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Your GPS to Writing in the Content AreasBy Erin Peach
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Writing has always been an area in which I have felt like I could improve. Throughout all my education I have lacked confidence in my own personal writing so as I became a teacher, I felt as though teaching writing was an area in which I could grow. Many teachers feel as though an area in which they had difficulty, or was not their strength in their own schooling, is not their best subject to teach, but like our students we can improve to become an advocate in all areas of learning both for ourselves and our students. Many students, like their teachers excel at various content areas: the arts, mathematics, reading or other subjects based on their personal preferences. Through my own experiences, I will share how writing can be incorporated in any content area to help build and develop the future of our students.
As I desired to grow professionally as a writing teacher I also made goals to become the kind of teacher who had confidence in teaching all areas of content, as well as one who could inspire students to grow within their own weaknesses.
As I worked with my students in my classroom I discovered some of the same feelings amongst my own students about writing. Through studying Ruby Payne, I have learned how my students who live in a lower socioeconomic area, relied on verbal methods of expression instead of written expression to share their ideas. I aspired to increase the amount of writing for my students within my content area classroom but with a large amount of content to cover, how could I apply my past learnings and find more ways to integrate reading and writing into their daily learning? In order to have my students use more written expression, I had to gain confidence and expertise in content area writing myself.
As I studied reading and writing, my desire to utilize more methods in which I could bring written expression into my content area classroom grew. As I started to research and guide my own collection of resources to integrate reading and writing in the content area classroom, one source with a great impact was Reading Nonfiction: Notice and Note Stances, Signposts and Strategies by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst. Using their nonfiction strategies for reading and writing, as well as attending their sessions at the Kentucky Reading Association Conference inspired me to write with my students daily. I started to integrate writing in my classroom through a variety of simple formats at first including science notebooks, short answer exit slips and reflective writing regarding investigations.
As my confidence gained and I was able to formulate ways in which writing could be integrated into my classroom with ease, I then started to develop plans to incorporate more forms of writing.
Some of the forms of writing that were incorporated into my content area classroom were:
As I continued on the journey to incorporate more writing into my content area classroom I created multiple goals beyond goals for myself as a teacher. I desired for students to be able to express their ideas clearly in written form and fully explain their ideas. I also wanted my students to gain confidence in an academic area where many of them considered a challenge. As I researched I was open minded and willing to try new methods and strategies. I explained my desire to my students to not only assist them to gain knowledge, but also develop them into leaders through the use of writing. Bringing my students into my plans for the incorporation in writing into my content area classroom displayed my desire for new knowledge and skills as their teacher. I wanted my students to see that learning could be a process beyond school and one that they could be involved in regularly.
I wondered what other forms of writing could I integrate into my classroom, and as I met with literacy teachers and my administrator, I discovered all of the various ways that I would incorporate writing. During this research and investigation, I was also working on my National Board Certification which focused on the incorporation of differentiated writing within my content area. This process pushed me to not accept the minimal effort from myself or my students. In the past content dictated much of my instruction but I found that using the entire writing process including rubrics and revisions could help my students to not only develop as writers but also to display their level of mastery within the content area knowledge. The National Board process focused on differentiated writing also allowed me to discover ways in which I could offer differentiation in content area writing instead of just one prompt for my students.
Through the inclusion of daily writing prompts, activities and responses in my content area classroom, I was forced to be creative and not only master my own content knowledge but develop new areas of knowledge with writing. I was able to learn more about all types of writing that are possible in my classroom.
How has daily writing instruction impacted my individual students? As I worked on my National Board Certification process I reflected about the growth of my individual students greatly. One student from my classroom had no desire to write in any classroom or content area. He put in the minimal amount of work regularly and displayed no desire to put in any effort. He was an extremely bright and talented student with verbal responses but lacked the confidence in writing. I quickly found that this student increased his willingness to write in my class if the writing prompt or activity interested him. I began to develop a relationship with him and created more writing activities and prompts that could allow for increased student choice. Through this differentiation, conferences with me, peer reviews and displaying that we were in this process of writing together he started to put more effort and explanation into his writing. At the beginning of the school year, his writing scores, with various forms of rubrics displayed poor writing organization and explanation of ideas. As the year continued and his attitude towards writing began to slowly change his scores with various rubrics increased and displayed a 20% growth. Writing more often, with a greater variety of formats and time to conference through the writing process, assisted his writing scores, content knowledge and attitude towards written expression.
Written expression has become an everyday way to share knowledge, reflect, and analyze readings within my classroom now. Students now are constantly writing in my classroom. Students are developing their skills in order to become critical writers in a content area classroom that can spread to other areas of study as well. Where do I take these ideas next? I will be able to use my success to foster the learning of other teachers within my school though Vertical PLCs and enable them to use me as a catalyst for change in their classroom. It could happen in other schools and content area classroom as well. For a complete list of my examples that are simple to integrate into your content area classroom, check out my website: http://contentareawritingnow.weebly.com
This teacher who didn’t feel confident in writing instruction in her classroom, now has developed plans to integrate writing throughout the entire school year that develops and builds upon content area knowledge. This group of students who didn’t like to write at the beginning of the school year, now write freely and express their ideas more profoundly. One student wrote, “Writing in science helps me to learn because I can really explain how I feel about the subject.” Another student stated, “Writing helps me to explain my thoughts from my mind and if it's wrong she [my teacher] knows how to help me.” These students and many others can build their confidence in any subject area by their teachers taking steps to slowly include more writing in content areas, and we can work together to develop proficient writers.
