Easy ways to incorporate Writing in all content areas
To do this, we are going to use the analogy of a Jack-o-Lantern!
In order to decorate your home with a jack-o-lantern, you first have to grow the pumpkin. The kind of writing this is associated with is Writing to Learn. This kind of writing should happen daily in the classroom. Writing to learn should be used as an instructional tool to promote learning. Generally this a single-draft writing that engages the kids in thinking, applying knowledge, and developing skills. It can be a tool to help them reflect on themselves as learners and what they are taking away from your lessons. These kinds of writing pieces are intended to be short (10 minutes or less). The audience for the writing is the teacher, the student, and/or the class so it isn't writing for a purpose outside of the classroom walls. The emphasis is not on grammar or sentence correctness. It is for thinking, learning, and sharing--not to be published.
Here is a list of the kinds of writing that could count as Writing to Learn:
One goal for both North and South campuses this year is to beef up our writing program. This post will define the kinds of writing that is expected from the Common Core standards. Future posts will include ways to easily incorporate these kinds of writing activities into every classroom regardless of content.
- Learning Log/Journal
- Dialogue Journal (also called Dialectic Journal)
- Double-Entry Journal (also called the T-Chart)
- Venn Diagram
- Frayer Model
- Annotated Texts
- Entrance and Exit Slips
- Extended Responses
- Planning for a longer piece of writing
- Concept Map
- Line-Box-Line
- Student-formulated Questions
- Connections
- Illustrations of content
- Notemaking
- Stop and Jot (also known as QuickWrite)
- Tweet
- Class blogs
The second step to jack-o-lantern happiness is forming the jack-o-lantern. The kind of writing associated with this is Writing to Demonstrate Learning. This kind of writing really lets the teacher know whether or not students understand content and/or concepts being taught. The audience is the teacher. The writing pieces are longer and it's a messier process--just like gutting the pumpkin for the jack-o-lantern. This kind of writing asks students to think at a higher level than the writing to learn type. It should require them to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the content in order to show how they have made meaning of it. This kind of writing is more for a grade than either of the other two kinds of writing.
The purpose of writing to demonstrate learning is for students to respond to some question or prompt from the teacher. The focus should be on knowledge of skills taught during that unit. This doesn't really provide for ownership of the writing piece for the students, but it does show that they own the content. This means that sometimes the answers from two different students could look very similar in nature. When writing to demonstrate learning, sometimes it's a one-shot single draft writing, but in some cases the students may go through the writing process.
Here is a list of the kinds of writing that could count as Writing to Demonstrate Learning:
Here is a list of kinds of Writing for Publication ideas:
Check back here next week for some focus activities for Writing to Learn. These will be our "Caught Red Handed" strategies. For this week, any strategy from the blog or any listed here that you already know how to use can count. Just e-mail Jeanette or Alisha to let us know you are using the strategy in your classroom!
The purpose of writing to demonstrate learning is for students to respond to some question or prompt from the teacher. The focus should be on knowledge of skills taught during that unit. This doesn't really provide for ownership of the writing piece for the students, but it does show that they own the content. This means that sometimes the answers from two different students could look very similar in nature. When writing to demonstrate learning, sometimes it's a one-shot single draft writing, but in some cases the students may go through the writing process.
Here is a list of the kinds of writing that could count as Writing to Demonstrate Learning:
- Extended Response answers
- Lab reports from experiments
- On Demand writing
- Summary of reading or activity
- Article/Book Review
- Explanation of a process or content
- Essay
- Research Paper
- Presentations
- Videos
- Projects to demonstrate learning
Here is a list of kinds of Writing for Publication ideas:
- Short Stories
- Articles
- Letters
- Personal writing
- Children's books
- Editorials
- Video scripts
- Dramas/Screenplays
- Blogs
Check back here next week for some focus activities for Writing to Learn. These will be our "Caught Red Handed" strategies. For this week, any strategy from the blog or any listed here that you already know how to use can count. Just e-mail Jeanette or Alisha to let us know you are using the strategy in your classroom!