Designing Writing Assignments to Promote Learning in All Content Areas

(and oh, by the way, college and career readiness)

Dr. L. Lennie IrvinDirector, San Antonio College Writing CenterCo-Director, San Antonio Writing Project

In This Presentation You Will Learn

Two strategies for designing writing assignments that are easy to design and implement

--RAFTS and a TIP

--Template Tasks (Literacy Design Collaborative)

Writing Matters in ALL Content Areas

“Today the teaching of language arts is often considered the exclusive responsibility of English teachers. However, the complex role of language in education makes it clear that the language arts cannot be left entirely to the English class. Improvement in the language arts requires students to read and write frequently in all disciplines and to receive ample feedback.”

“English/Language Arts Standards.” Texas College and Career Readiness Standards. (2009).

Writing and Deep Learning

The use of writing to promote deep learning depends less on the amount of writing assigned in a course than on the design of the writing assignments.

--The Consortium for the Study of Writing in College (joint project of the Council of Writing Program Administrators and the National Survey of Student Engagement)

Peter Elbow’s Map of Writing in Terms of Audience and Response

5

Two Types of Writing Assignments

Closed-form, Formal assignments

--thesis-support essays, presents and “argument,” structured, what is traditionally considered “academic” writing, longer, takes more time to write, carries more weight in evaluation

Exploratory, Informal assignments

--less formal, exploratory, alternative genres than the “essay,” shorter, done in shorter time frame, write-to-learn purposes, expressive, reflective, carries less weight in evaluation

Effective writing assignments can be EITHER formal or informal

Characteristics of Effective Writing Assignments

Interactive Components--inquiry, process, feedback

A Meaning-Constructing Task--writing based upon a problem, question

Clear Explanation of Writing Expectations--requirements, goals, criteria

Strategy #1: RAFTS Designing Writing Assignments as “Meaning-Construction” Tasks

Give your students RAFTS

Role

Audience

Format (or genre)

Task

Strong verb (purpose)

and a TIP

Task as

Intriguing

Problem

Looking at RAFT examples

Example #1

Many people believe, mistakenly, that summer is hotter than winter because the summer sun is closer to the earth. You are a physics teacher (role) and you received this same question from your 12 year old nephew who holds this mistaken belief. Send your nephew (audience) an e-mail (format) that explains (strong verb) why this belief (topic) seems logical but is in fact wrong. Then offer a better explanation. (for Physics)

Role—Physics teacherAudience—your nephewFormat--emailTopic—sun and seasonsStrong Verb--explain

Example #2History Writing Assignment

At first, the colonies accepted support from England, but after a while, England tried to increase its control over the colonies. You are a member of Parliament and you want to help the King with some ideas about how to increase England's control over the colonies:

Role: Member of ParliamentAudience - King George IIIFormat - a letter Topic - How we can impose greater economic and political control over the coloniesStrong Verb – suggest or propose

You may use your notebook, textbook, or the internet to help you. Here are some links that may give you some ideas about what to include in your letter: The Stamp Act, Prelude to Revolution, King George and the Colonies , Social Studies Webpage - Have fun and be creative!!

Example #3

Science Writing Assignment

You are a meteorologist who has been invited to speak at a Clark Elementary 4th grade class. Write a 3-5 minute speech explaining how heat affects the water cycle. L2 Provide some examples of how rising temperatures have influenced our water cycle recently. L3 Present some predictions for how increasing temperatures might influence the water cycle and our weather in the future.

Role: MeteorologistAudience – 4th gradersFormat – 3 minute speechTopic – the influence of heat on the water cycleStrong Verb – explain

Example #4

More examples

Strategy #2: Literacy Design Collaborative Template Tasks

What is the Literacy Design Collaborative

The Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) offers a fresh approach to incorporating literacy into middle and high school content areas. Designed to make literacy instruction the foundation of the core subjects, LDC allows teachers to build content on top of a coherent approach to literacy.

LDC lays out the literacy design first and then allows teachers to add their content on top of a solid literacy foundation.

LDC TASKS

Each LDC task is a reading and writing prompt, asking middle or high school students to take on an important issue in science, history, ELA or another subject.

LDC TASKS

The LDC system starts with “template tasks” that have the CCSS literacy standards “hardwired” in. Teachers then put in their own content. Each template includes a “fill-in-the-blank” prompt and a scoring rubric. When teachers add their reading/writing assignments, they will have created a teaching task, which typically takes two to four weeks of classroom time.

Teachers also can use the template tasks to create shorter “classroom assessment tasks” that students address in one or two sittings to be used as either pre- or posttests.

LCD Modules All together, in LDC short-hand, we refer to the LDC

module as a series of four key steps:

What Task? --the writing assignment

What Skills? –the content and learning objectives

What Instruction? --lesson plans

What Results? --rubrics (already pre-made for informational/expository, argumentative and narrative writing)

These four sections, built step-by-step, make up a complete LDC module. In essence, an LDC module is a comprehensive literacy plan – starting from a teaching task and ending with a student product – that teachers teach over approximately a 2-4 week period. Anatomy of a LDC Module -- Example Module

Example of RAFTS fit into LDC

RAFT Writing Assignment

You are a meteorologist who has been invited to speak at a Clark Elementary 4th grade class. Write a 3-5 minute speech explaining how heat affects the water cycle.

LDC Teaching Task

How does heat affect the water cycle? After reading chapter 3 in our textbook, write short speech that addresses this question and support your explanation with evidence from the text.

Example of RAFTed LDC Teaching Task

How does heat affect the water cycle?

You are a meteorologist who has been invited to speak at a local 4th grade class. After reading chapter 3 in our textbook, write a 3-5 minute speech that explains the influence heat has on the water cycle and support your explanation with information from the text.

Building Writing Assignments Yourselves

Working in Content Groups Design 1 or 2 Writing Assignments

RAFT Assignment

Role

Audience

Format

Topic

Strong Verb

OR you can RAFT your LDC assignment

LDC Template Task

[Insert question] After reading ______ (literature or informational texts), write _______ (essay or substitute) that addresses the question and support your position with evidence from the text(s). L2 Be sure to acknowledge competing views. L3 Give examples from past or current events or issues to illustrate and clarify your position.

Resources for Designing Writing Assignments for Learning in All Content Areas

 

Bean, John C. Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. 2nd ed. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, 2011.

Gardner, Traci. Designing Writing Assignments. Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English, 2008. Available at http://wac.colostate.edu/books/gardner/

Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools. Washington, D.C.: Alliance for Excellent Education, 2006. Available at http://www.all4ed.org/publication_material/reports/writing_next

RAFT Sites

Daretodifferentiate: http://daretodifferentiate.wikispaces.com HomeReadWriteThink NCTE: http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/using-raft-writing-strategy-30625.html Northern Nevada Writing Project WritingFix: http://www.writingfix.com/wac/RAFT.htm

Literacy Design Collaborative: http://www.literacydesigncollaborative.org/