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This document is the Writing Aviator, Middle School template.
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Proposal for Name of District
Date
Writing Aviator, Middle School
A Solution to Support the Implementation of the Common Core State Standards in Writing
Pearson
VPBD or PDAE Name
Title
Phone Number
Name of School/District (Arial 9pt Bold) | Proposal Title (Arial 9pt)
Executive Summary
Pearson delivers proven education services with lasting results, supported by the strength of the industry’s top education thought leaders and authors. Our core mission is to help educators navigate fundamental and dramatic shifts in leadership and classroom practices, enabling states, districts, schools, and teachers to support and sustain the transformation and quality of instruction required for students to achieve college and career readiness in a competitive global economy.
For more than 20 years we have provided a deep portfolio of professional services that includes leadership support services and intensive school- and systemwide instructional transformation services. Our expertise in schoolwide improvement has been developed through our work with more than 1,000 schools across the US. Our extensive scope of services, combined with our rich resources, knowledge, and skill set, make us well suited to provide school improvement services and supports. We offer our customers the following:
§ Nationwide experience in effective instructional transformation using an approach supported by research and documented through student success
§ A staff of highly experienced, dedicated educators with years of work in public schools
§ Broad, deep resources and the capacity to address instructional needs, at the district, school, and classroom level, including leadership and a shared schoolwide responsibility for student achievement
Writing Aviator Supports Goals
Writing Aviator can help support your middle school students in developing the background knowledge and skills necessary to prepare them for college and career readiness. Writing Aviator’s three essential implementation components are: professional development, model writing units, and onsite services. This implementation combination provides the comprehensive support needed to improve the quality of student performance at all grades.
Writing Aviator capitalizes on the synergy between writing and reading. It is impossible to write well without being able to read well. Because writing and reading are mutually reinforcing, the very act of writing accelerates reading comprehension and vice versa (Fearn & Farnan, 2001). Writing Aviator not only emphasizes writing, it makes the connection between reading and writing explicit. Its efficacy is rooted in a carefully sequenced, coherent program that provides targeted systematic instruction and daily practice in writing, reinforced with instruction and practice in reading. Teachers learn how to organize instruction around a set of daily rituals and routines to support classroom management and encourage independent writers (Writers Workshop). The instructional design of Writing Aviator supports students’ growth toward the College and Career-Readiness Standards: gaining independence, gaining strong content knowledge, understanding and responding to the varying demands of audience, task purpose and discipline, comprehending as well as critiquing, and valuing (and effectively using) evidence.
The Writing Aviator program:
§ Provides teachers with professional development on the CCSS writing standards and the CCR’s
§ Builds teacher knowledge and skills to improve the quality of writing so that they themselves become experts in writing instruction and are better able to address college and career readiness demands
§ Supports teachers in increasing the rigor of instruction by implementing an instructional framework that engages students
§ Prepares students to write in the three major genres: narrative, informative/explanatory, and argument
§ Provides a workshop classroom management structure that is especially beneficial for English learners (ELs), as well as at-risk students and students with disabilities
Partnering with Pearson provides the following benefitsm:
§ An experienced team of educators that includes the chair from the CCSS working group for literacy/English language arts (ELA), Sally Hampton
§ Literacy specialists who have completed an intensive, rigorous certification program through the Pearson National College, our internal corporate university
Writing Aviator enriches teachers’ understanding of genre and the writing process, including writing techniques and strategies, while simultaneously capturing student attention and promoting student engagement to improve academic achievement. We describe this engaging program below, including professional development, materials used to support classroom instructional practice, onsite services, implementation options, and pricing information.
Overview of Writing Aviator
Pearson’s Writing Aviator blends professional development, instructional materials, and embedded onsite services to support teachers in addressing the rigorous instructional shifts necessitated by the CCSS. Developed in partnership with Sally Hampton, chair of the Common Core ELA work group, and honed by fifteen years of implementation experience in the field, Writing Aviator can be a powerful support for schools as they guide students to improve the quality of their narrative, informative/explanatory and argument writing.
Teachers learn how to organize instruction in a workshop format around a set of daily rituals and routines. This workshop classroom management structure (Writers Workshop) provides consistency forming a framework for learning. Initial training (using Foundation Studies) prepares teachers to implement the foundations of a Writers Workshop. Ongoing training fluidly incorporates grade appropriate, standards-based genre content (using Genre Studies and Author Studies). The professional development also guides teachers in navigating and understanding the expectations and nuances of standards-based performance for student work as articulated by CCSS.
Writing Aviator’s curricular materials are called Foundation Studies, Genre Studies, Readers’ Workshop lessons, and Author Studies. These units provide real-time guidance to teachers as they work with students to develop independent writing behaviors and deliver rich craft lessons using mentor texts in all three genres. Writing Aviator also demonstrates to teachers and students how to make the connections between reading and writing explicit. The combination of rich professional development and scaffolded units of study provides the support teachers need to implement a standards-based approach to instruction in their classrooms.
Writing Aviator professional development focuses on both the “what” and the “why” of instructional practices to help teachers make instructional shifts aligned to the Common Core. It enriches teachers’ understanding of genre studies and the writing process, including writing techniques and classroom strategies that enable them to provide the kind of highly competent feedback that is correlated with improvement in student writing (Ferris 1997). The use of published works from multiple genres as models helps students learn how to craft their own written pieces and assists teachers in providing their students with authentic writing experiences¾that is, opportunities to communicate important messages about issues of interest to them in a manner that develops their own voice (Macrorie 1985). Writing is an important way for students to make their literacy gains visible to themselves and to others.
