Okay–so I’ve decided to implement WOC. What’s next?
By: Sarah Stratton
More importantly–how do I implement WOC in a way that I cover the techniques and the strategies enough, so that my students grow as writers (and eager ones, at that), while I’m still focusing on reading too?
I have created a SAMPLE 7th GRADE PACING GUIDE for each of my four quarters to illustrate how to pace the writing instruction within the reading instruction. (Even though I started teaching 7th grade at the end of October in 2023, this is how I would have progressed at the beginning of the school year if I had started with my students in the 1st quarter rather than in the 2nd quarter.)
Remember–you turn your students into writers first by teaching several WOC techniques through IDIOM STORIES. You then transition into NARRATIVE if at all possible. (The reason NARRATIVE should come first is students can SEE their skill in writing narratives–narrative techniques make their writing shine, and they can tell. We build their confidence through NARRATIVE writing.)
Now I’m going to walk you through my Unit One Pacing Guide–the first 9 weeks of school. I don’t get into specifics with reading on this pacing guide–I’m more general because I’m focusing on how to embed the writing tasks into the reading curriculum.
Notice that my class periods are approximately 50 minutes long. I’m planning to practice the pre-planning organizer during bell ringers once I teach it, so I’ve made a note to do that since I’m not specifying what I intend to do for bell ringers within this pacing guide. If I want my students to know how to create their own pre-planning organizer during ATLAS, I need to have them practice it over and over again.
I’ve color-coded the types of writing to show you that my focus is NARRATIVE (yellow); however, I’m going to start teaching the body paragraph format through text-dependent questions, so I’m also starting to teach informative (blue) aspects as well.
Note–the Opinion/argumentative (red) body paragraph is also structured just like the informative. Therefore, practicing the informative body paragraph is practicing the opinion/argumentative paragraph too.
Unit 1 Pacing Guide
WOC Meets ATLAS (7th Grade Sample)
Week One–I always collect a WRITING SAMPLE the first week of school. I want to know how my students perform as writers when they enter my classroom. I do this through an IDIOM STORY.
I don’t teach them any techniques–I just introduce the idiom and its meaning, and we discuss it. I still give them parameters (length), and they still underline and label their idiom. I love doing this because once they start learning techniques, and their stories become more sophisticated, it’s fun to have them look back to how they used to write–you seal the deal in convincing them they are skilled writers.
I also use the WRITING SAMPLE to teach the revising process for the first time. Once I teach them DIALOGUE & ONOMATOPOEIA (the first two techniques I teach them), I have them add one or the other to their writing sample. It’s added in the margins with an arrow. I have them reread their writing sample aloud so they can HEAR how much better it sounds with the DIALOGUE and/or ONOMATOPOEIA.
I started out teaching WOC on Wednesdays. We called it Writing on Command Wednesday. I used that day of the week to introduce new techniques and have them write IDIOM STORIES. The kids loved WOC Wednesday and looked forward to it. Unfortunately, as the year progressed, and we were writing daily within the reading curriculum, it wasn’t feasible to always teach new techniques on Wednesday. The kids were sad until they realized that we were delving into WOC any day of the week–we were not abandoning it.
Week Two–At this point, students have been taught both DIALOGUE & ONOMATOPOEIA and have added it to their writing sample. Now they get to write IDIOM STORY #1 using IMAGERY & LY OPENERS. I model all 4 techniques they have been taught because many of them will use all 4 too. You make sure the rubric instructs them what to use–feel free to give extra credit for the extra techniques they use. The more techniques they use, the better their writing will be. However, you don’t want to require more than 2 (plus the idiom) at first.
Week Three–I introduce two more techniques–HYPERBOLE and HYPHENATED MODIFIERS. Because they are awesome but aren’t game changer techniques, I might require IMAGERY & DIALOGUE but give extra credit for HYPERBOLE and HYPHENATED MODIFIERS. Again, I model all of the techniques they have learned (and maybe more), and consequently, many will use more than two techniques in their IDIOM STORY #2.
Week Four–I stop to review all of the techniques they have been taught and practiced in their IDIOM STORIES. I do this by writing an idiom story and using all of the techniques. Their job–in groups–is to identify and label the techniques I have used. We discuss this exercise too. Which techniques are game changers? Which ones do they like best and why? Which techniques are the easiest? The hardest? Then the students write Idiom Story #3.
I also start my INFORMATIVE WRITING SAMPLE this week. They have already read, annotated, discussed, and completed text-dependent questions on both informative texts (Week 1 & Week 3). I create a prompt, and they write a paragraph pulling evidence from the texts to answer the prompt. I don’t provide an organizational structure of any kind–I’m seeing what they can do without any support. (The good aspect is that they are very familiar with the topic and texts.)
Week Five– I introduce FULL CIRCLE and discuss the power of opening a NARRATIVE with DIALOGUE or ONOMATOPOEIA. They practice their new skill by adding it to their Idiom Story #3. We do this with two post-it-notes. One to add to the opening and the other to add to the closing. Then we read them aloud to each other.
Weeks Six & Seven–I finally introduce the PRE-PLANNING ORGANIZER. (Once I do this, their bell ringers will all focus on this task.) We have finished the novel and will use the PRE-PLANNING ORGANIZER to review the main parts and will fill in the organizer as if the author had created it before writing her story. (I like using the whole novel as A STORY because they only have to write 500+ words. How is that hard?) For the 4th box (Editing & Revising) we also look at what techniques the author would have listed that she intended to use.
Week Eight–Students will finally write their FULL BLOWN ATLAS NARRATIVE. We will discuss the prompt, thoroughly examine my teacher sample (including my pre-planning organizer), and then students will get two full days to write their ATLAS NARRATIVES in class.
Week Nine–We end the first quarter examining their pre-planning organizers and conferencing about their ATLAS scores on the NARRATIVE writing they completed. We also reflect before moving on to the second quarter.
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