Teaching Writing to Older Students
The Writing Process and Writing Workshop
Effective writing instruction pays close attention to the writing process through routine and frequent opportunities for practice (3+ times per week). Writing workshop is a general way of organizing writing instruction that emphasizes the process of writing. Through frequent mini-lessons and conferences with the teacher, in the context of students’ own writing, students learn grammar, mechanics, editing skills, and the craft of writing. Students develop their writing skills by choosing their own topics or responding to given writing assignments and then following a process.
More on the writing process and writing workshop.
Six Traits of Effective Writing
Every year, writing instruction emphasizes the development of six qualities that mark good writing:
Ideas Development
The heart or main idea (thesis) is not only clear, focused, and supported with juicy details, but it also captures the reader’s attention and interest.
Organization
The internal structure of ideas is purposeful and logically ordered with appropriate transitions, leading the reader to a logical and meaningful point and ending.
Voice
The writer’s heart, soul, and conviction energizes, compels, and engages the audience.
Word Choice
The right word is used in the right way at the right time, creating the intended effect, impression, or mood. The words are consistently precise, interesting, engaging, and powerful.
Sentence Fluency
The language flows with rhythm and grace, logic and music. Sentences are elegant and well-crafted, wanting to be read aloud.
Conventions
Punctuation, spelling, grammar, formatting, and usage are correct.
Forms of Writing
As students write, they utilize and discover the power and effect of various forms of writing. Each year, students practice and expand their mastery of narrative and essay forms.
Emphasized forms of writing:
- Grade 4: Narratives, Reports, Poetry, Personal Letters, Persuasive Essays, and Biographical Essays
- Grade 5: Expository Essays, Descriptive Essays, Informational Reports, Poetry, Letters, and Prescriptive Writing
- Grade 6: Personal Narrative, Heroic Narrative, Poetry, Book Reviews, Persuasive Essays, Informational Reports, Memoir
- Grade 7: Personal Narrative, Extra-Curricular Resume, Compare/Contrast Essay, Expository Essay with Citations, Descriptive Process Essay, Poetry, Literary Analysis, On-Demand Writing
- Grade 8: Personal Essay, Compare/Contrast Essay, Persuasive Essay, Prescriptive Process Essay, Poetry, Expository Essay
Grammar, Spelling, & Writing Conventions
Multiple curriculum resources are introduced in the upper grades so that students may enter a more formal study of grammar, spelling, and writing conventions.
- Grades 4 & 5: Writer’s Express (WriteSource) and Every Day Spelling (Pearson-Scott Foresman) begin to be utilized and are used through eighth grade.
- Grades 6-8: WriteSource materials and Every Day Spelling continue to be used. In addition, Easy Grammar Plus (Easy Grammar Systems) is utilized to assist students as they learn to identify parts of speech and correct usage.
More importantly, in the context of writing, students develop critical strategies that enable them to produce polished pieces for authentic audiences. To guide spelling, students develop survival word lists, mastery of both printed and digital dictionaries, and skill in applying key spelling rules. To improve other conventions, students learn basic rules and investigate typical mistakes that relate to periods, commas, colons and semi-colons, hyphens, parenthesis, & apostrophes. In addition rules relating to capitalization and punctuation are continually practiced.
Academic Exhibitions: Grades 7 & 8
An eighth grade diploma from Mustard Seed School represents, among many other things, the completion of eight exhibitions in which students demonstrate their knowledge and competence in literature, mathematics, science, history, leadership and service, and the arts. Among other exhibition requirements, students are expected to complete a formal essay for each exhibition, which will be read by advisors and faculty and which will also serve as the foundation for the related oral presentation.
More on Academic Exhibitions (link to academic exhibitions)