SOL Institutes Dulles VA October 16 2014 Writing

SOL Institutes, Dulles, VA October 16, 2014 Writing To Learn in the Elementary Grades Diane Henry Leipzig, Ph. D. Fairfax County Public Schools

Objective Participants will experience the double benefit gained from informal writing activities in elementary content area lessons: • They drive home the content that is taught • They make daily writing relevant, building a bridge between self-selected and formal writing 2

Driving Home the Content Edgar Dale’s classic cone-of-experience model states that students retain: 10%-30% of the content they hear, read, and see but that they retain: 70%-90% of the content they write, say and do. 3

Making Writing Relevant • Digital writers are everywhere … and so are audiences. • “Self-sponsored writing” = direct delivery • Social networking “The Age of Composition” • We need new models of composition, new curricula, and new models for teaching. Yancey, K. B. (2009) Writing in the 21 st Century. NCTE. 4

Meet Thomas, a Fifth Grade Writer AT SCHOOL: • Reading Journal • Biographies • Book reports • Power Points • Narrative essays • Research papers • Writing prompts • Persuasive essays AT HOME: • Skype chats • Team speak • Video game chats • Comic strips • Song parodies • Music raps • Minecraft stories • Youtube vids/comments HOW DO THEY DIFFER? TURN AND TALK 5

Content-Area Writing: Every Teacher’s Guide By Daniels, Zemelman, and Steineke (2007) Presents strategies for secondary teachers to use writing in order to deepen content knowledge. Two forms of writing: • Writing to Learn (informal, quick assignments) • Public Writing (formal, edited pieces) TODAY: I will present Writing to Learn strategies modified to use with elementary school students. 6

Why Writing to Learn? • • • More engaging; like self-selected writing Little time needed Deepens content knowledge Sharpens writing skills Prepares students to share with and learn content from each other • Provides immediate assessment information to teacher 7

Why Writing to Learn in Elementary? TIME: What gets tested gets taught: reading and math. Writing and content squeezed out. ENGAGEMENT: Our students are writing more out of school than ever before. LEARNING: Content coverage is vast; little is retained from one year to the next. 8

Writing SOLs Addressed (Grades 1 -2) The student will write to communicate ideas for a variety of purposes (1. 13, 2, 12), such as: • 1. 13 b Focus on one topic • 1. 13 g Share writing with others • 2. 12 c Expand writing to include descriptive detail 9

Writing SOLs Addressed (Grades 3 -4) The student will write (“cohesively” 4. 7) for a variety of purposes (3. 9), such as: • 3. 9 d Write a paragraph on the same topic • 4. 7 b Focus on one aspect of a topic • 3. 9 e/4. 7 e Use strategies for organization and elaboration according to the type of writing 10

Writing SOLs Addressed (Grades 3 -6) The student will write for a variety of purposes (3. 9, 4. 7): to describe, to inform, to entertain, to explain and to persuade 5. 7, 6. 7): • 3. 9 a/4. 7 a/5. 7 a Identify audience (and purpose 6. 7 a) • 3. 9 f/4. 7 k/5. 7 i/ Include details that elaborate the main idea • 3. 9 g/4. 7 j/5. 7 h/6. 7 i Revise writing for clarity of content using specific vocabulary and information 11

1. Writing Break: What it is • At specific (pre-planned) points during lesson, students stop and reflect for 1 -2 minutes on information they’ve heard/seen • Prompts can be general or content-specific • Use every 10 minutes for new content • Followed by quick sharing with pairs (ex. trade papers, comment on each other, some pairs share with large group) 12

1. Writing Break: You Try (6 th gr. S. S. ) What does this political cartoon suggest about The Articles of Confederation, and why? 13

2. Exit Slip: What it is • Save final 2 -3 minutes of content block to jot a response to the day’s lesson • Prompts are open-ended • Notes are used as diagnostic assessment • Can be used to address processes or content • Helps inform next day’s lesson • May read select (anonymous) comments next day 14

2. Exit Slip: You Try (4 th gr. S. S. ) What did you learn about Jamestown? 15

3. Admit Slip: What it is • A homework assignment to prepare for next day’s lesson • Asks students to reflect on content read, seen, or heard in class the day before • Teacher selects a few slips (or volunteers to read own slips) to kick off lesson, or uses all slips as an activator/greeting • Start-up Writes: Rather than HW, have all students jot down a reflection in class before lesson begins 16

3. Admit Slip: You Try (1 st gr. S. S. ) We will learn more about George Washington tomorrow. Talk about him with your family. Write or draw something you learned about him. 17

4. Brainstorming: What it is • Brain dump of everything that comes to mind when presented with a prompt • No concern for accuracy or form: goal is quantity over quality • Can be used at any point during a lesson, to activate prior knowledge or review information • Combine to create class list • Return to list to correct misconceptions 18

4. Brainstorming: You Try (2 nd gr. Science) Write down every object you can think of that is attracted by magnets. Be creative! 19

5. Drawing and Illustrating: What it is • A quickly drawn graphic or diagram (sometimes with words) to represent ideas or how ideas relate to one another • Helps students process complex ideas by capturing it in a different mode • Whole class drawing can be used to correct individual misconceptions • Important that drawing is constructed, not copied: don’t choose a drawing familiar to all 20

5. Drawing and Illustrating: You Try (3 rd gr. Science) Draw a picture that helps you remember the names for the four types of measurement: length, volume, mass, and temperature. 21

6. Clustering: What it is • Introduced by Gabriele Rico in “Writing the Natural Way” (1983) a. k. a. concept mapping • Non-linear brainstorming process that shows the relationships among ideas or concepts • Key word in a center balloon; other concepts drawn in balloons connected to center showing how they are related to each other and to the center word 22

6. Clustering: You Try (5 th gr. Science) Place the word “CELLS” in the center of your cluster, and draw as many words and concepts that relate to it (and to each other) as you can. 23

7. Mapping: What it is • Visual arrangement of groups of ideas designed to show relationships among them • Mind maps can mean common graphic organizers (ex. Venn Diagrams, flowcharts, etc. ) • Mind maps can be novel creations by students to show ideas relate • Text structures can help dictate appropriate maps (linear vs. cyclical, etc. ) 24

7. Mapping: You Try (4 th gr. Math) Construct a Venn Diagram to show the relationships between fractions and decimals. 25

Do You Remember? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. A weakness of the Articles of Confederation? A drawback to Jamestown’s location? A new fact about George Washington? An object attracted by magnets? The four forms of measurement? A part of a cell you thought you’d forgotten? A similarity between fractions and decimals? And…the two benefits of Writing to Learn? 26

Reflections: An Exit Slip! 3 things you learned today 2 things you want to try 1 question you still have 27

Questions? 28

Bibliography Daniels, H. , Zemelman, S. , & Steineke, N. (2007). Content-Area Writing: Every Teacher’s Guide. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Yancey, K. B. (2009). Writing in the 21 st Century. Urbana, IL: National Council for Teachers of English. 29

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