Write More, Learn More – Ideas You Can Use Tomorrow Angela Peery, Ed. D. drangelapeery@gmail.com drangelapeery.com

I. Why have all students engage in meaningful writing? Author and Educator Mike Schmoker says this in his book Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning: “The lesson to be learned from the last 30 years should be this: We will never educate all students until we appreciate the value of time and stop preventing them from engaging in… immense amounts of reading, discussion, and writing. These are the indispensable and primary means of acquiring content knowledge and intellectual skills.” Donovan Walling, in Writing for Understanding: Strategies to Increase Content Learning is right when he says: “Writing increases understanding in all content areas, whether math or science, social studies or foreign language, art or music, or physical education. And you don’t have to be a writing teacher in order to use writing as an instructional tool any more than you need to be a computer programmer to use a computer or an auto mechanic to drive a car.” Graham and Hebert (2010) have made the argument quite eloquently in Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading: “The financial and social costs of poor literacy have been well documented… The consequences of poor reading and writing skills not only threaten the well-being of individual Americans, but the country as a whole. Globalization and technological advances have changed the nature of the workplace. Reading and writing are now essential skills in most white- and blue-collar jobs. Ensuring that adolescents become skilled readers and writers is not merely an option for America, it is an absolute necessity.”

II. Strategies that heighten engagement A. Think-ink-pair-share This is really think-pair-share with writing added. Everyone knows (or thinks they know) about think-pair-share. It’s great for active processing, high engagement, etc. – but could be enhanced by adding writing – also good for more introverted students because they feel safer in writing and feel more prepared for talking Here is what one elementary student wrote during the “think-ink” portion of this strategy during a science lesson: I know a few things about our solar system. Like for one, the earth is part of this system, but it’s only one of many planets. Stars and asteroids are also part of the solar system. You can see them in the sky if you watch at night. I want to know how many planets and moons there are. I hope we learn that. B. Alphabet brainstorming (also called the ABC list) This is a brainstorming protocol based on the letters of the alphabet. It can also be adapted and called alphaboxes (which I learned from Janet Allen). See the examples at the end of this handout.

C. Pass the paper Pass the paper is a strategy that is collaborative, fast-paced, and fun. If your class is large, you can have several papers going at once so that students are not sitting for long periods of time waiting for the paper to come their way; I have even seen teachers do a sheet of paper per row or per section of the room successfully.

Basically, you, the teacher, provide a prompt or a beginning sentence. Then you set the parameters for the rest of this writing “game.” When the paper gets to a student, he or she follows your parameters and adds his or her ideas to the writing that has already been placed on the paper. So, for example, if I were teaching Romeo and Juliet to 9th grade students, as I did for many years, we might start class one day using the strategy. Let’s say we had just read through the famous balcony scene, where our two young lovers are bemoaning the fact that their families are enemies and yet they are attracted to each other. Because my classes usually had about 25 students, I think I would start a sheet of paper on each side of the room, so that two sheets would be passed simultaneously. On one sheet of paper, I would write this sentence and invite students to add one sentence each as the paper traveled around: “It is possible to fall in love at first sight.” On the other sheet of paper, I might take the opposite stance and write the following: “You can’t possibly be in love with someone as soon as you’ve met them.” (Alternatively, I could have focused on the family feud instead and written something like, “Your family should not have a say in who you date” and “It is important to honor your family’s feelings when choosing someone to date”). This strategy is fast-paced and fun, but it also supports the active use of students’ best grammatical skills and fluency if you set the parameters carefully. Most often I see teachers use the “one sentence” rule – students add one sentence to the sentences that have already been written. One variation is to have the students fold the paper as it is passed so that the next student sees only the sentence that was written before. At the end, the teacher reads the entire composition, which sometimes has humorous disjointedness. Another variation is to have students write only one word, rather than a sentence. This is most often used in the lower grades, where it takes students a little longer to do the actual handwriting required. Students can be instructed to add a maximum of one word and one punctuation mark.

III. Strategies that support critical thinking A. Criss cross writing This is a basic comparison matrix. It can be used as a quick formative assessment, a note-taking tool, or a prewriting strategy. (Thanks to McMinnville, OR teachers for this partial example.)

Clatskanie Chinook Tillamook Coos Athabaskans Alsea

Location Upper Nehalem Valley

How did they get their name?

Possibly means “swift running water”

What are they remembered for?

Warlike Peaceful and loved entertainment

Extinct or Not? Extinct (smallpox epidemic)

Not – 2000 registered members today

Other Notable Features

Skilled hunters and fishermen Used boards to flatten baby’s heads so they looked different from other tribes

Skilled basket weavers

B. Six-word text (or six-word summary) Based on the six-word memoir online. Students are limited to six total words to sum up content or respond in some way. (Thanks to teachers in McAllen, TX.) Six-word summary of the story “The Most Dangerous Game”: On an island, hunter became hunted. Six-word summary of the story “The Tell-Tale Heart”: That eye, that heartbeat – madness, murder. C. Twenty ways to look at it This strategy is a bit like 20 Questions, but it’s a mental reverse of that. The teacher poses a question or gives a prompt and instructs the students to individually brainstorm 20 answers/responses.

One of my favorite prompts to use with students was, “Who are you? Give 20 answers or more.” I would model a few answers first before sending them off to generate their responses. So, some of the answers I would share are as follows:

1. Teacher 2. Writer 3. Wife 4. Daughter 5. Granddaughter 6. Sister 7. Aunt 8. Fan of Labrador Retrievers

The 20-answers template can be adapted to fit any subject matter fairly easily. Here are some sentence frames you can use to develop your own prompts:

What are 20 things you remember about _____? List 20 ways that _____ can be used. What are 20 benefits of _____? Give 20 reasons why we should (or should not) _____. If you could meet _____, what are 20 things you would say or ask?

D. Triple response The three parts of a triple response represent three types of thinking. The first is to state something declarative. The second is to reflect or connect, and the third is to visualize. The visual is like a peace sign and may initially heighten student engagement since it should be an unfamiliar one to them. (Thanks to Derrick Cameron, principal in Canada.)

E. Quad notes Students divide a sheet of paper into four squares of equal size; they can fold the paper to make lines if they wish. (Or a student can create four squares using a device, if applicable.) The students then read something, listen to a lecture, or watch an instructional video. It works best if you can divide the text, lecture, or video into four fairly equal parts. For each part, students stop to take notes in one of the boxes. In each box, they are allowed to put only four things: three key words and one picture or visual. (Thanks to Chippewa Falls, WI teachers.)

I wonder why residential schools

were even allowed to be established. Did

people not learn lessons from the

Holocaust and other tragedies like it?

I learned that residential schools and

the Holocaust have some similiarities. They both targeted people

unfairly.

Union Confederacy

Slavery

Lincoln

Reunite the union

End the rebellion

IV. Strategies that help writers refine their craft A. Roving revision This is a revision suggestion process that can be done whole-class or in small groups. A peer reviewer looks for and comments on only one thing at a time. Three prompts/directions that have always worked for me are the following: -Box each first word of each sentence – are there too many I’s or the’s? If so, the writer needs to vary sentence beginnings. The roving revision partner for this step could suggest reordering the sentence by using arrows to connect sentence parts or carets to insert ideas. -Circle every end mark. Read what’s between the two circles. Does it make sense? Is it complete? Could it be improved? -Underline each verb. Are there a lot of forms of the verb to be? And, if appropriate, are there passive verbs that could be active? Make suggestions above or in the margin. B. Making appositives Teach students how to use appositives at the beginnings of sentences, within sentences, and at the end of sentences. Examples: The leader who fought for peace among races, Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired many young people. Tobias, the remaining member of our group, appeared on the river bank. Out stepped Sam, the boy who had visited them many summers before.

V. Apply at least one strategy to one’s personal teaching situation and make explicit plans to use it within two weeks What can you take away from our session and use with your students? Please jot your ideas here and/or share with a nearby colleague.

Alphabet Brainstorming and Additional Tasks

This is one student’s initial list about the novel The Great Gatsby.

Arrogant, awkward, assumption New York

B O

Class, cheating P

Daisy, depressed Q

East Egg Rich, racist

Fitzgerald S

Gatsby Tom

House party U

Innocent V

Jealousy W

K X

Laughter Young, Yale

Mindless Z

This is the same student’s list after she met with a peer for a few minutes in a pair-share situation. Notice that there are multiple words for many letters and that there is experimentation with the letter X.

Arrogant, awkward, assumption New York

Bay Orchestra

Class, cheating Pessimist

Daisy, depressed Quarrel

East Egg Rich, racist, romance, reputation

Fitzgerald Seductive

Gatsby, guilty Tom, truth

House party Uninvited

Innocent, independent Violent

Jealousy War

Killer Oxford, EXtravagance

Laughter, love Young, Yale

Mindless, mistress Zelda

Next, the teacher asked the students to select no more than 10 “most important words” on their lists. This student selected the following: Class Cheating Gatsby Jealousy Romance Reputation Extravagance

Here is another student’s list, after the pair-share. Notice that this student’s list contains fewer words and more concrete words than the student above. This particular student has included many character names, for example.

Awkward Nick

Buchanan Obnoxious drunks

Cheerful Parties

Daisy Q

Excitement R

Fancy Social class

Gossip Tom

Harsh Unfaithful

Intoxicate V

Jordan Baker Wealth

K X

Lies Y

Myrtle Zelda

This student selected the following “most important words”: Awkward Gossip Lies Myrtle Nick Parties Social class Tom Wealth