Writing Across the Curriculum

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Writing Across the Curriculum

• Session 3 Revisiting Notebooks
• January 18, 2008

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Aim

• To continue examining how to use notebooks,
  writing-to-learn strategies, and multiple texts
  to support content understanding
• To begin exploring how to demonstrate content
  understanding in authentic writing assignments
  and projects
• Note For modeling purposes, we will be focusing
  on child labor for our content and editorials for
  our writing.

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Agenda

• Three sections to the day
• Assessing Our Vocabulary Work
• Using Notebooks and Multiple Texts to Deepen
  Content Understanding
• Coming Out of Notebooks into Authentic Writing
  Projects

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Assessing Our Vocabulary Work

• Reflect in your Notebook
• What went well?
• What didnt go so well?
• What are questions you still have?
• What will you do differently next time?

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Using Notebooks and Multiple Texts to Deepen
Content Knowledge

• Topics in this section
• Accessing background knowledge
• Setting the stage for new learning
• Keeping track of our learning
• Acquiring content knowledge parts 1, 2 3
• Reflecting to deepen understanding

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Assessing Background Knowledge

• Topic Child Labor
• In your Writers Notebook, do a Quick Write,
  listing what you know or think about child labor
• Reread what you wrote
• Underline one word that stands out or seems
  especially significant to you
• Share

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Setting the Stage for New Learning

• Create a 3-columned multiple-journal entry in
  your notebook

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Keeping Track of Our Learning

• Based on your thinking so far, create a K-W-L
  chart, filling in the What I Know and What I
  Wonder columns
• Share in small groups
• Chart in groups the most interesting or
  compelling
• Gallery Walk

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Acquiring Content Knowledge

• Part 1
• Historical Fiction

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Double-Entry Journal
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Keeping Track of LearningBack to K-W-L Chart

• Pair Share
• Add to the Wonder and Learn columns of your own
  K-W-L chart
• Talk in your group and add to the Wonder and
  Learn columns of your group chart

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Acquiring Content Knowledge

• Part 2
• Informational Texts

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Independent Reading

• Read the informational texts independently
• During reading, fill out the What I Learned
  column of your K-W-L chart
• After reading, add additional thoughts /
  questions to the What I Wonder column of your
  chart

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Acquiring Content Knowledge

• Part 3
• Editorial

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Paired Reading with Say Something

• Materials
• Editorial - Banning Child Labor Could make
  Children Worse Off
• Say Something Strategy
• Directions
• Reader reads one paragraph aloud
• After each paragraph, the partner who hasnt read
  uses the Say Something strategy
• Switch roles after each paragraph

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Keeping Track of Our Learning

• Return to you K-W-L chart and add to the Learn
  column
• Add additional Wonderings if you have them.

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Reflecting to Deepen Understanding

• Reread what youve written in your notebook so
  far
• Use a highlighter to underline hot spots, burning
  ideas and intriguing questions
• Reflect on what youve learned and why you think
  about it i.e. what is your opinion about the
  information presented?

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Time for lunch
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Coming Out of the Notebook into Authentic Writing
Projects

• Reviewing Theory
• Thinking about Genre
• From Topic to Issue
• Exploring Leads that Hook a Reader
• Application to Content Areas
• Homework

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The Two Different Ways of Writing

• Writing to Convey Ideas/Learning

• Writing to Think/Learn

• Short
• Spontaneous
• Exploratory
• Informal
• Personal
• One draft
• Unedited
• Ungraded

• Substantial
• Planned
• Authoritative
• Conventional
• Audience centered
• Drafted
• Edited
• Assessable

Adapted from Content Area Writing by Daniels,
Zemelman, Steineke
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 Writers dont improve their craft unless they
have a real purpose, a real audience, and a real
investment in their writing. Mem FoxFrom
Writing Essentials by Regie Routman
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We do not write and read primarily in order to
ensure that this nations employers can count on
a competent, competitive workforce. We write and
read in order to know each others responses, to
connect ourselves more fully with the human
world, and to strengthen the habit of
truth-telling in our midst.Benjamin
DeMottFrom Why Americans Cant Think Straight
about Class
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Thinking about Genre
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Genre - Editorials

• In small groups, based on your prior knowledge
  and current reading, write a definition of an
  editorial
• Present to the whole group

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From Topic to Issue

• What is the difference between a topic and a
  controversial issue within a topic?
• Example Nutrition
• Should schools force cafeterias to serve more
  nutritious lunches?
• Should students be taught nutrition in school?
• Should junk food be taxed?
• Should parents be required to attend nutrition
  classes-especially parents receiving government
  assistance
• Should schools be allowed to sell junk food on
  campus?

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From Topic to Issue Child Labor

• Brainstorm in your notebooks issue-questions
  around the topic of child labor
• Come up with at least 5
• Identify and circle the question you are most
  interested in
• Share with your table/group

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Exploring Leads that Hook a Reader

• Read sample editorial leads
• How does the writer hook her reader? Describe and
  name the technique each writer uses to hook his
  reader.
• Share

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• Have you ever been accidentally shoved in a
  school hallway or tripped in a locker room? Do
  you have a nickname you hate but cant shake? If
  so you are not alone. Almost a third of 6th- to
  10th- graders in the United States have
  experienced some kind of bullying, according to a
  2001 study of the National Institute of Child
  Health and Human Development (NICHD).
• From How to Stop a Bully Junior Scholastic,
  September 3, 2007

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• Rebecca would pass out for long periods of time.
  She couldnt remember entire days of her life.
  The eighteen-old from San Diego, California,
  would wake up with bruises and scrapes on her
  body. She didnt know how they got there. When
  Rebecca was awake, she was often violent. She
  picked fights with family members. She shoved her
  mother and threatened her little brother and
  sister.
• The main cause for Rebeccas out-of-control
  behavior was alcohol. The teen was addicted to
  alcohol. Sadly, her situation is common.
• From Warning All Girls Scholastic Choices,
  September 2007

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Crafting a Lead

• In your notebook, attempt to write the lead of an
  editorial on your selected child labor issue
• Try 2 or 3 different techniques
• Share your favorite at your table
• Volunteers share with whole group

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Reflection on Learning and Implications

• What have you learned today about using
  notebooks to support and demonstrate content
  understanding?
• How do you see yourself applying what you learned
  to your own content area?

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Homework Please try to incorporate the ideas
presented in todays session by doing the
following

• Choose a topic to explore with multiple texts and
  multiple writing-to-learn notebook strategies
• Collect 3-4 texts, ideally in different genres,
  that explore the topic and provide different
  information, aspects, or angles on it
• Decide on what writing-to-learn notebook
  strategies are appropriate for scaffolding
  student understanding
• Have your students read, listen or view the
  chosen texts and track their understanding and
  thinking through the chosen writing-to-learn
  strategy
• Bring to the next session 1) the selected texts
  and 2) at least one student notebook containing
  the writing-to-learn strategies
• Optional We will be looking at writing in
  different genres in more depth in February, but
  feel free to also let your students experiment
  with leads and editorials if you so choose