As I desired to grow professionally as a writing teacher I also made goals to become the kind of teacher who had confidence in teaching all areas of content, as well as one who could inspire students to grow within their own weaknesses.
As I worked with my students in my classroom I discovered some of the same feelings amongst my own students about writing. Through studying Ruby Payne, I have learned how my students who live in a lower socioeconomic area, relied on verbal methods of expression instead of written expression to share their ideas. I aspired to increase the amount of writing for my students within my content area classroom but with a large amount of content to cover, how could I apply my past learnings and find more ways to integrate reading and writing into their daily learning? In order to have my students use more written expression, I had to gain confidence and expertise in content area writing myself.
As I studied reading and writing, my desire to utilize more methods in which I could bring written expression into my content area classroom grew. As I started to research and guide my own collection of resources to integrate reading and writing in the content area classroom, one source with a great impact was Reading Nonfiction: Notice and Note Stances, Signposts and Strategies by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst. Using their nonfiction strategies for reading and writing, as well as attending their sessions at the Kentucky Reading Association Conference inspired me to write with my students daily. I started to integrate writing in my classroom through a variety of simple formats at first including science notebooks, short answer exit slips and reflective writing regarding investigations.
As my confidence gained and I was able to formulate ways in which writing could be integrated into my classroom with ease, I then started to develop plans to incorporate more forms of writing.
Some of the forms of writing that were incorporated into my content area classroom were:
- Note-taking
- Creating their own Graphic Organizers
- Close Reading Strategies for Nonfiction Texts
- Writing summaries for nonfiction texts
- RAFT writing
- Extended Responses
- Short Answer Questions
- Writing Poetry
- Narrative Prompts
- Reflective Journal Prompts
As I continued on the journey to incorporate more writing into my content area classroom I created multiple goals beyond goals for myself as a teacher. I desired for students to be able to express their ideas clearly in written form and fully explain their ideas. I also wanted my students to gain confidence in an academic area where many of them considered a challenge. As I researched I was open minded and willing to try new methods and strategies. I explained my desire to my students to not only assist them to gain knowledge, but also develop them into leaders through the use of writing. Bringing my students into my plans for the incorporation in writing into my content area classroom displayed my desire for new knowledge and skills as their teacher. I wanted my students to see that learning could be a process beyond school and one that they could be involved in regularly.
I wondered what other forms of writing could I integrate into my classroom, and as I met with literacy teachers and my administrator, I discovered all of the various ways that I would incorporate writing. During this research and investigation, I was also working on my National Board Certification which focused on the incorporation of differentiated writing within my content area. This process pushed me to not accept the minimal effort from myself or my students. In the past content dictated much of my instruction but I found that using the entire writing process including rubrics and revisions could help my students to not only develop as writers but also to display their level of mastery within the content area knowledge. The National Board process focused on differentiated writing also allowed me to discover ways in which I could offer differentiation in content area writing instead of just one prompt for my students.
Through the inclusion of daily writing prompts, activities and responses in my content area classroom, I was forced to be creative and not only master my own content knowledge but develop new areas of knowledge with writing. I was able to learn more about all types of writing that are possible in my classroom.
How has daily writing instruction impacted my individual students? As I worked on my National Board Certification process I reflected about the growth of my individual students greatly. One student from my classroom had no desire to write in any classroom or content area. He put in the minimal amount of work regularly and displayed no desire to put in any effort. He was an extremely bright and talented student with verbal responses but lacked the confidence in writing. I quickly found that this student increased his willingness to write in my class if the writing prompt or activity interested him. I began to develop a relationship with him and created more writing activities and prompts that could allow for increased student choice. Through this differentiation, conferences with me, peer reviews and displaying that we were in this process of writing together he started to put more effort and explanation into his writing. At the beginning of the school year, his writing scores, with various forms of rubrics displayed poor writing organization and explanation of ideas. As the year continued and his attitude towards writing began to slowly change his scores with various rubrics increased and displayed a 20% growth. Writing more often, with a greater variety of formats and time to conference through the writing process, assisted his writing scores, content knowledge and attitude towards written expression.
Written expression has become an everyday way to share knowledge, reflect, and analyze readings within my classroom now. Students now are constantly writing in my classroom. Students are developing their skills in order to become critical writers in a content area classroom that can spread to other areas of study as well. Where do I take these ideas next? I will be able to use my success to foster the learning of other teachers within my school though Vertical PLCs and enable them to use me as a catalyst for change in their classroom. It could happen in other schools and content area classroom as well. For a complete list of my examples that are simple to integrate into your content area classroom, check out my website: http://contentareawritingnow.weebly.com
This teacher who didn’t feel confident in writing instruction in her classroom, now has developed plans to integrate writing throughout the entire school year that develops and builds upon content area knowledge. This group of students who didn’t like to write at the beginning of the school year, now write freely and express their ideas more profoundly. One student wrote, “Writing in science helps me to learn because I can really explain how I feel about the subject.” Another student stated, “Writing helps me to explain my thoughts from my mind and if it's wrong she [my teacher] knows how to help me.” These students and many others can build their confidence in any subject area by their teachers taking steps to slowly include more writing in content areas, and we can work together to develop proficient writers.
Erin Peach teaches 4th grade Science and Social Studies at Second Street School in the Frankfort Independent School District.
