Teaching Adolescent Writers
(Page 91) “Choice generates a welcome chain reaction: it creates student buy-in, which in turn generates writing motivation, which in turn causes students to write better.”
Imagine that—giving students choice in writing actually has the same effects as giving students choice in what they read—they’ll actually want to do it! On page 90, Gallagher makes an excellent point in that we often have students do the type of writing they’ll neither do nor often see in the real world. Yes, yes, yes, I haven’t forgotten that we have those standardized tests looming over our students’ heads, but if someone is just a plain good writer, they’ll be able to do fine on those standardized tests. But if a student can only generate good standardized test-style writing, how is that going to benefit him after he graduates? I will go on record as saying the one thing I liked about our old exit exam versus HSAP is that the old one offered students a choice in their writing; they were given two prompts and had to choose one. However, with the HSAP, the scoring of it is not as rigid as the old one—there is not as much emphasis on conventions, so students have more leeway in how they write. Yes, they have to have a beginning, middle, and end, but they don’t have to necessarily format that into three or five paragraphs.
I love how in his traditional way, Gallagher doesn’t just tell us the problem. He provides lots of options that can be used in the classroom to generate student choice in writing then goes on to give ways to merge requirements with choice. Did anyone try one of the ideas Gallagher wrote about, or have you done something he didn’t mention that would be beneficial to us all?
Content Area Writing
I decided to go with having you all choose four of the eight strategies to read about in this chapter for a couple of reasons. First, I thought some of you may already be familiar with a few of the strategies. Second, I think the way Daniels et al present each strategy makes it easy to skim through the “What It Is” section of each to decide if that’s something useable for your classroom. So, did you have a chance to try out any of these strategies on your students, or how do you think you could incorporate one (or more) into your classroom?
(Page 91) “Choice generates a welcome chain reaction: it creates student buy-in, which in turn generates writing motivation, which in turn causes students to write better.”
Imagine that—giving students choice in writing actually has the same effects as giving students choice in what they read—they’ll actually want to do it! On page 90, Gallagher makes an excellent point in that we often have students do the type of writing they’ll neither do nor often see in the real world. Yes, yes, yes, I haven’t forgotten that we have those standardized tests looming over our students’ heads, but if someone is just a plain good writer, they’ll be able to do fine on those standardized tests. But if a student can only generate good standardized test-style writing, how is that going to benefit him after he graduates? I will go on record as saying the one thing I liked about our old exit exam versus HSAP is that the old one offered students a choice in their writing; they were given two prompts and had to choose one. However, with the HSAP, the scoring of it is not as rigid as the old one—there is not as much emphasis on conventions, so students have more leeway in how they write. Yes, they have to have a beginning, middle, and end, but they don’t have to necessarily format that into three or five paragraphs.
I love how in his traditional way, Gallagher doesn’t just tell us the problem. He provides lots of options that can be used in the classroom to generate student choice in writing then goes on to give ways to merge requirements with choice. Did anyone try one of the ideas Gallagher wrote about, or have you done something he didn’t mention that would be beneficial to us all?
Content Area Writing
I decided to go with having you all choose four of the eight strategies to read about in this chapter for a couple of reasons. First, I thought some of you may already be familiar with a few of the strategies. Second, I think the way Daniels et al present each strategy makes it easy to skim through the “What It Is” section of each to decide if that’s something useable for your classroom. So, did you have a chance to try out any of these strategies on your students, or how do you think you could incorporate one (or more) into your classroom?
12 comments:
Content-Area Writing, Chapter 4
Teaching Adolescent Writers, Chapter 5
As usual, I appreciated the Content-Area Writing reading. In fact, I plan on using the Write-Around strategy in my classroom on Monday. I’ll let you know how it went on Monday night. I was trying to think of a way to have students respond to President Obama’s “Letter to My Daughters.” I wanted students to discuss the connections with this piece and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech that we just finished studying. The Write-Around will be a great way for students to interact with each other through writing. They can make connections and respond to each other’s thoughts. I’ve done Written Conversation a lot in my class, and I have found that students always enjoy it. The Write-Around is just another great way for students to respond to reading. Also, of the other strategies I read about, I also enjoyed the Carousel Brainstorming strategy. I can see my students getting in to this. In a ninety minute block, they can go crazy sitting still too much. This is a great way to have students brainstorm ideas while also moving throughout the classroom.
