Guided writing is defined here as a small-group instructional framework presented to students who share similar needs at a particular point in time
'Six Thinking Hats' can help you to look at problems from different perspectives, but one at a time, to avoid confusion from too many angles crowding your thinking.
Student
The Green Hat represents creativity. Develop creative solutions to any problem with this hat. This unconstrained mindset allows you to freely test out a variety of useful creativity tools, due to its low level of criticism.
work on a specific skill in a safe, supportive
environment
develop the confidence to use the skill
independently
develop a better understanding of a specific skill
Teacher
The Blue Hat thinking represents process control. When having trouble because ideas are needed, the Green Hat may come in handy since it is the one used for creativity. In case of emergencies and dealing with them, the Black Hat is required.
asks appropriate questions, encourages dialogue,
and helps students improve their understanding
of the skill
maintains a balance between teacher support
and student independence
makes ongoing observations and assessments
of students’ progress
monitors and scaffolds students as they apply
the skill
leads the whole group in applying the skill
cooperatively
provides the students with examples that
demonstrate the focus skill of the lesson
chooses appropriate resources for the lesson
uses various assessment strategies to identify
a group of students with similar needs, abilities,
or interests
Teaching Points
Writing a research report
Elements of writing (e.g., voice,
sentence fluency, word usage)
Writing a paragraph
Creating a clear beginning, middle,
and end
Writing complete sentences
Using more descriptive language
Matching form and purpose
Identifying characteristics of a genre
Understanding the use of quotation marks
Understanding the features of text
Strategies
Using the Black Hat you consider the negative outcomes. Find what would not work and why. This way you highlight the weak points in a plan. Black Hat will help you to identify the flaws and risks before you embark on a course of action.
Engage Writers in Conversation and Rehearsal
Discussion and Teacher Explanation
Rehearsal of language structures should be explicit and well connected to the type of text and topic about which students are currently writing.
Students rehearse new ways of talking about topics of interest using literate and increasingly complex forms of language.
Features
Using the Red Hat, you will use your intuition and emotions. Also, you will consider how others might look at the problem emotionally. Try to understand the responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning.
Reading and writing share rhetorical and communicative functions, knowledge, and cognitive processes (Nelson & Calfee, 1998).
Reading and Writing requires the expansion of children's oral language resources and the application of these competencies to understanding and constructing texts within a variety of genres.
Make the elements of good writing and the strategies of good writers visible and accessible to naive writers
Frequency depends on needs of the students
Explicit teaching - Modelling
Guided Writing Lesson
Using the white thinking hat, you center your attention around the available data. Take the information that you have, analyze it, and see what you can learn from it. Become aware of your weak points and start working on improving your knowledge.
Students share
their writing,
as a whole group,
with a partner, or
with the teacher.
Students then
work as a group
to compose
a text, applying
the focus skill.
Teacher then
guides students
to write their
own text
independently,
applying the
focus skill.
During the
first part of
the lesson,
students are
immersed in
the focus skill
through
examination
and discussion
of models.
