At our last morning meeting, I asked three questions of the WAC members present. I would love to hear back from more of you, so please respond!
1. What ways have you been using writing as a learning tool? How have your students responded?
2. How could the WAC leaders assist and support you best? What are you finding you need in order to continue using writing to learn?
3. What other questions or suggestions do you have for the leadership team?
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I've done a couple of different things. In AP Statistics, the students had to defend or prosecute a man ate at McDonald's and his chair broke. They had to use statistics as the basis of their argument. Then the AP Lang students (thanks Griz) commented on the papers. My students are now revising and editing their papers. It was good for my students to have a non-stats person read their paper. In the instructions they were told to write to a non-stats audience.
ReplyDeleteIn Honors Geometry, we are journaling with the students at Roosevelt. The eighth graders wrote a letter to "Dear Algebra." My students had to create a character to personify algebra and are in the process of writing a response letter. They are supposed to give examples of how useful they (algebra) are in real life and in geometry.
I look forward to reading the letters!
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ReplyDeleteregarding questions 2 and 3 I don't have needs, questions, or suggestions at this time. Just being in the group thus far has helped.
ReplyDeleteMy Anatomy students have created mad libs. We were discussing the process of bone development and growth (which obviously involves lots of steps and vocabulary) and I had students randomly draw two steps of the process from a container. The students then had to explain those two steps in writing, pick which words to delete, and choose "clues" for the deleted word. For example, a student may want to take the word osteoclast out and ask for a noun in its place. Next, students with the same steps grouped up to share their writing and pick the best writing example in their group. When we were finished, I had written products for all the steps which I typed up and had ready for class the next day. The students enjoyed it I think. Most asked about the mad lib when they walked through the door the next day.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I did model a mad lib before starting this process in class.
What I really need is for someone to tell me not to worry about time and where I am at in the curriculum. I cut out my writing acitivies because of time. Snow days and late starts do not help. How do I create a writing assignment that makes them think how I want them to think? I am such a control freak! I know what I want my students to learn and then design homework around that. But how do I get them to think and produce a written product that actually looks like they put some time into it?
I use writing to learn in my classroom by having students respond to journal topics which are associated with content we are studying. We share what they have written, so they can assess their own understanding.
ReplyDeleteI have students respond to questions about the content we are studying and then we share what they have written. That way, they can assess their own understanding.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be really helpful to have three more computers (or more) in my classroom. I do sign up for the labs, but is not always easy to get in when I need to. If I had just three more computers in my room, students would gain a lot of access to thechnology.
I too use a lot of journal writing in response to what we're studying because that way students are prepared and have something to say when I call on them. Sometimes we just free write too. Wouldn't it be nice if we had more computers? More in classrooms and maybe even another lab?
ReplyDeleteLet's talk about teaching 6 classes next year and how to balance the additional work load, while still meeting high standards and providing opportunities for our kids to write.
ReplyDelete