Implementation Video - Part 3: Classroom Examples
The Writing Academy, LLC.

--- Slide 14: Spelling Example ---

Here is an example of the thinking students practice.

Take a rest blank. Press the bicycle blank. Both missing words sound alike, but the meanings tell us which spelling belongs in each sentence: break for a rest and brake for the bicycle part.

Then look at happy plus the suffix ness. Students build happiness, notice the change from y to i, and explain the word's meaning.

We want more than a correct choice or a memorized word part. Ask students to explain the decision and use the word in a new sentence. That final step connects word study to writing.

--- Slide 15: Sentence Weather ---

Sentence Weather gives students a visual way to discuss grammar.

In the sentence, The small puppy runs slowly, puppy names the animal, runs tells the action, small describes the puppy, and slowly tells how the puppy runs.

Students connect those jobs with the established Sentence Weather symbols. But the grammatical idea comes before extra visual markings. The goal is not simply to color or label a sentence.

Ask, What is this word doing? Which word does it describe? How do the words work together? Keep labels and shapes available so meaning does not depend on color alone. Then have students apply that understanding in their own sentences.

--- Slide 16: Capitals and Punctuation ---

Students also learn to explain why a capital letter or punctuation mark belongs.

Compare Principal Reed with the principal, or Labor Day with a holiday. The decision comes from how the word is used, not whether it seems important.

Now compare Ella waved and smiled with Ella waved, and Merrick smiled. In the first sentence, one subject performs two actions. In the second, the conjunction joins two complete ideas, and the comma marks that boundary.

This is why we include no-change decisions. Students need to recognize correct writing and defend it, not assume that every sentence must contain an error.

--- Slide 17: Editing and Revising ---

Editing and revising are connected, but they do different work.

When we change The birds sings to The birds sing, we are correcting subject-verb agreement.

When we combine The gate was locked and We waited outside into The gate was locked, so we waited outside, we make the cause-and-result relationship explicit.

Students practice adding, deleting, combining, and rearranging when those changes improve the writing. They do not need to make every possible change to every draft.

A useful question is, What did your change do for the reader? That keeps revision focused on meaning and clarity, rather than simply making a sentence longer.

--- Slide 18: The Windy Display ---

Writing about a text requires more than copying a line from it.

In The Windy Display, the wind disrupts the students' paper display. We can ask, How did Ella and Merrick solve the problem?

A response might say, They changed their plan and worked together. The evidence tells us that they moved the display into the quiet hall and taped the loose corner.

Now comes the explanation: moving inside protected the display from the wind, while taping the corner repaired it.

Notice the connection. The response answers the question, the evidence supports that answer, and the explanation tells why the evidence matters. This sample shows the kind of relationship students need to build.

--- Slide 19: Craft ---

Craft instruction connects reading like a writer with making choices as a writer.

In Kitchen Music, the words tap and clang help the reader hear the utensils. Students name the choice and explain its effect.

Now consider a backpack that feels as heavy as a boulder. The comparison transfers the quality of heaviness. It does not mean the backpack is made of stone. The clue barely lifted supports that meaning.

After discussing the example, invite students to write a purposeful sound choice or comparison of their own and explain what it helps the reader understand. We want the skill to move from recognition into composition.