Section 5. Writing

Mr. Harris wants to create a writing assignment that allows students to write with an authentic and meaningful purpose. Which one of the following assignments would best accomplish Mr. Harris' goal?

• Use Word to type a journal entry about summer vacation. Print the entry and have students draw a picture to go with it.

• Allow students to create their own writing assignment.

• Work with the social studies teacher to assign a historical fiction writing about the historical period currently being studied by the students.

• Use Word to type a letter to an elected official about a student-chosen need in the community. Print and send the letters.

Which of the following is the best example of expository writing?

• a creative writing essay

• a novel

• a research report

• poetry

In the publishing step of the writing process, it is important that students' writing is:

• neatly written or printed from a word processor and that it is clearly understood

• organized and editing has begun

• planned using a graphic organizer to make sure the ideas flow in a logical order

• planned, drafted, revised, and editing has begun

A fifth-grade class has been studying the differences between reptiles and amphibians. The teacher has designed this multimedia project as part of a multi-chapter review at the end of the unit.

Step 1: The teacher conducts a whole-class discussion comparing and contrasting reptiles and amphibians.

As students share facts, the teacher fills out a Venn diagram on the board summarizing their discussion.

Step 2: Students break into cooperative learning groups made up of four students. The groups are heterogenous, containing students at different learning levels.

Step 3: Students work together to make a multimedia slide presentation about four reptiles and four amphibians. Each student in the group has two slides to complete, one on each type of animal. Students write a two-sentence description about the animal on each slide.

Step 4: The students edit and revise the sentences as needed and arrange the slides in the most logical way to present the information to the class.

After all groups have presented, the teacher conducts a class-wide review of the information covered throughout the unit.

After reviewing the project in its current form, the teacher makes the decision to add another step to the instructional plan. For step 5, the students will take the facts and vocabulary they learned from reading the textbook chapter and complete an outline for a compare-and-contrast essay. This additional step will help develop students' reading skills by:

• A) teaching them how to summarize the beginning, middle, and end of the article.

• B) teaching them how to support an argument with facts and opinions from the text.

• C) teaching them how to articulate a text’s main ideas and corresponding supporting details.

• D) teaching them how to monitor their own comprehension when reading nonfiction texts.

The IEP for a student with multiple disabilities contains the following language arts objective. The student will write a sentence using appropriate punctuation and spelling in 4 out of 5 trials. Which of the following classroom activities would be most appropriate to provide data to meet this objective?

• selecting ingredients for a recipe during a community trip to a grocery store

• using a dictionary to learn the meanings of new vocabulary words

• identifying common symbols such as stop signs and what they mean

• creating a thank you card for a staff member that includes a greeting

Which of the following is best promoted by allowing students to write to each other or family members during class time?

• a relaxed atmosphere in which students can write friends whenever they want to do so

• the understanding that there are real-world purposes for writing

• appropriate social skills such as writing thank you notes or invitations

• a classroom in which friendships are being encouraged

A sixth-grade teacher is demonstrating to her students the importance of conventional spelling and its relationship to success in reading and writing. Which of the following is a good strategy for her to use with her students?

• Allow students to spell the way they hear sounds.

• Give credit for spelling if it makes sense.

• Don't assign lower grades for lack of neatness in students' spelling and writing.

• Show examples of how spelling mistakes can confuse the meaning of sentences.

Which list below includes the steps in the writing process in the correct order?

• Planning, drafting, sentence construction and grammatical expression

• Planning, drafting, revising, editing and publishing

• Precommunicative spelling, punctuation, and sentence construction

• Phonemic awareness, transitional spelling, and conventional writing

Which of the following should NOT be considered when evaluating an internet source for credibility on a topic?

• The date of publication or copyright date

• The author(s) and publisher of the website

• The design of the website and the frequency of spelling and/or grammar errors

• The amount of relevant information provided by the source

Which of the following is a valid way to assess spelling?

• Reading a students writing journal

• Administering spelling pre-assessment to the entire class at the beginning of the year.

• Checking the spelling on the final draft of a writing assignment

• All of the above