1. Writing to Learn
1.1. WTL focuses on using writing to better understand and learn information.
1.2. Academic Journals and Learning Logs
1.2.1. Journal Writing
1.2.1.1. The main purpose is to record important ideas and concepts.
1.2.1.2. Can be used to help organize student's writing, or it can be a daily response to questions.
1.2.1.3. Not usually graded.
1.2.2. Character Journals
1.2.2.1. Keeping a journal for a key character in a story.
1.2.2.2. Written from the characters POV.
1.2.3. Cornell Notes
1.2.3.1. Two column note-taking system.
1.2.3.2. The left column has key questions, words, or ideas while the right column is for related notes from the text or lecture.
1.2.4. Learning Logs
1.2.4.1. Used to informally write about what students are learning. They can be notes taken during class, questions, or feelings about new ideas learned in class.
1.2.4.2. Useful for pre-writing or studying for tests
1.2.5. Interactive Notebooks
1.2.5.1. They allow students to creatively organize ideas and information from class or labs.
1.2.5.2. On the left side students use color to record any brainstorms, diagrams, concept maps, flow charts, pictures, or reflections.
1.2.5.3. On the right side students write information they recieved from lecture, books, videos, teacher questions, or sample problems.
1.2.5.4. Used to informally asses, monitor, and reflect on students' learning
1.2.6. Cubing
1.2.6.1. Used to stimulate the way students think about a topic.
1.2.6.2. Looking at a topic from six different angles.
1.2.6.2.1. Describe it
1.2.6.2.2. Compare it
1.2.6.2.3. Associate it
1.2.6.2.4. Analyze it
1.2.6.2.5. Apply it
1.2.6.2.6. Argue for or Against it
1.2.7. RAFT
1.2.7.1. Stands for Role, Audience, Form, and Topic
1.2.7.2. It can help students focus their thoughts on a topic, elaborate on it, and create a thoughtful piece of writing that reflects their understanding of role, audience, form, and topic.
1.2.8. Summarizing
1.2.8.1. Summarizing is not the same as paraphrasing and retelling, though it does rely on those skills.
1.2.8.2. It involves higher order thinking skills such as comprehending, analyzing, and synthesizing ideas in text.
1.2.9. Writing Frames
1.2.9.1. Consists of a skeleton outline to scaffold students' fiction or non fiction writing.
1.2.9.2. Writing frames guide students in transitioning from one idea to the next and give them a structure for developing logical and coherent writing.
1.2.10. Creative Writing
1.2.10.1. Different types of writing like poems, riddles, songs, menus, brochures, epitaphs, postcards, etc.
1.2.10.2. Give students a creative way to respond to information.
1.2.11. Quick Writes
1.2.11.1. Used before, during, or after reading to develop writing fluency, promote reflection, and to informally asses students' thinking.
1.2.11.2. Can be used to write predictions, synthesize ideas by quickly writing about them, write or respond to word problems, or reflect on confusing parts of the text.
2. The Role of Collaboration in Writing
2.1. Writing is a socially constructed process that is the outcome of interactions between the writer, audience, language, and social context.
2.2. Create a safe and culturally inclusive classroom environment that is founded on collaborative inquiry.
2.3. Provide routines and support for students to become comfortable with the writing process.
2.4. Student need ongoing opportunities to help them discover the benefits of peer collaboration on their writing skills.
2.5. Students can work in pairs to read and evaluate each others work, or they can co-write a piece together.
3. Digital Writing: Writing on the Screen
3.1. Today's technology requires the use of digital tools for comparing, creating, sharing, and publishing ideas.
3.2. Mobile devices, social media, and other Web 2.0 applications have been integrated in classrooms.
3.3. They allow students to effectively organize and structure their writing assignments and facilitate their ability to consider and understand multiple perspectives on a topic.
3.4. They require students to be critical thinkers and good communicators.
4. Writing for Postsecondary and Life Success
4.1. Knowledge and skills needed for college and for employment are now considered to be identical.
4.2. Survey results of 120 major American corporations show that writing is a "threshold skill" for hiring and promotion.
4.3. In school writing is used in a number of ways including summaries, reflections, or essay questions.
4.3.1. Even though research shows writing is key to learning, in Kiuhara, Graham, and Hawken's national survey they found that most students were rarely asked to complete writing assignments that involved analysis and interpretation.
