Improving Student Writing K a t i e Ba i n E n g l i s h L a n g ua g e F e l l o w
“We learn to swim if there is a body of water available and usually only if someone teaches us. We learn to write if we are members of a literate society, and usually only if someone teaches us.�
Eric Lenneberg psycholinguist, 1967 (Brown, 2007, p. 390)
Objective Participants will be able to identify prinicples ways
for teaching writing skills
to assess writing
strategies
and activities to teach writing
AND
Participants will discuss how writing
principles could influence their classroom practice.
Considerations Process versus Product Contrastive Rhetoric Differences between L1 and L2 Authenticity Voice and Identity
Process vs. Product Discuss:
What is “a process approach” to teaching writing?
Do you see resistance to this in your Colombian classrooms? How so? How can you mitigate these problems?
Are there viable alternatives to teaching writing as a process?
Contrastive Rhetoric Theory Different types of languages have different trends or patterns in writing. 窶適aplan English in the U.S. Deductive & linear: Thesis/topic sentence, main idea, support . . . , conclusion5
Romance languages (Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian) Development by digression; takes lots of time; begin with topic, go off on tangent, contradict tangent, conclude with main idea; flowery, fancy, formal, intensifiers, reiteration, say it up to 7 times (average is 3 times) each time gets bigger, better, more flowery than before.10 窶｢ Sending a message in English discourse pattern may come across as a rude command 窶｢ English speakers want them to get to the point quickly 窶｢ Credibility issue for interpreting/translating (longer in Spanish)
Contrastive Rhetoric and L1 / L2 Differences Do you agree with contrastive rhetoric?
Do you see differences between your students’ writing
(in English) and the type of writing you are familiar with at the university level? List some differences that you have noticed.
How do these differences influence how you might
approach teaching writing?
Types of Written Language Characteristics of Written Language Permanence Production
Time
Distance Complexity Vocabulary Form (Brown, 2007)
Permanence Once a writer publishes or sends a written message, it is gone! The power to amend has left!
(Brown, 2007)
Production Time The battle between the quick nature of classroom writing tasks and the need for TIME to develop writing skills.
(Brown, 2007)
Distance Writers need to be able to understand their audience‌ their anticipated background knowledge, cultural, age, interests, etc.
Complexity Good writing is usually different than speaking. Writers have to think about avoiding redundancy, combining sentences, and syntactical variety.
Vocabulary Writing requires a higher development of vocabulary than speaking.
Form The conventions of different forms of writing must be understood. Describing, explaining, illustrationg, defending, arguing, criticizing, etc.
Principles for Teaching Writing 1.
Teach, model, explain practices of good writers.
2. Think about your students’ backgrounds. 3. Make connections between reading and writing. 4. Authenticate writing as much as possible. 5. Get students used to the steps of process writing. 6. Be kind but specific when giving feedback. 7. Give clear instructions on form or types of writing. (Brown, 2007)
Teach, model, explain practices of good writers.
Good writers… Write Are
a lot!
not afraid to write their thoughts freely.
Edit
and revise.
Think Think
about their audience.
about the format and know its structure (but are not married to the structrure).
Think about your students’ backgrounds.
Make connections between reading and writing. ď‚— Students can write about what they read. ď‚— Students can write in similar ways that authors have
written, on a sentence or structural level. She raced fast, determined, her lungs bursting. He moved slowly, afraid, his heart pounding. High School Grammar Guide.pdf
Give students authentic writing opportunities as much as possible.
Think of ways that students can write for “real� audiences. Brainstorm how!
Get students used to the steps of process writing.
Be kind but specific when giving feedback. Recognize their voice, and praise it. Focus on a couple of key aspects to grade. Be clear about what you want.
Give clear instructions on form or types of writing.
ď‚— 11Major_forms_of_Writing.pdf
Assessing Writing RUBRICS!!!!!! Self-evaluations Peer evaluations Informal discussions about writing Responding in written form to student writing
RUBRICS/Checklists Rubric.pdf W5LS-M-Rubric.pdf Writing_Rubrics.pdf http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ EssayWritingChecklist.pdf
Activities for Students Writing MODEL, model, model Freewriting Journal Writing Assess writing samples as a class Facebook status updates Twitter posts Blogs Writing contests Create a class book or newspaper Exit slips Writer’s workshop Learning Logs
More Activities Comics Picture sequencing Storytelling
Abstract
Orientation
Remarkable event
Reaction
Coda
(Jones, 2012)
Summarizing (WHO, WANTED, BUT, SO) Re-write lyrics to a song. Write the script for a TV episode (or portion of) that you watch in class. Write new endings for stories or movies. Tutoring
Graphic Organizers for Pre-Writing http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/ cluster.pdf sandwich.pdf storymap1_eng.pdf wheel_eng.pdf
A Writing Lesson Plan writing lesson plan.docx
personal_narrative_organizer_to_finished_paper_samp Personal Narrative Rubric.pdf Personal_Narratvie_Example_2.pdf PersonalNarrativeSampler.pdf Personal Narrative Rubric.doc
What other ideas do you have that you have used or could use?
Sources Brown, H. D. (2007). Teaching by principles: an
interactive approach to language pedagogy. (3rd ed., pp. 390-419). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Inc. Jones, R.E. (2012) “Creating a Storytelling
Classroom for a Story Telling World.” Forum. V. 50 N. 3
THANK YOU! Katie Bain ktbain53@gmail.com elfellowkbain.wordpress.com