Writing Across the Curriculum

Prepared by:

Ricardo Ortolaza, Ed.D.

Chief Learning Officer

Presented and Adapted for the South Florida Campus by:

Idali Medina M. Ed and Luis Morales M.A.

Faculty

Ice Breaker

How I use writing in my life: State three ways that you use writing in your life: 1.

2.

3.

Think, Pair and Share!!!

 In small groups discuss the importance of

content area writing

by creating a web on easel pad paper  Designate a member of each group as the person who will share the concept map with the rest of the group

Content Area Writing

According to McREL, Mid- continent Research for Education and Learning (www.mcrel.org), content area writing is:

An active process that helps students to learn and construct knowledge

Content Area Writing

Writing offers an excellent pathway for brainstorming, clarifying and questioning Research shows that student performance increases when writing is used (Bye & Johnson, 2004)

Content Area Writing

Elbow (1994) states that writing across the curriculum is seen as an assessment tool, not as the teaching of writing Writing helps students clarify their thinking and their understanding It also allows facilitators to check for understanding

Guiding Principles

Each discipline has its own conventions of language use and style Writing tasks should be rooted deeply in meaningful content Students should have an opportunity to engage in the writing process

Guiding Principles

Students should write for authentic audiences and purposes Students should be given opportunities to collaborate with others Students should have a chance to write frequently and regularly Students should know in advance the criteria that will be used to assess their writing

Writing for Learning

Using a KWL chart provided: On the first column state what you already know about writing for learning On the second column state what you would like to learn or find out about writing for learning

Writing for learning

TASK: Read the document on assignments for learning On the third or last column write what you have learned about writing for learning

Affecting Writing in Your Classroom Integrating Reading and Writing Langer & Flihan (2000) stated that reading and writing are inherently connected When writers write they read They suggest that students get enough practice if they engage in considerable reading and writing across the curriculum

Affecting Writing in Your Classroom Writing to Learn Writing improves learning (Langer & Aplebee, 1987) The type of writing students do also affects the quality and level of learning that they achieve

Affecting Writing in Your Classroom Think, Pair and Share!!!

Organize yourselves into groups based on your content area Think and discuss the purpose of writing in the classroom Make a presentation to the class Get creative!

Affecting Writing in Your Classroom Feedback: Saying the right things and asking the right questions Written comments or one-on-one meetings are important for students; this can energize students to return to the writing table or it can contribute for students to avoid writing or worse to shut down

Affecting Writing in Your Classroom Ideal feedback: Discussing what is working and what needs to be improved or changed Handout with student’s writing to provide feedback

Activity

 Role Play  discuss a recent assessment on an essay.

Listen to the conference and evaluate the feedback given to the student by the teacher What is working?

What needs improvement?

Share your opinion

Ideas to Write in the Content Areas Azzolino (1988) provides the following ideas:  COMPLETION - give the beginning of a sentence and have the students complete the sentence  LEAD SENTENCE - give a sentence and have students write a second sentence or a paragraph (See Handout)

Ideas to Write in the Content Areas  NON-THOUGHT WARM-UP - given a question which may be answered without much thought, have students answer a second question on the same topic but which requires more thought.  REWORDING - give a statement, definition, or procedure, and have the students reword or rewrite it using different terms or using their own words (See handout)

Ideas to Write in the Content Areas WORDBANK - given a list or bank of words, write a sentence or paragraph using two, three, ..., or all of the words (See handout on Bloom’s Taxonomy) DEBRIEFING - complete a procedure, reading, or lecture, then have the students list important ideas

Ideas to Write in the Content Areas Interactive Writing:

Individual students Small groups Whole class

 Topic is discussed and groups decide on a message  Each member or group writes an idea that relates to the message as to add information to the agreed message Once completed, students can create a summary based on the content that was discussed in class on the particular workshop.

Ideas to Write in the Content Areas Facilitators can bring current topics to discuss with students and they can summarize ideas using the interactive writing activity (Social studies, science, math, etc.) TASK: •Read article •Summarize •Specify the message •Present

Ideas to Write in the Content Areas Advantages: This helps students to think about the print and their understandings of the conventions of language. It helps facilitators in identifying those areas that students need help with or confirm that the lesson was successful.

Ideas to Write in the Content Areas Summary Writing Gives facilitator information about how students condense information Demonstration of ability to recapitulate Leads to higher levels of understanding Based on a reading Based on the viewing of a video Demonstration of understanding

Ideas to Write in the Content Areas RAFT Helps students take different perspectives in their writing and their thinking Provide a scaffold for students as they explore their writing based on various roles, audiences, formats and topics

Ideas to Write in the Content Areas R ole: What is the role of the writer?

 A udience: To whom is the writer writing?  F ormat: What is the format for the writing?  T opic: what is the focus of the writing?

Ideas to Write in the Content Areas Prewriting Think Sheet Helps students discover what they know about the topic Helps them see connections within the discovered knowledge See handout think sheets

Ideas to Write in the Content Areas Focusing your thoughts It helps students to narrow the focus of their writing Group Summarizing It helps students during the drafting process because facilitator and students can work collaboratively on the strategy Could be done individually or in small groups

Ideas to Write in the Content Areas Word Sorts  Students engage actively in the evaluation process  Students experiment with different connotations of words and when appropriate they can include them in their writing.

Assessing Writing

When assessing writing: Consider the purpose of the writing Make expectations, instructions and criteria as explicit as possible

Authentic Assessment

TASK:

 Read the article on assessment  Define authentic assessment with your group and indicate examples of these assessments used in your class  Share