Writing to Learn in Your Classroom

Writing to Learn Movement

The writing to learn movement in education has moved beyond the notion that writing can improve students reading skills, to examining the impacts of writing on learning across the curriculum (e.g., mathematics, science, and social studies) and out of the English/language arts context.

Why Writing?
writing contributes to students learning by helping them reflect and think critically about new information when writing about subject matter, students increase their time on-task and increase the number of times they rehearse new information or concepts writing serves as a self-monitoring strategy, allowing students to monitor their own comprehension of a topic or task, evaluate their own misconceptions, and change their ideas
(Bangert-Drowns et al., 2004; Klein, 2000).

Learning Logs
As students start class, they are given a prompt to which they respond for a few minutes in writing. The task is not bell work or a math problem, but rather a way to encourage students to focus on your subject and make connections to prior learning.

Math Learning Log

What did we learn about mean, median, and mode?

Learning Log

Learning Log and New Material

Predictions What will I learn from this material? Concepts What have I learned from reading this material? Questions What dont I yet understand about this material? Personal Opinion What do I think about this material?

Try in My Class
Quickly jot down an idea for a learning log prompt or series of prompts for one of your classes.

Quick Writes and Sticky Notes

Notecards for teacher reference or sharing with other students 1-minute papers or admit/exit slips 3 things your learned today or 2 questions you have

5th Grade Science Quick Write

What do you know about photosynthesis, the topic we will study today? or Describe three important components found in the photosynthesis process.

Quick Writes

Using Sticky Notes

Try in My Class
Quickly jot down an idea for a quick write prompt or series of prompts for one of your classes.

Quickly jot down an idea for how to use sticky notes in one of your classes.

Microthemes or Short Focused Writing (3x5 cards)

Microthemes are mini-essays on a focused topic. In a microtheme students might define a key term, summarize a research article, or respond to a debate. Like journals, microthemes can be evaluated quickly and holistically

Ways to Use Microthemes

Argue a particular stance (one way or another) to an issue Apply a principle to a particular situation

Practice a particular skill

Example Microtheme
Instructions You are to summarize the article assigned you in no more than 150 words. You should write for an educated reader who has not read the article. Criteria for an effective summary Accuracy: Report as precisely as possible the essence of what the writer wrote. Do not write what you think of the article or whether you agree with its information, ideas, or arguments. Comprehensiveness and balance: Report the article's essential information, ideas, or arguments as fully and fairly as possible in the few words available to you. Clarity and correctness: Write clearly. Your word choice and sentence structure must convey your meaning without vagueness or ambiguity. Write correctly. Do not let problems in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, or syntax distract your reader from paying attention and from understanding your meaning.

ABC List
After learning new material, students choose significant words or phrases for each letter of the alphabet.

Interior Monologue
Invite students to write from the perspective of a character in a book, film, article or other text.

Uses of Writing to Learn Assignments

Starting class discussions Summarizing or asking questions about a lecture Responding to class readings Responding to peers Trying out ideas to incorporate in a formal essay Reflecting on course content Taking risks