What is writing to learn? Why use writing to learn? What are some writing to learn

instructional tools and strategies? What can writing to learn tell us about

student learning?

I can explain how writing to learn is a powerful tool for improving both reading and content learning.

I can demonstrate this understanding in unit and lesson planning.

CheckmateBy Alfred Tatum

He taught me how to play chess when I was youngerTo make all the right movesThe rooks, the knights, the pawns, the bishopsI could castle and use my bitch my Queen to protect myselfAll of these thoughts flashed in my mind when the car pulled

up beside usIt’s 12:15 a.m.I am eighteen, sitting on the passenger’s sideNo where to move, no strategyI thought about learning chess when I was youngerThe young man in the other car lifts his hands—checker hands,TIC-TAC-TOE handsI was no match for himI thought my scholarship letter would save me—it was my next

moveMy buddies scream firstI’m hit nextCheckmate—game ov . . .

Three Types of Writing

Writing to learn

Writing to demonstrate

learning

Writing for authentic purposes

What are the major differences? How would you include each in your

instruction?

Role-Play Video

Role-Play Video

Reading Strategies

PK Making connections to prior knowledge and developing schema

I/P Inferring and predicting

Q Asking questions before, during, and after reading

S Determining important ideas and summarizing

V Visualizing

S/R Synthesizing and retelling

M/C Monitoring and clarifying understanding of text

Writing to Learn

Graham, S., & Hebert, M.A. (2010). Writing to read: Evidence for how writing can improve reading. A Carnegie Corporation Time to Act Report. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.

Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools—A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.

Kopp, B. (2010). Writing & Learning @ UW-L. Retrieved from http://www.uwlax.edu/catl/writing/assignments/writingtolearn.htm. 2

June 2010.The National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools, and

Colleges, “The Neglected “R”: The Need for a Writing Revolution 19 (2003), available at http://www.writingcommission.org/report.html (last visited June 02, 2010)

Tatum, A. (2009). Reading for their life: Rebuilding the textual lineages of African American adolescent males. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.