As schools move to common core standards, writing is increasingly important . This session examines how to teach writing in the common core that is meaningful to young adolescents leading to increased motivation, quality and ownership. Participants will learn strategies to teach the common core that are also developmentally responsive.

1. WRITING WITH YOUNG
ADOLESCENTS AND THE
COMMON CORE
Dr. Holly Thornton
AMLE/Appalachian State University

2. Young Adolescents’ Needs
•Identity
•Belongingness
•Decision-Making/Power
•Concrete to Abstract Thinking
•Competency
•Connection/Relevancy

3. What type of thinking does the Common
Core Require
What are the new distinctions in these Standards?
• More advance conceptual understanding
• Higher level thinking
• Real World Context
• 21st century skills (3 C-s)
For example:
• ELA Standards demand a greater balance between reading
informational and literary texts, and stress the use of text-based
evidence to support argumentation in writing and speaking.
• The Mathematics Standards accentuate the focus on a smaller set of
conceptually larger ideas that spiral across the grades (as opposed to
simply “covering” numerous skills) with an emphasis on meaningful
application using the Practices.

4. Outcomes not Curriculum
• The Standards define what all students are expected to know
and be able to do, not how teachers should teach.
• Educators must translate the Standards into an engaging and
effective curriculum.
Broad Categories
1) Long term Transfer Goals
2) Overarching Understandings
3)Overarching Essential Questions
4) Cornerstone Tasks
From Common Core Standards to Curriculum: Five Big Ideas
Jay McTighe and GrantWiggins
http://grantwiggins.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/mctighe_wiggins_final_common_core_standards.pdf

5. • Transfer Goals: identifies the effective uses of content understanding,
knowledge, and skill that we seek in the long run; i.e., what we want
students to be able to do when they confront new challenges – both in
and outside of school.
• Understandings: state what skilled performers will need in order to
effectively transfer their learning to new situations, while explorations
of the Essential Questions engage learners in making meaning and
deepening their understandings
• Cornerstone Tasks: are curriculum-embedded tasks that are
intended to engage students in applying their knowledge and skills in
an authentic and relevant context
• Anchor the curriculum around the most important performances that we want
learners to be able to do
• Realistic contexts
• Integrate the 21st century skills (e.g.,creativity, technology use, teamwork) with
subject area content knowledge and skills
• Recur across the grades, progressing from simpler to more sophisticated;
scaffolded to autonomous performance
• Track performance

6. Think pair share: In writing…..
What do you see as transfer goals?
What do you see as understandings?
What do you see as cornerstone tasks?

7. Common Core and Middle Grades Writing
Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence
• Introduce claim(s), acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence
logically.
• Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of
the topic or text.
• Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and
evidence.
• Establish and maintain a formal style.
• Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas,
concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of
relevant content.
• Introduce a topic clearly, previewing what is to follow; organize ideas, concepts, and information into broader categories; include
formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., charts, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
• Develop the topic with relevant, well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.
• Use appropriate and varied transitions to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts.
• Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
• Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented.
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using
effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event
sequences.
• Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an
event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically.
• Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, and reflection, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
• Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence, signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another, and
show the relationships among experiences and events.
• Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and
events.
• Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on the narrated experiences or events.

8. Writing for C.C. in other content areas
Extended Constructed-Response Items
Extended constructed-response items allow educators to
measure skills that are difficult to assess with traditional
multiple-choice items. This could include writing an essay
or answering an open-ended question in English language
arts or mathematics.

9. Student Motivation
• Ownership
• Engagement
• Relevancy
• Power & Voice
• Success
• Enjoyment

10. Writers Workshop and the Writing
Process

11. Scaffolding Revision: Activities
• Writing Development Sheet= Word choice, detail, senses,
structure
• Paragraph Revision= Coherence, sequence, transition,
audience, closure, perspective
• Mini- lessons
• Peer revision
• Technology and revision

19. Share Your Ideas and Experiences
• How do you motivate young adolescent students to write?
• How do you work toward quality writing in a Language
Arts classroom? Across the curriculum?
• What connections do you see between writing instruction
and the Common Core?
• Questions?