Top 10 Ways To Write Good 1. Avoid Alliteration. Always. 2 Top 10 Ways To Write Good 1. Avoid Alliteration. Always. 2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with. 3. Avoid clichés like the plague. They’re old hat. 4. Comparisons are as bad as clichés. 5. Be more or less specific. 6. Writers should never generalize. Seven: be consistent! 8. Don’t be redundant; don’t use more words than necessary; don’t write in a superfluous manner. 9. Who needs rhetorical questions? 10. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement (Visco, 1986) Just a little humor to get us started…

Writing Instruction: A Metacognitive Modeling Approach Tina Wooldridge INTESOL: November, 2014

Overview What is the purpose of writing? What do writers say about writing? What is a metacognitive approach? What is a modeling approach? How do we integrate the two? What do researchers say about writing instruction? How do we assess writing? What does a Simple Writing Instruction Plan look like?

What is the purpose of writing?

The purpose of writing is... to communicate. to tell a story. to inform readers of a subject that may be interesting or important. to form connections with your readers. to share experiences.

“We write to remind us that we are not alone in our journeys, to inform, to guide, to entertain... Sometimes the purpose of writing is just to make sense of what we are feeling inside, or to make sense of the world around us. If what we write resonates with someone else, it is empowering.” – Leah

Take-away #1 Help students establish a genuine audience and purpose for every writing task.

Are you a writer?

Take-away #2 Choose to see yourself as a writer.

What have you written in the last two weeks?

Writing time! Write about a decision you made that changed your life.

Metacognition awareness of one’s own knowledge the ability to understand and control our own learning process includes the ability to access prior knowledge in order to plan for a learning task problem solve evaluate reflect on our performance

Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA) Model Metacognitive Strategies: Managing Your Learning Planning and Organizing Monitoring Evaluating

Successful adult L2 writers have metacognitive knowledge about: (Devine, 1993) who they are as writers features of the writing task appropriate strategies for achieving their writing purposes

Think about the writing task you just completed What were you thinking about while you wrote? What did you do to plan, to get started, and to finish? What did you focus on as you were writing? What did the writing process look like for you? Did you write straight through? Stop to reread? Revise as you went? Edit?

What do you think about while you write? “I’m trying to figure out how to get my thoughts on the page in a cohesive way. I’m thinking about how to choose the most active words; how to show not tell. I’m thinking about how fun it is to fill the blank page with words and create new meanings... how to make the words come alive.” – Leah

What do you focus on as you are writing? “I am a visual person, so I’m watching the scene happen as I write. It’s a lot like sitting in the front row of a movie jotting down who says what and when. It’s a fast-paced process, so very little effort is spent on getting words or sentences correct the first time through.” – Don

What does the writing process look like for you? “I create a timeline or a simple draft before I write. This can speed up and simplify the process enormously.” – Rob

“Some people say a writer needs to write the whole story, even a whole novel, and just get it on the page. Then go back and edit. I’ve never been able to do that. I can’t stand leaving bad writing on the page. I feel the need to constantly go back and make it better.” – Leah

“Teachers must explicitly weave metacognitive strategies into the fabric of the learning process.” – Fogarty, 2006

Take-away #3 Explicitly teach students metacognitive writing strategies, and actively remind them to use those strategies.

Fenghua’s study (2010) Enrich students’ positive writing experiences. Enhance students’ metacognitive awareness and ability. Strengthen students’ self-monitoring while writing. Teach explicit metacognitive strategies to improve students’ writing proficiency.

Take-away #4 Demonstrate exactly what you are asking your students to do.

“The teacher shows precisely how to do it by initiating, modeling, explaining, thinking aloud, and writing aloud... “By modeling [our] own authentic writing in front of students, teachers hope learners will emulate but not imitate.” –Regie Routman (2005)

What do students need to become successful writers?

Students need... Knowledgeable, organized teachers who show them what is expected Plenty of time to write A say in what they write about Strategies that allow them to take ownership of their writing Helpful responses (Routman, 2005)

How does this make you feel?

“Writing was a little like crossing a minefield and hoping we wouldn’t get red-penned on our way. Crossing that minefield with short, fearful steps, we learned to write short, correct sentences that fended off red pens... but were often void of thought.” –Peregoy & Boyle (2013, emphasis added)

Kasper’s study (1997) Successful writers defined the purpose of their writing. That purpose was to communicate ideas to readers. Less proficient writers identified their purpose as writing without grammar mistakes.

How do we assess writing? “Be relentless in refusing to do for students what they can do for themselves.” –Regie Routman (2005)

Mustafa’s study (2012) Effective corrective feedback is: Timely Detailed Legible Aligned with students’ educational needs and goals

what the student is trying to say, and less on “Try to focus more on what the student is trying to say, and less on what we are trying to teach.” –Regie Routman (2005)

Take-away #5 Reflect on your corrective feedback philosophy, and establish a consistent method for delivering effective feedback.

Simple Writing Instruction Plan Help students establish a genuine audience and purpose for every writing task. Choose to see yourself as a writer. Explicitly teach students metacognitive writing strategies, and actively remind them to use those strategies. Demonstrate exactly what you are asking your students to do. Reflect on your corrective feedback philosophy, and establish a consistent method for delivering effective feedback.

References Boyle, O. F. & Peregoy, S. F. (2013). Reading, writing, and learning in ESL: A resource book for teaching K-12 English learners. Boston MA: Pearson. Devine, J. (1993). The role of metacognition in second language reading and writing. In Carson, J. and Leki, I. (eds), Reading in the Composition Classroom: Second Language Perspectives. Boston MA: Heinle and Heinle. Fenghua, H. C. (2010). A study of metacognitive-strategies-based writing instruction for vocational college students. English Language Teaching, 3(3). Retrieved from http://www.ccsenet.org/elt Fogarty (2006). Learn to learn with metacognitive reflections. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/12759_Chapter_1.pdf Frank L. Visco, F. L. (1986) How to write good. Writer’s Digest. Retrieved from http://www.plainlanguage.gov/examples/humor/writegood.cfm Kasper, L.F. (1997). Assessing the metacognitive growth of ESL student writers. TESL-EJ, 3(1). Retrieved from http://tesl- ej.org/ej09/a1abs.html Mustafa, R. F. (2012). Feedback on the feedback: Sociocultural interpretation of Saudi ESL learners’ opinions about writing feedback. English Language Teaching, 5(3), 3-15. Routman, R. (2005). Writing essentials: Raising expectations and results while simplifying teaching. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

My Contact Information Tina Wooldridge The Language Company-Fort Wayne Christina.Wooldridge@arbor.edu