ISAT Writing

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Home : 2001 : December : 30

ISAT Writing
By Kim

I teach third graders in Illinois and have to teach these kind of writings as well. I have not run across any kind of books like you are talking. I found that the best way is good ole practice, practice,practice. Each child
in my class has a notebook and I take a week for each method of writing to create an outline and talk about the purpose of each kind of writing. They seem to really get into the outlines and I find it helps them understand the format better. I give little quizes now and then with prizes for good grades. The quizes test the format of each type of writing.
After I am confident that

the kids have the general idea, we start writing. I always do two essays as a class on the overhead so the kids can see me modeling each step of the writing process with the format.
After that, the kid just keep writing essays, I try to really keep it to things that they are interested in at first. For the persuasive essay they have to tell me if they should or should not have to write in cursive---a big thing with my kids. I also play a game with the persuasive. Often I have a problem with kids taking more than one view or not really taking a view at all. I split them in two halves and present them with the argument. I designate one side of the room pro and one side for oppose. They have to run to the side that they would use in their paper. This seems to really reinforce the fact that they can only choose one or the other.
Wow! Sorry I rambled for so long about this.I hope some of the ramblings help.