Letās begin by saying that if you are not an English teacher, I donāt expect you to become one. And if you are an English teacher, I donāt expect you to become something else. Because content area teachers have needs that differ from those of English teachers as far as student writing is concerned, Iāve divided the guiding principles into three parts: For All Teachers; For Content Area Teachers; For English Teachers. Letās remember that the term content area teachers is a convenient designation for those who teach subjects other than English. English, of course, has its own content: literary analysis and the study of language. In addition to this content, English teachers are expected to teach the skill of using the English languageāin writing, reading, speaking, and listeningāto achieve desired effects. Thus, if you are an English teacher, both sets of guiding principles would apply to what you do. If you teach a subject other than English, the set of guiding principles for content area teachers is probably all you need. In any case, the bedrock principle of this book is this: Writing equips the mind to think.
ā Introduction to new information
As the teacher, you lay the groundwork for new learning by activating prior knowledge as you link the familiar to the new. You establish expectations, perhaps by giving an outlined overview, essential questions, links to the studentsā own world, an anecdote, or anticipatory set (anecdotal metaphor that sparks interest, makes a connection, and establishes expectations). An informal writing experience, such as notes or a list, can activate prior knowledge. This introductory activity can form a baseline that will be compared to fuller learning about the subject later on.
ā Presentation of new information
Because new information is best learned if we present it in more than one form, we might couple a lecture with a reading assignment. Experienced teachers keep the need for multisensory engagement in mind as they present new information. They include plenty of visuals, manipulatives, opportunities to have students speak the familiar and new language of the subject. Teachers make students particularly aware of new terminology and how to use it, modeling the new words in many contexts. It is at this point that students can build a word bank for the new information.
ā Processing
If the information is appropriately challenging, students will need more than just input from an outside source (you and the text) to understand it. They need to process to make the information their own. The processing is usually done through language: questions and answers, problem-solving in a lab setting, labeling a map or diagram, constructing a model and explaining it. Writing is an extremely effective way to process, to come to own, new information. But the writing at this point in the learning cycle does not have to be formal, and I must emphasize this point. Itās at the processing stage that students should be offered informal writing experiences: notes, loosely-structured outlines, annotations, lists. Writing at this phase of the learning cycle is called āwriting to learnā or āwriting your way into knowing.ā Writing leaves ābrain prints,ā so to speak.
ā Assessment
Itās at the assessment phase that we traditionally think of writing. Here, we want students to answer questions in complete sentences, well-developed paragraphs, in-class essays, traditional research reports. And it is āassessment writingā that is most troublesome to us. What if I suspect that the student plagiarized or received undue assistance from a parent? What if the product is carelessly presented? What do I do about egregious offenses in spelling, capitalization, and grammar? If I donāt teach English, how much weight should I give to a writing assessment? If I do teach English, is it appropriate to assign a topic that involves art history, stem cell research, or local politics? Teachers usually pick up a book like this because of their concerns about the kind of writing that is used for assessment. Writing at this phase of the learning cycle is called āwriting to show what you know.ā
ā Remediation or advancement
This phase of the learning cycle often doesnāt happen. Unfortunately, we often skip right over the part where, after the assessment, the students get to strengthen demonstrated weaknesses or advance to the next level, having shown themselves capable of doing so. To reach this stage, teachers need to think of the assessment as diagnostic. Assessment that gives diagnostic information is called āformative assessment.ā Practitioners of differentiated instruction do bring students to this phase of the learning cycle.
Writing is the most intellec...
