{"id":11901,"date":"2020-04-19T22:01:06","date_gmt":"2020-04-19T22:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theteacherstudio.com\/?p=11901"},"modified":"2021-10-24T19:51:17","modified_gmt":"2021-10-24T19:51:17","slug":"focused-instruction-teaching-effective-writing-minilessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theteacherstudio.com\/focused-instruction-teaching-effective-writing-minilessons\/","title":{"rendered":"Focused Instruction: Teaching Effective Writing Minilessons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our world of teaching has changed over the last few years–from virtually teaching to the gap in instruction to seeing more and more issues with focus and behavior.<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>It’s time to look at the remaining curriculum, streamline it, and figure out how to get the most “bang” for the delivery method with truly focused instruction.<\/p>\n

\"Using<\/p>\n

One thing that is becoming clear to me is that short and sweet is the way to go when teaching writing lessons.\u00a0 We are supposed to have two long and in-depth writing projects at the end of the year, but I’m just not sure that type of work is the most effective. Instead, I believe focusing on small minilessons and shorter writing tasks is the way to go. I have some very explicit lessons I have yet to teach–but I’m going to tackle them with short task cards, brief responses, and other more manageable situations.<\/p>\n

Short Writing Lessons. Focused Instruction.<\/h2>\n

What I wanted to do was focus my instruction at the sentence level, and I already had some task cards in my store that my students REALLY like–so I added the digital component. After that, I went through my curriculum and found a few more topics I need to cover this year and created sets to go with them. I know doing the big long process writing pieces have value, they really do. I will miss doing them with my students and am still trying to figure out how to do a modified version.<\/p>\n

That being said, sometimes it\u2019s nice to be able to teach\u00a0writing minilessons<\/strong>, do some good\u00a0modeling<\/strong>, let students\u00a0practice and get creative<\/strong>, and then\u00a0share<\/strong> their success. That\u2019s exactly where I think these cards can help! I have four different writing strategies now that can be taught with a short minilesson and then some practice. If you use Seesaw or Padlet or other sharing platforms, it’s a great way to have students share their work as well! Again, focused instruction with little planning or stress!<\/p>\n

\"Writing<\/a><\/p>\n

How can these help?<\/h2>\n

The bundled se<\/a>t I created includes task cards that help with the following writing skills:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Identifying fragments and run ons<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(maybe your kids have this figured out already but NOT. MINE.)<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Combining sentences and adding details<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>to write complex sentences\u00a0(includes compound sentences, adding phrases at the beginning, etc)<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Thinking about transitions\u2014adding on to sentences<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(These cards are geared toward getting students to think in sequence…what would come before? What would come after? How can I connect sentences in a meaningful way?)<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. \u201cShow not tell\u201d<\/strong><\/a> to write with more sensory detail.\u00a0(This is a huge one for me! Many of my students still write like a “newscast”. This set can help them work more details in–with lots of writing hints along the way!)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"Digital<\/a><\/p>\n

    All the sets include the following components:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n