Strategies for Teaching Writing in the Content Areas Thomasville City Schools

1. Strategies for Teaching Writing in the Content Areas Thomasville City Schools

2. Activating Strategy Results

3. Why Do We Need to Teach Writing? • 2/3 of salaried employees in large American companies have some writing responsibility. • More than 40% of large corporations remediate salaried employees with writing deficiencies. • Most 4th grade students spend less than 3 hours a week writing, or 15% of the time they spend watching TV • 66% of high school seniors do not write a 3- page paper as often as once a month for their English teachers • 75% of seniors NEVER receive a writing assignment in history or social studies.

4. Survey of 400Business Leaders 72% of high school graduate entry-level workers are deficient in the basics of writing

5. National Council of Teachers of English Writing is an essential fundamental tool for thinking • in every class, • on every subject, • and on every level of learning

6. Skills in writing must be • practiced and refined. Students must have “frequent opportunities” to write, • across the curriculum.

7. Writing Learning The act of silent writing, even for a few minutes…. generates ideas, observations, and emotions.

8. When Students Write • They organize concepts in their own language • They connect concepts with their own analogies

9. Writing Often… … several times a week, provides constant reinforcement of the content.

10. Students Who Write in All Courses • Think independently • Develop insight • Explore thoughts and feelings • Develop intellectual courage • Reason logically • Follow the thread of lessons in mind • Visualize concept and make it concrete by writing down thoughts, questions, etc.

11. Stop and Write So far, how’s it going? For 2 minutes, write about what you’ve learned so far and what questions you have as we move forward.

12. Writing Purposes • Posing questions • Discovering answers • Checking understanding • Stimulating discussion

13. Writing to Learn – When? • 1 to 5 minutes at the beginning, during, or at the end of class • Several times a week… • Then Writing becomes a habit in the classroom.

14. “Low Stakes” Writing to Learn “The goal isn't so much good writing as coming to learn, understand, remember and figure out what you don't yet know.” ~Peter Elbow (1994)

15. Why assign low stakes writing? • Improves high stakes writing (Writing Test) • Eases student anxiety about writing in general and writing in your specific class • Makes students active participants instead of passive • Gives students a risk-free environment to try out new ideas and take creative risks • Gives teachers practical information on what students know or don’t yet understand

16. And don’t forget…. Low stakes writing takes the least amount of time and expertise from teachers.

17. Most Surprising Research • Student’s comfort level in school increases • Students become more encouraged and optimistic about their future.

18. Writing to Learn does not seek finished product but rather focuses on higher order thinking, analyzing, and summarizing. Writing to Learn helps build relationships, the third “R” between students and teachers.

20. 1. Journals and Learning Logs • Daily or weekly preferable • Practice over time is more effective than infrequent, longer assignments • What did I learn today? • What still puzzles me? • Describe the process I went through in solving this equation? • What do I think about this topic? • How would I explain this concept to someone else? • How can I use this in my own life? • Make a chart, table or graph of the information learned.

21. 3. Quick Writes • Allows students to digest what they’ve observed and heard and to consider how it fits into their personal universe • Writers need time to contemplate and record ideas • Gives abstractions and deep thoughts form and shape • No risk – safe way to express ideas • Teacher can (and should) comment

22. 4. Short Narratives Way to build bridges between content and students’ lives • Science – viruses they have contracted • History/Literature – in the words of a significant character, i.e., Paul Revere • Technology – short history of their personal journey with computers • Math – how I use algebra/ geometry, etc. in everyday life

23. 5. Summaries Comprehension of main points • Stop lesson and ask for quick write • Students read text and make short, summary statements • Can use small groups for differentiation • Important for students to share their writing with authentic audience (not always teacher)

24. 6. Dialogues Diversion from journal entries • Teacher gives the prompt • Two students – exchange entries and write responses • Discovery of new ideas developed collaboratively • Students can also write teacher who responds back • Blogs

25. Your Prompt Pair off with a colleague. One of you answer the following prompt and pass to the other for response. What do you think so far about Writing to Learn? Is it do-able in your classroom? This is what blogging with kids is like.

26. Writing to Learn Final Thoughts • Way to focus students on topic and to immerse students in content • Informal, unfinished, non-standard • Teachers ignore grammar, usage, spelling, punctuation • Depending on circumstances, can be graded or ungraded • Completion • Rubric

27. Biology Blogging In response to a NY Times article about eco-burial sites: “Personally, I think that the green burial cites are an amazing idea. We as people already use enough of the earth during our lives. The least we could do is give back some of what we took once we pass away. Some people might disagree and say that they won't be able to mourn their loved ones. I think that by burying their family and friends in biodegradable ways and planting some kind of greenery, they can show how much they care for and miss their loved one. As the memorial tree or shrub grows, each person will see that they too can grow and blossom without forgetting their lost friend or relative.”

28. Mitosis Children’s Picture BookStudents will . . . Demonstrate the analogy of the cell while in interphase, mitosis, and cytokinesis. karen1.romano@cobbk12.org

31. CTE Courses • Use language appropriate for audience and purpose • Concise, clear, direct • 100% accurate and without errors • Advertisements • Surveys • Progress reports • Business plans • Brochures • Travel itineraries

32. Brochure Projects • Train student to summarize and synthesize information • Give students opportunities to write descriptive texts • Help student develop research skills and integrate skills into final product • Help student acquire publishing software skills that combine text and images

33. BrochureComputer Applications I • Students will learn to use Microsoft Publisher • Students will research clubs and activities on the THS campus • Students will interview adult sponsors • Students will synthesize and present their findings to peers • Students will present brochures to sponsors for use during fall Open House stephanie.meyer@cobbk12.org

34. Pro Start

35. Student Reflection “Looking back, I think I should have made more creative titles. Also, the next time I work in Publisher, I need to come in early and work on my layout because I didn’t have enough time in class to insert information and make my product look creative.”

36. DECA

37. KMHS Administration

38. Social Studies • Warm-up free writes • Reciprocal Teaching • Summarizer gives key ideas • Questioner responds about difficulties • Clarifier answers questions • Predictor gives ideas about what’s next • Switch roles for next section • Three-Minute Papers – bridge for lecture • Graphic Organizers

39. Assessing Writing Across the Curriculum Aligned with standards • Formative: integral part of instruction that informs and guides teachers and students • Not necessarily evaluated • Summative: determines what students have learned • Evaluated • Provides valuable feedback

40. Research Says Only in schools where writing is a school-wide program and is pursued daily will students have multiple and adequate opportunities to become proficient writers and thinkers.