Writing Mini-Lessons

Plan
to
Write
Between us…
During my last two teaching conferences this month with SDE, I
have enjoyed talking and presenting with teachers about writing
mini-lessons, and interactive and shared writing. In these
presentations, I have gathered that it has been a common theme
that planning writing lessons tends to be an Achilles heel. Following
up a powerful week of writing we can feel right back at square one
trying to think of new and fresh ideas for our writers.

I decided to take things into my own little teacher plannin' heart and
break down all the components of learning to write into one
document. As you plan for your writing lessons, it is amazing to see
how many skills you can work through in just one simple writing mini-
lesson.

Because there are 5-10 skills per area, the tendency is to cram as
many in as we humanly can. This isn't always the most effective
strategy for our students. (Don't ask me how I came to find that
out....shudder-- thank goodness they will all learn in spite of our best
efforts sometimes)
 Writing Mini-Lessons
Planning for the lesson:
Main Teaching Points- choose 1 or 2
 Alphabetic principal
 Concepts about print
 Phonemic awareness
 Written language conventions
 Writing process

What text or information

 Class discussion
 Read aloud
 Shared reading
 Word bank/vocabulary
 Informational chart
 Word wall
 Video
 Previous work/content
 Writing Mini-Lessons
Planning for the lesson:
How will the learning be completed
 Lesson done together as a class
 Students worked in groups at tables
 Students worked in partners
 Scribe and apprentices

How were students kept

engaged with text
 Reread after each word
 Reread after each sentence
 Reread after each paragraph
 Reread for fluency
 Does this make sense?
 Does this look right?
 Discuss and include key words
 Read for comprehension
 Editing Interactive Writing
In any one lesson, refer to only 2-4 teaching
points. Over time address all areas.

Alphabetical Principal
• Letter recognition
• Letter formation and handwriting
• Letter-name correspondence
• Letter-sound correspondence
• Alphabetic order
 Component Break Down
Concepts about Print
• Directionality
• One to one matching
• Return sweep
• Spacing, indention, text layout
• Concept of first and last part of
word, sentence, and story
• Reading punctuation
 Component Break Down
Phonemic Awareness and Phonics
• Hearing sounds in words
• Inflectional endings
• Rhyming
• Syllabication
• Chunking and blending
• Compound words
• High Frequency words
• Spelling Patterns
 Component Break Down
Written Language Conventions
• Capitalization
• Punctuation
• Spelling/word analysis
• Sentence structure
• Parts of speech
• Grammar
 Component Break Down
Writing Process
• Idea development
• Text organization
• Graphic Organizers
• Vocabulary
• Concept Development
• Paragraph Development
Credits: