1 / 18

The Power of Writing to Learn

Explores two ways of thinking about writing - focus on genre/conventions or content. Engaging activities like scenario creation, word association, "Would You Rather", and fictional writing to enhance learning. Demonstrates how writing to learn activates prior knowledge and engages students effectively.

toddf
Download Presentation

The Power of Writing to Learn

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Power of Writing to Learn

  2. Two Basic Ways to Think about Writing in Content Areas Learning to Write • Focus on genre, conventions to impress others • Focus on content, but also on correctness of grammar, spelling, etc. • Focus on a long, sustained process of prewriting, drafting, revision, and publication Writing to Learn • Focus on using written language to figure something out for yourself • Focus on content with little attention to form • Focus on short-term writing, note-taking, preparatory writing that might lead to more formal, extended pieces

  3. Why are these Powerful? There are three reasons.

  4. 1. Engagement.

  5. 2. Activation.

  6. 3. Assessment.

  7. Three activities

  8. WhatchaGonna Do? Create a scenario that is analogous to a topic or situation you are going to discuss in your class. In the scenario, the student is an observer/participant who must make a choice. The choice must be one with multiple options. Create a worksheet with the scenario at the top and space for the students to write at the bottom, describing “what they’re gonna do.” Give the students 5-10 minutes to write. Collect and read aloud or allow students to read allow what they’d do. Conduct a discussion! Voila! You’ve introduced and explored the dynamics of the situation you are going to teach. Now you’re ready to read!

  9. WhatchaGonna Do?: An Example This Saturday you go to a party with a couple cousin-brothers and some friends, in hopes to get your mind off of some problems you’ve been having lately. You are talking with one of your friends when you look across the room and you see the most beautiful person you have ever seen before. Your eyes meet – and you think that you both feel some cosmic connection to each other. You approach each other, talk, and flirt. This beautiful person is named _________. You end the night with a kiss, and both of you confess you are madly in love with one another. You exchange numbers and promise to see each other the next day…and every day after that. When you leave the party with your cousin-brothers, one of them starts asking about details of your evening and whom you were hanging out with. When you declare that you are madly in love with __________, your cousin-brother gasps, and exclaims, “You can’t be in love with ____________! Our families absolutely hate each other! They’ve hated each other for years! If your parents found out, they would send you to Grandma’s sheep camp and make you work there forever, hiding you away from __________!” Your cousin-brother threatens to tell your parents about your new relationship, unless you promise to never see ___________ again. You don’t want to lie or betray your parents, but you are madly in love. Whatchagonna do? Continue and finish the story…

  10. A Single Word “Boil down” your topic to one word: “Revolution”; “Revenge”; “River” Write the word on the board. Give students 3 minutes to write down everything that comes to mind when they hear the word, ___________. Collect or have students read their ideas (go around and students read their “best word” or one word at a time). Record these ideas on the board. As a whole class or in small groups (with butcher paper), have students sort and organize these ideas gradually. Conduct a discussion! Predict! Introduce your topic!!

  11. Would You Rather…? Come up with a situation that represents the topic you are teaching and that represents two alternative and defensible positions. Conduct a pre-writing discussion of the pros and cons of each alternative. Record ideas on the board. Give students 10 minutes to write. Collect papers; read, discuss alternatives; create a bulletin board with highlights of ALL students’ papers.

  12. An extension of Would You Rather…? Come up with a fictional situation that parallels what you are about to read/study. Have students create a set of characters for your setting and situation. Have them write a story in chapters that parallels events in history or your play/novel. Use turning points in history/your reading as prompts for writing chapters. Alternate reading/study with writing/sharing of the students’ stories.

  13. An example: The Martian Chronicles I once read The Martian Chronicles with seventh-graders who were studying American history. The students wrote a five-chapter novel in which they traveled to an alien planet that was habitable. The students had to decide whether they would “cultivate” or “dominate” this new environment, as they encountered alien creatures and lifeforms. We used sharing and discussion of our stories to compare to Bradbury’s decisions as an author.

  14. Why Writing to Learn Works

  15. 1. It activates students’ prior knowledge

  16. 2. That makes them feel SMART.

  17. 2. And that engages them.

  18. 2. You learn what they know. And why is that important?

More Related