AVID Instructional Strategies:Writing to Learn

Dr. Judy Romanchuk

Magnet CoordinatorInternational Baccalaureate ProgramCampbell High School

judy.romanchuk@cobbk12.org

AVID History

Advancement Via Individual Determination 1980 desegregation court order brought large

numbers of inner city students to academically acclaimed California high school

Currently serves approximately 300,000 students in over 3,500 elementary and secondary schools in 45 states plus DC and 15 countries

Boasts a proven track record for bringing out the best in students and closing the achievement gap

AVID Philosophy

Acceleration instead of remediation

Hold students accountable to the highest standards, plus provide academic and social support to enable them to rise to the challenge

AVID Goals

Provide access and increase enrollment in advanced classes (honors, AP, IB) for students in the academic middle

Level playing field for minority, rural, low-income, and other students without a college-bound tradition in their families

Teaching Methodologies - WICR

Writing to learn – emphasis on writing in all subjects with a focus on clarifying and communicating thoughts and understanding material

Inquiry – instead of lecture. Activities, such as Cornell notetaking and tutorial groups, are built on asking questions, which forces students to clarify, analyze, and synthesize material.

WICR

Collaborative – teacher becomes a facilitator and an advocate, with students responsible for their learning. Tutors become discussion leaders, as students learn from one another

Reading (critical reading) – students analyze, question, critique, clarify, and comprehend material in all subject areas

Writing to Learn

Different from traditional writing

Different goals (designed to give

order, process information)

No polished finished product

Focuses on developing higher order

thinking, analyzing, and summarizing

rather than communication

Writing, a Unique Mode of Learning

Writing provides the process needed to relate new knowledge to prior experience.

To learn we must place new knowledge into an existing language and cognitive framework.

Written material is concrete and visible, able to hold ideas for further processing.

National Commission on Writing:

“If students are to make knowledge their own, they

must:

– struggle with the details

– wrestle with the facts

– re-work raw information and dimly understood

concepts into language they can

communicate to someone else.”

Writing Often…

Writing often, several times a week,

provides constant reinforcement of the

content.

Writing to Learn Activities

Involve students as active participants (not

passive receivers) – a tool of thinking

Provide a risk-free environment to try out

new ideas and take creative risks

Provide practice in a specific skill or type of

thinking important within a discipline

Writing to Learn Activities

Allow students to have the experience of writing with full attention to their own thoughts, rather than being preoccupied with a concern for correctness

Provide practical information on what students know or don’t yet understand (valuable means of formative assessment)

Research on Writing to Learn

Student achievement on state assessments, exit exams, and other measurements greatly improves.

Students demonstrate growth in core academic learning and concept building.

North Central Regional Educational Laboratory

Writing-to-Learn Basics

Writing Breaks

Entry and Exit Slips

Learning Logs

Narratives and Academic Journals

Dialogues

Double Entry Journals

Writing Breaks

At specific points during class, students stop and reflect in writing on the activities or information presented.

The WB may be followed by quick sharing with partners or the whole class (Think/Pair/Share)

Break and topic may be predetermined or spontaneous.

Entry and Exit Slips

Written responses from students to questions the teacher poses either at the beginning (entry) or the end (exit) of class.

Why? Check students’ understanding by having them formulate the concept or main points in their own words.

Entry (Admit) Slips

Students bring a short piece of writing to class the next day—a reflection on the reading assignment or a discussion item from the previous class period (may reflect additional information from homework)

Variation – Start-up Writes

Students write for the first 2-5 minutes in response to a prompt or quote from the previous day or from the homework assignment

Provides an excellent sponge activity that puts students to work immediately

Exit Slips

Save the last one to five minutes of class time and ask students to jot a quick response to some aspect of the day’s lesson on a half sheet of paper or an index card

Read the notes later on and use them to help plan the next class session (formative assessment)

Exit Slip Example

What were the three most important ideas we learned today and why do you think they are important?

Learning Logs

Students respond to a prompt that helps them articulate what they have learned and discover what they don’t understand

Designed to locate gaps in student knowledge – critical as students seek to take responsibility for their own learning by asking questions about—and seeking help for—areas of confusion

Detailed instructions in AVID Curriculum Guide for writing (See Resources)

Cornell Notetaking System

An efficient method for mastering information, not just recording facts

Focuses on main ideas—relating facts, details, and examples to concepts

Invites questioning, evaluation, and reflection

Provides a system for recall

Five Steps of the System

Record notes in the main column Refine with questions, corrections,

underlining, recall cues, graphics, pictures Recite by covering main column and

expanding on recall cues; verify Reflect on organization of material by

studying all cues Review by repeating Steps 3 and 4

Double Entry Journals

Left Side: Specific Text (may be teacher or student selected)

Right Side: Student Response (stance may range from personal to analytical)

Double Entry Journal Prompts: Ask Students for…

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

Response to quotations from the text

Student Assumptions

Personal responses to academic information and literature are wrong or inappropriate

“Somewhere out there” is a RIGHT response

Learning consists of discovering the right response

Leaves students embarrassed to speak out for fear that their opinions are WRONG

Narratives – A Blend of the Personal and Academic

The prompt asks students to tap into their personal experience relating to the material taught (an inroad to prior knowledge)

Students build bridges from their lives to the concept they are studying.

