"FOUR ESSENTIAL WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

TO IMPROVE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT"

(Grades 5 to 12)

Presented by Dr. John Collins

WORKSHOP OVERVIEW

For teachers in grades 5 to 12 in all subject areas, curriculum coordinators, principals, supervisors, curriculum committee members, school-based management team members and special educators. 

This workshop is valuable to all teachers whether they use the Collins Writing Program^SM or not. In this fun, activity filled session, you’ll learn how to plan, teach and assess four key assignments that significantly impact student achievement. Based on Dr. John Collins’ flagship book, The Collins Writing Program: Improving Student Performance Through Writing & Thinking Across the Curriculum, this practical, hands-on workshop builds upon the extensive research from Marzano, Graham and Perin, and others.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Participants will take away:

• The four essential writing assignments and how to teach them

• A system to combine the four essential assignments to produce lengthy substantive writing

• A decision-making model that answers the question, "How often should my students write and what specific assignments should I be giving?"

• A three-step editing model to help students become better editors of their own and their peer's work

• Reading-writing strategies to improve comprehension and retention of subject matter

• Strategies to increase academic vocabulary and improve word choice

• A critical thinking chart that helps students produce organized and content rich persuasive essays

• Strategies to help students improve scores on open-response and writing assessment tests

• And more!

All participants will receive a complimentary copy of The Collins Writing Program: Improving Student Performance Through Writing and Thinking Across the Curriculum by John Collins.

"SEVEN SENTENCE BUILDING ACTIVITIES"

(Grades 2 to 10)

Presented by Jerry Morris

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

For teachers in grades 2 through 10 in all subject areas, curriculum coordinators, principals, supervisors, curriculum committee members, school-based management team members and special educators. 

When correcting students’ writing, do you find fragments and run-ons, as well as sentences that are awkward, make no sense, have no life, or violate the most basic grammatical rules? If so, you should attend this Sentence Building workshop. You'll learn how to address these problems by incorporating key principles of good writing from The Elements of Style by Strunk and White into your instruction. Your students will love the Sentence Building activities and be prepared to move on to more sophisticated writing issues.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Participants will:

• Take an in-depth look at the foundation of good writing, the sentence including

  • Simple sentences

  • Simple sentences with multiple subjects

  • Simple sentences with multiple predicates

  • Compound sentences

  • Complex sentences

  • Compound-complex sentences

• Build quality sentences using activity templates

• Learn how to incorporate parts of speech into sentence building activities

  • Similes

  • Metaphors

  • Figures of speech

  • Hyperbole

  • Personification

• Learn how to integrate Sentence Building and the Collins Writing Program

• Actively participate in a variety of fun sentence building activities

All participants will receive a complimentary copy of Seven Sentence Building Activities to Develop Advanced Writers by Jerry Morris.

"THINKING AND WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM FOR THE ELEMENTARY GRADES"

(Grades 1 to 5)

Presented by Gary Chadwell

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

For teachers in grades 1 to 5 in all subject areas, curriculum coordinators, principals, supervisors, curriculum committee members, school-based management team members and special educators. 

This workshop provides elementary teachers with practical strategies and techniques to help their students gain writing fluency, become comfortable thinking on paper, and to develop the essential writing skills they need for future academic success in any subject area. The strategies introduced also help prepare students for standardized assessment tests. 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Participants will:

• Be introduced to the Five Types of Writing and how to use and evaluate each type of writing

• Learn how to use writing to enhance the teaching
  of content — in all subjects

• Learn how to use writing to increase student engagement
  and interaction

• Learn how to determine which writing skills should
  be taught

• Learn how to use writing efficiently — taking less
  time and getting better results

• Learn how the Collins Writing Program can
  improve test scores and help achieve “Adequate
  Yearly Progress”

• Learn how to design authentic writing assignments
  that promote learning and motivate students

• Learn how to use self-editing and peer-editing
  strategies that make students less dependent on
  teachers

• Learn how to tie it all together — integrating
  workshop content with portfolio and authentic
  assessment techniques, differentiated instruction,
  inclusion classroom strategies, and standards based
  learning

All participants will receive a complimentary copy of Developing an Effective Writing Program for the Elementary Grades by Gary Chadwell.