Professional Book Discussion Guide

Book Title: Keys to Content Writing

Summary of Book: This is the training book used during professional development for “Keys to Content Writing”. The introduction provides an overview of the program. Chapter 1 presents foundational, background knowledge about writing instruction, including an overview of The Writing Rope and teaching principles. Chapter 2 focuses on Quick Write. Chapter 3 presents suggestions for teaching students how to write longer, more sophisticated sentences and quality paragraphs. Chapter 4 focuses on the stages of the writing process. Chapter 5 offers instructional suggestions for summarizing. Chapter 6 covers the structure of three types of writing: informational, opinion/argument, and narrative. Chapter 7 offers suggestions for teaching students how to write responses to prompts based on sources.

Chapter 1: Writing Basics

• Do you agree with this statement: “Writing is not just an option for young people – it is a necessity. Along with reading comprehension, writing skill is a predictor of academic success and the basic requirement for participation in civic life and the global economy… All students need to become proficient and flexible writers.” Explain your response.
• Identify the five components (strands) that make up The Writing Rope. Then think about students you know who have difficulty writing – which strand(s) most likely present difficulty for these students?
• Explain in your own words this statement from the book: “ When students write about what they are reading and learning, they are thinking on paper.”
• Summarize the three kinds of content writing tasks (quick writes, content learning tasks, formal learning tasks) and give an example of a writing task you have (or could) assign your students under each kind.
• Review the seven teaching principles listed in the chart. Identify at least one that you would like to use on a more regular basis. Explain why.
• Do you use mentor text as writing models for your students? If yes, give a recent example. If no, think of an example of a sample of text that you could share with your students to emulate some aspect of writing.
• Writing Beliefs: Do you think students would benefit from you sharing some or all of the writing beliefs listed in the chapter? Which ones would resonate most with them?
• Review the research details and identify a few bullets that are most related to the way you teach and use writing.

Chapter 2: Quick Writes

• How would you best describe a quick write and its usefulness for learning content?
• Review the list of quick write activities in Figure 2-1. Place a check next to activities you already use on a regular basis. Then think of another activity to add to the list.
• Which of these quick write activities would be good to include in your classroom? admit and exit tickets, text message quick write, square/circle/triangle reflection, questions.
• Complete the activity that asks you to generate 3 quick writes for your students. Be sure to include details that provide clear expectations and boundaries for these writing tasks. Also include how the student responses will be used – i.e., what will students do after they complete the quick write?

Chapter 3: Sentences and Paragraphs

• Summarize in your own words what “syntactic awareness” is and why is it important at it relates to student writing?
• Explain how sentence combining practice improves students’ ability to write sentences.
• Create a sentence combining activity that is based on content you are teaching.
• Explain how sentence scramble practice improves students’ ability to write sentences.
• Create a sentence scramble activity.
• Explain why sentence elaboration activities help students write longer, more detailed sentences.
• Create a sentence elaboration activity using the “W” questions or the kernel sentence expansion protocol.
• Summarize the paragraph writing skills of your students, including their knowledge of the elements that make up paragraph structure.
• Do you think your students would benefit from any of the activities for paragraph structure? Why or why not?
• How knowledgeable are your students about patterns of organization?
• Do they use transition words/phrases on a regular basis? What can you do to support more use of transitions?
• Would any of your students benefit from the paragraph templates as a scaffold?

Chapter 4: The Writing Process

• Do you already teach explicitly the stages of the writing process? If so, what labels do you use to describe each stage?
• Can you use The Process Writing Routine (Think, Plan, Write, Revise) terminology in your classroom? If not, how could you adapt it for your classroom?
• Why do you think review of content and proofreading for conventions are listed as separate steps under the Revise stage?
• Review the suggested percentages for time spent at each stage of the writing process (i.e., 40%, 20%, 40%). Do you agree with these percentages? Why or why not?
• In your own words, explain why it is important to teach students to always be aware of the audience, task and purpose of a writing assignment.
• Describe to a colleague how often you provide opportunities for students to collaborate at the think, plan, write, or revise stages.
• Do you think two-column notes might be a helpful scaffold for your students at the THINK stage of the writing process? Why or why not?
• Do you think a topic web might be a helpful scaffold for your students at the PLAN stage of the writing process? Why or why not?
• Do you think a “Set of Steps” or writing templates might be helpful scaffolds for your students at the WRITE stage of the writing process? Why or why not?
• Do you think the sample peer or self feedback checklist might be helpful for your students at the REVISE stage of the writing process? Why or why not?
• Do you already use a planning tool similar to the WAG (Writing Assignment Guide)? If yes, how is it similar and how is it different?
• Do you think the WAG is a tool you might use to plan writing tasks and share requirements with students? Explain.

Chapter 5: Summary Writing

• Explain what a summary is, how it is different from retell, and why summarizing helps students learn content.
• Identify at least three sources of text or information related to your content area that could be summarized by your students.
• Do you think the “How to Write a Summary” set of steps might be a helpful scaffold for your students? Why or why not?
• Do you think the summary template might be a helpful scaffold for your students? Why or why not?

Chapter 6: Three Types of Writing

• List the three main types of writing. Then give basic information about the following for each type: what it does, examples, text structure.
• Identify the percentage of writing tasks you assign that are informational, opinion/argument, and narrative.
• Do you think the topic webs for the three types of writing might be a helpful scaffold for your students? Why or why not?
• Do you teach the five-paragraph essay format to students? How is it similar and different from the topic web format?
• Complete the activity that asks you to identify the type of writing.
• Explain the difference between text features and text structures.
• Review the detailed state standards for introductions, conclusions, and linking (transition) words at the end of the chapter. What do you notice about the requirements for these basic text structures as students move from grade 3 to grade 12?
• Do you think you might use the feedback checklists or rubrics for informational and opinion/argument writing at the end of the chapter? Why or why not?

Chapter 7: Writing from Sources

• Do you think the ANSWER Routine might be a helpful tool to support your students when they write responses to prompts based on sources? Why or why not?
• Generate a prompt related to your content area that requires students to write a response based on more than one source. Then:
• Identify at least two source, one of which is text.
• Generate a WAG to develop detailed directions for a writing task based on that prompt.
• Annotate the text source to identify relevant information.
• Gather the relevant information from all sources into a set of two column notes. Be sure to track sources by using a letter or number that represents each source.
• Review the information about what is challenging about writing from sources, then list all the skills that students must integrate in order to complete a writing-from-sources task.
• Explain how having students practice this type of writing using prompts related to content learning can help prepare them for writing assessments.

v. 6/28/21