of literature. |
| Friday - Lesson 06 |
| "Once upon a time . . ." Remember the wonderful books
you read as a child? Today we'll bring that "once upon a time" magic
into our students' lives as we help them see that good stories aren't
just found in books—they're in each of us as well. Our topic is
narrative writing, and we'll explore the skills students need to tell
stories. You'll learn how to help students create memorable characters,
vivid settings, and descriptive plots. Finally, we'll consider ways to
expand your students' writing repertoire using different writing genres. |
| Week Four |
| Wednesday - Lesson 07 |
| Can you count how many research papers you've been
asked to write? At some point, your students will certainly be given
this assignment, so now's the time to teach them about expository
writing. Expository writing is simply writing that explains or informs.
In this lesson, we'll start by looking at three expository elements:
focus, support, and structure. Next, you'll find ways to teach your
students how to conduct research and take notes. Finally, you'll learn
how to help them organize all of the information into an exceptional
report. |
| Friday - Lesson 08 |
| Our young students often feel unheard in an
adult-dominated society. But with persuasive writing, they come to know
that what they think matters and what they have to say can make a
difference. That's a powerful motivation to write! Today you'll learn
how to walk your students through the prewriting step, where they'll
choose a topic, decide on a position statement, and research evidence
that supports their view. Next, we'll help them learn to hook their
readers in their introduction, use different persuasive appeals in the
body of their essay, and leave a memorable impact with their conclusion.
Finally, we'll help them avoid the pitfalls of certain fallacies that
can undermine their efforts. |
| Week Five |
| Wednesday - Lesson 09 |
| Writing isn't just for English class! It's a valuable
tool to help your students learn other topics more deeply. In this
lesson, as we explore writing across the curriculum, you'll learn how to
provide plenty of writing opportunities in every subject area. We'll
explore summary writing and journal writing as ways to write about a
subject. And then we'll move on to writing projects that are unique for
each content area. Finally, we'll finish with some engaging ideas for
writing about famous people in any content area. |
| Friday - Lesson 10 |
| Good, effective writing lets readers enjoy the
journey with the writer, moving them toward a clear destination while
blending the author's voice with the reader's emotions. The 6 + 1 Trait
Writing method helps our students create a reciprocal relationship with
their readers. Today you'll learn practical strategies for teaching the
six writing traits: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence
fluency, and conventions. Then you'll discover the "plus 1" and ways to
make your students' writing presentations appealing. When students can
pull all these traits together, they'll have writing that makes a
memorable impression on their readers! |
| Week Six |
| Wednesday - Lesson 11 |
| In this lesson, we'll combine all the writing
strategies we've learned and see how they fit into a Writer's Workshop.
You'll be excited to discover how students can use the writing process,
learn writing skills, practice different applications, and work
collaboratively using the Writer's Workshop model. We'll divide our
study of this teaching approach into three components: the mini-lesson,
the small group and independent work time, and the sharing session. And
an example of Writer's Workshop in action will help you visualize its
use in your own classroom. |
| Friday - Lesson 12 |
| Assessment is the final topic for our course. However, it isn't the "end of the road" for your students' writing experiences. In this lesson, you'll learn that assessment is an ongoing process that you can use as a tool for improving both learning and teaching. We'll start with a comparison of traditional and alternative assessment options. Next, we'll focus on how to use authentic writing tasks and portfolios to assess writing. Finally, you'll learn how to develop and use rubrics so you'll be well-equipped to evaluate your students' writing. |
To enroll in this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
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