1. Writing Across the Curriculum Kathleen R
Writing Across the Curriculum Kathleen R. Du Houx 7th & 8th grade Science Teacher Slavens K-8 School, DPS

2. What I have Done for This PDU
Reading – books and articles.
BLOG experience – Collaborating with other teachers by filming and writing
Discussions with other staff – PD days and video blogs
Reflections, essay, and this power point
Implementations in my classroom

3. Books I read: Building Supplied Text My official text
Three others that were very helpful

4. Blog Experience http://slavenspdu.blogspot.com/

5. Professional Development
One Example of a Professional Development Day Schedule

6. Reflections Table of Contents – Journal Entries for Writing PDU
My personal experience as a writer
Galileo - student assignment
Learning Journal entries - student assignment
Short responses to textbook prompts - student assignment
Note taking – improve instruction
Descriptive writing when making Observations– improve instruction
Lab writing – Hypothesis, Experiment design plans, Conclusions.
Quick Writes – After videos, demos, etc. – improve instruction
Scientist Reports: Challenge 2 - Electricity and Magnetism – 8th grade - student assignment
Core Physics – Classical Physics DVD - student assignment
Science writing – and really bad words list from Kathy Degi– improve instruction
Cell Function Analogy – 7th grade, Unit C - student assignment
Disease Report – 7th grade unit C - student assignment
Science Magazine Project - 21st Century Skills w/Collaborative Writing & technology – student /improve
Nonfiction Matters by Stephanie Harvey – Reading Notes and Thoughts
Teaching Adolescent Writers by Kelly Gallagher – Reading Notes and Thoughts
6+1 Traits of Writing by Ruth Culham – Reading Notes and Thoughts
Writing in Science by Betsy Rupp Fulwiler – Reading Notes and Thoughts

7. Implementation - Types of writing my students do in my science classes
Note taking – several styles
Observations – from labs, scope work, etc.
Conclusions – claim, evidence, reasoning.
Short responses to prompts – usually from textbooks.
Quick writes – often after videos.
Learning Journal entries – both pre learning and post learning.
Written reports – over all topic assigned by teacher, students have choice within the topic.

8. My Science Writing Instruction for this PDU
Rubrics – for conclusions and others
Handout on Science Writing – January 2011.
Instruction on Rewriting - Core Physics
Writing & editing - Cell Analogy, Disease Report, Scientist Studies, Element Project
Writing a video Summary – Moon, Mars, Cracking the Code, Newton’s Dark Secrets
Science Magazine project

9. Conclusion Rubric 3 Proficient 2 Partially Proficient 1 Unsatisfactory
3 Proficient
2 Partially Proficient
1 Unsatisfactory
Claim
An assertion or conclusion that answers the original question
Makes an accurate and complete claim
Makes an accurate but incomplete claim
Does not make a claim, or makes an inaccurate claim.
Evidence
Scientific data that supports the claim. The data need to be appropriate and sufficient to support the claim
Provides appropriate and sufficient evidence to support claim
Provides appropriate, but insufficient evidence to support claim. May include some inappropriate evidence.
Does not provide evidence or only provides inappropriate evidence (evidence that does not support claim).
Reasoning
A justification that links the claim and evidence and shows why the data count as evidence to support the claim by using the appropriate and sufficient scientific principles.
Provides reasoning that links evidence to claim, includes appropriate and sufficient scientific principles
Provides reasoning that links the claim and evidence. Repeats the evidence and/or includes some scientific principles but not sufficient.
Does not provide reasoning, or only provides reasoning that does not link the evidence to the claim.
Subtotal

10. Slavens’ Building Rubric

11. Handout on Science Writing Given to students in January 2011

12. Core Physics – Classical Physics

13. DVD Core Physics : Classical Physics – 8th Grade
1814 – Light Reveals spectral lines 1820 – Electromagnetism is discovered 1824 – First laws of thermodynamics 1831 – Faraday produced electricity from magnetism 1842 – Doppler Effect 1864 – Maxwell’s equations unify electricity and magnetism – X-rays and radioactivity are discovered S
Students used this study guide to take notes on the video.
Their homework that night was to write a video summary.

