Writer toWriter

Fluency and Craft in the Multilingual Classroom

Mary Lee Prescott-Griffin

HEINEMANN
Portsmouth, NH

Heinemann A division of Reed Elsevier Inc. 361 Hanover Street Portsmouth, NH 038013912 www.heinemann.com Offices and agents throughout the world 2007 by Mary Lee Prescott-Griffin All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Prescott-Griffin, Mary Lee. Writer to writer : fluency and craft in the multilingual classroom / Mary Lee Prescott-Griffin. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN-13: 978-0-325-00878-3 ISBN-10: 0-325-00878-7 1. English languageComposition and exercisesStudy and teaching (Elementary)United States. 2. Group work in educationUnited States. 3. Multicultural educationUnited States. I. Title. LB1576.P726 2007 372.62'3dc22 2007019286 Editor: Kate Montgomery Production service: Denise A. Botelho Production coordinator: Sonja S. Chapman Cover design: Night & Day Design Compositor: Aptara, Inc. Manufacturing: Steve Bernier Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 11 10 09 08 07 VP 1 2 3 4 5

To my sisters, Betty, Pamela, and Louise Prescott. For all the hours spent as my first pupils and so much more!

Contents

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii Part One: Considering Writing Partnerships Introduction: Writing Partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 1. Implementing Writing Partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 2. Small-Group Writing Collaborations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 3. Cross-Age Writing Buddies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 4. Supporting Writing Partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 5. Writing Partnerships for English Language Learners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 6. Adapting the Model: Using Writing Partnerships with All Learners . . . .63 7. Home Connections: Writing Partnerships Outside of School . . . . . . . . .70 Part Two: Strategies to Build Writing Fluency and Confidence 8. Echo Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 9. Dialogue Journals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 10. Supportive Listeners: Partners as Audience and Editing Buddies . . . . . .86 11. Writing-Fluency Buddies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97 12. Buddy Writing Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103 Part Three: Genre Strategies 13. Community Messages: Writing with an Audience and Purpose in Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109

14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

Exploring Genre: Making ReadingWriting Connections . . . . . . . . . . .118 Research Buddies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131 Real-Life Collaborations: Writing with Purpose and Specificity . . . . . .138 Co-Composing Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148 Writing Like the Author: Exploring Writers Voice and Style . . . . . . . .159

Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171 Childrens Literature Cited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

n truth, I am simply an observer and note taker. Teachers and students are the ones who write my books, their collective wisdom and brilliant mentoring of one another providing both the inspiration and content of my work. So it is with this book about writing partnerships. When I visit classrooms and listen to the talk, teacher-to-student and student-to-student, I am awed by the innovative, original approaches to teaching I witness. With every visit, I come away with skills, strategies, and ideas to use in my own writing as well as content and substance for books such as this one. So, first, I want to applaud, thank, and acknowledge all the teachers and students with whom I work in my job as education professor at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, specifically those individuals who have welcomed me again and again into their classrooms to observe and converse about reading, writing, and collaboration. I am also indebted to the writers of all ages at the L. G. Nourse and Solmonese Elementary Schools in Norton, Massachusetts; Spencer Borden School in Fall River, Massachusetts; Paul Cuffee Charter School in Providence, Rhode Island; Mills Pond Elementary School in St. James, New York, Woodingdean Primary School in Woodingdean, England and the Treasure Box Preschool in Singapore. It is their actions, words, and original strategies that teach me most. In the heat of their literate interactions, they continue to expand and define my understandings about learning in social context. Sincere appreciation and profound respect also go to extraordinary teachers Sharon Roberts, Kristine Kefor, Cheryl Feeney, Christine Mikalyzk, Darline

vii

Berrios, Emma Smith, Juvine Lee Wei Ping, Thiruchelvi Dio Rengasamy, Kelly Barr, Heather Stonehill, Jenny Baumeister, Seth Paster, Missy Taylor, Jeanne Hall, Cynthia Pasieka, and Diana Lanze, who opened their classroom doors, generously sharing their expertise as well as their successes and challenges in implementing writing partnerships. Thank you, too, to their administrators facilitative leaders Lynda Ashley, Vivian Ang Sok mei, Mary Brown, Josie Woollam, David Bourns, Suzie Shaw, and Arlene Wild who never say no when I propose yet another research visit to their schools. I am grateful for their time in arranging classroom visits and scheduling teacher and student interviews. As always, I am so appreciative of the work every one with Heinemann Sonja Chapman, Eric Chalek, Denise Botelho, and Dusty Leigh as my books move from manuscript to print and beyond. Their care and attention make the publishing process a pleasure, especially the work of my editor, Kate Montgomery, and her assistant, Kerry Herlihy. I am deeply grateful for their insightful stewardship and guidance throughout the writing of this book. Finally, I want to thank my family and dear friends for their support, enthusiasm, and love, especially my mother, Louise; all my sisters; my sons, Ransom and Winward; and their beautiful women, Alexandra and Stephanie. Life is rich, indeed. And full of surprises, isnt it?

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Writing-Fluency Buddies
I choose [to write with] a partner because you get more ideas. You probly write longer paragraphs [when its] not just your ideas, [but] both. If you get stuck, you ask your partner instead of asking the teacher. Third grader

11

CLASSROOM CHALLENGE
How can I provide peer support for short-term writing projects and goals?

Writing-Fluency Buddies: What Are They?

