Exploring the Reading and Writing Life - Grade 7
In Introduction to the Reading and Writing Life students are introduced to many of the habits of lifelong readers and writers through a “starter” set of exercises, dispositions, and habits essential to the reading and writing life. The unit is intended to provide teachers with a structure and a vision for how to get independent reading, independent writing, and literacy notebooks working in their classrooms. In other words, it is designed primarily to introduce tools and set in motion ways of working that can be developed, extended, and drawn on throughout the year.
Table of Contents
Text Audio
Excerpt from On Writing by Stephen King
(coming soon)
collecting words and creating a wordpool by Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge
(coming soon)
Writing Tasks
Title: Book Interview
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 2
Have students gather in groups of three to five.
Distribute three randomly selected independent reading texts per student to each group. (If your classroom library isn’t yet large enough to facilitate this, consider conducting this session at the school or public library with the support of your librarian.)
Distribute copies of the “Book Interview” sheet to students.
Using the book you interviewed during the focus lesson, show students how to fill out the sheet. Answer any questions students have about the form and its terminology.
Give students time to fill out the “Book Interview” sheet.
While students are waiting for everyone to finish, they may continue their writing from last session, begin a new entry in their literacy notebooks, or begin reading a book they found interesting.
Title: Book Interview
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 2
Have students gather in groups of three to five.
Distribute three randomly selected independent reading texts per student to each group. (If your classroom library isn’t yet large enough to facilitate this, consider conducting this session at the school or public library with the support of your librarian.)
Distribute copies of the “Book Interview” sheet to students.
Using the book you interviewed during the focus lesson, show students how to fill out the sheet. Answer any questions students have about the form and its terminology.
Give students time to fill out the “Book Interview” sheet.
While students are waiting for everyone to finish, they may continue their writing from last session, begin a new entry in their literacy notebooks, or begin reading a book they found interesting.
Title: Writing Project Proposal
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 19
Place on the board a series of deadlines for their writing project:
Writing Project Proposal — Give students at least a week to prepare their proposals. This will ensure that students have time to review notebook entries and to make thoughtful and informed decisions about how they want to spend their time and energies. While students should be permitted to revise this proposal after the established date, a firm deadline will help minimize procrastination.
First draft deadline.
Second draft deadline.
Publication submission deadline — Each semester, each student should submit at least one of his or her independent writing project pieces for publication. Given what we know about the nature of revision and the work of writing, teachers are strongly encouraged to set the deadline for this submission at the end of the semester. In this way, at the end of each semester, all students will have a single deadline for their revised, publication-ready piece.
Display the “Writing Project Proposal” for the class to see and distribute a paper copy to each student. (See Appendix for a copy-ready version.)
Review each section of the form with the class.
Answer any questions students have about the “Writing Project Proposal” contents.
Give students 7-10 minutes to think and write about project ideas they are considering.
If possible, allow students to access computers to consult sites from the “Online Writing Resources” and the “Getting Published” resource list.
Teacher Manual Instructions: Online Writing Resources, Getting Published (See Unit Resources below)
Title: Setting Goals for Independent Writing
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 20
Tell students that writers set goals for their writing life to help them become better writers.
Display “Setting Goals for Independent Writing” for the class to see and distribute a copy to each student. (See next page or Appendix for a copy- ready version.)
Review the contents of the goals sheet with the class. Answer any questions students have.
Give students time to complete the “Setting Goals for Independent Writ- ing” worksheet.
Charts for Discussion
Title: Topics from last year I might want to read or write more about this year
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 1
- In small groups of 2-3, ask students to think back to their literacy notebook work last year. If they don’t have their own literacy notebook from last year, they might instead think back to all the things they read and wrote about last year and try to generate a list of topics. Give them 4-5 minutes to generate a list of the things (topics) they remember from last year’s work.
- Reconvene the class and give students time to share their group’s lists. Work to capture the class’s thinking on a list titled “Topics from last year I might want to read or write more about this year.” Tell students they will create a version of this list in their notebook.
- Give students time to create their own list. Remind them to add this to their table of contents.
- Finally, instruct students to identify one topic from their list that they want to begin writing about today.