Narratives - Examples

Before beginning a unit on viruses, ask students to write about a time when they contracted a virus—how they felt, how it impacted their lives.

Before beginning a lesson on The Seafarer, ask students to write about a time when they felt two different ways about the same event.

Brainstorming Before Writing

Provides a quick inventory of what students know or think they know about something

Students write down everything that comes to mind even if they are not sure it is “correct”

Focuses on quantity over quality

Fits at the beginning, middle, or end of a lesson

Brainstorming Example

Take a minute and list every important idea, concept, or detail that you can remember about our topic for today

Clustering or Mapping

Students jot down a key word in the center of a page, draw spokes outward, and in associative fashion write words connected with the key word in circles or balloons at the end of the spokes

Example

Clustering or Mapping

A way to encourage the surfacing of ideas that students may need for thinking or writing about a topic they are exploring—or to connect and review ideas they have learned as they study a particular chunk of content

A tool to help students uncover possibilities that are often overlooked in linear writing exercises

Drawing and Illustrating

Quick drawings, sketches, or diagrams to illustrate ideas, events, science experiments, real-world situations involving math problems, etc.

Words may be added in the form of explanations, labels, or listing of terms and ideas

Drawing and Illustrating

Re-expressing an idea in different modes often helps students understand complex ideas by calling attention to different aspects that are not revealed through words alone

May be blended with any of the writing exercises

Academic Discourse

Not absorbed culturally Not intuitive Analytical in nature Tied to text A unique linguistic structure depending on

the content area

Academic Journals

A primary focus on the “what” (content, comprehension, and analysis)

Minimal focus on the “how” (format, framework of the language, mechanics)

How to Use Academic Journals

In-class response to homework

Quick-write to introduce a particular study

Response to discussion during class

Focused writing in preparation for a formal essay or research paper

Various Approaches for the Prompt

Personal General Specific Reflective Reactive Analytical

Length of the Assignment

Reminder: Short, spontaneous, unedited writing pieces help students engage and think about ideas

Ideal length – one page (exactly)

Forces planning

Students search for support

Dialogues

Students write in response to a teacher’s prompt on the material presented.

Exchange journals with partners who write in response to the first entry.

Purpose of Dialogues

Generate written debate and discussion that may not happen out loud.

Allow students to discover new ideas that have not occurred to them before.

Encourage students to practice academic discussion.

Another Approach—Students Stop and Respond:

Students trade journal entries with someone sitting next to them

Each student reads and responds– about a minute for each entry

Teacher Response to Writing to Learn Activities

Collect after several entries or each time (preferred)

Check for student understanding and need to

reteach

Skim for content – easy on the teacher

Grade for meeting requirements of the assignment,

not for quality or correctness

Design follow-up mini-lessons to address any

mechanical concerns that might surface

A Look at Language

The structure of language varies with each content area.

Analysis of written texts provides a foundation for increased comprehension and individual expression (reader response).

Step One: Create Interest in Language and Language Construction

Expose students to the SOUNDS of language in its simple and sophisticated forms– HEAR the rhythms and repetitions– HEAR the way parts of the sentence are

ordered– HEAR the way words ebb and flow – the

cadence of language– HEAR the sequence of ideas– HEAR the ways to make language flexible

The Reason?

Students cannot write if they cannot read. A basic understanding of language is

fundamental to the ability to manipulate language for effective communication.

Typical language patterns and constructions may be different in different subject areas, requiring reading flexibility.

Where Do You Start?

Pointing student attention to authentic language

How do we actually use words to communicate? How do we use words differently in different content areas?

Examining Word Usage

Help students develop a sense of the basic structure of English (a “slotted system”)– Most standard form: Who does what? (Subject -

Action Verb – Direct Object: The dog chased the cat.)

– Alternate form: Who is what? (Subject – Linking Verb – Subject Complement that either renames or describes the subject: John is a pilot.)

Build for Understanding by Focusing on the Sentence Core

Readers have to link the subject and verb in order to make sense of the sentence (essential to finding main ideas).

Additional words and phrases that modify the subject and verb expand the meaning of the sentence.

Example - The Simple Facts

Harry was a white dog. He had black spots. Harry did not like getting a bath. Harry heard the water running in the tub. Harry took the scrubbing brush. Harry buried it in the back yard. Harry ran away from home.

Moving from Simple to Sophisticated

Harry was a white dog with black spots who liked everything, except . . . getting a bath. So one day when he heard the water running in the tub, he took the scrubbing brush . . . and buried it in the back yard. Then he ran away from home.

From Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion

Utilizing Reader Response

Encourages close reading (a problem in student understanding of all texts)

Pairs with vocabulary-building and clustering/mapping strategies.

Enriches and expands conceptual knowledge.

