Much of the structure of this unit is inspired by “The Writing Strategies Book” by Jennifer Serravallo and “Craft Lessons: Teaching Writing K-8” by Ralph Flectcher and Joann Portalupi’s. In creating this Unit, I pulled together different ideas from the books into my own sequence of lessons. These books are written by influential writing instructors who use techniques that are well-researched and supported by teachers. Jennifer Serravallo notes in her book: “This book’s lessons have been vetted, and samples of real student work and real teacher-created charts grace its pages thanks to these educators from Connecticut to California” ( 2017, p. xi). I attempted to supplement the writing curriculum with mentor texts and models that are culturally relevant for the students. Many of the activities, such as the “Heart Map” activity, encourage students to leverage their funds of knowledge and to write about what is important to them (Serravallo, 2017, p. 98). The activity also incorporates drawing as a tool for writing, and allows students to incorporate their full linguistic repertoire in their Heart Map. This can help students to get their ideas onto paper, and to see that writing can take different forms.

           The central idea of choice in writing involves more than just providing options for the student writers. It also means that students have control over their own writing time. This is a philosophy that is contrary to some standards-based methods of teaching. In order for students to have autonomy as writers, the students should be able to choose how they want to spend their writing time, within the parameters that are set by the teacher and the students together. When students have ownership over the writing that they are creating, they are more likely to be engaged and motivated. It is important that teachers support students in their own explorations as writers, and that “rather than assign[ing] we can invite students to use their writer’s notebook as a place to ‘have a go’ at the craft elements you’ve been discussing with them” (Fletcher & Portalupi, 2007, p. 12). In addition, when students are more interested in the topic, engagement also increases, as was shown by Bruning & Kauffman (2016). When the stories or topics are culturally relevant, students are more likely to relate or see themselves as writers (Muhammad, 2021). In addition, students were provided with feedback throughout the Unit, and every student engaged in a conference with the teacher. These meetings can help the teacher to provide targeted support for individual students. The unit also involves opportunities for students to share their ideas and writing with their peers, and to learn from the experiences and perspectives of their classmates. In addition to helping students to share their own experiences, when a supportive writing and sharing environment is created, the classroom culture and community can develop and flourish.

Why is a Unit Like this Important? Implications for Curriculum and Impact

            Writing Units like this are more important now than ever. Writing can be a powerful medium through which students can express themselves. As a foundational writing unit, this unit can be used to create a respectful and collaborative classroom community of writers. In including the many different books to choose from, the goal is to communicate the writers can tell stories in many different ways. With the spread of scripted literacy curricula and standardization, it is important for teachers and administrators to see how much value can be drawn from a narrative writing unit. A unit like this can help students to see themselves as writers, which has the potential to improve their motivation for all different genres of writing. This unit also celebrates individuality and difference among students, and provides them with opportunities to showcase what matters to them. This can help the students to learn more about one another, and can help to create a culture of sharing and listening to one another.

            In order to spread the word about this unit, and to make the unit available to other teachers, I have created a blog (https://missrosen.edublogs.org/) in which I have posted the lesson plans, rationale, and book list. My plan is to share this with my colleagues here at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, as well as my other teacher friends, with the hope that this could spread even further. This blog is accessible to any interested teacher, parent, or administrator to access, and I hope to be able to continue to add lessons and other articles or posts as I continue to create lessons for my students. Viewers of the blog can also comment their own ideas! My dream is that units such as this one can provide teachers with the tools that they need to implement a creative and responsive writing unit that can help more students to see that they have stories worth telling.

References

Bruning, & Kauffman. (2017). Self-efficacy beliefs and motivation in writing development. In Handbook of Writing Research. essay, The Guilford Press.

Fletcher, R. J., & Portalupi, J. A. (2007). Craft lessons: Teaching Writing K-8. Stenhouse Publishers.

Muhammad, G. E., & Mosley, L. T. (2021). Why we need identity and equity learning in literacy       practices: Moving research, practice, and policy forward. Language Arts, 98(4), 189-196.             Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/sc             holarlyjournals/why-we-need-identity-equity-learning-literacy/docview/2502933530/se-2

Serravallo, J. (2017). The Writing Strategies Book: Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled   Writers. Heinemann.