Strategic Writing Across the Curriculum in Grades 7-12 Christine LaRocco International Center for Leadership in Education clarocco@aol.com

Writing Across the Curriculum: Two Parts In every class, students should be involved in writing to learn learning to write.

Writing for Learning is Different from Writing to Demonstrate Learning

Writing to Learn Different from traditional writing Different goals No polished finished product Focused on higher order thinking, analyzing and summarizing. Writing to Learn helps build relationships, the third “R” between students and teacher.

Writing to Learn Journals and Learning Logs Lab Logs and Notebooks Quick Writes Short Narratives Summaries Dialogues

Learning to Write Essays Opinion editorials Technical writing: proposals, observation reports, incident reports, product descriptions, process explanations…. Lab reports Journalistic writing Writing for presentations

Peter Elbow Students need “low stakes” writing to learn the content. “The goal isn't so much good writing as coming to learn, understand, remember and figure out what you don't yet know.” Elbow, P. (1994). Writing for learning--not just for demonstrating learning. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1-4.

Writing in response to course content helps students: Think independently Develop insight Explore thoughts and feelings Develop intellectual courage Reason logically Follow the thread of the lesson in their minds Visualize a concept and make it more concrete by writing down their thoughts

Examples of Writing to Learn Journals and Learning Logs Quick Writes Narratives Summaries Dialogues Reader’s Logs Double Entry Journals

Math Prompts: Content and process Describe square root. Describe the difference between parallel and perpendicular. Tell everything you know about prime numbers Describe the difference between area and perimeter. Write a word problem that involves measuring square feet. Describe the key idea of today’s lesson.

General Science Writing Prompts Describe something you have done that involved science concepts. What scientific concepts regarding the weather do you wonder about? What is the greatest scientific discovery in the world, and why? What scientific invention would you like to make that would help the most people?

Social Studies Prompts: Why is it important that people have choices? What does interdependence mean among the peoples of the world? From what countries did people come to the U.S. during the 1800s? What is your definition of justice? What human rights should all people have? If you could start a non-profit foundation to make a difference, what issues would you support?

Language Arts Prompts What is the author saying about society in general? What does the title of the reading imply? How would I feel in this situation? What different effects do fiction and non-fiction have on me? How does this topic apply to my world?

Double Entry Journal Prompts comparisons to information learned earlier associations with information from other courses Related personal experience effects of this information when applied in the world outside the classroom

Responding to Writing to Learn Collect after several entries Check for Student Understanding Chance to “Listen” to Students Chance to “Connect” by Responding Judge Whether Lesson Needs Re-teaching Skim – Write Quick Note of Encouragement

Responding to Learning Log Entries: “I remember when I felt that way about math.” “Don’t worry, we’ll go over it again.” “You missed a step right here.” ! 4 ☺ P

Learning to Write Rough draft, editing, final copy Introduction, body, conclusion