One Reader Response Technique

Find a key word in your sample passage. Consider completing a clustering/mapping

activity to expand the connotations that you associate with your word.

Return to the passage and explore the various ways that the word impacts the passage.

Do a quick write explaining your findings.

Application

Poetry Literary prose Expository passages in the content areas Math word problems

Example in Math

Translate “nine less than the total of a number and two” into an algebraic expression and simplify:

Can sound like 9 – number + 2 (typical distracter on the PSAT)

Translates to (n + 2) – 9, which simplifies to

n – 7

Going Deeper with Writing to Learn

KWL Collaborative Annotation Write Arounds Carousel Brainstorming Nonstop Write Reflective Write

KWL

What do you know?

What do you want to know?

What have you learned?

KWL

Widespread use at elementary level Works best when students have a little prior

knowledge about a topic A series of lists made by individual students,

small groups, and the whole class, with the teacher serving as recorder for the latter

Collaborative Annotation

A variation of the dialogue journal

Also called text on text

Key passage glued on chart paper at each table

Collaborative Annotation

Students use different colored pens to make comments, connect to particular phrases, draw arrows, speculate

Students may then start reading each other’s comments – leads to agreeing, disagreeing, clarifying, and answering each other’s written thoughts

Teacher may also comment to spur further discussion

Write Around or Silent Discussion

In small groups (3-5 students in each), student write short notes to each other about a complex topic or term assigned by the teacher

Each student starts a note with a comment Students pass their papers, read what was

written previously, and add their own comments in response

Creates a string of conversation as pages circulate around the table

Carousel Brainstorming

Students simultaneously share ideas and respond in writing to three or four different prompts

Use separate sheets of chart paper for each prompt (can be taken from key headings in the text)

Each group of 3-5 students has a different colored marker

Carousel Brainstorming

Groups visit a station (about two minutes), discuss the topic written at the top of the sheet of chart paper, and add their own contributions (identified by the color of their marker), then move to next station when teacher calls time

Works best for introducing a new topic or actively involving students in review

Putting the Writing to Work

Each group rereads the comments from its “home chart” and reports to the class – should include an evaluation of the ideas

Engage in a “gallery walk” as each group moves through the stations a second time; can be followed by a short large-group discussion that focuses on the highlights

Putting the Writing to Work

Have a silent gallery walk. Groups move through the stations, reading but not talking. They return to their seats, spend a few minutes on a nonstop write in response to what they have read and then finish with a small-group or large-group share.

Nonstop Write

A timed writing, usually between three and five minutes

Students respond to a specific content-related prompt (Describe the cycle of photosynthesis as if you were a plant) or an open-ended response (What were your reactions to Jack in the story?)

Students write quickly and continuously, focusing on presenting ideas

Reflective Write

In the middle or at the end of a task Students reflect on their learning and the

task itself May be informal (list on a note card), in

double-entry journal form, or full page nonstop write

May be extended into longer think pieces Encourages self awareness

Working the Room with All Writing to Learn Activities

Cruise the room and read over students’ shoulders – keeps students on task and helps you evaluate on the spot

Reveals learning gaps as well as concepts that have been grasped

Provides an opportunity for individual student intervention

Reasons Students Experience Writing Shutdowns

Putting thoughts on paper quickly is a skill that takes practice

The continuous writing of sentences and paragraphs takes more effort than brainstorming a quick list

Continuing to write for five minutes requires the writer to expand on details or move on to new topics when a previous one is exhausted

Solutions for Writing Shutdowns

Build stamina by starting with shorter pieces

Initially use a combination of bullet points or jot lists with brief sentence responses

Gradually extend the length and complexity to stretch student responses to a higher level

Provide individual encouragement and support for reluctant writers

Writing to Learn Versus Learning to Write

What about writing instruction itself (Learning to Write)? How do Writing-to-Learn strategies fit into the broader picture of writing instruction?

Use Writing to Learn as a Prewriting Exercise in Writing Instruction

– Tune students in

– Allow them to explore their thoughts

– Get them started

– Gather ideas on the topic

– Consider feelings

Expand Types of Writing Assignments

Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs has expressed concern that from the 4th grade on students write too many reports over more varied and complex writing assignments.

Note the comprehension level of report writing on Bloom’s taxonomy.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Expand Types of Writing Assignments

In addition to assigning report-type writing, teachers need to design writing assignments that (at a minimum) involve application as well as acquisition.

For example, students assume professional roles and complete tasks that address authentic needs for authentic audiences (broad category of technical writing).

Writing to Learn Resources

Daniels, H., Zemelman, S., & Steineke, N. (2007). Content area writing: Every teacher’s guide. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Drewes, F., & Milligan, K. L. D. (2003). How to study science. New York: McGraw Hill.

Gardner, T. (2008). Designing writing assignments. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Marzano, R. J., & Pickering, D. J. (2005). Building academic vocabulary teacher’s manual. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Mullen, M, & Boldway, S. (2005). Curriculum: High school writing teacher guide. San Diego, CA: AVID Center.