I already mentioned that I was pleased with the Content-Area Writing chapter, but I have to say, again, that I was completely floored with Kelly Gallagher’s chapter on “The Power of Choice” in writing. Gallagher’s writing style sucks me right in and holds my interest…no matter how long the chapter is! It flies right by. I have taken many useful strategies from this one chapter, and I wholeheartedly agree with Gallagher when he writes,
“I have also found that they are much more likely to care about what they are writing when they are given choice in writing topics.”
Students in my class will soon be reading the book Hero. My students in the past have enjoyed this story of a juvenile delinquent (Sean) who’s forced to spend time on a ranch with an old man (Mr. Hassler) as a form of community service. Two of Gallagher’s writing assignments will fit in perfectly with my Hero unit. First, I’ll begin the unit with a narrative writing assignment modeled after the “Find the Fib” strategy on page 94. Then, as we read through the novel, students can complete the “Words of Wisdom” writing assignment. This will connect with the words of wisdom Sean receives from Mr. Hassler throughout the novel.
I look forward to our class discussions on Monday night and the other ideas I know I’ll be able to use to encourage my ninth graders as writers.
Content Are Writing Chapter Four
Teaching Adolescent Writers Chapter Five
Imagine my surprise when I sat down to re-read chapter five of TAW and discovered that the What Bugs Me writing activity we did in my classes last week was actually in this chapter! What a great coincidence! When I first read about it, I knew I wanted to use it. It gives kids the opportunity to not only choose what they want to write about, but it requires them to come up with their own choices. My hope of course is that given the chance to write about something that really incenses them they’ll eventually turn out great finished pieces of writing. They knew from the beginning that this assignment would be a work in progress. Of course all of Gallagher’s ideas are great, but I like the Good Idea/ Bad Idea one and the one on Funneling a Writing Territory. Kids do so often struggle with writing smaller. I’d like to try both of those somehow. And Ruth Anne, you’re absolutely right; Gallagher’s writing and ideas are so good, it doesn’t matter how long the chapter is. You just want to keep reading.
As for Content Area Writing, the four I looked at closely were: Written Conversations, Write Around, Reflective Write, and KWL. I’m getting ready to start the reproductive health portion of my course (aka-sex ed- after all it is the month of love), and I know I’ll have the kids do a good bit of writing. The KWL is a no-brainer; I have to figure out at least what they think they know before I decide where to start. Plus finding out what they want to learn will help guide my instruction. (Lord, help me!) I do have one concern about the activities where kids have to read and respond to one another’s writing. What do you do when you have a student who absolutely cannot comprehend what someone else has written much less write a response to it? I’ll expect y’all to have some suggestions in class Monday night!
Content Area Writing Chapter 4
Teaching Adolescent Writers Chapter 5
It is hard at times being in this class as an Aministrator. Such great strategies are given in these chapters that I wish I had the opportunity to try when I was teaching. Of course some I have used like KWL. Like Ruth Anne I liked the Carousel Brainstorming strategy. I always liked to try to find activities that get students up and moving. I know they get restless sitting for 90 minutes. Although I will not get to use these strategies I do look forward to hearing how they worked in your classes.
I do agree with Gallagher that students will write better when they are writing about something they want to write. I think giving choices are a great idea. It is always interesting to read the statements I get from students. They tend to have no trouble with those. They are always eager to communicate to us about what somebody is doing to them. Of course some students do struggle with these. They don't know how to get what they told me on paper. In fact sometimes I have students ask me to write while they tell me what hapened. There is never a dull day in the world of administration.
I agree with the folks who mentioned how easy the Kelly Gallagher book is to read. This book makes the other class books pale in comparison. I jotted down three things in Teaching Adolescent Writers to refer to once media center collaboration is in full swing and/or (budget permitting) the summer program is a go.
I thought it was so bold of Gallagher to state on p. 93 that he advocates delaying “mandated discourses” until students warm up to writing. Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?
