Writing Resources
Here are some resources I have used to help my students grow as writers. With all things ESL-ly, some forms may need to be modified to meet the needs of the individual learner. Students may require more or less support depending on their individual strengths.
Student Goal SettingCould be modified for all Grades-All Levels
Students love feedback! I was conferring with students in a half day kindergarten classroom last week, and had a little girl perk up and request, "Can you tell me about my writing too?" Just like adults, students are craving to know what they are doing right, and curious to figure out what they will need to do next to improve. Explicit feedback may be the only way to move your kiddos from a level 5-6. The idiosyncrasies of English grammar, figurative language, and the ability to use the "just right" word at just the right time are all reasons why students have a very difficult time moving beyond level 5 into native-like proficiency.
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This goal setting sheet was created to align with the Common Core standards and Six Traits. Goals are categorized by three levels; Developing, Emerging, and Fluent.
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Writer's Tool Kit
English Learners will undoubtedly have unique needs as they continue to build their skills as writers. As you confer with each student, take note of what they are doing well, and what their next step might be. If the student is continuously mis-conjugating past tense verbs, maybe they need a list of irregular past tense verbs. If they are overusing works like big, nice, etc, maybe they need a retired word list (or a thesaurus). English learners generally need supports in the areas of vocabulary, grammar, and/or sentence complexity. Pinterest is a great resource for ready-made classroom supports. Look for resources that are categorized, color-coded, or have visual support. These help "anchor" the student to the task, and they may be able to utilize the tool without teacher support. Long lists without a reference point, may not be as useful.
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Appositives
Grades 3-6
ELP Levels 3-5 This is a whole group activity I created to help students develop a toolkit for using appositives in their writing. Using appositives will help students to "sound like an expert" in their writing by helping them to vary their sentence structure and improve their linguistic complexity.
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Sentence Structure
Grades 3-6
ELP Levels 3-5 According to WIDA, one of features of fluent academic writing is a student's ability to vary their sentence structure. In English, phrases can move around within the sentence to draw attention to, or to put emphasis on certain words or phrases. This activity shows how versatile sentences in the English language can be. Students will use sentence stems that illicit different types of sentences around the same topic. Explicitly showing students how it is possible to move phrases around in their sentences, will give them to freedom to try it on their own. Continued practice combined with feedback should help improve their sentence complexity. This lesson was inspired by in-house professional development we received through my school district.
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Compare/Contrast Scaffold
Grades 2-6
ELP Levels 2-4 Sentence stems and signal words give level 2-4 English Learners the scaffolding they need to be successful when writing to compare and contrast. By giving English Learners the structure expected when comparing and contrasting, they are able to focus more on demonstrating their comprehension and less on the organization of their final product.
For level 1, try adding sentence stems. If you are comparing two stories, you could try to find the stories in an video format in the student's native language to help deepen their understanding. Many popular children's stories are available in multiple languages on YouTube. There are also stories available through Readinga-z, Raz-Kids, and Tumblebooks if you are a subscriber. Level 1 students will be able to better demonstrate their understanding of showing what is the "same" and "different" between the stories without having to decode the text. |
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Cause/Effect Frame
Grades 4-6
ELP Levels 2-4 Showing cause and effect relationships is difficult for level 3-4 English learners who have not had the same opportunities to orally develop the concept. This resource structures the cause and effect process for English Leaners while providing signal words, guiding questions, and a graphic organizer. The guiding questions and signal words are adapted from "Classroom Instruction that Works with English Learners" by Jane D. Hill and Kirsten B. Miller. Level 1-2 considerations could include adding small group oral rehearsal, partner reading, allowing students to develop the ideas in their first language, or adding a place for students to show the relationship with quick graphics.
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Column Venn Diagram
Grades 1-6
ELP Levels 1-4 English Learners and other students struggling with organizing information for writing, may benefit from using a Column Venn Diagram while writing to compare. Though students will need to be comfortable using the traditional Venn Diagram to be successful on standardized tests, this model may be easier for note taking by providing the columns that could extend easily to additional pages, versus trying to squeeze all of your information into the segments of the circles. For levels 1-2, try adding a word bank, sentence stems, or adding the words "same" and "different" to column headings. Allowing struggling readers to practice comparing and contrasting by hearing stories, videos, and classroom discussions will also help increase their effectiveness with the task.
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Informational Texts Research Frames
Grades 2-6
ELP Levels 2-5 At intermediate levels, the Common Core standards ask our students to be able to collect information from multiple sources and create their own synthesis in an informational text. Here are a few templates I have created for note catchers that include the graphic organizers, guiding questions, and signal words students will need to be successful readers. The form then guides them through the writing process while helping them to improve their word choice and organization. For students with stronger listening skills than reading skills, consider allowing their first source to be a video so they are able to demonstrate facility with pulling out relevant information.
The guiding questions and signal words on these forms are adapted from "Classroom Instruction that Works with English Learners" by Jane D. Hill and Kirsten B. Miller. |
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Figurative Language
Figurative language is difficult for many of our English Learners to understand. Students will begin to understand the different layers of figurative language with multiple exposures to the context of how they are used, and by spending time immersed in the culture. Offering scaffolds for creating and decoding different types of figurative language and providing opportunities for students to "play" with them during reading and writing can help to accelerate this language learning process.
Similes and MetaphorsWith Similes and Metaphors, students struggle to see the abstract connections we draw when comparing two unlike things. This lesson plan takes students through the process of creating a simile and the transforming into a metaphor using a highly-scaffolded process. This lesson was inspired by Classroom Instruction That Works with English Language Learners, 2nd Edition (Hill & Miller, 2014)
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Idioms
English Learners will often read over idioms without stopping to address the fact that the passage didn't make sense. They don't realize that the author was being playful with their language and that there is-in a sense-a hidden meaning. We can challenge students to try to "crack the code" of idioms by using the context, the pictures, and substituting a phrase that might make sense to help discover what the author was really saying. As students collect idioms that make them smile, encourage them to use them in their writing. They may still have some misconceptions, but with a little clarification, they will be on their way to sounding more and more like a native English speaker.
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Pictures to Inspire Writers
Check out these pictures of curious kids playing around the world to help inspire writing in your classroom. How might these pictures support the use of figurative language in your classroom? What other genres of writing might they support?
The link to the right offers example tasks and feedback for writers at different WIDA proficiency levels.
Thank you to Laura for sharing these beautiful pictures with us!
The link to the right offers example tasks and feedback for writers at different WIDA proficiency levels.
Thank you to Laura for sharing these beautiful pictures with us!