Writing-Fluency Buddy time provides collaborative opportunities for writers to co-compose quick, structured pieces demonstrating skills and strategies learned during direct instruction. It also allows for mixing up students, so writers work with many peers during the course of the year. Writing-fluency buddies typically work together for a brief period of timeusually a weekpracticing a specific skill or strategy that has been explicitly taught to them at a particular time. Unlike most writing partnerships where students are paired for a longer time period or for the duration of a particular writing project, fluency buddies are paired briefly for short-term practice.

Missys Writers

On a mid-December morning, Missy Taylors second graders are co-composing acrostic poems about holiday traditions. Missy explains the activity, then writing 97

fluency buddies disperse around the classroom, decide who will scribe first, and begin completing their poems. I check in with Haley and Anne. Haley is scribing while Anne watches, offering ideas and editing suggestions. They have decided to switch scribing with each line of the poem. After several minutes of conversation and consulting a holiday word list Missy has distributed, Anne writes the first line, T. Anne [writes] Trees whisper while the awtaments [ornaments] sway. Riding? Yup, they could be on a sleigh. Riding on a sleigh? Santa comes to . . . cheer the day! What about cheer up the day? [nods] Okay. [writes] Rideing on a slay Santa comes to cheer up the day. [hands the pen to Anne] They spend several minutes discussing what they might possibly write for the letter A. They consult the holiday word list and classroom word wall and then scan the classroom walls. Finally, they ask me for an idea and I suggest they might start their sentence with the word A. Anne A snowflake! Dances? and twirls? A snowflake dances and twirls around while listening to . . . sound! [writes] A snowflake dances and twerls around while lisning to the Christmas sound. the Christmas . . . Haley What does it do? Haley

My turn. [takes the pen]

As I move away to observe other writers, Anne and Haley decide to skip D and work on I as Haley has suggested they write about icicles. After fifteen minutes, Missy brings the writers together to share their pieces.

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WRITER TO WRITER

Missy provided a quick explanation of the task, sent writing-fluency buddies off, and, when wrapping up her lesson, brought them together to share. This writing activity lends itself to instant or flexible grouping where the main purpose is to get children writing quickly and fluently. It is brief, the structure is clear, and it can be used with new or experienced writing partners.

Steps and Procedures

In general, writing-fluency buddies are paired for one week. While teachers will want to adapt this strategy to suit the needs of their program and students, a general sequence for writing fluency buddies might be as follows: 1. The teacher models and teaches a specific skill or strategy. 2. The teacher explains expectations for partner work. 3. The students work together for short periods each day (ten to fifteen minutes) with their writing-fluency buddy. 4. The students share their work with the entire class later in the week. Again, the emphasis is on short, focused practice of specific skills. Writingfluency buddies do not engage in long-term collaborations, but work together to practice and reach deeper understanding and facility with specific skills and strategies.

Minilessons and Ideas

There are a myriad of writing skills, strategies, and tasks on which a teacher might ask fluency buddies to focus. This is a framework that must adapt to grade-level curriculum and expectations. In a short, focused piece of writing, fluency buddies might work together to practice:

varying sentence length using different kinds of sentencesstatements, questions, and exclamations using appropriate text signals to signify meaning, voice, and tone using punctuationperiods, commas, question marks, exclamation points, quotation (or talking) marks, semicolons, hyphens, dashes, colons, etc. using bold capitalized and italicized text

Writing-Fluency Buddies 99

using rhyme using repetitionexperimenting with the effect of repeating a word or phrase creating unique voices for each character in a story showing, not telling recognizing each others voice and style experimenting with voice and style incorporating a particular text structure, or several such as cause and effect or compare and contrast into a piece writing a paragraph with main idea and supporting details writing like an author.

Quickwrites
Creating five-minute quickwrites (see Figure 111) exercises partners writing muscles and encourages spontaneous, fluent writing. Students can decide whether to expand their piece or use the quickwrite as a warm-up activity for a self-selected writing activity. Procedures for quickwrites are as follows: 1. Partners read the quickwrite prompt. 2. Partners check the timer (they may want to designate one person as the timer, but that person should also write). 3. Partners write their own pieces for five minutes. 4. Partners read quickwrites to one another and decide whether to expand one or both. Since this activity is designed to encourage writing fluency, it is important that each child write. Teachers use many prompts for quickwrites. Some of my favorites come from Regie Routman (2000):

Next year, I plan to . . . I remember when . . . One time I . . . Yesterday I . . . I never knew . . . A long time ago I . . . (this is my absolute; favorite; it elicits wonderful pieces from kindergartners and my college students!) I was surprised . . . I noticed . . .

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WRITER TO WRITER

FIG. 111 Student Quickwrite Sample and Buddy Suggestion

I wish . . . I dont understand why . . . (216)

Moving Toward Independence

Once a writer practices a particular skill or strategy with her writing fluency buddy, she can use it more confidently and comfortably when crafting independent writing pieces. Often teachers offer structures and guidelines when teaching a particular skill or strategy. These guidelines, outlining expectations and task criteria, can be posted on classroom walls or copied and given to writers to use in independent writing.

Writing-Fluency Buddies 101

Suggestions for English Language Learners

English language learners benefit from access to many models of English speaking, clear expectations, and explicit structures for completing writing tasks. Short-term writing fluency partnerships provide continual access to all three. Additionally, writing fluency partnerships for English language learners should include visual reminders, and reteaching.

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WRITER TO WRITER