Two “aha” approaches struck me…on p. 112 Gallagher discusses “Pearls of Wisdom.” I thought this might be a good way to “jumpstart” the media center electronic newsletter if the students initially have a difficult time convincing students to write articles, submit artwork, etc. We plan to stand on the sidelines initially, but maybe in May (only if needed) Christy and I could encourage the students in charge of the newsletter to ask AHS students what “Pearls of Wisdom” they would offer incoming Freshman.
I also thought the strategy on p. 115, the 4-sided argument, was so clever (and so simple). What a great way to entice students to explore varying points of view! So much of what is in the news (i.e. closing Guantanamo) would lend itself to this strategy.
I read about the first four strategies in the Content-Area Writing book. I recognized Write-Around and Carousel Brainstorming from our SLT workshops at Brookland Baptist Church. Both of these strategies as well as written conversation and the double-entry journal would work well in the summer program and collaboration I am planning this spring.
Deb said...
Teaching Adolescent Readers, Chapter 5
Content Area Writing, Chapter 4
Choice is Where It Starts page 91
Gallagher mentions that, “students write a whole lot better when they care about what they are writing and that choice is where it starts for reluctant writers.” I agree with the author in this statement. I usually place a writing entry on the board or one of my students will volunteer to write an entry. When an entry is one that they are interested in their face will light up and they will convey to me that they like this particular entry. In reading the students’ entries that made the comments they demonstrated better writing results, and I saw significant differences in those entries. Sometimes, a student will say I don’t have any thing to write about that certain topic and they are allowed to write something of their choice and that way my students are more receptive in writing in their journals. This makes a win-win situation for both the student and me.
On page 94, Find the Fib, I did this as an ice breaker at the beginning of school and the students enjoyed this activity, but I like how Gallagher has taken it even further. The student who fools the most classmates is recognized at the end of the activity, and secondly the students have to choose one of their truths and tell the story in writing. I feel that this would be fun and a rewarding experience for my students; by taking this activity further like what the author suggests my students will have a writing opportunity that is meaningful to them.
Funneling a Writing Territory, pages 95-98-- I like how Gallagher demonstrated the process of funneling, through the conversation between the student and himself it gave me a thorough example how to use this strategy with my students. There have been times my students have had difficulty narrowing topics, and on occasions I have had difficulty getting them to that level of thinking that they needed to be. Now, I feel that my students will have better benefits and opportunities by me perfecting myself in using this technique provided by the author.
Among other strategies mentioned by Gallagher, What Bugs Me- page 102, Good Ideas, Bad Ideas-page 103, Exploration-page 104, I Remember, and Pass the Portrait-page 105, Ever Wonder Why-page 115 are some other definite writing assignments that I will utilize in my class. Gallagher has many wonderful ideas that one will have to teach the next 20 years to be able to use them all (SMILE, just kidding), but on a serious note I have truly been given great ideas and opportunities to introduce various writing assignments to benefit and encourage enthusiastic writers in my classroom.
Normally I do enjoy the Gallagher writing, but Chapter 5 centered more about prompts for daily/weekly writing journals. I would love to support the English teachers by having my students write in a journal. However, I have next to no "extra" time to allow my students the freedom to write daily in a journal because of the End-of-Course Exam. If I was teaching a non-EOC class (and less than 116 students at a time), then I would love to have my students write on a variety of topics.
The reading in CAW was one of my favorites we have done so far in this book. I really liked the four strategies I chose to read about. I liked the variation of Write-Around that the science teacher did in Illinois. I think it would be interesting to hear/read about what my students think about current science issues. My students this year are very inquisitive and like to share personal stories about encouters they have had with the current content.The Carousel Brainstorming and KWL would work great for introducing new topics. I have done a central question to introduce a new topic and have had students answer the question several times throughout the unit. Both of these strategies would be a great variation of this idea. I like learning what students already know about a topic. Students usually have a few misconceptions about science topics, so it is nice to know what these are before beginning a unit. I try to address these misconceptions when planning the unit. I would love to give the teacher-student correspondence a try in my classroom. I think there is a lot to be said about getting to know your students. Last year I had one of my classes write an apology letter to me about their bad behavior in lab. I took the time to respond to their letters, and I think this really showed them that I cared. The problem is that was only about 20ish kids; I teach 116 students currently. I think it could work if I did it with my "A" kids one week and my "B" kids the next week.
