A Look at Writing How to Make Learning to Write like Learning in Life. How to Make Learning to Write like Learning in Life. Michael W. Smith Temple University 1301 Cecil B. Moore Avenue Philadelphia, PA Michael W. Smith Temple University 1301 Cecil B. Moore Avenue Philadelphia, PA

Competence and Control “I can’t stand writing essays. I’m not that good a essay writer.” “I can’t stand writing essays. I’m not that good a essay writer.” “A lot of times with writing I get excited, especially when the teacher doesn't give you a limitation.” “A lot of times with writing I get excited, especially when the teacher doesn't give you a limitation.”

Appropriate Challenge “I wrote a rap. I think it was yesterday, the day before yesterday. I wrote a rap because my cousin said he wanted to hear a little something from me because he got a singing group and he got a album coming out and stuff like that. He just wanted to hear a little something. He asked me can I rap. I was like, “Yeah, I can. I can write stuff.” It’s not really hard. But before you start off writing, you got to really think, like think how to start off. You just can’t start off any different kind of way. It’s like a certain way you got to put everything like in different orders. Like, you got to have one verse. You got to have a certain amount of lines.” “I wrote a rap. I think it was yesterday, the day before yesterday. I wrote a rap because my cousin said he wanted to hear a little something from me because he got a singing group and he got a album coming out and stuff like that. He just wanted to hear a little something. He asked me can I rap. I was like, “Yeah, I can. I can write stuff.” It’s not really hard. But before you start off writing, you got to really think, like think how to start off. You just can’t start off any different kind of way. It’s like a certain way you got to put everything like in different orders. Like, you got to have one verse. You got to have a certain amount of lines.”

Clear Goals and Feedback “Sometimes, like you said, I write poetry about [sunsets]. And that’s it. Sometimes, I give it to my mom because my mom likes them.” “Sometimes, like you said, I write poetry about [sunsets]. And that’s it. Sometimes, I give it to my mom because my mom likes them.”

Clear Goals and Feedback B: The Josephine Baker Story or something. That’s the only thing we did was the play. Then, we had like three different essays we had to do on that. M: On The Josephine Baker Story? What’d you think about that? B: I didn’t have too much interest in it. M: Why is that? Because one of the things—that’s sort of interesting, Bam, because a lot of people would say, “Well, you know you picked Josephine Baker who is African American”—do you see what I’m saying?—, that would be something that would be interesting, but it’s pretty clear that it wasn’t to you. B: It just wasn’t. It was boring. M: Because? B: Well, it had no sense to me. That’s it. What was the purpose of it? If we had just some background on it, like he just popped out of the blue and said we’re going to talk about Josephine Baker blah blah blah. That was it.

A Focus on the Immediate “In English class, we mainly read about stuff like literature, reading over paragraphs and different stuff. We write paragraphs. Like, it would be a paragraph in the book with incorrect punctuation and stuff like that, and we’ll have to read over it and make the right corrections. [But] in my other classes, like health class, we read about stuff like AIDS and how AIDS is passed on. Young teens and sex. Drug abuse. Stuff like that.” “In English class, we mainly read about stuff like literature, reading over paragraphs and different stuff. We write paragraphs. Like, it would be a paragraph in the book with incorrect punctuation and stuff like that, and we’ll have to read over it and make the right corrections. [But] in my other classes, like health class, we read about stuff like AIDS and how AIDS is passed on. Young teens and sex. Drug abuse. Stuff like that.”

The Importance of the Social “I just think that it is pretty awesome that kids can create music like we do so fast. We are pretty good; chemistry is kind of boring so we kind of talk to each other a lot. We kind of have this little group going. We write songs about chemistry just for the fun of it. We call each other ‘Boys with Noise.’ Sometimes we’ll do our homework in rap or something. The other kids love it.” “I just think that it is pretty awesome that kids can create music like we do so fast. We are pretty good; chemistry is kind of boring so we kind of talk to each other a lot. We kind of have this little group going. We write songs about chemistry just for the fun of it. We call each other ‘Boys with Noise.’ Sometimes we’ll do our homework in rap or something. The other kids love it.”

How Various Models of Instruction Fare Assign and Assess Assign and Assess Models Models

What Writers Need 4 Kinds of Knowledge DeclarativeProcedural FormForm SubstanceSubstance

Moves We Have Available To Develop Procedural Knowledge Responsive ResponsiveConferencesCoaching Anticipatory AnticipatoryMini-lessons Thinking aloud/Modeling Co-authoring Revising from Common Frame Sentence Combining Providing Practice in Miniature

Analyze the demands of the task, focusing especially on the procedural knowledge experienced writers employ and consider the extent to which students have that knowledge. Analyze the demands of the task, focusing especially on the procedural knowledge experienced writers employ and consider the extent to which students have that knowledge.

Provide extended practice in miniature to help students gain that knowledge, especially through meaningful social activity. Provide extended practice in miniature to help students gain that knowledge, especially through meaningful social activity. Immediate to imagined Oral to written Short to long Scaffolded to independent Collaborative to independent

Engage students in understanding how they’ll be evaluated. Engage students in understanding how they’ll be evaluated. Move students to independence. Move students to independence.

Some Thoughts on Sequence Sequence by complexity Sequence by complexity Autobiographical account of discrete experience Themed autobiography MemoirorFableHero-quest Coming of age story

Sequence by type (e.g.,) Sequence by type (e.g.,) Arguments of judgment Arguments of policy Arguments of extended definition Arguments of analysis

Sequence by complexity within type Sequence by complexity within type Students likely to know evidence already Students draw on single text Students draw on range of secondary sources Students draw on range of primary sources Students generate new data through inquiry