4.4. Writing is not just about essays. Writing is a tool for thinking and reflection, and should be used across grade levels, content areas, and contexts.
5. Transitioning from High School to College Writing
5.1. Many educators believe that American students cannot write thanks to a host of reasons. Students are distracted by technology, have diminishing grammatical skills, and use "text writing" in formal writing assignments.
5.2. Teachers need to engage students with how to best express their ideas in their writing.
5.3. Students need opportunities to discus what they are learning about in logical, detailed, complex, and creative ways.
5.4. Making the transition from high school to college writing can be daunting to students.
5.5. College writing involves both explanation of specific analysis, and evidence based arguments.
6. Writing and Writing Instruction Characteristics of Proficient Writers
6.1. Proficiency in writing is a learned skill.
6.2. A proficient writer has to think about the subject, purpose, audience, personal biases, and a whole host of other details while writing.
6.3. Writing as a Process
6.3.1. Pre-writing or planning
6.3.1.1. generating ides, finding information, organizing thoughts, deciding audience, and purpose of the writing
6.3.2. Drafting
6.3.2.1. Rough draft, getting ideas down on paper without worrying about grammar.
6.3.3. Revising
6.3.3.1. Important to get feedback from peers or the teacher. Looking at the text through the eyes of the reader.
6.3.4. Editing
6.3.4.1. Focusing on form, spelling, punctuation, grammatical errors.
6.3.5. Postwriting/Presenting/Publishing
6.3.5.1. Submitting your finished work.
6.3.6. Writing is a social act. Feedback from the teacher and peers is vital to student writing and learning.
6.3.7. Teachers should first focus on the students ideas, organization of ideas, and word choice first, and view form as secondary.
6.3.8. Types of writing that can facilitate reflective thinking across content areas
6.3.8.1. Journals
6.3.8.2. Learning logs, laboratory notes
6.3.8.3. Collaborative note-taking
6.3.8.4. Quick writes
6.3.8.5. Admit/exit slips
6.4. The Role of the Teacher in the Writing Process
6.4.1. Write along with your students, demonstrate what you do while you write.
6.4.1.1. Voice drives writing
6.4.1.2. A student must own their writing
6.4.1.3. Writing is a process and revision is a key sub-process
6.4.1.4. Variation in writing quality from week to week is normal
6.4.1.5. Learning to write is a developmental process
6.4.2. Teachers need to teach their students how to read their own writing to examine their strengths and weaknesses, as well as what is working and not working.
7. Writing and CCSS
7.1. CCSS want all students to have instruction that will prepare them for college and the workforce.
7.2. The standards place emphasis on the students ability to write sound arguments on key disciplinary topics and issues
7.3. Teachers should use the 10 College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing while they plan their lessons.
7.4. CCSS also emphasizes digital writing and editing tools.
7.5. Three Types of Writing in the CCSS
7.5.1. Argument Writing
7.5.1.1. Clear writing supported with relevant evidence, written in a logical way of showing a position, or belief.
7.5.1.2. Designed to change the readers point of view, persuade the reader to a new action or behavior, or persuade the reader to accept the writer's conclusion.
7.5.2. Informational/Explanatory Writing
7.5.2.1. Used to describe, give information, explain, or inform in an accurate way.
7.5.2.2. Types of informational writing include blogs, directions, fact sheets, how-to-books, or resumes.
7.5.3. Narrative Writing
7.5.3.1. Conveys fiction or nonfiction experiences, used to inform, instruct, persuade, or entertain.
7.5.3.2. Include autobiographies, biographies, fables, fantasies, folk tales, or historical fictions.
7.6. Extensive Practice with Short, Focused Research Projects
7.6.1. The CCSS also requires practice with short, focused research projects.
7.6.2. They require students to collect and analyze information from multiple sources then synthesize, and apply that knowledge in writing.
7.6.3. The quality of effective writing also hinges on students ability to cite relevant, credible, accurate, and sufficient information to support their claims.
7.6.4. Students need to learn how to to sift through sites like Wikipedia to find "truth."
7.6.5. Students also need to learn how to cite different sources correctly.