Writing Fluency Tracker - Weebly



Writing Fluency Tracker Revised for Summer School

By Dr. Elaine Weber, Language Arts Consultant, Macomb ISD

Writing development begins with fluency. Before students focus their writing, they need to know what their brain knows about the topic (fluency is a way of purging the brain of what it knows about a topic). There needs to be a sufficient amount of information or “stuff” generated before the writer can find a focus for the writing (the second level of writing development). Once the writers have a focus, they determine the form they will use depending on topic, audience, and the purpose of the writing.

Writing Fluency Tracker is concerned first with developing the student’s finger and hand muscles to sustain the writing activity. Second, it is concerned with developing the consistent flow of the words from the brain to the paper (That is why we often offer “key words” to get the language flowing from the brain). The goal is to get a consistent flow of language from the brain to the paper.

How it works

The teacher guides the selection of the topic and schedules the writing time (IT MUST BE DONE ON A REGULAR SCHEDULE OR IT DOESN’T WORK. It is NOT a one-time event.)

The writing time should be consistent. The writing time could be three, four or five minutes depending on the capability of the students; it should be the same amount of minutes for the time you are measuring writing fluency. I recommend five minutes. I also recommend a timer used the designated time; this also allows the teacher time to write along with students or take attendance or to do other class-ready chores.

Topics

The first step in setting up the writing tracker system is to determine the topics for writing. Teachers can select one or multiple ways to set up topics for the students to use for their writing. The teacher can designate the topics that are related to the academic work being studied, or the class can generate a list of topics they would like to explore or individual students can determine topics specific to their lives.

Teacher determined topics

The writing tracker can be used to summarize the lesson of the day. In this way, the students write for five minutes about what they have just learned. This activity can be scaffolded by putting domain specific vocabulary or key phrases on the board to jog their memory.

Class selected topics

The students list the topics they would like to explore in their writing. The teacher makes a list and the students rank order the topics. The students all write on the topic of the day according to the rank ordered list.

Individual student selected topics

The topics can be those that the students select.

1. You can have the students do a lifeline

Birth___sister_____a new brother _______trip to Disney____got dog, Skip___Track award_____Now

and list five or more important events in their life.

2. They can develop seven headlines from seven events in their life.

A baby boy joins the Smith Family

Gerald Smith wins 4th grade Geography Bee!

Smith family meets Mickey

Etc.

3. They can draw a heart and list all the things that are in their heart.

Mom, dad, soccer cedar point, etc.

Scaffolding the topic

If the students are not progressing in fluency development (writing more and more words), brainstorm with the students the words for the topic they are writing about. For example, if they are writing about baseball, have them offer vivid verbs and specific nouns pertaining to baseball. This stimulates their memory and gives them a rich source of words for writing. They should have a generous list of vivid verbs and specific nouns to select from. Leave the words on the board or on the wall while the students are writing. What usually happens is that since they heard the words they do not need to refer to the board.

Getting Ready for the Writing

Make sure students have their paper and pencil/pen ready. When the timer starts, students begin writing. NOTHING else but writing is going on: no sharpening pencils, leaving class, talking to others, etc. There should be no erasing, it takes too much time. Have the students cross out anything they do not want in their writing.

When the timer rings indicating the time is up, the students stop writing, read what they have written, and begin counting the words they have generated.

Each student has a record sheet similar to the one below:

Writing Fluency Tracker Record Sheet

Date Subject Topic Number of Word

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| | | | |

| | | | |

| | | | |

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| | | | |

| | | | |

| | | | |

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| | | | |

The students record the date, the subject or class, the topic, and the number of words. They do this each time they write, This should be done regularly for a period of time with the goal to increase the number of words they can write in the designated time period.

Data processing and progress monitoring

After the students have written for several weeks, they can plot the results of their writing. They can simple look at the dates in chronological order and the number of words.

100

75

50

25

0

9/12 9/13 9/14 9/15 9/20 9/21 9/22 9/23 9/24 9/27 9/28

This could be a line or bar chart and simply tell whether the student is progressing and at what rate.

The chart could give more information if they student determined the date of the writing along with the topic

100

75

50

25

0

9/12 9/13 9/14 9/15 9/20 9/21 9/22 9/23 9/24 9/27

baseball, soccer math health Disney brother sailing up north lunch science

Now the students can determine which topics give them the most words.

Students and teachers will have more specific information about the student’s prior knowledge, their interests and academic strengths.

Benefits

There are many benefits to building a writing fluency tracker program in your school. If this is done in content areas, it has the benefit of helping students reflect on what they have learned in class and consolidating their learning. These are added value benefits beyond building foundational writing skills.

The following wisdom regarding the value of writing fluency follows

12:00 AM  Jul. 15, 2002

|The Fluent Writer |

|By Roy Peter Clark (More articles by this author) |

|Senior Scholar, Poynter Institute |

| |

|As you stroll around the garden at The Poynter Institute, several inspirational sayings, carved into marble, greet you. One comes from the |

|great sports writer Red Smith: “Writing is easy. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” This quote evokes a chestnut from |

|Gene Fowler: “Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead.”... |

|As I become a more fluent writer, the more I enjoy the craft and the more productive I become. These days I sound like a Zen master: “The more |

|I write, the more I write.” When I look back on my days of struggle, I see a young man trying to tread water while wearing a pair of work |

|boots. I stay afloat much easier in my bare feet. |

|My path to fluency did not come from someone else’s map. Perhaps struggle is the toll we pay to find the path. Looking back, I can remember |

|some trailheads. These guideposts transformed my negative thoughts into useful work, the way Lamaze mothers learn to re-imagine labor pains as |

|muscle contractions. |

|To become a more fluent writer, try these strategies: |

|1. Trust your hands. Forget your brain for a while, and let your fingers do the writing. Your hand bones are connected to your brain bones. I |

|had the vaguest sense of what I wanted to say in this essay until my hands taught me. |

|2. Adopt a daily routine. Fluent writers prefer mornings. Afternoon and evening writers (or runners) have the whole day to invent excuses not |

|to write (or run). The key is write rather than wait. |

|3. Build in rewards. Any routine of work (or not-work) can be debilitating, so build in many little rewards: a cup of coffee, a quick walk, |

|your favorite song. |

|4. Draft sooner. Many journalists use reporting and research to fill up the available time. Thorough investigation is key to a journalist’s |

|success, but over-reporting makes writing seem tougher. Write earlier in the process so you discover what information you need. |

|5. Count everything. Don Murray’s favorite motto is “Never A Day Without a Line.” Not a hundred lines. For the fluent writer, every word |

|counts. Learn to judge your own work by quanity, not quality. |

|6. Rewrite. The quality comes from revision, rather than from speed writing. Fluent writing gives you the time and opportunity to turn your |

|quick draft into something special. |

|7. Watch your language. Purge your vocabulary (and your thoughts) of words like “procrastination” and “writer’s block” and “delay” and “sucks.”|

|Turn your little quirks into something productive. Call it “rehearsal” or “preparation” or “planning.”… |

| |

|Finally, remember this quote from poet John Ciardi: “You don’t have to suffer to be a poet. Adolescence is enough suffering for anyone.” |

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Mom Dad Skip

Cedar Point

soccer

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