Writing Reports The next step in writing, fostering self-directed learning

Why? Reading instruction that promotes engagement and self-directed learning has been found to improve students motivation, sense of competence, reading comprehension and strategy use (Guthrie & Humenick, 2004)

Furthermore A simple but powerful way to engage students is to provide them with choices in their reading and learning- for example by allowing students to select research and writing topics (Cordova & Lepper, 1996; Reynolds & Symons, 2001). Giving students the opportunity to write in conjunction with reading fosters more critical thinking in response to reading (Tierney & Shanahan, 1991)

The Process Activate, Explore, Build Prior Knowledge Read to Gather Information and Develop Questions Summarize/Synthesize information and ideas to Share Learning

The Process Broken Down Decide on topic Write some questions List where information might be found Find resources and skim for usefulness Make notes of useful information Decide on how to present the info

Topics Topics selected for projects should be deep wells of potential learning. Either the student or the teacher may initiate a topic of high interest, but even teacher initiated topics must tap into true child interest to motivate meaningful study. Children often surprise us with the depth of their learning when we follow their interest.

Topics Studies Read, write, and draw in response to newspaper articles, photographs, interviews, and other resources. Make vocabulary and concepts visible via word walls and poetry. Use book clubs to read and respond to the topic

Generating Questions What do I/we know? What do I/we want to know? Are the questions too specific? Are the questions too broad? Do the questions need revision?

Locating information Where will I find the information? magazines, books, newspaper articles, WWW, encyclopedias? How is the information processed? Can I use a table of contents, index, headings? Is the information laid out clearly so I can access what I need?

Gathering Information Remember to tell what is important Tell it in a way that makes sense Try not to tell too much Reading for the gist Margin notes (for consumables) Sticky notes or note-cards Model, model, model

Organizing for Writing What have I learned? Were my questions answered? Do I have new questions? Can I write this in my own words? How will organize the information? What are the main ideas? How will I present the information?