Cadre B

Writing to Learn

Refining Writing Through ThinkingRefining Thinking Through Writing

List three things you know about yourself as a writer.

List three things you know about yourself as a thinker.

How are writing and thinking similar?

How are they different?

What is the connection between writing and thinking?

What would a set of teaching strategies that help students become better writers and thinkers look like in the classroom?

Introduction to “Write to Learn” Strategy

A strategy for getting students to think more deeply about learning through the use of writing.

What are the four types of writing that can be done?

1. Provisional Writing

2. Readable Writing

3. Polished Writing

4. Published Writing

Provisional Writing

- Spontaneous

- Generate Ideas

- Think Time

- Can be a hook question, a question to access prior knowledge, or a check for understanding.

Should be spontaneous, students jot down, draw, scribble or write.

Provides all students with time to think.

Accesses and assesses students’ prior knowledge.

Requires little class time.

Keeps students focused and engaged in the content.

Readable Writing

- Shaping and integration of ideas.

-Demonstrates knowledge and thinking processes.

- Purpose & Audience

- Used to quiz and evaluate understanding.

- Clear Criteria

Focuses on specific criteria for assessment.

Integrates thinking and content knowledge.

Requires students to self correct through oral reading of their responses.

Exemplifies open-ended questions used on state assessment tests.

Provisional and Readable Writing

How are they similar and how are they different?

How would you use each in your teaching?

Polished Writing

-Requires a draft and feedback to see if it meets the criteria.

- Involves rewriting to look good and sound smart.

- Requires generating of ideas, drafting, shaping the piece, and a second draft writing.

- Specific criteria identified.

- Involves peer review and reflection.

Lets students know the criteria for success.

Integrates content and thinking.

Gets students to work cooperatively.

Has four phases: Generating Ideas, Forming, Shaping, and Polishing.

Time is given for reflection on the writing process.

Polished Writing

Requires multiple edits and drafts. Example of students’ best work. Requires significant class time and effort. Has great content and free of errors. Real World writing. Self and peer review and conferences. Goes through the writing process. Has critical readers beyond the classroom. Writing Portfolio

For students to experience what professional writers need to do to be published.

Looks at the Six Traits of Writing: content, organization, voice, sentence variety, word choice, spelling and mechanics.

Audience is the world outside the classroom.

May not be for all students.

Evaluation requires peer review, teacher feedback, critical readers outside the classroom and represents the students’ best work.

RAFT

Review your content. Identify the important ideas or information that you

want students to acquire from the selected text.

Assign students a role and an audience, or allow them time to choose their

role and audience.

Figure out the topic you want students to write to.

Then provide students with a framework for brainstorming ideas about the

personality of the role they are adopting, the attitudes and feelings of the role, and the information they want to communicate.

RAFT

Personality Attitude Information

Who am I and what are some aspects of my character?

What are my feelings, beliefs, ideas, concerns?

What do I know that I need to share in my writing?

Looking Good and Sounding SmartCreating Quality Constructed Responses

What are the keys to successful answers to open-ended questions.

Writing is a reflection of who you are and how you think.

What are some problems your students are confronted with when writing a response to an open-ended question?

What can we do to address those challenges?

8 challenges to open-ended questions

Can students read and understand the question? Can students identify the kind of thinking required

of them? Do students have techniques for collecting and

organizing their ideas? Can students identify the big idea or concept? Can students use details and give supporting

evidence to back up their statement? How do students sequence their argument? Do students have an ending or closing to the

piece? Is the answer legible, has correct spelling, and

uses proper writing mechanics?

Look Good…… Sound Smart…..

Look Good Is the spelling correct? Did I use good mechanics? Is my paper neat? Is it well organized?

Sound Smart Did I restate the question? Is my answer organized around a big idea? Did I use evidence to prove my point? Does it have an interesting opening and strong

conclusion?

Review the question, identify the type of thinking you are being asked to do.

Establish an organizer that reflects the thinking process to help you plan.

Write down what you know about the content using the organizer.

Restate the question as a statement.Identify the “gist” or “big idea” you want to prove.Then prove your gist using evidence and sequence your

argument.End with a strong conclusion to let your reader know you

are finished.Stop! Reread and revise your response so that it Looks

Good and Sounds Smart!