Overview

All students have the capacity to be good writers and writers learn to write by writing. These are basic tenets of this course during which participants will learn instructional strategies to teach students in the upper elementary grades how to write narrative and informational text. Participants will explore how to teach their students about the traits of good writing through mini-lessons and writing conferences and how to use established criteria to evaluate writing. They will recognize that writing is a process and consider how to organize instruction to guide students through the stages. Participants will go through the instructional cycle from writing prompt to revision as they create their final projects.

Goals and Products

This online course will enable participants to

• Teach students about the traits of good writing
• Use consistent criteria to evaluate student’s writing and provide feedback
• Learn teaching strategies to help students write narrative and informational text
• Understand stages of the writing process and organize instruction to guide students through the stages
• Confer with students and guide the revision of their writing
• Write prompts relevant to their students for narrative or informational writing

As a final project, participants will plan a mini-lesson for pre-writing and a student conference around revision. They will use Six +1 Traits® of good writing for instruction and criteria for evaluation.

Format and Requirements

This course is divided into six one-week sessions which each include readings, an activity and an online discussion among course participants. The time for completing each session is estimated to be two to four hours. The outline for the course is as follows:

Session One: What Is Good Writing?
Session Two: Telling a Story with Narrative Writing
Session Three: Informing or Explaining with Informational Writing
Session Four: Writing is a Process
Session Five: Evaluating Writing
Session Six: Conferring with Students about Writing and Revision

Prerequisites

This is an introductory course for teachers, technology specialists, curriculum specialists, professional development specialists or other school personnel. Participants are expected to have regular access to computers and proficiency with e-mail and current web browsers.

Content and Technology Standards

This course, Teaching Writing in the Elementary Classroom , will help participants to support their students in meeting the following NCTE standards:

• Standard 5: Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
• Standard 6: Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.
• Standard 7: Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
• Standard 12: Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

This course will also help participants meet the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Standards for the English Language Arts, especially Standards IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and XII.

In addition, this course will help participants meet the following ISTE Educational Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for All Teachers:

Standard V. PRODUCTIVITY AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE.
Teachers use technology to enhance their productivity and professional practice.

Reproduced with permission from Education Development Center, Inc.,
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