Showing posts with label writing strategies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing strategies. Show all posts

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Writing Strategies Goal 7: Word Choice



Welcome to our book study of The Writing Strategies Book:  Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Writers by Jennifer Serravallo! I am joining forces with some other fabulous teacher bloggers to discuss the writing strategies we come across in this AMAZING professional text!    

Because this book isn't your typical professional development book filled with individual "chapters" of narrative, each teacher blogger will be giving you a glimpse into the 10 goals that are represented in the text.  Each goal area is filled with many valuable strategies that will help you to support and guide your students as they become better writers.  Keep in mind, we are only highlighting a FEW strategies in each section.  There are over 300 strategies in the whole book!

You can find my posts for previous sections below:







This goal is all about Word Choice.  Serravallo says that the words we choose as writers "have the power to communicate tone, clarify an intended meaning (or not), and give writing voice".  If students don't carefully consider their choice of words, they can end up with writing that is vague or flat.

She also says that some writers don't need to give deliberate attention to word choice.  These students write with voice and clarity already.  For others, strategies in this section will help elevate their writing and style.






When choosing this as a goal for your students to work on, you may want to consider students who:

* write pieces that are organized and detailed, but could use work communicating their meaning by being more specific or precise.

* could use help varying the words they use in their writing.


Focus Strategy 1: Onomatopoeia: Sound Effects

My students LOVE this strategy - quite possible because the word onomatopoeia sounds so funny, but, I will take any reason for engagement and excitement about writing!  

You ask the student to imagine themselves inside their story.  What do they hear? How would they write that word?

You could introduce this strategy with the video below:





You might also want to provide students with an anchor chart like the one below as well.


Focus Strategy 2: Write With Authority: Domain Specific Vocabulary

This strategy asks students to keep a list if words authors use about the topics they are researching.  They could then use the list to help them use domain specific vocabulary in their writing.  

You might start the lesson with an anchor chart like this one from the book.


Focus Strategy 3: Precise Nouns


In this strategy, students return to their drafts, underlining all of the nouns.  They should look back at these nouns and ask themselves, "Can I get any more specific?"  Instead of just saying the boy, could they mention them by name?

I might introduce this strategy with one of our current read alouds, such as Wonder.



I would have the students see if they can find the different nouns in a page, and see where the author was REALLY specific.  In this page they might notice that the costumes were specifically Egyptian costumes and Indiana Jones-type archaeologists. I would ask them, " How do these specific nouns help the readers make a better picture in their mind?"

If you would like to purchase the book mentioned above, you can find it here.



This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love.  

If you would like to link up your own blog posts about this book, feel free to do so in the linky below!  Don't forget to check out the other bloggers' posts as well as they write them for even more ideas!





Thursday, April 20, 2017

Writing Strategies Goal 3: Generating and Collecting Ideas



Welcome to our book study of The Writing Strategies Book:  Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Writers by Jennifer Serravallo! I am joining forces with some other fabulous teacher bloggers to discuss the writing strategies we come across in this AMAZING professional text!    

Because this book isn't your typical professional development book filled with individual "chapters" of narrative, each teacher blogger will be giving you a glimpse into the 10 goals that are represented in the text.  Each goal area is filled with many valuable strategies that will help you to support and guide your students as they become better writers.  Keep in mind, we are only highlighting a FEW strategies in each section.  There are over 300 strategies in the whole book!

If you missed our other posts you can find them here:






Sometimes students struggle with writing because they have a hard time coming up with ideas to write about. This section of the book gives you strategies to help students generate ideas. 

 Serravallo specifically suggests that writers in grades 3 and above keep a notebook to store ideas that they can return to again and again.






When choosing this as a goal for your students to work on, you may want to consider students who:

* have a hard time getting started during writing time.

* say, "I don't know what to write about."

* You might also check writers' notebooks to see which students have generated short lists during class lessons on idea gathering.  These students may benefit from this goal as well.


Focus Strategy 1: Important People

In this strategy, students make a list of people that are important to them.  They then list memories they have of those people.  

I have done similar lessons to this one in the past at the beginning of the year.  I decided to try a slightly different version after reading this.  Instead of modeling myself with people who are important to me, I modeled with a character in our read aloud How to Steal a Dog.  The students were able to help add the people and the memories since they were familiar with the character.  I felt like this gave them more of a guided experience than just listening to my memories.



Student examples:








This student could benefit from working on this goal.
Focus Strategy 2: Moments With Strong Feelings

Using this strategy, students choose a strong feeling (worry, fear, embarrassment, etc.).  They then think about the memories they have that connect to that feeling.

I think this might be a fun activity to do using emojis.  Have the students pick and emoji, and then think of memories they have that relate to that emoji!

Focus Strategy 3: Jot Today, Write Tomorrow


This strategy really gets students living like writers by carrying around Post-Its or small notebooks to jot down things that happen around them.  My students LOVE using their small writer's notebooks for this!




If you would like to purchase the book mentioned above, you can find it here.



This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love.  


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Don't forget to stop by Melanie from Momma With a Teaching Mission who is our official host of this week's chapter!

If you would like to link up your own blog posts about this book, feel free to do so in the linky below!  Don't forget to check out the other bloggers' posts as well as they write them for even more ideas!





Thursday, March 30, 2017

Writing Strategies Book Study Kickoff and Giveaway!



I first became hooked on Jennifer Serravallo's work when I read Conferring with Readers: Supporting Each Student's Growth and Independence.


Since then, I have read all of her books including The Reading Strategies Book which I have blogged about several times.



So, suffice it to say, I was super excited when I heard that she was writing a Writing Strategies Book!  I immediately pre-ordered it as soon as it was announced, and am happy to say that I was glad I did!

Just like The Reading Strategies Book, The Writing Strategies Book is filled with strategies that you can implement right away with your students regardless of their skill level.





The first 33 pages give a pretty thorough overview of how the book is organized, how to use it, and a few tips for planning lessons for whole class, small groups, and conferencing with individuals.


Each section or chapter is divided into "goals". The first few pages of each chapter gives a brief synopsis of what the goal is and how to know if it would be an appropriate fit for your students.


Next, is a list of strategies that can be used with your students to help them achieve that particular goal.  I love that Serravallo has divided this into grade levels, genre/text type, and process to help you decide when to use each one.


Each strategy is explained in detail with suggested teaching prompts and possible supports such as anchor charts.  There are also suggestions for further reading if needed.




Are you a Reading Strategies Book Fan?  Will you be adding the Writing Strategies Book to your library? If you do, we would love to have you join our book study beginning April 6, 2017.  You can see the full schedule along with the hosts of each chapter here.  

Feel free to link up your own blog posts or just comment along on the host blog for each chapter.


If you haven't already bought this amazing book, you could win it now:




GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: Writing Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo

Giveaway Organized by: Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher), 



Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter. Giveaway ends 4/6/17 and is open worldwide.


Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers!


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