Writing for Life Online Workshop with Lyn Stone (PD333)

Previously called “The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword”, this guide to high impact literacy teaching will help raise your understanding of the components of successful writing.

This online course delivers 6 hours of professional learning.

Note: Prices are inclusive of 10% Goods and Services Tax (GST) for all Australian residents.

Session 1: Underlying Skills and Knowledge for Writing

We start by exploring the components of writing and the critical processes that underlie writing fluency. We touch on:

• Orthographic mapping
• Working memory
• The simple view of writing

We then explore a way to look at the parts of speech that builds a valuable set of terms you can use in the classroom to help with concept development and feedback.

We will cover nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions in ways that go beyond “A noun is a naming word…a verb is a doing word…” and still makes complete sense.

Session 2: The Survival List

At Lifelong Literacy, our goal is to teach all of our students to read and write fluently. To do this, we have a list of words they need to learn as a priority. It’s called The Survival List and it constitutes some of the most common words in the English language, as well as subject-specific words for that particular student.

There are plenty of word lists readily available, such as the Dolch or Fry or Magic 100 lists, but they contain a mixture of simple and complex patterns. For instance, in the Dolch list, the word big (a simple 1:1 CVC pattern) is right there with away (a two-syllable word containing a digraph) and said (an unusual pronunciation of the digraph , which only really occurs in this word and in some accents in the word again, but which follows the grammatical/etymological pattern of lay and pay).

The amount of times we see children being given homework requiring them to learn this mishmash of random patterns is astonishing. It is simply not viable for many children.

As a solution, we have extracted the words that don’t have a transparent code structure and have placed them in families containing similar patterns. We use a simple marking system and a four-step analysis process that is taught to students so that they become aware of the words’ morphological and etymological structure and kinships.

The Survival List and 4-Step Process therefore is a template to teach any words for automatic recall when writing.

This list is called the Survival List for two reasons:

1. Because knowing how to read and spell the words on their list will help them become fluent readers and writers as quickly as possible and
2. Because the techniques used to learn these words can extend to other words with complex patterns that students can teach themselves, thus helping them to survive the onslaught of increasing complexity and expectation as their academic career unfolds.

Session 3: What About Writing?

With high quality initial instruction, the majority of children can learn to read, regardless of diagnosis. But what about writing? Achievement of accurate, fluent written expression requires instruction and practice far beyond that needed for reading. Partly as a result of this, the value of high quality, early writing instruction can be neglected or downplayed in primary school, thus leading to large populations who fail to develop appropriate levels of written expression.

Teaching all children to write is hard, but worth the effort. In this module, we explore:

• Matthew effects in writing and how this can be combatted
• Muscle memory
• Metalanguage
• Phrases, clauses and sentences
• Quality vs. quantity
• Dysgraphia

We also look into ways in which current practice in schools can be geared towards getting all children to improve their handwriting skills, as well as where to draw the line and get the most out of technology.

How it All Works

This course is a series of three online modules and is intended to be accessed over the course of three months. During that time, Lyn and the Lifelong Literacy team will monitor the forums and feedback sections regularly and will respond to queries and assignments.

The modules contain videos, pdfs, quizzes, links and forums where you can collaborate, ask questions, make comments and upload files. It is a collaborative space and has already been well-populated with excellent suggestions and work samples.

You will receive:

• A printable manual
• Downloadable slides from all the pre-recorded presentations
• Worksheets for classroom application

Once you have completed all the modules, you will receive a certificate of participation for at total of 6 hours PD.

Schools:

We have special deals for large school populations.
Please contact us to enrol multiple people 

Some feedback from the first webinar:

“Thanks so much for your wise words Lyn.”
“Thank you so much, incredibly helpful and practical information”
“Many thanks Lyn. Great webinar.”
“Thanks Lyn, this has been fabulous and thanks for sharing your experience.”
“Thank you – lots of helpful info.”
“Thanks so much Lyn! Brilliant!”
“Excellent evening. Thank you.”
“Inspiring to listen to you Lyn!”
“Thanks Lyn, SO informative!”
“Thank you so much, very engaging. :-)”
“You’re a wee gem!”
“Thankyou Lyn- so worthwhile staying up.”
“Thank you so much. I always learn so much.”

IMPORTANT NOTE ON COURSE ACCESS

Course access is for three months. If you find that you need to extend your access, you can purchase extensions, month by month, for AUD$20 using this link.