Writing in Response to
Source Material: Ensuring
Success
Steve Graham
[email protected]
Why is this Important?
• Students are increasingly asked to write in
response to source material of CCSS and State
Assessments.
• Writing about text material or other content
requires students to think more deeply about it.
• Students need effective strategies for doing this.
Common Core State Standards Raise the BAR –
We Need to Adapt
5th Grade
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.
• 5.1: Write opinion pieces on
topics or texts, supporting a
point of view with reasons
and information
6th Grade
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.
• 6.1: Write arguments to
support claims with clear
reasons and relevant
evidence.
• 5.9: Draw evidence from
literary or informational texts
to support analysis,
reflection, and research
• 6.1.b: Support claim(s) with
clear reasons and relevant
evidence, using credible
sources and demonstrating an
understanding of the topic or
We will look at one example of how to help
students write from source material.
• Evidence-Based Practice
30 + Years of SRSD research
POW Writing Strategy
• POW
• Pick my idea
• Organize my notes
• Write and say more
• Used with any type of writing
• Gives students POWer when writing
TREE
Writing Strategy
Topic Sentence
TREE
1
• Tell what you believe!
2
3
Reasons
• 3 or more
• Why do I believe this?
• Will my readers believe this?
Explain Reasons
• Say more about each reason.
Ending
• Wrap it up right!
Student Planning Sheet
TWA Think Before, While, and
After Reading
Reading Strategy
• Close reading strategy
• Used to identify reasons
and explanations from
text
• Incorporated to meet
CCSS
• Initially developed and
validated by Linda Mason
Informational Text
• 4th to 5th grade reading
level
• Four to six paragraphs
• Approximately 300
words
How do we teach these strategies –
Self-Regulated Strategy Development
(SRSD)
SRSD
Strategies
1. POW
2. TREE
3. TWA
Instructional
Stages
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Background Knowledge
Discuss It
Model It
Memorize It
Support It
Independence
Self-Regulation
1.
2.
3.
4.
Goal Setting
Self-Monitoring
Self- Reinforcement
Self-Statements
SRSD
Strategies
1. POW
2. TREE
3. TWA
Instructional
Stages
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Background Knowledge
Discuss It
Model It
Memorize It
Support It
Independence
Self-Regulation
1.
2.
3.
4.
Goal Setting
Self-Monitoring
Self- Reinforcement
Self-Statements
Self-Regulation Components
1. Goal-Setting
2. Self-Monitoring
•Self-Assessment
•Self-Recording
3. Self-Reinforcement
4. Self-Instructions/SelfStatements
Take a deep
breath. Good
ideas will
come.
Self-Assessment and Self-Recording
Rockets
• Graphing the parts of TREE in the rocket
• Colored one star for every linking word
• Helps student visualize progress
• Allows student to see where improvement is
needed
Self-Statements
I know what I
need to do.
1. Problem Definition
• “What is my purpose for writing?”
2. Focusing Attention & Planning
• “Take a deep breath, good ideas will come.”
• “I need to make a plan.”
3. Strategy
• “ I can use TWA to help me find good reasons and explanations.”
4. Self-Evaluating & Error Correcting
• “Have I followed all the steps? Let me check. Oops, I missed one; That’s okay, I can
revise.”
5. Coping & Self-Control
• “Okay, I need to go slow and take my time. I can do this.”
6. Self-Reinforcement
• “Hurray! I’m done!; I’m getting better at this!”
SRSD
Strategies
1. POW
2. TREE
3. TWA
Instructional
Stages
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Background Knowledge
Discuss It
Model It
Memorize It
Support It
Independence
Self-Regulation
1.
2.
3.
4.
Goal Setting
Self-Monitoring
Self- Reinforcement
Self-Statements
Develop & Activate Background
Knowledge
- Read and discuss works in the genre
- Appreciation of characteristics of effective
writing
- Continue development through the Model It
- Mnemonics
Discuss the Strategies
- Discuss writing and self-regulation strategies
- Introduce graphic organizer
- Analyze good, model papers
- Take notes from these papers
- Analyze poor essays
- Make notes for a better essay and write this essay
collaboratively
- Graph essay elements and other goals in pretest
- Give students mnemonic chart and graphic
organizer
Model the Strategy
- Teacher verbalizes their thought process
as they perform the strategy
- Teacher modeling of writing and selfregulation strategies
- Analyze and discuss strategies and model’s
performance
- Model self-assessment and self-recording
- Example: self-statements
Memorize the Strategy
- Before Independent
Performance, make sure
students have memorized:
- Mnemonics
- What they mean
- Importance of each step
Support the Strategy Independent
Performance
- Fade from collaborative work to independent
performance
- Prompts, guidance, and collaboration faded
- Recursive
- Scaffolding is KEY
- Additional self-monitoring example
Student’s Graphs
Student Discussing Rockets
• Teacher: Why did we color the rockets?
• Student: It was to show you, ummm, how many parts you added and
when you look at the rockets in your previous ones it can show you
how much you’ve grown and how much you’ve learned and even from
our first one we did pretty okay but from the very first essay that we
wrote we just like went up a lot so it’s a really good strategy and yeah.
• Teacher: So do you like tracking your own work and seeing your
improvements? Do you think that is helpful for kids?
• Student: It makes them feel good because usually with the strategy
you will definitely improve.
Carlos’ Pre-test
Carlos’ Post-test
Penny’s
Pre-test
Penny’s
Post-test
WARNING - Don’t PEE in the classroom
Post
Explain
Expect
IMPACT
Writing Quality
Reading
Comprehension
Genre
Knowledge
Student Interview Responses
• Many students point out the rockets and the self-statements as
favorite parts.
• During instruction, when time was up, one student asked if they
could please make clones of themselves who could go back to
class, so the real kids could keep writing.
• Some quotes:
•
•
•
•
•
•
It was super duper fun!
It makes writing easier.
NOW I know how to do this.
They are awesome and good strategies.
If my classmates didn’t know TWA, I would teach them.
This is a really good thing you taught us.
How Would You Adapt
&
Discussion
Resources
SRSD
Harris, K.R., Graham, S, Mason, L., & Friedlander (2008). Powerful writing
strategies for all students. Baltimore, MD: Brookes. Complete lesson plans and
student and teacher materials for 12 writing strategies. Best price at Amzon.com.
www.thinkSRSD.com
http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/index.html
http://srsdonline.org
www.unl.edu/csi