The Writing Rope Book Study

Finally, a solid framework to explicitly guide teachers in writing, in all subjects ... provides practical activities and resources to develop competent and confident writers. This book will be your new best friend -- Donna Hejtmanek

Book study

The writing rope

Chapter 1 and 2 October 4th 3:30-4:00 PM

Chapter 3 and 4 October 16th 3:30-4:00 PM

Chapter 5 and 6 October 30th 3:30-4:00

Chapter 7 and 8 November 13th 3:30-4:00 PM

Chapter 9 and 10 November 27th 3:30-4:00 PM

Chapter 11 December 5th 3:30-4:00 PM

Discussion Padlet

Frontline Link

Zoom Link

Connections to your classroom

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Writing Rope

• Are you familiar with any other frameworks for writing instruction?
• If so, how is The Writing Rope framework similar and different?

• Reflect on this wording from page 7:
• “Teaching students to write is often considered the job of English language arts and writing teachers. Although some writing skills, strategies, and techniques are typically taught by the English language arts teacher during time dedicated to writing instruction, students need to practice writing on a frequent basis throughout the school day, in all subjects.”
• What are some examples of “discipline-specific” writing tasks related to the subject(s) you teach?

Connections to your classroom

Chapter 2: What do we know about effective writing instruction?

• The Science of Writing: Why is it important for teachers to know the research findings related to effective writing practices?

• How do your students’ strengths or challenges related to executive functions affect their writing ability?
• What kinds of writing scaffolds do you provide some or all of your students?

Connections to your classroom

Chapter 3: Transcription Skills

• Reflect on this wording from page 24:
• “Once students become automatic and fluent with spelling and handwriting/keyboarding, they can focus their attention on higher-level composing skills. If students do not develop fluency with these skills by Grade 4, this will put a constraint on writing development as they move into later grades.”

• Do you agree with the suggestion that spelling and handwriting are best taught during phonics instruction in the early grades?

Connections to your classroom

Chapter 4: Writing Craft

• Think of an example of how you considered the task, audience, and purpose for a writing task you have completed. The example can be a personal or professional writing task.

• Why do you think students are more motivated to write when they can keep in mind an authentic audience?
• Do you think elements of writing craft (including literary devices) should be taught primarily in English or English language arts classes, or can writing craft instruction be integrated into other content areas?

Connections to your classroom

Chapter 5: Stages of the Writing Process

• How aware are your students of the stages in the writing process?
• Do you think your students spend enough time at the Think and Plan stages? How about the Revise stage?
• Is the answer to this question different for your successful writers versus your students who struggle with writing?
• Reflect on these quotes from the book on pages 54-55:
• “During revision, students analyze and evaluate a piece of writing that is their own or their peer’s... they also need to proofread for conventions such as spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar.... Students can learn to complete two rounds of revising.”

Connections to your classroom

Chapter 6: Syntax and Sentence Skills

• Reflect on how well-developed syntactic awareness supports reading comprehension as well as writing. How does reading (or listening to read aloud) of text that includes complex sentences contribute to stronger writing ability?

• Respond to this quote from the book on page 60:
• “Sentences and paragraphs are the building blocks of writing...Good writers build their text from strong sentences.”
• Reflect on this quote from the book on page 61:
• “Teachers can use grammar terminology in writing instruction, but the focus should be on applying syntactic awareness to students’ writing in context, rather than on having students memorize and label parts of speech, sentence elements, or sentence types (Graham, Bollinger, et al., 2012).”

Chapter 7: Paragraph Skills

• When first introduced to the concept of a paragraph, young students are often taught that a paragraph should start with a topic sentence and end with a concluding sentence. In the book (page 78) it is noted that topic sentences do not always appear as the first sentence and sometimes are not stated at all (i.e., the main idea is implied). The book also suggests that a concluding sentence is not needed for every paragraph in multiparagraph pieces.
• What can teachers do to help students make the leap from formulaic paragraph writing to more sophisticated paragrahs as they move beyond grade four?

• Reflect on this quote from the book (page 79):
• “Some students have difficulty constructing paragraphs because they have not developed sufficient main idea skills. This may include not recognizing the difference between a main idea and a supporting detail...”
• What is the main idea skill levels of your students?
• Do you think some explicit instruction around main ideas would be beneficial to your students?
• How might you use the list of transition words and phrases to support your students’ writing?

Connections to your classroom

Chapter 8: Three types of Writing

• How might you use the text you use to teach content to help students learn about the different structures for
• informational, opinion/argument, and narrative types of text?
• 2. What are some sources of mentor text that you can use to teach students how to write introductions and
• conclusions?
• 3. Why do you think the topic web for planning a narrative writing piece is organized by “beginning, middle, end”
• instead of “introduction, body, conclusion”?

Connections to your classroom

Chapter 9: Summary Writing

• Are most teachers and students in your school clear about how a summary is different from a retell, a paraphrase, and other types of writing tasks?

• Briefly summarize what you learned about the benefits of writing summaries (see page 114).
• Which of the seven scaffolds might be most beneficial to help your students write summaries?
• What are some possible advantages of having students write at least one summary in every subject at least once a week?

Connections to your classroom

Chapter 10: Writing from Text Sources

• How much emphasis is placed on writing from sources in your state’s reading and writing standards?
• Do state literacy assessments include tasks where students use one or more sources to write a response to a prompt?

• How might you incorporate more opportunities for students to write responses to narrative text?
• Do you think you can incorporate some or all of the guiding questions (page 129 and 189) or the Personal Response FeedbackChecklist (pages 129 and 187)?

Chapter 11: Putting it all together

• What is your reaction to this quote from the book (page 174):

“Every teacher plays an important role in developing students’ writing skills and abilities. When students are exposed to a consistent set of instructional practices and terminolog y related to writing as they move from grade to grade and subject to subject, they are more likely to learn to independently apply writing skills, strategies, and techniques.”

Activity 1 Activity 2

The Strands of the Writing Rope (Pages 164-173)

Seven Principles for Teaching Writing (Pages 175-178)