Category Archives: Leveled Writing

How can you differentiate instruction for a writing assignment based on Judaism?

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Judaism Differentiated Instruction Lesson Plan

Differentiated instruction for writing can be done with leveling. There a a couple of different approaches that a teacher can take when differentiating writing by ability levels otherwise known as tiering.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico has a fantastic leveled writing system that takes students from a topic sentence to a DBQ essay. All of the levels of writing focus on content too so teachers know if their students are understanding the concepts presented in class.

Another way to differentiate instruction for writing on Judaism and as a conclusion to the Judaism lesson plan is by providing lower ability levels with a writing prompt. For expository writing, this may be as simple as providing a topic sentence. This will help focus them on the details, facts and elaborations one could write about Judaism.

The last way a teacher could differentiate instruction for writing about Judaism is to increase the difficulty of questions. The higher the ability level, the higher critical thinking should be demanded from the students.

When creating a differentiated instruction writing assignment for Judaism, a teacher needs to remember that each student need to use the content that is stated in the state standards or national standards that are being used in the class. Every student must be exposed to the same content during differentiated instruction.

To find out more about my Judaism differentiated instruction lesson plan, click on the links below.

How can you differentiate instruction for a Judaism lesson plan?

How can you differentiate instruction to teach vocabulary in a Judaism lesson plan?

How can you differentiate instruction for a mini-lesson in a Judaism lesson plan?

How can you differentiate instruction for an activity work session in a Judaism lesson plan?

How can you differentiate instruction with a graphic organizer in a Judaism lesson plan?

 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico offers the Judaism lesson plan above. Check it out! Or, if you only want to purchase this single differentiated instruction lesson plan for Judaism, Click here.

Written by,

Kasha Mastrodomenico (Connect with me on Linkedin.com)

http://www.socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

kasha@socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico

How can I differentiate instruction for a writing activity?

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Differentiated instruction has to do with the use of the same content but in different ways or levels in order to engage and interest all students in the classroom at the same time.

Whether the purpose of the writing activity is to use the content or to learn the writing process, a leveled writing system can be useful. Each writing level has a milestone that needs to be met before the student can move on to the next step. It is systematic, and from my personal experience effective, for students learning either the content or the writing process itself. A great website to check out for an expository leveled writing system is http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Leveled-Expository-Writing-System-867302. It has a leveled writing system that begins with writing a topic sentence and ends with a DBQ essay. There are 7 levels in the leveled writing system. It is a very fast way to differentiate instruction by ability. It takes less than 5 minutes to create the writing assignment.

Teachers can also differentiate instruction for writing assignments by providing questions that involve different multiple intelligence learning styles yet are still based on the content. Differentiated instruction by providing questions that interest the students or that they can relate to might help their creative juices flow.

Differentiated instruction is definitely possible for writing activities. Whether you use a leveled writing system, an interactive writing system or provide question options based on the different multiple intelligence learning styles, differentiated instruction has the potential to improve student writing and increase their interest.

 

Written by,

Kasha Mastrodomenico

http://www.socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

kasha@socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico

Is a cause and effect essay an example of expository writing?

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A cause and effect essay is an example of expository writing.

A cause and effect writing activity is an example of expository writing. This expository writing activity can be done in the form of a paragraph or an essay. Planning can easily be done and should be done before a cause and effect expository writing activity is begun. Planning works as a type of guide for the writer and focuses them on the content needed to accomplish the task. Two forms of planning that can be done for a cause and effect expository writing activity is a graphic organizer or an outline.

Some students may have trouble putting expository writing together in a paragraph or an essay form. One accommodation that can be used is an interactive expository writing system. If students have trouble with the process or are in the midst of learning the process of expository writing a leveled expository writing system can also be helpful. Leveled expository writing systems can help teachers differentiate instruction also by allowing students to write at different levels but use the same content.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Leveled-Expository-Writing-System-867302 offers a leveled expository writing system. Check it out!

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http://www.socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

kasha@socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico

How can teachers chart an academic intervention strategy for the Student Support Team?

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How can teachers chart an academic intervention strategy for the Student Support Team?

Without good documentation, Student Support Teams are useless. Teachers should start with pinpointing the skill the student is having trouble with. Be specific, not vague. If a student can’t write an expository paragraph, don’t just write ‘writing’, write ‘organizing thoughts into paragraph form’. Being specific allows you to find academic intervention strategies appropriate for helping the student going through the SST process.

If ’organizing thoughts into paragraph form’ is the needed skill, then an academic intervention strategy the Student Support Team could use is a leveled writing system. Leveled writing uses small goals to allow students to feel success in the writing process and eventually be able to write full organized paragraphs and even essays.

Once the skill needed has been identified by the Student Support Team, and an appropriate academic intervention strategy has been chosen by the Student Support Team, they then have to decide how they will measure the academic intervention strategy. For example, if leveled writing has been chosen by the Student Support Team as the academic intervention strategy then it can be measured by the levels the student moves up. Leveled Writing can also be measured by the checklist it is graded by.

