Dr. Louis' Blog

I am wondering about the Dialectical Journal form. My students complete dialectical journals as we read our novels, but I love this form that you attached . . . we do them in a journal notebook in class. Now that we are at home and all digital, I would like to use this form.My question is . . . do you give them the writing prompt for the whole novel at the top, or would you give them a writing prompt for the first few chapters?Thank you.Peace, Mrs. Michelle B.8th Grade ELA/Reading TeacherHello, Mrs. B.,Thank you for writing and for your question. It gives me an opportunity to give you some ideas.For novels and dramas and research projects, I give students four to five prompts:

• One of the prompts, I reserve for me. It is the one I use to model the skills. That way, the students aren’t copying my examples because I have a different prompt; however, they see and learn my thinking as I go through the process: decoding the prompt; gathering concrete details; generating commentary; producing well-developed body paragraphs; building introductions with a debatable thesis statement; and creating a memorable conclusion.
• I share all the prompts with the students upfront, and we decode each one. By decoding each one, students learn the skill of decoding prompts. And because we work on four in a row, the intensive focus helps them to understand the pattern, the process of decoding the prompt.
• I tell the students that by p. 25, 35, or 50 (up to you and depending on the length of the text and the content demanded by the prompt), they must sign-up for one of the prompts. Only a certain number of students may sign-up for a prompt. For example, let’s say I have four prompts, and I have 80 students, then after 20 students sign up for prompt #2, it’s gone. This serves several purposes:
• I don’t have to grade 80 essays on the same prompt;
• Different students are attracted to different prompts, and these give them choices;
• I have lottery due dates to stagger my grading. Allowing myself 48 hours for every 35 essays, helps me to stay fresh, fair, and consistent in my grading.
• So here’s how it works: After the students sign-up, I put the prompts in a hat, and we draw for due dates! Let’s pretend I have four prompts in a hat. I’ll have one of my first-period students student draw a prompt from the hat --
• Prompt #3 is due October 1 (+10 points) – the ten points lessens the shock of being the first to submit an essay!
• Prompt #1 is due October 3 (+6 points)
• Prompt #4 is due October 5
• Prompt #2 is due October 7

• I read the first couple of chapters or 25 pages aloud for the following purposes:
• To get them involved in the text;
• To teach them to make inferences;
• To model CD and CM entries for each prompt (that’s right – they have the four prompts, each one sitting at the top of a dialectical journal. And I provide 2-3 examples for each prompt;
• Once they sign up for a particular prompt, I have them turn in their dialectical journals every few days to observe their reading and annotating progress.
• I take just a few seconds, just a quick glance to make sure they are on track with their concrete details and their commentary as they relate to the prompt they have selected.
• I tell them that they should have 5-10 entries per week.
• When they turn in their dialectical journals each week, they star their two favorite entries for me to grade. I glance at all of them; but, I score the two they choose. I also can see how they are interpreting the text as they read it.
• Typically, the ones they star will be the ones they ultimately choose to “Gather CDs,” develop the topic sentence for each body paragraph, add CMs, and produce the concluding sentence for each body paragraph. Some CMs will lend themselves to producing their introductions, their thesis statement, and their conclusion.

Hi Dr. Louis!

Happy New Year! I have a question for you regarding expository writing.

In filling out the T-Chart for a body paragraph, how do you explain the difference between the commentary sentence and the concluding sentence? The ideas all come from the CM side of the chart. Is the concluding sentence more general?

Thanks for your advice. Ginger

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‍Hi, Ginger,

Thank you for your astute question. You are correct about the Commentary (CM) and Concluding Sentence (CS)ideas coming from the CM side of the T-chart. And I love to watch students’ eyes beam when they realize that after they have brainstormed their commentary ideas, their body paragraph is all but done! In the past, they would fret over what to write. Now, their task is different: they must discern which of their multiple CM(green) thoughts fit best for the revised topic sentence (blue), the commentary (green), and the concluding sentence (blue).

‍Topic Sentence

‍I say to the students, "Pick up your blue pen! To revise your topic sentence, look at your commentary ideas. Do you see an overarching idea? Do you see something that sheds a true light on the idea you are trying to get across to your reader? Is there some word or phrase that has an umbrella effect? Now, revise your topic sentence.

"After they cross out what they have used to create their topic sentence ("When you use it, you lose it!"), I say, "Keep your blue pens in your hand. You have another blue sentence to write, don't you?"

‍Concluding Sentence

‍They reply, "Yes, our concluding sentence."

"That's right! You don't want to give away all your good stuff, because that concluding sentence is important. It's how you leave your reader. It's how you as a writer -- you as a thinker and productive, global citizen -- make a difference. When Robin Williams in Dead Poet's Society suggests that each student 'add his own verse,' this is what he is suggesting. There are moments in your writing that your input can help us say, 'hmm, that's an interesting idea.' It's possible. So, you want it to have impact. You want your reader to think, 'Wow! That's good!' Look for your commentary ideas that could provide a sense of completion, a finished feeling. In other words, look for the green ideas on the right side of the T-Chart that consider the 'big picture' or 'the human condition.' What green thoughts (CMs) bring home the point you want to make and leave the reader smarter than when s/he started your paragraph!'

They write their concluding sentence, and I remind them to cross out what they used.

‍Commentary

‍"Pick up your green pen! Now, look at what is remaining on the green side. Remember, you must make sure that your commentary sentence or sentences address every part of your concrete details, your evidence. So, if you have two CMs that reveal two examples about your topic, then your commentary must analyze both examples. Since the ratio is 2+:1 in expository (two or more sentences of CDs to one sentence of CMs), see how much concrete detail you have. If you wrote four or five sentences, then writing a couple of sentences of analysis is fine. Just make sure the analysis, the commentary, takes into consideration all of your evidence, not just part of it.

Ginger, that's how I teach them how to produce writing with logic, organization, tone, and voice. And that's how I teach them to discern between commentary and concluding sentence.

Thank you for your question.

Keep reading and writing!

Happy New Year,

Dr. Louis

Good morning Dr. Louis,

I am having my students complete outside reading before they come to class and as a way to support their comprehension and prepare them for a quick reading quiz, I am going to have them write summaries of what they read. How would you apply a Jane Schaffer® structure to a summary?

Thank you,

Samuel M.

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Dear Samuel,

Is it one text or several? Is it fiction or nonfiction? Title? Author?

Here’s an idea: Pretend that you have met a person who has not read the novel, but you want to tell them all about it from start to finish. In three well-developed paragraphs (3+:0), summarize1) the setting; 2) the important characters you met, and 3) the events that occurred, and/or conflicts that arose in the beginning, the middle, and the end of the novel.

For the topic sentence of your first paragraph (beginning), provide an overview of the setting; for your concrete details, list three important plot points; for the concluding sentence, provide your opinion as to why the time and place and social mores of the novel are important.

For the topic sentence of your second paragraph (middle), provide an overview of the conflicts in the story; for your concrete details, list three important plot points; for the concluding sentence; provide your opinion on whether the conflicts are justified and why (only one sentence).

For the topic sentence of your third paragraph (end), provide an overview of the resolution of the conflict; for your concrete details, list three important plot points; for the concluding sentence, provide a theme in the novel (only one sentence).

‍Keep reading and writing,

Dr. Louis

Dear Dr. Louis,

I need help with prompt writing, please!

Eileen V.

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Dear Eileen,

Well, the first step is asking for help!

When I first started teaching eleventh grade English Language Arts, I would become discouraged as I began scoring the 180-200 essays that I had assigned to my students. “Why weren’t they getting it?” I would ask myself as I sat at my dining room table, scoring one after another until the wee hours of the morning. Their responses were just not in sync with what I had wanted. Why? What was wrong with these kids? The next day, with little sleep and not a great attitude, my kids would arrive, and I when the bell rang, I would shake the stack of papers at them, saying “Y’all weren’t listening! I’m the only one working around here! We’re going to have to start all over again!”

Well, that was a long time ago, and I’ve gained some wisdom and a little humility since then (getting a divorce and fumbling with technology helped). I realized that when class sets of papers are not up to par, the problem is not the students; it's the prompt; and, more importantly, the prompter.

I set forth on a mission to discover what elements are included in a prompt that would yield essays of which my students and I could be proud. I discovered that an effective prompt has three components: one or several background sentences; a trigger sentence; a task. Background Sentences: These are opening statements in a prompt that serve several purposes. First, they are there to engage the students, pique their interest. Gilgamesh is the first superhero text. Or If we didn’t have photosynthesis, we all would be dead! Background sentences provide students with what Aristotle would call the occasion. In other words, what motivates this piece of writing? If it’s understanding symbolism, then perhaps I give the definition of symbolism first. Perhaps I then give an example from the story, providing the students with insight into the significance of the symbol. A symbol is a tangible object that represents an abstract idea. During the first half of the 19^th century, known as the Romantic Era, one important symbol was nature. It was such an important symbol that authors would sometimes capitalize it, personifying it with the status equal to that of an actual character in a literary work. Trigger Sentence: As I continued my research while teaching my eleventh graders, I studied Advanced Placement® prompts. Their prompts would include the following statement: Read the passage carefully. I asked myself, “Why in the world would they say that? What were the students going to do – Read the passage haphazardly?” Then it dawned on me that this was a trigger sentence, designed to separate the background sentences from the task, the third element of an effective prompt. The trigger sentence was there to say to the students, “Everything above me is designed to help you, to give you insight into the content, to set the tone. Everything below me is what you are supposed to do.”

‍Read Chapter 19 in The Scarlet Letter.

Task: The task gives the students the specifications of what should be in the essay.

Then, in a well-developed multiparagraph essay, trace the Nature motif and explain its significance. You might consider the tone that is created when Nature is present and how it contributes to the meaning of the text. Once I learned how to write effective prompts, scoring essays did not seem as burdensome. My students understood what I wanted and did their best to show me their understanding. We all felt more successful. I realized that receiving good essays from my students begins with me and my ability to create good writing prompts.

Here are a couple more prompts that I’ve been working on with teachers of late: A Long Walk to Water Writing

Prompt: The orphaned boys from Sudan have come to be called “Lost Boys.” This is a reference to the book Peter Pan by JM Barrie. In Peter Pan, the Lost Boys are a group of young orphans who join in Peter’s adventures, fighting pirates, and saving an Indian Princess. Despite the fun and the freedom they enjoy, the Lost Boys choose to leave Neverland at the end of the story to find families.  Please read the attached Peter Pan excerpt.   Then, in a well-developed one- to two-chunk paragraph (1:2+), interpret why "lost boys" is an appropriate name to give to boys like Salva.

‍Tangerine Writing Prompt:

In Edward Bloor’s Tangerine, the narrator portrays two communities: Lake Windsor Downs and Tangerine. Though these two communities share many similarities, they are also very different from one another.  Read the novel, carefully, annotating the similarities and differences of these two communities. In a well-developed two paragraph literary analysis (1:2+), compare and contrast Paul’s community (Lake Windsor Downs) with Victor’s community (Tangerine). The first paragraph will be how the communities are alike, and the second paragraph will be how the communities are different. Be sure to focus on the residents, their behaviors and attitudes, family relationships, and economic differences.

‍Keep reading and writing,

Dr. Louis

Dear Dr. Louis,

My son's middle school is using your program. I have searched your website looking for how your curriculum is used in a middle school special education setting for a student entering 6th grade reading and writing on 1st grade level because of dyslexia . . . . I would appreciate it if you could send me information on how your program works, especially in a middle school special education setting, and the implementation/fidelity recommendations.                                Thank you,

F.T.

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‍Dear F.T.,

Thank you for your email. For this question, I am going to engage my two national trainers, who are also educational therapists, and have them answer your question. While I demonstrate and discuss differentiation for special education students, I’d like to have my credentialed and experienced authorities respond to your astute question. They are Ms. Lauren Roedy-Vaughn and Ms. Carrie Robinson.

#1: Lauren Roedy Vaughn has an undergraduate degree in drama, a master’s degree in special education, and a learning specialist credential with a subject qualification in English. For the past two decades, she has worked in the United States and abroad as an educator and writing specialist. She is a Board Member for the International Dyslexia Association’s Los Angeles branch and a member of the Association of Educational Therapists. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, along with other civic leaders, presented her with The Walk of Heart’s Teaching Award in 2005. She is the author of the young adult novel, OCD, The Dude, and Me, which made the American Library Association’s list of best books for teens and the Capitol Choice Selections for 2014.

‍Here is Lauren’s response:

The first philosophical tenet of The Jane Schaffer Writing Program is that “all students can think and all students can write.” All students deserve explicit, structured, and sustained writing instruction as part of their literacy curriculum. In fact, just like with effective reading programs, the “explicit, structured, and sustained” parts are key. The Jane Schaffer Writing Program explicitly teaches the language of academic writing and the steps involved in the thinking process of building paragraphs and essays. Too often, these steps remain implicit, and students are unclear about how to answer a prompt or write a paragraph or essay. They often don’t even know where to begin. This program is first and foremost a thinking program, and it acknowledges that writing is a process. Thus, there are steps to writing an academic paragraph and essay, and these steps can be taught.