14. DVD – Core Physics continued
Summaries of the DVD - Core Physics: Classical Physics Example A: I learned lots of things about light, the color spectrum, heat, electromagnetism, sound and radio waves. Light is really electromagnetic radiation, and travels at 186,000 miles per second. In the visible spectrum, red has the longest wavelength and violet had the shortest. Heat is not a fluid, it is actually a form of energy. Energy can’t be created or destroyed, only transferred from object to object. The ability of energy to do work is constantly decreasing, so the universe is dying. I also learned that a magnet’s magnetic filed can produce electricity. The Doppler effect is used to predict weather and movement in outer space by stars and planets. When radio waves were discovered, people didn’t know what to do with them. Radio waves can be as big as buildings or as small as humans. Overall, I learned about waves, and how they work, and how electromagnetism relates to them. Example B: I learned many things while watching this video. One of those things is that rainbows are made when a less dense medium turns into a more dense medium. I also learned one of the first laws of thermodynamics is that ability of energy to do work is always decreasing. Also when there are more coils in a wire, there will be more current. The Doppler Effect involves sound. One thing I learned about the Doppler Effect is the shorter the string, the higher the pitch.
The class discussed the Science Writing Handout.
Students then were given a total of nine (9) examples from the original student summaries and edited them as a group.

15. After discussing and editing the nine examples, students were asked look at their own summary and rewrite it using their best science writing.

18. Additional Samples of Student Work
Learning Journal – 7th and 8th
Cell Analogies – 7th
Cracking The Code Summary – 7th
Science Magazine – 8th

19. Learning Journal – 7th Grade

20. Learning Journal – 8th grade

21. Cell Analogies – 7th Grade

22. Another Example of a Cell Analogy

28. Science Magazine Project – 8th grade
Purpose:
To introduce students to real world examples of science writing – both professional and entertainment – through the examination of professional journals and over the counter science, engineering, and technology publications (Science Writing).
To provide students with an opportunity to practice writing science articles; based on the content that they have covered during 7th and 8th grade science classes (Science Writing and Science Standards).
To help students learn to work in a cooperative team and use some technology to produce their own science magazine (21st Century Skills).

29. RAFT
Role: Each team will work together as writers, editors, and publishers for a middle school science magazine Audience: The target audience is other middle school students. These magazines will be part of an 8th grade competition for best magazine [based on the science, language arts, and technology used – as evaluated by the team of Mrs. Hanna (science), Mrs. Belville (language arts), and Mrs. Badger (technology)]. Format: Each magazine should include the following: 1) Cover page, 2) Table of content, 3) Feature length articles, 4) Short articles, and 5) Advertisements (two to three feature articles co-written by the team and one short article and one advertisement from each student on the team). Additional material such as editorials, letters to the editor, puzzles, etc. may be included. Topic: Each team is free to choose from any of the science topics covered during their 7th and 8th grade science classes at Slavens. Each magazine may cover a wide range of topics, or may focus on one particular content area. (Topics covered include: scientific method, human biology, cells, micro life, classification systems, diseases, genetics, ecology, fungi, plants, animals, oceanography, pendulums, forces, motion, gravity, electricity, magnetism, light, sound, heat and energy, conservation of mass, astronomy (planets, stars, galaxies, distances in space), other physics topics, chemistry, and the history of science).

30. Tips for Writing

31. Periodicals for Reference Materials
Over the counter
Science Publications
Professional Journals

32. Prompt: In science, I liked studying.... because...
How to do "free writing": 1) Write the prompt on the top line. 2) Respond to the prompt with whatever comes to your mind, do not self edit just keep writing. 3) Keep writing until you are told to stop (a long time). 4) If nothing comes to your mind, rewrite the prompt (or part of it) until something else comes up.

33. Forming Magazine Groups
Once you have a preliminary group, sit down together and discuss the topics for feature articles that you will be writing together. 1) Make a list of at least 5 feature article topics. 2) Individuals should then pick two or three additional topics that they would like to do as their short article. Everyone needs to hear what other people are thinking about for their short article. You want to avoid duplicate articles, although several related articles on the same topic would be okay.

34. Examples of Group Plans

35. Magazine Work Days

36. Examples of Science Magazine Articles

37. Where Will I Go From Here?
Create a Handbook on science writing – a resource for students, kept in their science binders.
Write better prompts for learning journal – use the journal more often – during units, not just at the beginning and end, and for some lab activities.
Continue my own reading, learning, and collaborating with others about writing.
Try out new practices with my students including how to do a better job at giving effective feedback on their science writing.