Title: Our Reading Life
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 3
Share a week in your reading life with students. Be sure to include the information you prepared referencing the teaching note from this session. The goal of this exercise is to represent as accurately as possible your reading over a specific period of time.
Ask students to turn and talk to each other about their own reading life, the way you just did.
Provide students with some questions on the board to prompt their sharing:
What books have you read lately? Titles? Authors? Genres?
What other materials have you read recently? Music lyrics, mail, street signs, web sites, magazines or newspapers, comics, email, social media, text messages, textbooks, etc.
Why did you read these things?
Where and when do you read? Do you read in the bedroom, library, bookstore, etc.? Before bed, at lunch, after school?
How did you locate each text? Was it from browsing a bookshelf at a store or library, or from a friend’s recommendation?
How did you read each text? Did you read it front to back? Every page? Did you skim some pages and reread parts of others?
After 3-5 minutes, reconvene the class and ask students to share summaries of their discussions. Work to capture a portrait of the class’s reading life on a chart.
Title: Beginning a New Book
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 4
Write on the board “Reading is problem solving.”
Ask the class to help you create a list of the kinds of problems that can arise during the reading of a text. This list might include the following:
Unfamiliar words, including words you can’t sound out.
Words you can say or sound out, but don’t know the meaning of.
Losing track of what’s going on.
Confusing sentence structures.
Unfamiliar settings in a story.
An unfamiliar genre.
Losing interest—the story gets boring.
Not understanding what’s happening.
Explain to the class that problems can be dealt with before, during, or after a given reading. Create a chart titled “Beginning a New Book.”
Tell the class that many problems a reader might face during the reading of a text can be prevented if the reader adds another dimension to the book interview process.
Title: What To Do Before Reading a Book In-Progress
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 6
Explain to the class that students have already learned what to do before beginning a new book. This lesson has a different focus. Its job is to review with the class some of the things readers do to reorient themselves to a text in-progress—that is, a text that they are currently reading. Good readers always reorient themselves to the book they are reading before picking it up each time.
- Ask the class to help you list on the chart things readers do to get reoriented to a text in-progress. Your list should include, but not be limited to, things like:
- To follow a story, an argument, or a line of thinking.
Review the notes you wrote the last time you read.
Skim the last page or so of the previous day’s reading.
Review the who, what, where, when, and why of the text thus far.
See where you are in the text (at the beginning, near the end, etc.). Ask yourself: Given where I am in this text and what I know about this text and other texts of its kind, what do I expect to find out about (characters, problems, etc.) next?
To acquire information from a text for a specific purpose. (For example, my computer keeps crashing every time I try to use it. What should I do?)
Review the notes you wrote the last time you read. Skim the last page or so of the previous day’s reading. Review what you’ve learned so far.
Make a list of questions within your big question. (For example, when exactly is it crashing? What are the pros/cons of different solutions?)
Use the table of contents, headings, or index to locate relevant information. Jot down notes, page numbers, and questions.
When you have completed the chart with the class, model how a reader might use the contents of the chart to get reoriented to a text in-progress. To demonstrate this, use the class’s shared reading text.
Title: Handling Unfamiliar Words
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 7
Briefly review with the class the charts created during the previous sessions. On the “Problems and Solutions” chart, create a new heading “Handling Unfamiliar Words During Reading.” Direct students to add the same head- ing to the chart in their literacy notebooks.
Ask students to offer approaches they know for solving unfamiliar words that come up during a reading.
Title: The Questions Readers Ask
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 9
- On the board or a chart, write the heading “Questions Readers Ask.”
Direct the class’s attention to the “Problems and Solutions” chart developed so far in this unit.
Acting as the scribe, ask students to draw on this chart to help you create a general list of questions readers ask about texts.
Once you have a list on the board, take a minute to point out to the class all of the different reasons readers ask questions.
Close the lesson by telling the class that reading is inseparable from questioning. Questions help prevent and solve problems, help a reader establish purposes, help a reader decide what’s important in a text, and help a reader make and maintain sense of what he or she is reading.