Teaching Adolescent Writers: Chapter 5
I find that many of the comments about students and writing in this chapter are parallel to students and reading. Students do not like to read assigned books because it doesn't interest them, and students do not like to write about Shakespeare because it doesn't interest them. I agree that there should be a balance between student interests and requirements. I feel, at the same time, that in the work force students will not always have the opportunity to read or write things that interest them, but need to be able to write or read according to what their job demands of them. I try to find this delicate balance by allowing students to choose their IR novels and respond to writing prompts as bell ringers that may interest them more than the topics we will discover in class.
Content Area Writing: Chapter 4
I think the Content Area Writing has some wonderful ideas to promote writing in the classroom. I've used the Non Stop writing technique recently with slave narratives. I used Written Conversations when I was student-teaching, but I have not tried it again since. When using written conversation, I would make sure that students do not get off topic and stay focused. I also really like Double-Entry Journals for struggling readers. Perhaps I'll try that at some point this semester with my ENG III-CWP class.
Teaching Adolescent Writers
Kelly Gallagher
I appreciate all that is offered in this chapter, but I slightly took offense to the comment on page 90, “We have one year to get our students to discover the value of writing; one year to help them understand that we don’t assign writing just to make the teacher look better.” I understand this comment is assuming your students are seniors, but the importance of writing should be implemented from day one, the minute they are taught to write. Each year should serve as a building block, just adding one more piece to what is already learned. But to much dismay, it really does come down to their senior year for them to fully grasp the importance of writing.
I incorporating writing everyday in class, whether it comes to simply journaling to reading response writing, they are constantly doing it. I try to stress that I’m not doing this to make their life difficult, but that writing can be therapeutic; it also helps with organizing ideas. For example, I’m teaching both CP and CWP senior British Literature. British Lit. is hard, I’ll be the first to admit it, but they have to have it. After we read a selection I have them write a response to it…what did they think, how did they feel, why did they feel that way, etc…a lot of what I get is “I don’t know.” My response to them is tell me what you think it’s about—that’s the first step in discovery to meaning.
Also, I found that when grading essays if all the students see is a bunch of “negative remarks,” then it further discourages their writing. I try to find something really good about their writing, and believe me, sometimes it is truly difficult, but I comment on it, then I tell them how they can re-work their papers to be more fluent.
Lastly, I like the idea behind giving students choices in their writings, which is funny because my whole philosophy this semester is building better writers. I plan to do this by providing them several different styled essays throughout the semester. With each essay assignment I plan to give them five prompts to choose from so as to better appeal to them. Plus, by doing this, they can choose which topic they know the most about which will hopefully inspire better writing.
Chapter 4 – Content Area Writing
Since I used this book last year in SCRI, I have actually read all of the strategies. The four that I chose to skim over are ones that I have used at least once since last year. They are: Written Conversation, Writing Around, Nonstop Writing, and Teacher-Student Correspondence. My favorite of these strategies is the Teacher-Student Correspondence which I do daily when I am reading my students’ writing journals. I try very hard not to give them a topic, because I want their journals to be an ongoing correspondence between us. I learn so much about them and how to teach them while reading and responding to them in their journals. My student teacher has taken over this task as of last week, and I already miss knowing what’s going on. I will admit to having looked at a few to just find out what they are up to!
Chapter 5- Teaching Adolescent Writers
This is one of my favorite chapters in Gallagher’s book. My spotlight strategy in November was based on using these ideas in my classroom over the past year. One that I did not talk about during my strategy spotlight was the Writing Smaller activity on page 97. I actually used this strategy last year when my sophomores were writing memoirs. When writing memoirs, students tend to write long pieces that start at the beginning of the trip and don’t end until they arrive back home. This graphic organizer and strategy really did help the students focus on that one specific moment in time or snapshot that was the most memorable.
Ruth Anne, that Hero unit sounds wonderful!
I, too, enjoyed the Gallagher text. I enjoyed it so much, in fact, that I found myself wanting to try some of those writing assignments myself. :-) I know, I'm such a dork. I especially liked the idea of the Writing Funnel, the Explorations, and the Introduce Yourself Notebook.
