Fifth-grader Brian Czarnecki considers suggestions made by writing consultant Judy Zak. Zak visited Lakeland Elementary School during the school's half-days on Jan. 24-26, teaching a writing process that focuses on having teachers work with their students' writing as it is being done. Photo by Gretchen Augustine

On those days, writing consultant Judy Zak visited the school to share her methods of teaching writing.

Each year, teachers in the district participate in professional development days. Lakeland principal Terry Starr said teachers are typically allowed to choose what they'll work on during these days, but on Jan. 24- 26, they worked with Zak on writing. About one-third of development days are organized around specific topics, with one other organized session this school year focusing on anti-bullying, he added.

In a fifth-grade classroom on Friday, Zak began her lesson by presenting students with a story. She discussed several ways to begin stories and challenged the students to be creative when the set off to write personal narratives of their own.

One by one, the students chose memories to write about, such as when one student visited family in Florida. Then Zak traveled around the room -- followed closely by fifth-grade teachers -- discussing with each student how they had chosen to begin their stories and drawing out the details of the narrative.

"Writers make choices," she said later. "My job is showing them what choices they have."

Zak is a retired teacher who taught for 30 years in kindergarten through sixth grades. This is her eighth year as a consultant, and she said she feels like an advocate for teachers. So often, she said, teachers feel like they don't get a lot of help after entering a classroom.

She said that at Lakeland, it was nice to see a building working to improve and the teachers are really hard-working.

"I want people to know Lakeland is working hard to meet the needs of all the children," she said.

Zak has a history with Starr, who knew Zak when he first became a principal in Midland.

Midland has a "long history of turning out proficient and prolific writers," Starr said. The writing workshop approach that Zak employs was a "hingepin for success" in Midland, whose students continue to perform well on assessments like the MEAP, the SATs and the Michigan Merit Exam, he said.

Starr first learned Zak's approach in the mid-'80s. "It really changed the way I was a teacher," he said.

Zak said she teaches the writing process and shows teachers how to work with writing as it is being done. It's hard for students to go back to their writing and make changes once they're finished, she said.

"They've got to go [back] while they're in the middle of it," she added.

Each grade-level received a slightly different presentation from Zak, who said she brings more into her lessons as students get older. For example, in the third grade, students worked on choosing their topic. To add to the fourth grade lesson, Zak talked about different types of introductions and worked with students to choose writing strategies. In the fifth grade, she then added that good writers bring thoughts and feelings into their writing.

"Each grade level could really handle it," she said.

An additional tool Zak likes to use is to have students read their work in front of their classmates so they can analyze what's good within their pieces.

Starr said Zak's approach puts more responsibility on students as writers. It "makes them step up to the plate" and be independent, he added.

There are three main components to Zak's technique, he said. If teachers are going to develop proficient writers, students must have time, choices of how and what to write, and responses by someone who reads their papers and reflects on the writing, he said.

Writing has been an emphasis for Lakeland, he added, and the approaches Zak uses link in well with the "Six Traits of Writing" that Lakeland teaches. Research has shown that writers who show strength in the six traits -- organization, voice, sentence fluency, ideas, word choice and conventions -- have powerful writing capabilities, the principal said.

Zak emphasized the need of organization, he said.

"If what they write can follow strong organization then we'll be doing the best job we can," he said.