Meaningful Writing

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Meaningful Writing
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Communication Triangle
Text/Format essay, news article, letter
Writer/Perspective Who is speaking?
Reader/Audience Who are you speaking to?
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Anticipatory Set

• Encourage students to take a stance by creating
  an anticipatory set to introduce a new area of
  study
• Compose five to ten statements about the concept
• Ask students to indicate whether they agree or
  disagree with each statement
• Tabulate class results with a show of hands
• Return to results and ask if anyone wants to
  revise their thinking after the students complete
  the lesson

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Attributes of Effective Writing Prompts

• Active vs. Passive
• States Position/Takes Stance vs. Narrative
• Critical Thinking vs. Reiteration
• Supported with Evidence vs. Opinion
• Specific vs. General
• Personal/Relevant vs. Who Cares?

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Proof Paragraph

• Topic Sentence Assertion
• a. Evidence 1 statement of evidence,
• explanation of why it supports
  assertion.
• b. Evidence 2 statement of evidence,
  explanation of why it supports assertion.
• c. Evidence 3 statement of evidence,
  explanation of why it supports assertion.
• 2. Concluding/Transition sentence refers to
  assertion and evidence.

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Proof Essay

• 1. Thesis Paragraph
• a. Topic sentence thesis of essay.
• b. Explanation of thesis.
• c. Preview of evidence.
• d. Transition sentence.
• 2. Proof Paragraph 1
• a. Topic Sentence Assertion
• b. Evidence 1 statement of evidence,
  explanation of why it supports assertion.
• c. Evidence 2 statement of evidence,
  explanation of why it supports assertion.
• d. Evidence 3 statement of evidence,
  explanation of why it supports assertion.
• e. Concluding/Transition sentence refers
  to assertion and evidence.
• 3. Proof Paragraph 2
• a. Topic Sentence Assertion
• b. Evidence 1 statement of evidence,
  explanation of why it supports assertion.
• c. Evidence 2 statement of evidence,
  explanation of why it supports assertion.
• d. Evidence 3 statement of evidence,
  explanation of why it supports assertion.
• e. Concluding/Transition sentence refers
  to assertion and evidence.
• 4. Concluding Paragraph
• a. Restatement of thesis.

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Graphic Organizers

• Graphic Organizers
• Using graphic organizers, students can categorize
  and organize information, making text more
  accessible.
• Use of these visual tools aids in explanation
  and review.
• Graphic organizers can be used to show
  cause-effect, compare-contrast, sequencing,
  whole-part, and other concepts or relationships.

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Rubrics

• Can be used as a tool for giving expectations,
  evaluating and reporting student achievement
• Provide rubrics to students when assigning work
• Guide instruction by clarifying individual
  students strengths and weaknesses and provide
  opportunity for authentic evaluation
• Communicate the expectations of the assignment to
  students and parents
• Involve students in the assessment process
• Create tasks and rubrics to assess student
  understanding of standards and performance of
  skills

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Cornell Notes
Key Points Detailed Notes 1. Record During the lecture, use the note-taking column to record the lecture. 2. Questions As soon after class as possible, formulate questions based on the notes in the right-hand column. 3. Recite Cover the note-taking column with a sheet of paper. Then, looking at the questions or cue-words in the question and cue column only, say aloud, in your own words, the answers to the questions, facts, or ideas indicated by the cue-words. 4. Reflect Reflect on the material by asking yourself questions, for example Whats the significance of these facts? What principle are they based on? How can I apply them? How do they fit in with what I already know? Whats beyond them? 5. Review Spend at least ten minutes every week reviewing all your previous notes.
Summary After class use this space at the bottom of the page to summarize the notes on that page Summary After class use this space at the bottom of the page to summarize the notes on that page
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K-W-L
What I Know What I Want to Know What I Learned

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Challenge Statements

• Challenge Statements are carefully crafted
  prompts that employ an appropriate amount of
  ambiguity.
• They are a statement, not a question.
• Challenge statements encourage students to take a
  stance when writing and require more explanatory
  demand than typical text writing tasks.
• Responses to challenge statements can include
  drawings.

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Text Mining

• 1. Text Mining provides students with a more
  targeted reading of text. There is a written
  product that will be used for a defined purpose.
• 2. Select the reading and provide a guide to
  relevant information through questions, graphic
  organizers, etc.
• 3. Students will read the selection and respond
  to the guide in whatever form dictated. These
  may include
• Filling in a data table
• Completing a graphic organizer.
• Writing a sentence on the context (big idea or
  conceptual relationship) of the writing.
• Writing a description of the structure of the
  information.
• Writing interpretations of pictures, data, or
  graphs included in the reading selection.

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Sources

• Communication Triangle Kinneavy, James. A theory
  of discourse The aims of discourse. Englewood
  Cliffs, NJ Prentice Hall, 1971.
• Anticipatory Set Sean Leddy, 2006.
• Attributes of Effective Writing Prompts
  Sacramento Area Science Project
• Proof Paragraph Gibson, Anna Lee. Advanced
  Placement English Writing Manual and Literary
  Guide. Wise, VA Wise County Vocational-Technical
  Center, 1992.
• Proof Essay Gibson, Anna Lee. Advanced Placement
  English Writing Manual and Literary Guide. Wise,
  VA Wise County Vocational-Technical Center,
  1992.
• Graphic Organizers Forte, Imogene and Sandra
  Schurr. Standards-Based Science Graphic
  Organizers, Rubrics, and Writing Prompts for
  Middle Grade Students. Incentive Publications,
  2001.
• Rubrics Glickman-Bond, Jane and Kelly Rose.
  Creating and Using Rubrics in Todays Classrooms.
  Norwood, MA Christopher-Gordon Publishers,
  2006.
• Cornell Notes Walter Pauk, Cornell University
• K-W-L K-W-L Carr, E., and Ogle, D., K-W-L Plus
  A strategy for comprehension and summarization.
  Journal of Reading, Volume 30, Number 7, pages
  626-63, 1987.
• Challenge Statements Sacramento Area Science
  Project
• Text Mining Greene, Stuart. Mining Texts in
  Reading to Write. Occasional Paper 29, National
  Writing Project Publications, October, 1991.