In CAW, I chose to read about Written conversations, which I'm going to try in German 1 this semester. I also read about the write around, carousel brainstorming and student-teacher correspondence. To some extent, I already do the student-teacher correspondence. I have my students write a journal, once a week. I've told them that it is their venue. They can write about their weekend, they can write about how things are going in German class (or any other class, for that matter). Some students don't take it seriously, but I'm always surprised at the students that do. Because I'm an introvert, I'm always appreciative of the one on one contact with my students. It is a bit of a time commitment, I won't lie. But I find it very worth it. And, it does provide the perfect opportunity for me to address issues with students.
Sorry if this doesn't make sense. My thoughts are a bit scattered.
CAW Chapter 4
KWL’s are a strategy that I use often when introducing material I believe the kids have a basic knowledge of in multiple subjects. The kids are very comfortable working on KWL’s and often try to one up each other in the process of filling these out. Even though I have my students write daily journals, I haven’t tried teacher-student correspondence, but I’d like to. I think it’s a fantastic way to not only get to know them better as individuals, but also to encourage unprompted writing. So often my struggling writers shut down when given a topic, even a choice at times. But if they got in the habit of writing in a correspondence style every day, I think it would greatly improve their writing. I love double entry journals. They really make the students stay focused and reflect on subjects. A lot of responses I get on the reflection part are often surprisingly more in depth and intuitive than expected which is always nice. The really nice part about double entry journals is that they can be used easily in every subject. I’ve even used them when covering multiple formulas for math. Non-stop writing is the other strategy that I’ve heard of, but yet to try. I definitely would need to start with 30 seconds to one minute. It seems to be an excellent way to build confidence for students in writing details and length. One thing I enjoy learning through the books and conversations in this class is that writing does not have to be about rules. Being in my second year of teaching and first as teaching true state mandated subjects (English I, Global Studies I & II, Math Tech I & II, Health Strategies, and Physical Science,) my main resource is the state standards so it’s often refreshing to be reminded that it’s okay to vary from time to time.
TAW Chapter 5
I also agree with Ruthanne and Claire. Every time I pick up Gallagher’s writing, I always want more and can’t find a good place to put it down. I completely agree that writing is one of “life’s staples” and “anchors a literate adult’s life.” For many adults, when something goes wrong or we feel the need to express ourselves to a higher level or source, we take to writing. Be it through emails, letters to colleagues, editors, or congressmen, writing’s not just something extra on the side to have; it’s a necessity of every day life.
I’ve used “I am expert” and parts of “explorations” when I had my students write their autobiographies last year. The part of “I am expert” I loved the most is that being an “expert” truly does make my students feel important about a subject. Particularly if it is a subject that nobody else picked, they take to it as if they were part of the original creators of the subject. I can’t wait to try “The myth of the boring topic” and “ever wonder why?” with my students. At least one student each day always pipes up about how boring writing is or how they can’t think of anything to write about, even when given topics. This seems to be something that will work great with them! After nearly two years as to being puzzled why my students will not find something to read for SSR (even when I have over 100 books and magazines,) I finally cracked a small code. They LOVE little random fact and “how this came about” books. They reread them all the time and share them with one another, which is why I think “ever wonder why?” will be a perfect fit for them.
Blog #8
TAW Chapter 5
I love Gallagher and I happened to highlight the same passage that Diane opened the blog with. I think that when students have a choice, they”buy in” to writing and the writing is better. Gallagher is so practical. You can tell that he is in a classroom because he gives us such workable options. IF more teachers employed these methods, I believe that we (teachers) would develop life-long writers.
CAW Chapter 4
I have used several of these methods in my classes. The authors call the first one Write Around; I call it a Written Conversation. Anyway, it is glorified note passing! Students LOVE this. After reading an article or having a discussion, I will ask students to respond/reflect on a topic. Then we start the passing. I will pass it at least 4 times and then it goes back to the original writer. FUN! And students love to see how others have responded to them. I have also done Carousel Brainstorming- again I call it Walk About. Students find this type of writing challenging because they cannot repeat what others have said. I have also used the double entry and KWL.
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