Structured Support

3 minutes

Overview #

Midway through the year, my mentor teacher and I looked at the data and determined that a change was needed to better address student needs around the writing standard 4 ELA W:3, “Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.” Students were struggling to create a narrative based using details from passages previously read.

In response, we implemented a more structured approach to support students learning writing skills. We introduced anchor charts with story elements, employed a Cognitive Content Dictionary for vocabulary, and provided graphic organizers for pre-writing. Examples are attached below.

Student improvement is evident when comparing the before piece, “Middle Ages Castle-queen,” and the after piece, “My Beautiful farm,” both written by the same student.

Student Work #

Student 1 #

Student 2 #

Before #

Middle Ages Castle Life-queen
I woke up in my own private room with a fireplace and it was a pretty morning and I desided to give my serfs a tour of the new castle. I started in my Bedroom and there was a Bed. In the Bathroom there was a BathTuband.

And we had towers and a Drawbridge and A wall to Keep the bad guys out of the castle.
And they Had Shields And metal suits And A Bow and arrow.

All this protection to keep the bad guys out of the castle

After #

My Beautiful farm

Hi my name is Giselle. I woke up knowing this wasn't an ordinary day. This was the day that I got to see my friend Kayla who I haven't seen for a long time. I haven’t seen Kayla because she moved to the city of New York. I had extra chores because my dad had to go on a business trip. I'm excited because my best friend is coming to my beautiful farm.

My friend Kayla Arrived at my farm and Kayla said, "Do you have leftover ice cream from the fridge?" I replied "YES.” We do have left over ice cream from the fridge. I asked my friend to watch the horses' and Kayla replied, “You have horses! I have never seen a horse in my entire life living in the city.” I went to get the eggs from the chicken. However, I got back from getting the eggs from the chickens and then I saw my friend chasing my horse. I immediately went to check on my friend Kayla.

Kayla said, how are we going to get that horse? I replied, we can get an apple, that's my horse's favorite fruit to eat, we have to go get that horse" Kayla answered. "Ok, let's go," I yelled.

We were all dirty from chasing that horse we stepped in mud and it started to rain, we were all wet, we got cleaned up for lunch and then I taught my friend how to use the milking machine and buting the horse back in there barn and at 6:30 we got ready to do some board games and then we went to sleep then we got up to do chores. And that is the end.

Resources #

Fiction vs Fact #

Cognitive Content Dictionary #

Story Organizer #