The Student Support Team then needs to decide what their first month, second month and third month goals are. There should be an SST meeting every month which is why the goals should be made by the month. For example, if the leveled writing system is the academic intervention strategy, then the first months goal could be to write a complete topic sentence with 3 listed facts. The second month goal could be to write a complete topic sentence and the first fact sentence with 2 listed facts. The third month could be to write a topic sentence, one fact sentence and elaboration sentences to go with the fact and 2 listed facts.

After the Student Support Team decides which goals are appropriate for the student over a three month period they need to make sure it leads to the accomplishment of the long term goal. In this case, it should be ‘write a complete organized paragraph’. The long term goal does not have to be accomplished in a three month period but progress does need to be made using the academic intervention strategy.

Monthly goals should be reviewed, and if needed changed, each month during the SST meetings. At each SST meeting the result of the months use of the academic intervention strategy needs to be documented. It is also a good idea to provide proof of the academic intervention strategy used and the results of it. Correct documentation and use of the academic intervention strategy whenever possible is what makes the Student Support Teams successful for student growth.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Leveled-Expository-Writing-System-867302 offers an academic intervention strategy for writing in the form of a leveled writing system. It also has the SST Measurable Goal Chart pictured above too. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/SST-Measurable-Goal-Chart-125321 Check it out!

Written by,

Kasha Mastrodomenico

http://www.socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

kasha@socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico

How can you teach expository writing in paragraph form?

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How to Teach Expository Writing

 

Expository writing can be taught through the use of ability levels. It is a great way to differentiate instruction also because many students will be on different writing levels at the same time but they can all still be writing about the same content. This is particularly useful for social studies and science teachers. Leveled writing is also called scaffolded writing and tiered writing. All of these terms are interchangeable.

When teaching how to write an expository paragraph, you first must look at the parts of the expository paragraph. Break this down for your students because expository writing can take on a formula-like appearance, this will help your SPED students especially.

1. Topic Sentence: States what the writer will be writing about without specifically saying “I am going to write about this”.

2. Facts: The facts support the topic sentence.

3. Elaboration: These support each of the facts provided in the paragraph and should be after each of them. They come in the form of examples and details. The more elaborations, the better the expository paragraph.

4. Concluding Sentence: This states what the expository paragraph was about without saying “this paragraph was about…”.

If students need more than this explanation an expository writing outline is always useful. It can keep them and their thoughts organized. I recommend that most SPED and ELL students use an outline before they write. It might look like this:

Expository Writing Paragraph

A. Topic Sentence:

B. Detail 1:

C. Elaboration of Detail 1:

D. Detail 2:

E. Elaboration of Detail 2:

F. Concluding Sentence:

The outline should be a fast exercise. This means that full sentences should not be used except maybe for the topic and concluding sentences in the expository paragraph. All of the other information should just be words or better, abbreviated words. The purpose of the outline is only to guide.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Leveled-Expository-Writing-System-867302 offers a leveled expository writing system using outlines. The teacher can create all of the writing levels they need in about 5 minutes.

Written by,

Kasha Mastrodomenico

http://www.socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

kasha@socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico

What is Expository Writing?

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Expository writing is writing to show knowledge of a subject. The writer needs to write as if their audience knows nothing on the subject matter being written. The more information, details, examples or in other words, the more the writer elaborates, the more beneficial the piece of expository writing is most likely going to be for the reader. In school, expository writing is usually associated with social studies, science and even sometimes math if the school is progressive enough or the standards include writing like in NY. In the adult world, expository writing takes the form of most magazine articles, newspaper articles, as well as reports in the government, financial, education, medical and business worlds. Most likely no matter where adults are employed, if they are considered professionals, they have been required to create or read expository writing.

Expository writing can be done with a formulated process. This means that it is very easy to teach through steps or levels. Once a student learns the steps, they only need to input the information for all other assignments. This way of teaching expository writing works particularly well with SPED students because they need repetition and leveled writing gives them that repetition. Leveled expository writing also allows the teacher to differentiate instruction easily because students in a single class can be on different writing levels but still be writing about the same content.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Leveled-Expository-Writing-System-867302 offers a leveled expository writing system that requires about 5 minutes of teacher planning.

Written by,

Kasha Mastrodomenico

http://www.socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

kasha@socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico

How do You Know If a Student Needs Remediation?

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A simple quiz works best to find out if a class or a specific student needs remediation for the content presented in class. It doesn’t need to be a formal quiz and can take place more often if it’s not. Teachers need every moment in class that they can get.  Remediation can be a quick question and answer session between the teacher and the students or a ticket out the door asking students what they learned in class and a question they have about it. Tickets out the door can also answer specific questions that the teacher wants to check on. Both help teachers find out what students learned in a mini-lesson. A more formal quiz, perhaps at the end of the week, can alert teachers of the content that has been forgotten by students. Writing can be used as a tool to find out what content hasn’t been retained and what content remediation is needed on. Assign your students to write an expository paragraph about a subject and you’ll find out quickly who needs remediation and who doesn’t.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico offers social studies differentiated instruction for middle school, check it out!

Written by
Kasha Mastrodomenico

http://www.socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

kasha@socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico