Why Do Assignments Matter?RED MOUNTAIN WRITING PROJECT

BIRMINGHAM, ALTONYA PERRY, PH.D., DIRECTORKENYA HALL, ED.S, FACILITATOR

Co-Director-Red Mountain Writing Project Summer Institutekjhall0713@gmail.com

Why are you here?

National Writing Project

committed to engaging teachers' knowledge, expertise, and leadership to improve writing and learning (Teachers teaching teachers)

Assignments Matter

✓NWP initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

✓a collaborative, knowledge-building and sharing experience open to any teacher who knows that meaningful tasks create powerful results.

✓invites teachers to collaborate using tools from the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) as well as protocols and processes common in the NWP teacher community to create writing assignments for use in their own classrooms and to share with one another.

Red Mountain Writing Project

is a local affiliate of the National Writing Project, whose motto is “teachers teaching teachers” and whose mission is to provide a forum for teachers of all grade levels and in all content areas to study and develop new and innovative strategies for literacy instruction.

GUIDINGQUESTIONS● WhatarethetenantsandconceptsoftheLiteracy

DesignCollaborative(LDC)

● Whyisitimportanttocraftassignmentsthatmatter?

● Whatmakesthem“matter”?

● Doesthiscreate“pretty”workfrommyfavorite

unitordoesitaddressstandardsandlearninggoals?

Writing Prompt

Think about a time when you assigned one of your classes a task where “what-I-wanted” and “what-I-got” just didn’t match up.

OURGOALSASTEACHERS ● Teachstudentstobeadaptableandindependent-

o Studentsneedtohavetheskillsandtheconfidencetotacklethevarietyof“known”and“unknown”tasks

● HelpStudentsDevelopHabitsofMindandaLearningMindset

● Teachstudentstobecomebetterreaders,writers,andthinkers

What Skills Are Missing?

https://youtu.be/Kq65aAYCHOw

LDC provides a common framework upon which teachers can individually or collaboratively build literacy-rich curricula within their content area and for their focus topics. LDC’s basic building block is a module, two to four weeks of instruction developed in four steps. LDC offers tools, support, and examples and invites teachers to make the professional choices that create effective designs for rich student learning.

What does the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) do?

TheframeworkisusedtodesigntasksalignedtoCCSSwhenstudentsarewritinginresponsetotexts.

Thewritingistextdependent.

TheImpactoftheCommonCoreStateStandards

● HowhastheCCSSimpactedyourteaching?

● HowhastheCCSSimpactedhowyoudesignassignments?

Protocol for Examining Sample Tasks

Isthetaskwordedpreciselytogivestudentsaclearpurposeforwriting?

WhatistheAssyrianaccomplishmentconcerningwriting?

Basedonyourreadingof“TheAssyrianLegacy”describethe

varioususesAssyriansfoundforwriting.

Protocol for Examining Sample Tasks

Doesthetaskrepresentvaluablelearninganddoesitrequiretextualevidence?

Doyoubelievemermaidsarereal?Wouldyouliketomeetone?

Afterreading“Mermaids:ImaginationorReality”andviewingthevideoclip

“Mermaids,”takeapositionabouttheexistenceofmermaidsciting

evidencefrombothtexts.

Protocol for Examining Sample Tasks

Does the assignment lead students to a particular bias in their response?

Usingevidencefromthetext,explainwhythewritinginCatcherintheRyeissogood.

Usingevidencefromthetext,explainthequalitiesand/orfailingsofthewritinginCatcherintheRye.

Protocol for Examining Sample Tasks

Doesthetaskaddresscontentessentialtothedisciplineandgradelevelreading

standards?

e.g.6thGradescience

Afterreading“TheEcologicalRoleofLactobacilliintheGastrointestinal Tract,”writeananalysisofitscentralpremise.

Afterreading,“TheProcessofDigestion”writeasummaryof

itsmainpoints.

TakeAway…ThelanguageofthetemplatetasksassurestheassignmentwillmeetCCSS.

Example:Specificverbs(compare,argue,evaluate,identify,discuss,explain,analyze,etc.)guaranteetasksaddressCCSS.

DNA of Tasks

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Mode

Text

Products

AllLDCtemplatetasksaredesignedfortasksthatinvolvestudentswritinginresponsetoreadingorresearch.TheyareclusteredbythewritingmodesdescribedintheCCSS:argumentative,informative/explanatory,andnarrative.

Note:InLDCanarrativereferstonon-fictionnarrativeandinvolvesstudentsinapplyingajournalisticstyleappropriatetorelatinganeventorinterview.)

