Week

1

Anchor Lesson: Getting to

Feelings and Emotions through

Pre-Writing

Conne

ct

Model: Brainstorm, “What does

‘Belonging’ mean to me?” Guided: Students generate their own

personal brainstorm.

Proces

s

Model: Respond beside each point, ‘how

it makes me feel,’ in a different colour.

Guided: Students repeat process with their

own writing.

Model: Circle the 3 ideas that are the best

and most powerful ideas.

Guided: Students repeat process with their

own writing.

Students discuss top three examples with

a group of 4. With a third colour, add other

people’s ideas from the group share.

Transf

orm

Model: Using brainstorming, respond to

the journal prompt, “What does belonging

mean to me?” Guided: Students respond to journal

prompt, while referring to example on

overhead or display.

Week 2 Anchor Lesson: Analyzing Peer

Writing for Strengths

Connect Students look at 3 samples of journal

entries (ranging in ability levels, but all

having an area of strength) and

generate what makes them powerful.

Process Using a graphic organizer (think-

group-share) groups come up with 5

criteria to share with the class. These

ideas are recorded on chart paper.

Transform After discussion, students brainstorm

and respond to the journal entry,

“What can belonging look like and feel

like in our classroom?”

Follow up

lessons

based on

student

need

Examples:

Continue to refer to student generated to

criteria writing continued journal

responses

Writing organized paragraphs

Carrying over writing skills to other

content areas

What Makes a Powerful ?

My Ideas…

o_________

o_________

o_________

o_________

o_________

o_________

Group Ideas

o_________

o_________

o_________

o_________

o_________

o_________

Class Ideas…

o_________

o_________

o_________

o_________

o_________

o_________

Schnellert, 2010

Week

3

Anchor lesson: Sorting and

Classifying CriteriaConnect In groups of 4, students are given an envelope

with all the powerful journal entry criteria

brainstormed in week 2, typed up in strips.

Student group the ideas by concept or theme

and come up with a title or reason for each

group.

Process Grouped strips are attached to coloured paper

with the category title.

The class analyzed each group’s proposal, and

lists titles on overhead. They choose the criteria

that represent the class the best.

Transfor

m

The groups then go back and regroup the

remaining criteria using the same process. A

vote can be taken if class consensus cannot be

reached.

Follow

up

lessons

based

on

student

need

Examples:

Brainstorming using specific examples and details

Using highlighters to mark beginnings and endings

of paragraphs

Ongoing lessons on cooperative learning

Week 4 Anchor lesson: The Art of Noticing

Connect Students are asked to identify a piece of

writing that they believe meet one of the

criteria categories particularly well. This can

be done in partners or small groups.

Process Model: Read aloud piece of writing.

Model: Refer to posted criteria and read piece

again looking for example.

Guided: Students continue reading in partners

and look for more examples of criteria.

Guided: Students in partners come up and

underline examples they find and label it with

criteria title.

Independent: Students bring out their own

writing and underline phrases or sentences

that demonstrate criteria, and labeled criteria

beside it.

Transform Each student share a quote and the class

guess which criteria it meets. Students

choose one of the criteria discussed to focus

on in their next writing piece.

Follow up

lessons based

on student

need

Examples:

Looking for examples of criteria in their writing

Setting goals related to criteria before writing

Our Journal Criteria

Good Start

Even Better

WOW!

Thinking It Through

-feelings, realevents, thoughtspictures,drawings

Sounds Great

-exciting, good explanations, interesting/ descriptive, detail, good use of words

Final Touch

-Good sentences,organized, easy to read, neatness

Week 5 Anchor lesson: Making Revisions in Your

Writing

Connect As a class, define ‘revision,’ by discussing, “how

can I as a writer better get my message across?”Set the goal for the lesson: to look at our work

and identify one criteria area to focus on to make

our writing better.

Process Model: Choose one really good sentence from

your piece that is descriptive or powerful.

Model: Using pre-prepared graphic organizer of

titles and criteria created, write the phrase you

found into the ‘Good Start’ section of the

organizer.

Guided: Using A/B partners, discuss what could

be done to make the sentence more descriptive.

Discuss with the class and revise the sentence

based on their advice.

Transform Repeat the process and have the students

choose a sentence to write in their organizer and

revise. Finish the class by having students share

the first and the revised versions of their

sentences.

Follow up

lessons

based on

student

need

Examples:

Continuing to write and revise aspects of pieces

Student- teacher conferences to take to ‘WOW’stage

Student- peer conferences to describe types of

revisions made

Week 6 Anchor lesson: Graffiti and

Conversation

Connect Review generated criteria as a class

Process Students choose from 2 criteria

categories to target while writing that

day.

Class is divided in 6 groups. Each

graffiti ‘palette’ had a content-based

prompt in the center. Students have 10

minutes to write before rotating to the

next topic.

Students examine results, taking turns

reading quotes from palettes.

Transform Students choose one of the prompts to

write about independently, including

using a journal organizer which includes

‘thinking space’ for pre-writing.

Follow up

lessons

based on

student

need

Examples:

Brainstorming powerful ideas and possible

prompts for writing in other content areas

Week 7 Anchor lesson: Cracking Open

Your Topic: Getting Beyond

ListingConnect Look at a list of topics generated by the class

and discuss in partners how to choose a topic

that yields the best personal writing.

Process Model: Brainstorm initial ideas about a content

concept.

Guided: Students choose a topic from the list to

write about and brainstorm their initial ideas.

Model: Think aloud which ideas you have strong

examples and details for and write down them

down being sure to connect the topic and the

idea with it. Repeat modeling process several

times.

Guided: Students follow same process.

Model: Write an entry using brainstorm and

details or examples.

Transform Students write their own entry following process.

Follow up

lessons

based on

student

need

Examples:

Targeting specific aspects missing from writing

Using background knowledge- choosing a topic you

have a strong opinion on

Stretching out moments in our writing

Effective endings including opinions, questions and

observations

Extending pieces with personal stories and

examples

Week

8

Anchor lesson: Getting Ready

for EvaluationConnect Review class generated criteria and

categories.

Process As a class, discuss if there is anything to

add, based on mini lessons taught

throughout the unit.

Talk about the column, which would clarify

the ‘I’m There’ category in the 4

descriptors of: ‘Good Start,’ ‘Getting

There,’ ‘I’m There’ and ‘WOW.’

Transfor

m

Student look at their own work to find

sentences that for the specific criteria.

Evaluati

on

Students chose 3 pieces of writing to take

to the almost published form taken

through the stages from a ‘Good Start’ to

‘WOW.’ An in-class ‘demand’ write combined

with journal pieces were used to

constitute their mark for the term.

Rubric reviewed with class and students

were given a copy to refer to while taking

pieces to final copy.

Our Journal CriteriaGood Start

Even Better

I’m There

WOW!

Thinking It Through

-feelings, realevents, thoughtsPictures,drawings

Sounds Great-exciting, good explanations, interesting/ descriptive, detail, good use of words

Getting Up & Organized

--ideas well organized, interesting beginning, well developed middle, powerful ending, onemain idea in eachparagraph

Final Touch-Good sentences,organized, easy to read, neatness

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