From the time that a young child picks up a crayon and makes marks on a paper to when an older child puts the finishing sentence on an autobiography or a poem, a young author is developing the skills that will be used for a lifetime. In this course, you will examine the developmental stages of writing, from the "scribbling" stage to the "standard spelling" stage, so that you can foster your students' skills and gently nudge them to grow as authors. This course is full of practical ideas that you can use to motivate students in your classroom.
You will look at tools such as the writer's workshop, the six traits of writing, and genre studies for ways to teach students about writing. You will see how each of these tools can be used by teachers to encourage early elementary writers. As your students become better writers, they will become better readers, and you will see how well reading and writing instruction work together to support each other.
The course also covers ways to support the writers who struggle, whether due to a lack of motivation, fine motor skills, or ideas. You will also explore techniques for getting parents involved so that they can help with writing at home. By the end of the course, you will have a new enthusiasm for teaching that will ignite your students' love of writing.
Sara Hardin is an educator with a focus on special education and language studies. She has taught special education at the elementary level for over a decade. Sara holds a BA in French, and lived in France to study at the university level. In 2000, she earned her master's degree in special education.
The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.
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Lesson 1
Growing Young Writers
What makes teaching writing so important for K-3 students? Your first lesson introduces the relevance of writing instruction in early elementary school. You will learn some practical ways to grow writers in your classroom and learn about providing role models and celebration and meeting students at their developmental and skill levels.
Growing Talkers
This lesson delves into the connections between oral language and writing. You will learn how varying literacy experiences at home affects young children's work when they first enter elementary school. You will also examine strategies for helping students move from oral language to writing.
Growing Scribblers
This lesson explores the developmental stages of writing, starting with the "scribbling" stage and moving on to the "letter-like symbols" stage. Then you will visit a kindergarten classroom and a resource room to get some great tips for working with these young writers.
Growing Explorers
This lesson focuses on the "strings of letter" stage and the "beginning sounds" stage. Just like you did in the last lesson, you will visit a kindergarten class and resource room to see how teachers work with students in these two stages.
Growing Risk-Takers
When it comes to writing, young risk-takers are ready to make bold choices when they put their pens to the paper. This lesson introduces two developmental stages: "consonants represent words" and "initial, middle, and final sounds". You will also learn some new strategies to help your students achieve success.
Growing Butterflies
This lesson explores the final two stages of developmental writing: "transitional" and "standard spelling". The standard spelling stage is the goal for all students, although they'll always be works in progress as they move toward this goal.
Writer's Workshop
There are many ways to hold a successful writer's workshop. That's what this lesson will focus on: examining the writer's workshop as a tool to meet your students' diverse needs. You will also learn the three components of a successful writer's workshop: the mini-lesson, writing time, and sharing time.
The Six Traits of Writing
What does great writing look like? There's no easy answer to this question, of course. And that's just what this lesson focuses on—defining and teaching great writing traits. You will learn the six traits of writing: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions.
Conferencing With Students
This lesson focuses on writing conferences. You will be introduced to the different conferences types and how to effectively conduct your own conferences with students at varying developmental levels. You will also learn about rubrics and how to use them to assess student writing.
Navigating Roadblocks
How do you help students who struggle with some of the physical aspects of writing? In this lesson, you will learn how to navigate roadblocks such as trouble with fine motor skills, posture, and stamina. You will also explore specific tactics for reversing letter reversals.
Getting Into Genres
This lesson is all about genres: narrative, expository, procedural, persuasive, and transactional. You will learn how genre study motivates students and increases writing and reading comprehension skills. You will also examine the components of each genre and incorporate them into their classroom instruction.
Teamwork Gets It "Write": Building the Home-School Connection
The final lesson focuses on working with parents to support their young writers at home. You will learn how to have productive conferences with parents about their children's writing. You will also examine answers to some common (and often tough.) parent questions.
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