Title: Expectations for Independent Reading
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 10
Prior to class, create a chart titled “Expectations for Independent Reading.” This chart should include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following items:
Choose “just right,” interesting reading materials. Have an independent reading text in class each day.
Read independently during the independent reading portion of class.
Read deeply—identify favorite genres, authors, and topics and read lots of these texts.
Record your reading in a reading log.
Read widely—try new genres, authors, and topics during the course of the year.
Read the equivalent of at least 100-150 pages each week (20,000- 30,000 words).
Review the contents of this chart with the class. Point out to students that the 20,000-30,000 word goal for each week’s reading comes from research that suggests that a student who reads 200 words per minute, 25 minutes per day, 200 days per year will read 1,000,000 words per year. Research sug- gests that students who read 1,000,000 words per year not only do well on measures of reading achievement, but also experience adequate vocabulary growth and are more inclined to become lifelong readers.
Title: What We Know About Book Recommendations
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 11
Ask students to turn to the next blank page in their notebooks and to title the page “Book Recommendations.”
Ask students if they have ever read a book recommendation before—perhaps in a bookstore where bookstore employees have posted short blurbs endorsing a text or maybe online on a site like amazon.com or teenink.com. Ask volunteers to say what they know about recommendations and the kinds of things readers write in them. Jot these items on a chart titled “What We Know About Book Recommendations.”
Next, display or distribute copies of some model book recommendations. This will ensure that students have a connection with the content and will help expedite their understanding of the form. You can find model book reviews at sites like goodreads.com, teenink.com, or amazon.com.
Read two or three sample reviews aloud to the class. Use the following questions to guide students’ study of these models:
What do readers do in book recommendations (or book reviews)?
How do they begin?
How do they end?
What do they do in the middle?
Jot these questions on the board. Use these questions to drive the class’s discussion about each of the examples. Capture the class’s answers to the questions on the “What We Know About Book Recommendations” chart.
Title: The Number of Genres in Which We Have Written
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 12
Ask students to take 2-3 minutes to think about and make a list of the genres they have had practice writing in. (If students have access to last year’s literacy notebook, they can use their old notebook to help make their lists.)
Ask each student in the class to share the different genres they have written in. Capture these in a list on the board.
Next, ask each student to count up the number of different genres they have written in.
After students have tallied the number of genres they’ve attempted in the past, ask them to compare that to the list of all the genres the class generated during the focus lesson. How many of these have they tried? Which ones have they never attempted or thought of? Students can write this as a ratio—for example, “I’ve written in 4 of these 9 genres.”
The purpose of this comparison is to help students mark the number of genres they explored in past years and to suggest the number of new writing avenues that lie ahead. Having this discussion in this way builds community and shared goals.
Finally, work with the class to identify a short list of genres that a student might write in during class today.
Title: Lamott’s advice and big ideas list
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 13
After the reading, place students in groups of twos or threes and give them 3-5 minutes to identify at least two key moments in Lamott’s text. A key moment might be a place in the text where she says something that seems helpful. It might also be a moment that seems important but that students need to think more about.
Next, reconvene the class and ask students to share the moments they marked. As the class discusses each of these moments, work with students to create on the board a list of the advice or big ideas Lamott provides. Ask students to create a copy of this list in their own literacy notebook. Work hard to ensure that the items on the list are very specific.
Title: King’s advice and big ideas list
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 14
After the reading, place students in groups of twos or threes and give them 3-5 minutes to identify at least two key moments in King’s text. A key moment might be a place in the text where she says something that seems helpful. It might also be a moment that seems important but that students need to think more about.
Next, reconvene the class and ask students to share the moments they marked. As the class discusses each of these moments, work with students to create on the board a list of the advice or big ideas King provides. Ask students to create a copy of this list in their own literacy notebook. Work hard to ensure that the items on the list are very specific.
Title: Wooldridge’s advice and big ideas list
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 15
After the reading, place students in groups of twos or threes and give them 3-5 minutes to identify at least two key moments in Wooldridge’s text. A key moment might be a place in the text where she says something that seems helpful. It might also be a moment that seems important but that students need to think more about.