Explicit instruction from a teacher is key to the success of this program. The teacher first teaches the students the terminology for the parts of the paragraph and the color-coding of each part, so that students learn that different parts of a paragraph function in different ways. This is important information for all students to have before they write. Students with dyslexia benefit from the direct teaching of the vocabulary of the program and then the subsequent steps of building a paragraph. While a student may struggle with spelling, the physical act of writing, and/or getting his ideas down on paper, this program supports his formulation of ideas. Thinking must happen before writing can happen.  The program is structured. When the program is implemented with fidelity, teachers work through the steps of the process with the students. First, the teacher provides a paragraph model. After the model is discussed and the parts are understood, then the teacher provides a model of the steps to build that paragraph. The teacher presents each step and discusses the thinking behind each step with the students. Next, the teacher writes a paragraph collaboratively with the students following each step. We follow the “gradual release of responsibility” model, so that students are not writing independently until they are ready.

The graphic organizers that make up our program provide a visual model for the steps and guide students in their thinking and composition. It is part of the structure of the program.  The program is designed to be taught in a sustained way. This is not a “one and done” program. When this program is used throughout a child’s middle school years, he is markedly more prepared for writing in high school. In my opinion, middle school is the perfect time to teach this program.

For students with dyslexia, there are accommodations that can be used with this program. The student can dictate his responses either to a scribe or through the use of speech-to-text software. Students with dyslexia benefit from working with someone, one-to-one, or in small groups to make incremental improvements with their writing; those add up over time. This program provides a template for what to teach. How quickly a teacher and student move through the steps is up to the student’s individual needs. Our mantra here is that we go “as quickly as we can and as slow as we must.”

Writing is an integral part of any literacy program, and this is especially true for students with dyslexia. While your son may need extensive scaffolding and support to build a paragraph or an essay, he deserves the chance to be taught how. At first, the teacher or tutor may have to do a lot of modeling, but that’s okay. He may have to dictate all his ideas for a while.Finally, working with someone on explicit writing instruction can support his other literacy skills. Additionally, using high-interest material or topics from his own life in his writing may help him engage in the instruction more effectively.

I have a Learning Specialist Credential and a Master’s degree in Special Education. I taught high school English for 20 years to students with language-based learning disabilities, most of whom were students with dyslexia. Some of my high school students read on the second-grade level. I went searching for a writing program for my kids. This was the best one – hands down – that I found. In my classroom, I paired the Jane Schaffer Writing Program instruction with the University of Kansas’s Sentence Writing Program to help my students learn to write functional sentences. I’m actively involved with the International Dyslexia Association and served on their Board in Los Angeles for several years. I care deeply about students who struggle with literacy, and it’s why I use the Jane Schaffer Writing Program. My experience with the program over the last three decades makes me passionate about sharing it with teachers, students, and parents.  I hope this helps you learn more about The Jane Schaffer Writing Program, and I wish you and your son the best of teachers and instruction for his entire academic career.

Best,

Lauren Roedy Vaughn

‍#2: Ms. Carrie Robinson received her Bachelor’s Degree in Speech and Theatre. She is currently an educational therapist who works privately with students who have language-based learning disabilities. Her areas of specialty are reading (decoding and comprehension), writing composition, and study skills. She has experience both as an administrator and as a teacher. At Westmark School in Encino, California, a school for special-needs students, Carrie was the assistant principal for students and teachers, grades 9-12, creating and implementing individualized educational programs for students. As a classroom teacher for ten years, Carrie taught English Language Arts and World History to 9th-grade students as well as study skills remediation to grades 4-12.  

Here is Carrie’s response:

The Jane Schaffer Writing Program is ideal for students with learning disabilities because of the combination of intuitive graphic organizers and an explicit process for generating and organizing ideas. As an educational therapist for over 25 years, I was attracted to the JSWP for that very reason. I needed to find a way to help my students – that didn’t include my putting words in their mouths. One frustrating day, I remember sitting with a student who had asked for help with a writing assignment and thinking, “I know what I would write, but I don’t know how to get you to write it.” Thankfully, Jane gave us all a valuable gift, and I have been sharing this gift with my students for many years with great success.  I work with students and teachers on how to break down skills effectively in multiple ways and to address all types of learning styles. Countless times I’ve had teachers exclaim when I’ve shown them a method that might work for my student in their class, “Wow! ALL my students would benefit from this approach.” That’s what Jane provides teachers. Jane was an [On-Level and] AP English teacher and taught very high-level students, but her program explicitly teaches writing (and even some reading techniques) — she makes what is implicit about writing explicit, and that’s what students at all levels need. This program gives students a vocabulary with which to demystify the writing process.

