Powerful Tools for Informational Writing

High Performance in High Poverty Schools: 90/90/90 and Beyond

1. Teaching informational writing is the key to success in high poverty schools (see 90/90/90 Report; 90% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch, 90% of students are part of an ethnic minority, and 90% met district or state standards)
2. Informational writing, including short constructed responses and extended responses, should be used across curriculum

Short Constructed Responses – short, clear, and concise; requires few sentences

• Sentence One: This (map, picture, bar graph, pie chart, table) about __ (provide title) _ (choose correct verb) that _________.
• Sentence Two and Three: Provide more details, integrate, or interpret data.

Extended Responses – somewhat longer; requires more detail; options includes four to six sentences, a paragraph, a bullet list, or multiple paragraphs

• Use Power Verbs (“Improving Student Performance with Powerful Instructional Writing” p. 10); see http://www.visualthesaurus.com/wordlists/36 for a possible teaching idea
• “On a regular basis students are encouraged to write complete sentences in each content area.  Students should be able to demonstrate in writing how they arrived at an answer, how they solved a problem, etc.  This could easily be accomplished at the end of any class period.  Students could write a sentence or two about a fact they learned, or a problem they solved.”

Cause/Effect Writing

• Review good examples (see “Selection Six: Deadly Waves – The Power of Tsunami”); identify literary elements of genre, slowly looking at title, subheadings–making predictions about text, before reading; read as a whole class and small groups before doing independent work
• With writing, start with smaller chunks and build up; model as a whole class and coach through small groups before requiring independent work.
• Use graphic organizers; see “Constructed Response the Way I See It” (p. 29), “Constructed and Extended Responses Let’s Describe It/Key Words” (p. 30), and “Constructed and Extended Responses Main Ideas/Details” (p. 31).  These all help students to focus on the key details.

Blueprint’s Power Verbs

• explain
• justify
• demonstrate
• compare
• contrast
• describe
• gather
• solve
• count
• add
• multiply
• subtract
• divide
• calculate
• change
• examine
• show
• clarify
• point out
• present
• observe
• interpret
• analyze
• summarize
• conclude
• limit
• measure
• list
• draw
• inform
• construct
• report
• formulate
• identify
• generalize
• represent
• collect
• explore
• design

Ch. 1: Conferences Are Conversations (How’s It Going by Carl Anderson)

Ch. 1: Conferences Are Conversations

• “I see conferences as a means to get to know students and as a powerful way of teaching them to be better writers” (6).
• “I’ve held onto the word conversations because the word suggests so many things about the way I believe we should talk with students about their writing…it’s intimate, personal, shared” (6-7).
• “I also use the word conversation because event though in a conference we are teachers talking with students, we are also writers talking to writers” (7).
• According to Don Murray, “[Conferences] are not mini-lectures but the working talk of fellow writers sharing their experience with the writing process.  At times, of course, they will be teacher and student, master and apprentice, if you want, but most of the time they will be remarkably close to peers, because each writer, no matter how experiences, begins again with each draft” (qtd. in Anderson 7).
• Conferences have a point to them:
  • According to Calkins, “We are teaching the writer and not the writing.  Our decisions must be guided by ;what might help this writer” rather than “what might help this writing.”  If the piece of writing gets better but the writer has learned nothing that will help him or her another day on another piece, then the conference was a waste of everyone’s time.  It may even have done more harm than good, for such conferences teach students not to trust their own reactions” (qtd. in Andersen 8).
  • Do’s
    • Teach strategies and techniques we use
    • Teach students to teach themselves
    • Teach students to be reflective
    • Be able to name what it is we did to help student become better writer
  • Don’t's
    • Don’t get preoccupied with the topic
    • Don’t overcorrect
    • Don’t turn into therapy session
    • Don’t make it yours
• Conferences have a predictable structure
  • Just as conversations have a predictable structure, so should writing conferences; this leads to efficient use of time.
    • Part 1: Conversation about the work the child is doing as a writer.
    • Part 2: Conversation about how the child can become a better writer.
• In conferences, we pursue lines of thinking with students.
  • Develop thinking about specific subject; may be grounded in first part of conversation; should be an area for potential growth.
    • Multiple possibilities; may come from previous knowledge of student, whole-class teaching, etc.
• Roles
  • Student begins in lead role, setting agenda
    Teacher assumes lead–asking about pla, giving feedback, teaching strategy/technique
• Show care
  • interested in subject–but more so, student
  • It’s not just about meeting standards and test scores
  • Listen
  • Affirm

Inquiry Project

The past five months have shown me that my students need to be pushed in going deeper in their writing–to demonstrate more critical thought, greater awareness of audience and purpose, and further elaboration–in a variety of genres. In my observation, it appears that this need ultimately stems from the second point–greater awareness of audience and purpose–in the sense that my students don’t necessarily recognize that their writing and thoughts are not always clear to an outsider who is not inside their head, and consequently they need to push their writing, developing it so what is on paper is a direct reflection of what is in their minds. In thinking about myself as a writer, I think this awareness came as I started to realize that my readers were not necessarily approaching my writing with them same thoughts, beliefs, and experiences that I had, and consequently, would not read my writing the same way I intended for them to. Therefore, I needed to walk them down the path I had gone down to reach my conclusions–but to do it in a very efficient and engaging way. To a certain extent, I think that this growth as a writer is connected to the maturing process an adolescent grows through–from a very egocentric world to taking a step back and seeing the array of other opinions, thoughts and experiences that others have and how this connects us together.

With this in mind, I’ve been doing some debating with my inquiry project. Here some brainstorming from last Friday:

(As a side note to you Christine–since I know you a part of my audience in this case, my 804 work isn’t highlighted yet since I usually save it until the end; I tackle my work in much the same way that I used to eat my food: by working on the things that I have to push myself to complete first so I can enjoy the other things after. With food, I learned that this led to overeating since I would force myself to eat the things I didn’t like first, but would still want to enjoy the other items. With work, this seems to be an effective process.)

So in looking at this list and reflecting on what I just wrote, I think it will be most useful to focus on peer feedback as an avenue for leading my students to develop awareness of their audience, and to use this awareness to push their writing further…More to be said later…