In this 3-part webinar series, participants will be introduced to a variety of instructional strategies that can be integrated into their writing classrooms. Sessions will focus on three overarching themes: planning, feedback, and revision.
Suitable for teachers in grades 3-12, this series will blend research-backed best practices with hands-on work and the opportunity to interact directly with Dr. Troy Hicks and other teachers, as desired. Teachers will leave with their first assignments ready for classroom use in Writable. Webinar purchase can be applied towards the cost of 10 Writable student seats for 2018-2019 school year (see details below). All webinars will be available (afterwards) as a recording, allowing teachers to attend live, or watch on their own schedule.
Session 1: Structuring Practice with Intentional Instruction
When engaging students in writing, it’s important to start small and “ladder up” each piece of writing practice as student understanding and abilities grow. In this session, participants will hear about a few popular instructional routines for teaching the writing process, ranging from more process-focused writing to more traits/skill-focused writing. Participants can consider how much scaffolding and support their students need, then plan how they will guide the writing process.
Dr. Hicks will preview a few assignment template options available in Writable, then ask participants to reflect on the instructional approach and assignment structure that works best for their classrooms
A “homework” task will ask participants to find and customize an assignment in Writable, then review it with a grade-level partner.
Session 2: Teaching Feedback as Formative Assessment
When engaged in the writing process, students need timely and specific feedback on their work in order to move forward with substantive revision. As educators, we must explain and model what makes feedback both important and effective, scaffolding our instruction in a manner that helps students identify the criteria by which “good” writing is judged.
Participants will learn about some popular frameworks for leading instruction about feedback. They then put themselves in a student’s shoes and give feedback on a piece of model writing in Writable. Finally, they will learn some ways to engage their students in a discussion about productive, effective peer review that leads to successful revision.
Session 3: Reflecting, Revising, and Refining the Final Draft
After adequate time for practice, giving feedback to others, and analyzing the responses from their own readers, student writers should be ready to revise. Yet, revision remains one of the most elusive and challenging steps in the writing process.
Whether they are learning to revise by reflecting on their own writing, or by acting on feedback from a peer or teacher, students need guidance on how evaluate feedback, then act on it effectively. Moving beyond simple word level substitutions and surface editing, this session will explore the process of revision with three specific instructional techniques: copy change, sentence combining, and using sentence templates. Model student writing will be shown in Writable, and attendees will leave with tools for modeling effective revision.
Presenters
Dr. Troy Hicks is a professor of English and education at Central Michigan University. He directs both the Chippewa River Writing Project and the Master of Arts in Educational Technology degree program. A former middle school teacher, he collaborates with K–12 colleagues and explores how they implement new literacies in their classrooms. He can be followed on Twitter: @hickstro
Members of the Writable team, including co-founders and curriculum leads, will facilitate interactive portions of the webinar series and support Dr. Hicks during the sessions.
Attendees & Dates
Who should attend? Teachers of writing for students in grades 3-12, literacy coaches/TOSAs, principals, and curriculum and instructional leaders. Choose from 2 webinar dates:
- Tuesdays from 7 - 8:15 pm EST on Aug 21st, Aug 28th, and September 4th, 2018
- Tuesdays from 7 - 8:15 pm EST on Sept 18th, Sept 25th, and October 2nd, 2018
Sign up to reserve your date!
Tuition
The cost of this webinar series is $75 per person, and will give participants access to the live sessions or archived recordings. Participants may apply the full value of the registration fee towards the cost of Writable seats, up to 10 per teacher, for the 2018-19 school year. If you register a group of 10 or more teachers for the webinars, the rate is $499 total. In order to apply webinar registration fees to Writable subscriptions, orders must be placed by 10/1/18.
Confirmation
Participants will receive a pre-registration email asking them to complete payment. Following payment, they will receive final login link, and information on how to log into the webinar in Zoom. Please be sure to sign up for the webinar with an email address that you can access over the summer months!
Customize It!
Have some writing goals that are unique to your classroom or district? Want to have Troy deliver professional development in person? Contact us to find out how to customize this professional development to further suit your needs.
