New Edition Boosts Achievement Across Grade Levels, Content Areas

Imagine all the teachers in your school or district using a common reading and writing language, incorporating effective instructional strategies that are familiar to all students, grading by the same high standards, and achieving consistently proficient scores on assessments across content areas.

This summer, Sopris West's Step Up to Writing Third Edition stepped up to the plate to make this scenario a reality.

Only 28 percent of students in fourth grade, 31 percent in eighth grade, and 24 percent in 12th grade performed at or above proficient in writing on the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (Nation's Report Card: Writing 2002).

Step Up to Writing's simple, multisensory writing and note-taking strategies can alleviate students' anxiety about writing under time constraints on exams and improve their performance.

When Sonoma Heights Elementary School in Nevada trained all of its teachers in these strategies, Principal Steve Hutchison reported that students were more engaged during lessons and that writing scores on high-stakes tests improved significantly.

"Using the Step Up to Writing skill sequence and our state and local standards, we developed a yearlong Step Up to Writing map for each grade level, complete with benchmark and exit skills that all students would be required to master," Hutchison said. "The faculty quickly took to the great common language and proven activities."

Practicing common strategies for summary writing and note taking in different classes throughout the day not only improves students' writing skills but also increases reading comprehension and builds active listening and speaking skills.

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Q: How did Step Up to Writing begin?
A: When my middle school students did well on the district writing assessments, I was asked to train all of the teachers in separate workshops for science, art, math, and so on. The teachers were so supportive and receptive. I think that's because they were surprised that the strategies were so practical. The goal wasn't to learn the strategies but to put them in practice.

Q: How did Step Up to Writing become such a success?
A: Step Up really grew because teachers told teachers; principals told principals. It's always been grass roots; the chapters really grew out of questions and needs that teachers had. Teachers share the strategies, but that doesn't mean they have to change how they operate in the classroom. It's not a matter of dedicating an hour a day to Step Up to Writing; they use the strategies to make their own instruction better.

Q: How would you describe your instructional approach?
A: My style has always been very active, very visual, very hands-on. One example is that, when I was teaching, there was a method called the 8-sentence paragraph. I shared parts of it with my students but didn't want them counting sentences. I would say to them that in the "real world," paragraphs can be very short, or they can be much longer. And I pulled my hands apart and back and forth to demonstrate. One of my students said, "Mrs. Auman, it looks like you're playing an accordion." So the term "accordion paragraph" was coined.

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"LANGUAGE! has helped my seventh grade students immensely. ... This curriculum has given my students the tools that they need to be successful but missed out on in their earlier years of school. I have a lot of ELL [English language learner] students who did not receive the phonics or spelling rules early on, and LANGUAGE! has helped them to spell and read better.

"My celebration is that next year I will move three students out of LANGUAGE! and into an advanced class. These students came to me reading at a fourth to fifth grade level. I am so excited to have taught this curriculum and to share my success stories."

Do you have a success story involving your school or district and Sopris West products or professional services? If so, we'd love to share it with the Connections community. It's testimonials like these that inspire us all! Please send your stories, comments, or ideas to e-newsletter@sopriswest.com.

Just Read, Florida! K–12 Leadership Conference
August 5–8, 2007
Orlando, Florida
Visit Sopris West at booths #25–26

Fall NCTM Regional Conferences
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Presenters include: Larry Bradsby, Shirley Bradsby, Beth Glenn, Pat Lawler, and Lynda McKelvey

• October 11–12; Richmond, Virginia
  Visit Sopris West at booth #314
• October 25–26; Kansas City, Missouri
  Visit Sopris West at booth #708
• November 29–30; Houston, Texas
  Sopris West booth TBA

NASDSE Annual Conference: Focus on the Possibilities
National Association of State Directors of Special Education
October 20–23, 2007
Scottsdale, Arizona

IDA Annual Conference
International Dyslexia Association
October 31–November 3, 2007
Dallas, Texas
Visit Sopris West at booth #711

NAEYC Annual Conference
National Association for the Education of Young Children
November 7–10, 2007
Chicago, Illinois
Visit Sopris West at booth #427

NMSA Annual Conference
National Middle School Association
November 8–10, 2007
Houston, Texas
Visit Sopris West at booths #953–955

ASHA Annual Conference
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
November 15–17, 2007
Boston, Massachusetts
Visit Sopris West at booth #324