Mode

● Argumentative● Informative/Explanatory● Narrative

Howcanone(ormore)ofthesemodesbeusedtodemonstratelearninginyourdiscipline?Turnandtalkwithyourelbowpartner.

Theterm“text”referstoarangeofartifacts,includingprintandvisualtypes.Thebestchoicesallowstudentstoengagedeeplywithtextsthatinvolvetheminconcepts,ideas,orquestions.Thesearecalled“shortprofoundtexts”intheformofachapter,sectionofaplay,orshorterpoemorspeech. WhataresomeexamplesoftextyouuseInyourclassroom?

Text

Whattexttypesarerelevantinyourdiscipline?

● Shortstories● Essays● Speeches● Shortnovels● Poetry● Video● Chapters● SocialMedia● Political

Cartoons● Scripts/

Storyboards

● Maps● Artworks● Timelines● Data● Politicaltexts(laws,policies,etc.)

● Games● Dance● Other?

Teachingtaskscanengagestudentsinavarietyofproducts.Eachproductsignalsawritingcontextandrequiresstudentstoadjustlanguagechoicesandrhetoricalstrategiestomeettheneedsofacontextforwriting,purpose,andaudience.

Examples:Anessaysignalsaformalsituationwithanacademicpurposeandaudience.Anarticleforaschoolmagazinesignalsalessformalcontext,ajournalisticpurpose,andageneralorpeeraudience.

Products

Whatproductsarerelevantinyourdiscipline?● Essays● Reports● Speeches● Research

reports● Criticalreviews● Editorials● Proposals● LabReports● Manuals● Interviews● Cost/benefit

analyses● Discussions-

blogs● Videos

● Journalisticproducts,suchasfeaturearticles

● Formalletters,astoaStateofficial● Memos,toincludereports● Presentationstoincludeaspeechor

writtenproduct● Exhibitstoincludeawrittenproduct● Response/Reactionpapers● Songs● CharacterSketches● Everythingwejustsaidastext● Pre-writing● Mindmaps● Rants● Artisticendeavors-drawings

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How to Fill In a TASK Template

Jigsaw

•Readthearticle“HowtoFillinaTaskTemplate”byEleanorDougherty

•Sortingroupsusingthefollowingmoneycodes:

$1.00-IntroductionandThemeorText

$5.00-AfterResearchingTemplatesandInsertQuestionsTemplate

$10.00-TaskChoicePoints(InsertTextandProduct)

$20.00TaskChoicePoints(Content)

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TASK CONSTRUCTION

Select your standards and the content, and then determine what you want your students to know and be able to do. Then you will decide:

1. If students are going to inform/explain or argue 2. What cognitive demand students will use (define, describe, explain, analyze, compare, determine

cause and effect, relate procedure/sequence, develop a hypothesis and conduct an experiment, evaluate, or problem-solve)

3. If the task will include a question 4. If students will be reading or researching 5. What texts students will read 6. What content 7. What writing product

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The “Answerable without Text” Pitfall

What makes for a good father? After reading To Kill a Mockingbird and various informational texts about parenting, write an essay that addresses the question and support your position with evidence from the text(s). Be sure to acknowledge competing views.

Possible solution: Build a stronger connection between the text, task and question.

…write an essay that explains your criteria for the characteristics of a good father and how Atticus Finch measures up to that criteria.

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The “Built In Bias” Pitfall

Possible solution: Make sure the prompt does not mention the successful reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park report and select texts that provide balanced perspectives (pros and cons) on the issue.

Should wolves be reintroduced into the Grand Teton National Park? After reading informational texts and the report outlining the successful reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park, write an argumentative essay that addresses the question and support your position with evidence from the text(s).

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The “False Argument” PitfallWhat are the effects of climate change? After reading multiple sources about the impacts of climate change, write an essay explaining the different effects and argue what the United States should do to reduce the threat of climate change. Support your position with evidence from the texts.

Use an explanatory template OR: ask students to truly take a position. …write an essay in which you compare two effects of climate change and argue which effect has the greatest impact.

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The “Insignificant Content” Pitfall

How does density vary for different substances? After reading selected texts, write a report in which you explain how density varies when you test different substances.

•Possible solution: Select content that is important enough to send an extended period of class time and requires students to apply content knowledge. •What is the relationship between density and the flotation of objects?

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Focus on the Tasks and Rubrics

https://coretools.ldc.org/home

Constructing a TaskUsing the “Task Template” handout and the “LDC Task Templates (p.g.14), begin to brainstorm a possible writing task you will like for your students to complete.

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Credits

• Assignments Matter by Eleanor Doughtery • National Writing Project www.nwp.org • Southern Region Educational Board

www.sreb.org