Chapter 8 Writing to Learn in the Content Areas

Chapter 8 Writing to Learn in the Content Areas, addresses one of the most complex areas of teaching for me personally.  I know it is going to sound horrible but I hate teaching writing.

In Chapter 8 it states the importance of being a good writer and how writing is the most complex communication process within the communicative arts.

As i read more into the chapter it discussed how writing is view as a way of discovering rather than for testing. The chapter discusses many strategies that teachers can use along with reading comprehension.  The symmetry between writing and reading comprehension helps develop academic success.

There are a few concepts that I found to be interesting and even usable within the classroom. The first example provided was a warm-up with student generated questions. I began to think about a few weeks ago when the students and I were talking and I asked the students to write down something they wanted to know about as it pertains to the sun. I received some really good questions from this investigative session. One student wrote how many miles is the Earth from the Sun. Not knowing what do do with this question, I did research with the students and answered it for them. I could of applied other strategies and made this simple question more meaningful.

Another strategy that can be used that I liked from this chapter was the written conversation where students are armed with 1 sheet of paper and 1 pencil or pen. Students use the paper to make predictions, draw inferences, make personal connections, ask questions or detect things that deviate from the norm. I think this strategy would be an awesome collaborative writing project.

As the chapter moved on I gained a better understanding for writing. I know now that I don't always have to "grade" the end product. BUT that students do better when they know someone is going to read their writing. I also learned that there is a time for teaching students how to write for testing and teaching them how to write for metacognitive development.

As I have always desired, I will continue to take professional development classes that offer suggestions and strategies for writing. But I feel it is important that I find formal training classes to help me conquer writing. It is my weakest subject, but because I want my students to do well, it is important that I work at getting better at it.

What's your weakest subject? How do you conquer your fears? And how do you use/ or predict you will using writing in your classroom?

In the article, You can't learn from books you can't read, author Richard Allington talks about the "one size fits all" approach that our students are experiencing. Not only do our students have textbooks that are out of date but they also have books that are not revelant to what is happening in today's world. I often find my students unable to make connections regarding some of the things that they read.

As all the the new SOL requirements and the push to increase rigor is constantly discussed and pushed we are not taking the advice that Allington addresses in the article. "...students will be more successful at new tasks when the tasks they face are closely targeted to their academic skills, developmental stage, and the resources they bring to that task and when families and schools structure tasks in ways that provide appropriate levels of challenge and support".

I wonder how others feel about teaching to a students level. I know that typically in small group instruction the teacher "groups" students by reading level and typically spends about 20 minutes with the students. I would think an ideal situation would be allowing students to be grouped and then rotate to a classroom for the full 90 minutes and work on different activities that are at their level. This would be right in line with Allington's suggestion of individualized instruction.

So how will you provide your reader with individualized instruction that allows them to be a successful reader?