Professional Development: First Day Organization for A Year of Writing Fluency

Need a lesson plan for the first day that will set your students up to become fluent writers for the state test assessment? I used this plan to challenge students to Seize the Day every year in 10th grade English. I recommend it for middle school as well.

Creating a classroom community of writers was one of my teacher goals.

Video clips from facebook with Robin Williams teaching students they can and will write great poems are featured (digital links in google doc for teacher).

A formula poem "Where I'm From" is used as a class project and will help the class bond as they learn about each other as unique individuals. Three example poems are included.

An example of a Class Group poem is included. Student volunteers use a line from each student's poem to make up the group poem which was read in class. The poem was read on the first Author's Chair Friday and all class group poems were displayed on a class wall all year. The students were proud the class project and subs often told me they insisted the sub read the group poem before they started class. Depending on your class size, you might be able to include 2 student lines but with large classes one line is usually all that will fit. Often students will include some of the same things (deer hunting) so they may have more than one line they think they wrote.

Author's Chair on the second day of class may give students the opportunity to share what they wrote. I followed up with that activity and more quickwrites.

Using quickwrites is a good way to expand student's writing fluency so they can adequately write an essay in 55 minutes for the state test assessment. Starting with 15 minutes, I expand the free writing time until it something students can do in May.

Some years I had students make powerpoint or video presentations reading their poem and we watched those during the stolen minutes when the class had finished the lesson plan for the day.

You can also use a variation of the quickwrites in student notebooks. BTS sales will include really cheap student notebooks. Buy 25 and write the topic for that notebook on the front of the notebook. I had tables (not desks) so I put the notebooks in the center of the tables and students could choose the topic they wanted to write about. They could also use notebooks not on their own table. Drawing, poetry, letters, letter to the editor, and free writing were acceptable for the writing fluency.

One notebook was a short story. Students would use a short story starter (sentence) and the students would create a group story when different people continued what the writer before them had started.

I included a link to my 15 Minute Quickwrite product if you choose to purchase it for your quickwrites. It is not included in the Google doc lesson plan. I gave the students a writing folder (also cheap at BTS) with a printed copy of the quickwrites. They could check them off as they wrote. They could create new topics for themselves if they asked. It took some preparation before to copy a quickwrite packet and put it in each folder. The folder in the quickwrite product (not included) is pdf so they might be able to do it all digitally. I did not grade any of the writing fluency writing digitally. It was all paper/pencil. We wrote quickwrites from the prompts all year.

I started doing this lesson plan after I attended a summer session for the National Writing Project and I loved it so much I never used a different plan. Writing is my passion and as a National Writing Project fellow I have done numerous presentations about writing lesson plans. I hope you love this as much as I do. I encourage you to write with the students during the writing time if only for 5 minutes so they see you modeling the behavior you want them to embrace. (I know, I took digital attendance, got things ready to project after the writing, and gave students make-up work during the quiet writing time but sometimes I did manage to write.)

As per grading, I gave them participation points for writing. I walked around the classroom and added 10 points for those students who were successfully writing. I did not deduct on how long or short what they wrote was because they were learning to be fluent writers so I did not care about the word count. At the start of the year I read ALL the quickwrites (the first weeks for sure) to get to know the students and their writing levels.

As for grading the writing notebooks, I did not read all of the entries. Sometimes (group short story) they would ask me to read it when they finished it. Sometimes students asked to take a writing notebook with them to finish what they were writing. I allowed this as it did not occur on a daily or even weekly basis. I had 50 class topic notebooks so I would still have enough if one or two were out.

I tried to make writing fluency fun, not something they would hate because they wrote badly and might get 3/10. Participation points keep things from being hateful activities.

Have a fantastic year! If you use this plan, I hope you will love it as much as I do.

PLAN INCLUDES:

PDF and DOCX of 10 quickwrites so you have some to use if you don't buy the separate packet (not included).

PDF and DOCX of the 3 poems in the lesson plan, formula for students to follow, example of poem I wrote, example of 4th period group poem.

Google Doc link for the lesson plan (forced copy).

Everything can be edited by you to fit your class.

Please contact seller with any questions. Seller is a member of National Writing Project and a Lilly Teacher Creativity Grant recipient.

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Non-Fiction Test Prep 3 Tiers

Writing Fluency: Fifteen Minute Quickwrites

Creative Writing: Enclosed Space

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