Building Writing Fluency “Write, write and write some more. Think of writing as a muscle that needs lots of exercise.” -Jane Yolen Title Slide: Suggested

Outcomes Deepen understanding of the purpose of writing fluency and using the strategy to build student stamina in writing Obtain activities to build fluency and stamina daily in your classroom Required Slide

What is Writing Fluency? “Fluency is the ability to generate text– a lot of it– in a short period of time.” - Aimee Buckner “To get past “page fright,” writers need to experience the power of motion. Before we start a piece of writing, the page is blank. To get the ballpoint rolling, we must simply begin.” - Jeff Anderson Required Slide Read page aloud

Why Writing Fluency? Everything we write today prepares us for the writing task of tomorrow. Fluency = Building Writing Stamina Common Core Standard 10- Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences. Required Slide Why?

Practice, practice, practice! How do We Build Stamina? Set the Purpose is Required: Suggested slide How do you build stamina? In life? In writing? Facilitators: Set the stage for building stamina. An Olympic swimmer does not begin with the stamina to compete in a world class race. How do they get there? With lots and lots of practice. Practice, practice, practice!

Power Writing Display 2 words or phrases. Students select one. Teacher says, “Write as much as you can, as fast as you can, as well as you can in 3 minutes. Go!” Students write for 3 minutes. Teacher calls time: “Stop writing. Lift your pencil up in the air. Draw a line underneath what you just wrote. Count the number of words you wrote.” Students record word count under the line. Students record results for each round on chart. Repeat for a total of three rounds. Required Slide for grades 1-5. K facilitators can use this activity or insert a different fluency activity. -Facilitator says, “We have already done “History of a Name.” This is another activity you could do with your class to build fluency, writing stamina. Power writing is “quantity over quality.” Power writing is an excellent tool to use in content areas, in particular. -Facilitators: You will write two words on the board, (Examples: School, Friday, Snooky, Twinkies , DingDongs , Weekend, Reality TV). Have teachers go through Power Writing protocol without the “teacher recording” portion. Give it A Go Activity #1

Power Writing Opinion Version – “ Would You Rather . . .” Read around the table. Select 1 prompt. Ready, Set, Write! Stop. Count. Record. Share! Required Slide for grades 1-5. K facilitators can use this activity or insert a different fluency activity. -Facilitator says, “We have already done “History of a Name.” This is another activity you could do with your class to build fluency, writing stamina. Power writing is “quantity over quality.” Power writing is an excellent tool to use in content areas, in particular. -Facilitators: You will write two words on the board, (Examples: School, Friday, Snooky, Twinkies , DingDongs , Weekend, Reality TV). Have teachers go through Power Writing protocol without the “teacher recording” portion. Give it a Go Activity #2

Power Writing “Toss Ins” Activity #3 “Toss ins” are additions to include in their next minute’s writing. Examples Vivid verbs Superlatives (great, greater, greatest) Declarative sentences Required Slide if you use slide 8- this is an add on to Power Writing – extend with your own activity if you wish. Facilitator: After teachers have written for one minute and have counted their words, tell them they are going to write for another minute. Tell them that this time, they can either continue where they ended. This time, though, tell them that you will “toss in” something. -Facilitators: You will show student examples of this after teachers have tried it.

Writing From a List Make a quick list based on a self-selected topic. Activity #4 Make a quick list based on a self-selected topic. List topics might include things they are experts on, best events in their lives, worst events, favorite words. Student star or highlight the item on their list they want to write about. Then, start an entry on that word or topic. Required Slide- You may choose a different grade level flency activity instead of Wrtiting from list if you wish. -Remind teachers that sometimes students will make a decision about what to write on after only listing two items. That’s ok. The list is simply a way to get them to start writing. -Facilitator: You will show student samples of this.

Encourage the use of sensory words ! Use your writing tools! Sensory Lists Activity #5 Choose a topic Fold paper into 8 boxes Write a sense into each one See, hear, smell, taste, touch Additions- Feelings/emotions, thoughts Set timer for 2 minutes per box. Share ideas after time is up. Students must use 5 ideas from the list in their writing. Encourage the use of sensory words ! Use your writing tools!

Comic Strip Narratives Activity #6 Choose a topic Fold paper into 4 squares Draw a comic for each scene Do a Quick Write based on each section of the comic strip Topic- Day at the beach 12

“Boo Boo” Bodies Use an outline of a body Activity #7 Use an outline of a body Record “Boo Boos” from their life on the body. Students can take it home and add details with their parents Glue “Boo Boo” Body into writing notebooks for future topic ideas Add a word bank for onomatopoeia and vivid verbs Topic- A Day at the Beach Other topic ideas- haunted house stories, space adventures 13

Share Your Best Practices Table Talk: Share activities that you do in your classroom to build writing fluency. Tech Tip voki.com is an easy tech tool that allows students to create an avatar and record their stories. JING is another great tool to capture a picture and allow a student to record their voice reading their own writing. Required Slide

When Will We “Fit” This In? Table Talk: Where can you find 15 minutes for your students to write and share every day? ** Remember, it can be in any content area, any time in any place ** Required Slide

3 Things To Remember about Writing Fluency Students who write every day will become good writers. Fluency builds stamina. Fluency pushes students past writer’s block.

Resources Pinterest! Notebook Know-How Aimee Buckner 10 Things Every Writer Needs to Know Jeff Anderson www.writingfix.com Pinterest! Resources