Instructional Framework: The Writers Workshop
Writing Aviator teaches teachers how to organize their classroom around a set of daily routines and rituals that simultaneously help manage behavior and move students toward becoming independent learners. These routines and rituals mirror the process of authentic writing. This instructional framework is critical in supporting teachers as they strive to increase classroom rigor.
Routines explain “what we always do in this class.” They describe the overall structure of a class period. Rituals tell students “how we do things in this class.” The point of the routines and rituals is to provide the consistent time, structure, and support all students need to meet rigorous standards.
The daily Writers Workshop typically begins with a whole group lesson on a particular aspect of writing, such as a classroom routine, a draft, a writing convention lesson, or developing a rubric. Afterwards, the students spend the majority of classroom time practicing the skills highlighted in the focused lesson either independently or with a group, or they may confer with the teacher. The conclusion of the workshop is devoted to a “closure” activity such as “author’s chair.” During the closing, a student shares with the entire class a piece of writing that illustrates an understanding of the skills taught in the focused lesson and receives appropriate feedback.
As students become accustomed to the class routines and rituals and begin practicing them daily, they become more responsible and accountable for their own learning. The increase in personal accountability results in fewer disruptions allowing the teacher to teach more effectively. Over time, more teacher time is freed for targeted individual and small-group teaching as illustrated below:
Once in place, the routines and rituals not only provide clear expectations for students, they also allow the teacher to teach more effectively without interruptions. Students work independently and classroom management is no longer an issue. Writing Aviator makes writing an engaging, satisfying learning opportunity, not a chore, for students and teachers.
Professional Development
Writing Aviator’s professional development program builds on teachers’ knowledge and skills in teaching writing, enhances their understanding of the standards and how to teach to the standards, and scaffolds the implementation process. Professional development sessions focus on implementing Writers Workshops and exploring genre studies to understand text structure, features of genre, and the writing process. Participants explore the alignment between assessment, tasks, standards, and the lesson sequence—the rationale for the studies—and how this will scaffold students’ understanding of writing and reading.
Participants study:
§ The research base regarding the role and importance of genre knowledge and text structure as it supports reading and writing
§ Features of writing genres
§ Types of text structures
§ Strategies for teaching features of genres and types of text structures in reading and writing instruction
§ Academic vocabulary as it relates to specific genres
§ How knowledge of genre and text structures supports students’ achieving rigor, high expectations and state standards
A three-day sample agenda of Writing Aviator, Middle School, professional development is included in Appendix A.
Pearson literacy specialists deliver the professional development, model Writers Workshop practices, and provide expert advice for teachers throughout the implementation process, both during the professional development sessions and during the onsite support services.
Classroom Coaching and Leadership Support
Classroom coaching and onsite support is strongly recommended to help ensure that administrators and teachers receive the support and feedback needed to sustain implementation. Research strongly supports that professional development alone¾even when it is delivered in a highly engaging fashion and its objectives are tightly aligned to identified needs¾is applied effectively in classroom settings approximately only 15 percent of the time (Joyce and Showers, 1995). Follow-up with onsite coaching and support is essential.
Pearson’s certified and trained field service specialists connect professional development objectives to the classroom through non-evaluative should-to-shoulder coaching. Onsite coaching and support comes in a variety of forms such as demonstration lessons, observation with feedback, and lesson planning. It often starts with the development of lab teachers who, in turn, share their expertise with their peers.
Also critical to long-term sustainability and capacity-building is the development of instructional leaders who understand and can capably guide the establishment and growth of teaching practices aligned to the Common Core. Principals and administrators need to become adept at reading student work and observing student behaviors to determine if they are exhibiting characteristics of college and career readiness in literacy/ELA. To sustain the improvement in writing over time, it is crucial that leaders have the skill set to both start and maintain the work. We personalize this job-embedded support by visiting classrooms with principals to identify trends with leaders and create action plans to support improvement in each school.
Four days of onsite support are recommended for schools with a baseline understanding of Writers Workshop and the Common Core. Eight days of onsite support are recommended for schools new to the Writers Workshop. The size of the school and the desired rate of attaining robust levels of implementation may also impact the number of days of onsite support.
Materials
The materials included with the Writing Aviator program give teachers everything they need to implement the program effectively and significantly improve student writing aligned to the CCSS writing genres. The three major material components of the program are Foundation Studies, Genre Studies, and Author Studies:
Foundation Studies: Teachers use the lessons in the Foundation Studies to set up a classroom environment supportive of college and career readiness expectations, introduce craft, explain the use of mentor texts, develop rubrics to revise student work, etc. The lessons are specific to the CCSS and are grade level specific. The Foundation Studies focus on narrative, informative, and argument writing, and provide practical support to teachers as they prepare their students for the demands of the world outside of the classroom. Each Foundation Study comes with a Student Reader that provides model texts and guided opportunities for response.
Genre Studies: Genre Studies consist of a series of real-world applications of informational and argument writing that includes lessons that develop students as writers. These studies use professional models with lessons that progressively grow in complexity so that students develop the skills and strategies needed to produce strong pieces of informational or argument writing. By working through the lessons, students create a final writing piece that can be evaluated against criteria set forth in the CCSS Writing standards. Like Foundation Studies, each Genre Study includes a Student Reader that serves as a model of professional writing to guide students as they develop culminating pieces of writing in the appropriate genres.