Next, reconvene the class and ask students to share the moments they marked. As the class discusses each of these moments, work with students to create on the board a list of the advice or big ideas Wooldridge provides. Ask students to create a copy of this list in their own literacy notebook. Work hard to ensure that the items on the list are very specific.
Title: Ralph Fletcher’s Advice for Crafting Your Story
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 16
Give students time to read, independently, “Crafting Your Story” by Ralph Fletcher. This shift from read-aloud to independent reading is designed to help prepare them for the mining of writing resource advice ahead.
Tell students that as they read, they should mark key moments in the text that they can share with the class later.
Give students time to read the selection.
As students finish, they should make notes and think about the following questions:
What is this chapter about?
What are the key moments and important ideas?
Take time to discuss these questions as a whole group. Take care to insist that students refer to specific moments or lines in the text during the discussion.
At the end of the discussion, ask students, “What advice or examples did Fletcher give that you could use in your own writing?” Capture students’ responses to this question on a chart titled “Ralph Fletcher’s Advice for Crafting Your Story.”
Title: The Independent Writing Life
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 20
Create a chart titled “The Independent Writing Life.” Beneath that heading list the following things:
Looking for topics that interest me.
Looking for audiences and occasions I can write for. Using my literacy notebook regularly.
Working on and completing my writing project.
Choosing independent reading books that help me learn about a topic or think better about writing in a certain genre.
Meeting deadlines.
Submitting my writing project for publication.
Ask students what questions they have about the independent writing work. Answer their questions.
Title: Ralph Fletcher’s Advice for Crafting Your Story
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 20
Create the “Rubric for Scoring the Literacy Notebook” on a chart or another display. In his book Time for Meaning, Randy Bomer recommends that teachers use the following three criteria to evaluate literacy notebooks: volume, variety, and thoughtfulness.
Consider adding to these a fourth criterion: writing resource advice.
Review the rubric with the class. Explain that when you look at a notebook to score it, you will be looking for four things: volume (How many entries?); variety (How many different kinds of entries?); evidence of thoughtfulness (Is this student taking this seriously? Is there evidence of thinking happen- ing when they write? Are they sharing with peers and getting feedback?); and a student’s use of writing resource texts.
Ask students to look at the chart and think for a minute about how many (volume) entries a student should make per week to receive a “4” for volume.
Write that number in the box and work through the rest of the rubric with the class. When you get to “evidence of thoughtfulness,” your descriptors
will shift from quantitative (numbers) to qualitative (words like “very” and “some”). While this row is admittedly a bit more “fuzzy’ than the other two, its power is found in its presence—that is, students know that you are looking for thoughtfulness, so they will learn to consider it in their notebook work.For the “writing resource advice” criterion, include descriptors that check for authentic engagement with writing resource texts, as well as students’ attempts at incorporating some of the advice they read.
Ask students to make a copy of the rubric in their notebooks or have copies of the class rubric available during the next session for students to insert in their notebooks.
Checks for Understanding
Title: Problems and Solutions
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 6
Ask students to share the problems they encountered while reading. Add these problems to the “Problems and Solutions” T-chart.
Work with the class to brainstorm solutions to the problems students encountered. Review past challenges classmates have suggested and consider new ones.
Title: Ways to Begin Writing in a Particular Genre
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 12
Ask students to share about the process they used. Be sure to probe for details by asking additional, open-ended follow-up questions. Capture useful comments on a chart titled “Ways to Begin Writing in a Particular Genre.”
Tell students that in the coming days they might do any one of the following things:
Continue writing in this same genre, including working on the piece they started today.
Revise today’s piece.
Begin writing in an entirely new genre.
However students choose to use their time, it should be made clear that they are responsible for the shape and focus of their writing life. The rest of this study is designed to help them to do this.
Title: What We Know About Writing
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 18
Ask students, “What did you learn about writing today?” Capture their ideas on a chart titled “What We Know About Writing.” Have students create this same chart in their literacy notebook. Some examples might include:
It’s hard.
Get feedback.
Seek advice from other writers.
Sharing is helpful.
Ask for a volunteer willing to share an incomplete writing piece to be used for the next session.