What drew me to Jane Schaffer’s approach was how the program is scaffolded—a critical component for struggling learners. This method trains teachers to help students to break down the components of paragraphs and essays and gives them a footing to accomplish each step of the process. First of all, Jane color-codes the parts of a paragraph, which helps the brain embed the concepts of topic sentence, concrete detail, commentary, and concluding sentence using a visual cue. Each sentence has a job to do and it’s easy to “see” as the colors blue, red, green, and blue appear on the page. Additionally, the program allows teachers to build skills by taking each step of the writing process and teaching it in isolation if needed. That way, teachers can tailor the program to meet the needs of individual students; they can simplify or make the process more advanced as students become more proficient.

Importantly, students with learning differences need a process—a step-by-step approach for completing a complicated task, and Jane gives them that. Every time they undertake a writing assignment, they know to start with decoding the prompt and finding CDs to help answer it. This approach has them begin with their evidence when most of our challenged students want simply to answer a prompt with an opinion and be done with it. The t-chart is magical because it helps students to corral their overflowing thoughts and to organize those thoughts while also helping students, who never know what to say, find they have all kinds of intelligent responses lurking in their brains. The meta-cognitive process of asking oneself questions about the evidence teaches critical thinking and gives them a way of getting their ideas from their brain to the page. “Picking and stitching” helps them to write more grammatically complex and sophisticated sentences. Finally, the shaping sheet helps them to refine, to edit, to improve, and to connect all their sentences into a coherent paragraph without overwhelming them with revision after revision. In fact, most students don’t even realize it, but each step of the process is its own revision.  For my students who learn differently, knowing there is a writing process on which to rely takes the apprehension out of composing paragraphs and essays. As the process becomes more familiar, it becomes automatic and eventually allows these kids to become independent writers.

Jane has educators using an “I do, we do, you do” pedagogy that allows for lots of practice and support. Teachers begin by modeling the process. They then write with the student—taking them through each step – and they will continue to write together as long as the student needs it. Eventually, students will complete the process independently. This gradual release of responsibility takes the student writer’s individual needs into account every step of the way.I’ve used this approach with students in grade school, middle school, high school, and college and have not found a better program out there that teaches LD students how to write. Jane’s genius is that she knew “all students can think, so all students can write.”No doubt, your son will find “writing with Jane” a very rewarding experience.

Best regards,

Carrie Robinson

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‍Please do not hesitate to contact me with further questions. I am at your service.

Warm regards,

Dr. Louis

Dear Dr. D,

I have students stating that they struggle to reach the minimum word count while following the Jane Schaffer structure. For example, if the essay is to be 600-800 words, they may have only 450 words but state that they are following the formula. Any advice as to what you would do? - Julianna K, Grades 7-12

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‍Dear Julianna,

Are they writing only one-chunk paragraphs? Or are they writing two chunks per paragraph? Sounds like they need to increase the chunks as an option!

In an expository essay, the ratio of CD:CM is 2+:1. Are the students writing only two sentences of concrete details? Or are they writing two or more sentences of concrete details (hence, the plus [+])? In my class, if they write only two simple sentences of concrete detail, that’s a “C.” With the ratio at 2+:1, they could write five or six sentences of CDs and two or three sentences of CMs. Don't allow them to write the minimum -- push them.

Are they writing a solid topic sentence and a reflective, thoughtful concluding sentence?Look at the students' thesis statements. Sharon Kingston, one of my mentors and a valued friend of Jane's, used to say, "A thesis statement should be a compound-complex thought; therefore, it should be written as a compound-complex sentence."Are the students' introductions and conclusions 10% of the length of their essays? For example, if the essay is 600-800 words, then the introduction and conclusion might be somewhere between 60 and 80+ words each. That's a good guideline for students that I use.

Are the students varying their sentence types and sentence lengths? They should be writing simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, and compound-complex sentences of varying lengths. That’s simply good writing and has nothing to do with the formula or word counts.

For the upper level students and more sophisticated students, are you working with syntax? Are they ready for practicing parallelism? Style?When the students go to college, their professors might ask for a 5,000 word essay. Think 10% intro (500), 10% conclusion (500), and 80% body (4,000). That body could be two body paragraphs (2,000), three body paragraphs (1,300), four body paragraphs (1,000), five body paragraphs (800), etc.Move each student beyond the formula when s/he is ready. Jane expects teachers to move on-level students beyond the formula.

Keep reading and writing!

Happy New Year!

Dr. D'