Step-By-Step Writing: Sentences and Stories with Story Grammar Marker®—January 14 & 15, 2025

Imagine: By the time your students lift their pencils, they have already identified a clear message and logical order for composing their stories!

With Story Grammar Marker^®’s systematic and explicit approach, this becomes a reality! Unlock the power of story structure to help students develop essential writing skills! This interactive, virtual workshop provides educators with effective strategies for teaching sentence development (syntax) and how to write personal narratives and stories (discourse) using the Story Grammar Marker^® (SGM^®) Approach. Participants will learn how to guide students in comprehension of narrative elements—such as characters, setting, initiating events, and resolution—and to scaffold instruction to help students construct meaningful sentences, connect ideas, and craft cohesive narratives.

Through step-by-step instruction, classroom videos and demonstrations, attendees will explore how SGM^® promotes inference, critical thinking, language development, and literacy skills. By the end of the workshop, educators will be able to: break down the narrative writing into manageable steps and teach students to expand sentences with clarity and detail. This workshop is ideal for teachers seeking practical, research-based strategies to enhance writing instruction with diverse learners and help students master writing one step at a time!

This Workshop is open to the public.

DATES: Tuesday, January 14, and Wednesday, January 15, 2025
TIMES: 4:00 pm-7:00 pm (EDT) each day
LOCATION: Zoom Live Virtual Meeting
INCLUDED: E-Book with Templates, Progress Monitoring  Forms, Lessons, and Activities; Certificate of Completion for 6 hours of Professional Development
COST: $249 per participant

Time-Ordered Agenda

Learner Outcomes

• Share the connection between oral language and literacy skills
• Describe the Gradual Release of Responsibility model for teaching writing
• Discuss Pragmatics as it relates to teaching (and learning) how to write
• Learn how to brainstorm “what makes writing work”
• Teach the Macrostructure of a narrative using SGM^®
• Teach the Microstructure of narratives using SGM^® icons to build sentences
• Practice with personal narratives to identify settings, feelings, and kick-offs to develop ideas and organize thoughts
• Show how to use SGM^® manipulatives, magnets, and graphic organizers for Ideas and Organization
• Connect the components of the Critical Thinking Triangle^® to develop and deepen understanding of the Main Idea and to develop Theory of Mind & Perspective-taking in writing
• Investigate the difference between revising and editing
• Observe a lesson on revising for Voice and Word Choice as well as for Sentence Fluency (using cohesive ties)
• Focus on SGM^® microstructure to integrate Voice and Word Choice with linguistic verbs, elaborated noun phrases, adverbs, adjectives, and feelings
• Explain how to use the Frayer Model for vocabulary development and Word Choice
• Investigate how to encourage the use of strong verbs
• Use the Cohesive Tie JARgon to build and expand sentences with conjunctions and model Sentence Fluency
• Share how to integrate children’s literature in mini-lessons when teaching writing
• Explore how “A Day in the Park” Student Activity Booklet™ develops narrative writing
• Assess student writing and plan intervention using MindWing’s Progress Monitoring forms and charts
• Explore a systematic method for student writing conferences
• Learn editing Convention symbols for student use as well as a method to edit student writing products
• Share selections of grade 3 students’ writing and the revisions of their own stories
• Show the transition from narrative to informational (nonfiction) writing such as opinion, argument, compare/contrast, and description.

PRESENTERS

Learn directly from the experts!

Maryellen Rooney Moreau,
M.Ed. CCC-SLP

Maryellen is the Founder and President of MindWing Concepts. After graduating from University of Massachusetts Amherst in Communication Disorders and receiving her Master’s Degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Pennsylvania State University, she began her – now -  50 year professional career. She worked in several roles; school-based SLP,  SLP in a home care/community-based setting, Assistant Professor, Diagnostician, and Coordinator of Intervention Curriculum and Professional Development. She created the Story Grammar Marker^® and was awarded two U.S. patents.  In 2011, Moreau received the Boise Peace Quilt Project Award for her work with children in the area of conflict resolution and social communication.  In 2014, she received the Alice H. Garside Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Dyslexia Association, Massachusetts Branch (MABIDA) for exemplary leadership, service or achievement in the area of helping children with dyslexia and language learning disabilities Moreau is an internationally recognized presenter.

Linda M. Lafontaine,
M.A., CAGS, CCC-SLP 

Linda received her Master’s Degree in Speech-Language Pathology in 1981 from the University of Maryland. In 2014 she received her CAGS from American International College as a Reading Specialist. Linda has practiced in many settings, including hospital, public and private schools. She is the former Principal of the Curtis Blake Day School of the Children’s Study Home, for students with dyslexia/LLD. Linda has presented at  the Massachusetts Speech Language Hearing  Association and the  American Speech  Language Hearing  Conventions. She also  presented on the topic of “Narratives” at a learning disabilities conference in the United Arab Emirates. In her current role, Linda uses her 25+ years of experience with Story Grammar Marker^®, ThemeMaker^® and MindWing^®’s other methodologies as a trainer, presenter, and co-author on new publications.

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