Writing Workshop at Kearny DMD

In Stephanie Clay’s 10th grade English class, student are reading The Book Thief and practicing close reading and writing along the way. Last week students were closely examining a passage for the author’s use of particular words that create an overall tone. As the teacher modeled the analytical writing structure, students collaborated in the development of the paragraph in order to practice strong academic writing. She focused on creating a strong claim, followed by sound evidence and reasoning to support their thinking about the text. After the whole class model was created, students then used their annotations and thinking to write their own paragraphs of analysis. This structure of whole class writing development empowers students to have a model for their own quality of writing and creates opportunity for them to transfer those skills to other classes such as writing in science and in history.