Title: The Four Writing Charts
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 11
Close the writing time by asking a few students to share what they learned during today’s session. Place these items on the appropriate working chart. One item might be “Writers sometimes ‘talk through a piece’ before they write it down.” This could go on the “Things We Know About Writers” chart. Others include “Writing is thinking” (on the “Things We Know About Writing” chart) and “Remembering is one kind of thinking that writers engage in” (on the “Things We Know About Writers” chart).
Session 12
Take a minute to add items to the four charts. For example, “Writers let themselves write badly at first and then fix it up later” could go on the “Things We Know About Writers” chart. Another item for that chart might be “Writers get ideas for writing from what they read.”
Go to the “Writing Strategies” chart. Ask students to take ten seconds to find a phrase or line they wrote about the object that they really like.
Ask volunteers to read their examples aloud. As students read their selections, listen for writing strategies. Do students compare the object to other things using metaphors and similes? Do students tell stories? Do students “anthropomorphize” the object, giving it human characteristics? Listen for these strategies and others and jot them down on the chart.
Take a minute to add items to the other charts. Additions could include the following:
“Writers pay attention to details.”
“Writers look for interesting ways to describe objects.”
“Writing is like long-distance running—the more you do it, the better you get.”
Session 14
Add “emulate or mimic good paragraphs by other writers” to the “Things Writers Write in a Notebook” chart.
Call on students to share their mimics. Invite the rest of the class to comment on similarities in sentences and overall structure. Consider adding these details to the “Things Writers Write in a Notebook” chart as subpoints to the “emulate or mimic” entry.
Session 16
- Take a minute with the class to summarize what Stafford says in these lines. Write these distillations down on the “Things We Know About Writers” and “Things We Know About Writing” charts.
Independent Reading
Title: Reading Log
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Independent Reading
As you transition to independent reading, discuss how students can keep a reading log. Show students how you would like them to set up and use their reading log to record their independent reading this year. An example of one way a reading log could be set up is provided nearby. You may choose to have students create a table in their notebooks, use a pre-made sheet, or a digital format.
Explain to students that they should make an entry in their log only after they have finished a book. You will need to negotiate with students how to handle the entry of magazine readings (for example, entire issues versus individual articles).
After students have set up the log, including proper headings, creating the grid, etc., show students how to make an entry.
Answer any questions students have about the reading log.
Begin independent reading.
Consider conducting individual reading conferences with students as they are engaged in independent reading. In No More Independent Reading Without Sup- port, Debbie Miller and Barbara Moss (2013) suggest that during early conferences, you should listen to students and work to build trust: Ask students how they view reading and how they think of themselves as readers; ask what they are interested in. Over time you can ask more about what they are reading and about how you can help them or what they are struggling with. Use what you learn from these conversations to guide additional instruction with groups or with the class.
Title: Independent Reading – Individual Planning Sheet
Instructions:
Title: End of Marking Period Self-Assessment
Instructions:
Unit Resources
Title: Baseline Writing Task
Teacher Manual Instructions:
When students are ready to begin, give them ONE of the following prompts or something similar. (All students should respond to the same prompt for this work for easy comparison of responses.) For a full explanation of the baseline writing task and its uses, review the information in Developing Fluency in Writing.
Title: What kind of text is this?
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 4
Display a copy of the “What Kind of Text Is This?” graphic for the class to see.
Explain to the class that this diagram can lead a reader through a line of questions that, when answered, ensure that the reader is better positioned to make sense of what is in the text.
Demonstrate for the class how to use the “What Kind of Text Is This?” graphic to analyze the narrative (a novel) and non-narrative (an informational text containing a table of contents) texts you pre-selected. Illustrate the use of this diagram in the following way:
At the top, write the title of the book.
Next, move through the line of questioning on the graphic. Write down the answer to each question to create a “trail” of information you can then review before beginning the reading.
When you’ve finished creating the “trail,” review your responses and explain to the class how this process helped you prevent certain problems from arising.
Answer any questions about the diagram and tell students they will have an opportunity to “test” it during the independent reading portion of the work period.
• Add “Work Through the ‘What Kind of Text Is This?’ diagram” to the “Begin- ning a New Book” chart.