Writing Consultant, Author

Melinda's Background

Melinda Michalec grew up in a rural Indiana town with one stoplight. Melinda attended Ball State University and received her Bachelors Degree in 1988. Years later, she earned her Masters Degree at Nova University in Tampa, Florida. She taught elementary children for 14 years. Most of her teaching experiences were in Florida Title One schools. Being a writing specialist in these Title One schools, afforded her the opportunity to help create a school-wide, kindergarten through fifth grade, writing spiral curriculum. She also co-authored a book for Polk County School District titled Writing for All during this time. High achievement on Florida’s FCAT writing test inspired her vision to share the program’s success with other teachers.

Author of Write Reflections

During the 2000 school year, Melinda authored her first book, WriteReflections, Volume One which included the framework for this unique color-coded writing program. WriteReflections, Volume Two was published in 2002 and is a writing guide containing thirty-six weeks of plans on compact disc for each grade level with emphasis on expository and narrative writing. Melinda now presents at local, state, and international conventions, and she is a full-time consultant for schools across North America. “Down-to-earth,” “fast paced,” “thought provoking,” and “innovative”… These are some of the words used by participants in evaluating Melinda’s presentations.

Write Reflections is based on the results of effective pedagogical practices in the content area of writing in the state of Florida. This school-wide writing program was developed in order to meet the challenge of being confronted with the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) writing test, formerly the Florida Writes test, which is the state’s standardized test that measures students’ ability to write a five paragraph essay. It is administered in fourth, eighth, and tenth grade. Michalec developed this program which is grounded in research and is helpful in obtaining high writing scores on this state test. One Title One school who used this writing curriculum achieved tremendous results with their fourth grade students who took the state writing test. Their scores increased from 14% of the students scoring at or above a 3.0, as measured on the FCAT writing test, to 97% of students scoring at or above a 3.0 in the 1999-2000 school year. A 3.0 is considered a passing score and a 6 is the highest possible score. This school had a 64.2% free and reduced lunch rate, a 45.1% mobility rate and a 39% minority rate (see bar graph insert). Another Title One school who used this program in 2000-2001 and 2002 achieved an average score of a 4.1 and then a 3.8 in 2002. Both years these scores were at the top in the state of Florida. Furthermore, in 2000-2001 this Title One School had 100% of the students pass the test and 96% passed in 2002.

WORKSHOPS OFFERED BY MELINDA MICHALEC:

A Kindergarten through Fifth Grade Writing-Spiral Program

This intensive seminar will empower administrators, teachers, Title One support staff, and ESL and Exceptional Education teachers on how to implement a writing-spiral program within their schools. Educators will learn how to maximize the current writing curriculum/program that they are using. Aside from that, they will examine ways to increase their state writing scores with this research-based program. Participants will:

• Gain strategies for implementing a writing-spiral program in your school.
• Know how to incorporate a sequential writing program within a classroom.
• Understand the difference between various writing genres.
• Consider two different tools or mind maps for organizing one’s thoughts.
• Examine ways to use editing sheets and self assessment charts in a classroom.
• Consider ways to grade writing using a rubric.
• Learn how to motivate students to write.
• Discover tactics for meeting the diverse needs of young writers.
• Strengthen your current writing curriculum.
• Gain information on grade-level appropriate transitional words, prompts, detail building, and much more.

Designed for: Educators serving Kindergarten through fifth grade, Title One Staff Members, Special Education Staff, Administrators, District Curriculum Supervisors, and ESL Teachers.

On-site modeling within the Kindergarten-Fifth grade classrooms

This workshop will feature Melinda actually modeling using methodologies from her program. Each classroom will receive a 40 minute lesson using the writing process approach to teaching writing. This workshop is intended to be a sequel to workshop number one.

• Hands-on activities
• Visual
• Fast Moving
• Motivating reluctant writers
• Time management
• Organizational management
• Motivated presenter/teacher in costume
• Brainstorming
• Webbing
• Word banks

This workshop can be short-term or long-term depending on the needs of each school. This workshop is designed for Educators serving Kindergarten through fifth grade, Title One Staff Members, Special Education Staff, Administrators, District Curriculum Supervisors, and ESL Teachers.

Length: Full day –modeling up to 6 classes
Size of Audience: One classroom for each grade level; all teachers from that grade level will observe
Consultation Available: Melinda will be available at the seminar to answer your questions and discuss your unique needs. Come prepared to ask questions. Bring samples from your own classrooms/schools.

Meet Inservice Requirements:

At the end of the program, each attendee will receive a certificate of participation that may be used to verify hours of participation in meeting continuing education requirements.
Recommended support materials (after presentation):

• WriteReflections, Volume One
• WriteReflections, Volume Two