Here's an overview of some simple strategies for adding writing to learn activities in any class. This is a good starting point for any teacher to begin using WAC in their classroom.
Video Transcript: Hello, my name is Darcie Flansburg and this is The Limits of Our Language, a podcast about Digital Writing Across the Curriculum for teachers who believe in the need for development of multiliteracies inside and outside of the classroom.
Little bit on my background – I have been teaching high school languages arts (9th through 12th grade and AP classes) for 10 years, first at a California public high school, and currently at a private international school in China.
I have worked with several teachers outside of the English department on cross-curricular, interdisciplinary writing projects, which have been mostly successful experiences for myself, my co-teacher, and our students.
My goal here is to foster a culture of digital writing across the curriculum at my current school. The project has three goals – to prove that everyone can write, to show that writing can be a means of going in depth in any subject area, and to utilize the 21st century resources available at my school for the sake of developing student digital literacy.
Today we are going to explore simple writing tasks for K-12 teachers in subjects outside of literature and composition.
But first, let’s consult the research!
Reading and writing should not and cannot be confined to English composition classes alone. We can read and write about ANY subject, ANY topic, in ANY grade.
There are two articles that I found to be incredibly useful, particularly for teachers of subjects other than English.
Paul Hanstedt’s “Three Reasons to Make Writing Across the Curriculum Part of the Conversation”, and Kate Kiefer’s “Integrating Writing into Any Course: Starting Points”.
Both of these articles provide good reminders as to why writing is an important part of education, and also what teachers can do to easily incorporate writing into their classes without taking time away from the curriculum.
Kiefer explains, “writing about course material can help students clarify and deepen their thinking about the material, and it can help them remember the material more fully.”
According to Hanstedt, “the writing-across-the-curriculum approach recognizes the varieties of discourse and discourse expectations students will be exposed to, both during their time in college and once they’re in the workplace.”
The idea here is that teachers should think of writing in their subject area as a means of showing students various writing styles.
It is clear that writing can be integrated in any class (in small or substantial ways). But the other aspect that we need to consider, as teachers in the 21st century, is technology.
In The Harvard Educational Review, The New London Group’s article “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures” describes the need for pedagogy to consider the multiliteracies of their students and their future careers.
The New London Group writes, “literacy pedagogy now must account for the burgeoning variety of text forms associated with information and multimedia technologies. This includes understanding and competent control of representational forms that are becoming increasingly significant in the overall communications environment, such as visual images and their relationship to the written word.”
These are just a few highlights from articles that I have researched with regards to the Writing Across the Curriculum Approach and the need for digital literacy in the classroom.
Today we are going to look at a couple of simple methods to introduce writing into any classroom.
The first strategy is a closing activity that is a way for students to reflect on what they learned in the lesson.
A simple way to do this is by using the schoolwide Student Learner Outcomes. I have one outcome each week posted in the classroom and I will ask students to reflect in various ways on their achievement of the learner outcome.
At the end of the lesson I ask students to verbally explain how they achieved this week’s student learner outcome in class. Once everyone has shared I ask them to write their achievements using the following sentences stems.
Today I …. By ….
I can fully achieve this outcome by….
And I provide them with an example.
Today I examined and processed information using different approaches by first reading the task and defining unknown words, and then asking a peer for help. I can fully achieve this outcome by using all of my resources including the Internet and textbook, as well as continuing to collaborate with my peers when needed.
Teachers can also do this strategy with an academic standard, also as a closing activity.
Another writing-to-learn activity is test answer justifications.
At ISN we have a retest policy which allows students to retake tests for partial credit. I use the test answer justifications method for students that have retaken a test and are still confused by the correct answers.
This method works best with a multiple choice test, but can be modified if necessary.
The test answer justification is written in a paragraph for a single question, using what I call the AXES format. This is a basic body paragraph format that stands for Assertion, Example, Explain, So What.
Students first take the test question and turn it into an assertion. They then provide an example from the test that proves this assertion. The example is then explained in their own words. And the final “so what” sentence ties back to their initial assertion.
Here’s an example from an AP literature test.
32. In the second paragraph, the author refers to “lofty-minded people” in order to
Claim kinship with them.
Demonstrate her open humility.
Give the reader an ally to identify with.
Call their ideas into question.
Give an equal amount of consideration to view that differ from their own.
Here’s the test answer justification.
The author refers to “lofty-minded people” in the second paragraph in order to call their ideas into question. The author writes, “It is for this rare, precious quality of truthfulness that I delight in many Dutch paintings, which lofty-minded people despise,” (Line 13-15). In this instance “lofty-minded people” refers to those who snobbishly reject the truthful paintings that the author prefers. The author refers to the “lofty-minded people” in order to criticize, or call to question, their rejection of the unglamorous truth of art.
Here’s an example from an environmental science test.
4. Which of the following pieces of evidence is likely to form the basis of an environmentalist’s opinion?
The rate of human population growth is declining.
Food is more abundant and cheaper than any other time in human history.
Total forest area of the temperate zone region’s industrialized countries increased during the 1980s.
Consensus science suggests the potential global climate change, deforestation, and species loss should be taken as a serious problem.
None of these.
And here’s the test answer justification.
An environmentalist’s opinion is likely to be based on what the consensus in science suggests. For example, the scientific consensus suggests that potential global climate change, deforestation, and species loss should be taken as serious problems. The rate of human population growth declining, the abundance of food, and the increase of temperate zone regions in industrialized countries do not inform the necessary foundation of an environmentalist’s philosophy. Whereas global climate change, deforestation, and species loss are measurable issues for environmentalist concern.
The AXES paragraph can be used to answer any question really. The idea is that the students turn the question into a statement and then explain their reasoning using a specific example.
These are two writing-to-learn tasks that can be employed in any classroom.
Both of these assignments would be written in the students Microsoft One Note notebook in the proper section, based on the class, offering students digital literacy practice.
These are just a couple of useful tips for creating a culture of Digital Literacy Across the Curriculum.