Christie Kimm

Mrs. Gonzalez
EDRE 4860- 501
December 1, 2017

Annotated Bibliography

1. Berne, J. (2009). All About Adolescent Literacy. Retrieved from

http://www.adlit.org/article/36070/

In this article, the author discusses how to help students generate ideas in order to choose what
they want to write about. Berne provides multiple strategies to help students organize their
thoughts through the pre-writing stage. Students can and should customize the writing process
to suit their own style, but in a writing course, introducing students to various options helps
expand their repertoire (Berne). This helps answer my question because these strategies would
be helpful to motivate students by breaking down the writing process so that deciding what to
write about is not so overwhelming for the student.

2. Gallipoli, L. (2000). Lesson Plans: Journal Writing Ideas (Elementary,

Reading/Writing). Retrieved from http://teachers.net/lessonplans/posts/1492.html

This article provides a list of writing ideas to provide for students who are struggling to think of
a topic. The subtopics that are included are: about yourself, fantasy, if I, things, people, and
using your imagination. Introduce it as a resource they can use if they can't come up with a
writing topic during journal time or at the writing center (Gallipoli). These writing ideas and
story starters are great suggestions for students who need that little extra motivation to write.
This article is helpful answering my question because I could provide this list for each student to
reference to when choosing a topic or when they cannot think of anything to write about.

3. Graham, S. (2012). Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers.

Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/teaching-elementary-school-
students-be-effective-writers

This article assists in guiding teachers to improve the writing of their students. Within this
article, there is a practice guide which provides four recommendations for improving elementary
students writing. Each recommendation includes implementation steps and solutions for
common roadblocks. The recommendations in this guide cover teaching the writing process,
teaching fundamental writing skills, encouraging students to develop essential writing
knowledge, and developing a supportive writing environment (Graham). This article helps
answer my question by all of the recommendations written having the intentions of motivating
writers and creating a community of writers where students enjoy writing.

4. McDonnell-Hartwig, J. (2000). A constructivist perspective: The child's voice in written

expression (Order No. 9963094). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
(304640072). Retrieved from
https://libproxy.library.unt.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/304640072?
accountid=7113

This article discusses the ways that teachers can use a constructivist approach in teaching
writing, specifically voice. In this case study, the author focused on the voice of the child as
he/she developmentally and cognitively constructs meaning from the beginning of written pieces
to the end. Children build on both positive and negative experiences in their lives and use
portions of these at various times in their written work (McDonnell-Hartwig). This article is
helpful in answering my question by providing a way to motivate students with writing about
their own experiences.

5. Serra, R. (2014, August). How to help young English language learners love writing.
Retrieved from https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-help-young-english-
language-learners-love-writing

In this article, Serra not only discusses how to motivate all students to write, but specifically
focuses on activities that will strengthen ELLs writing. These strategies push toward making
writing more communicative and pleasurable. This article suggests using strategies such as
creative writing (poems), peer writing, and storytelling. Its this interest in writing that we want
to maintain as our students continue to develop their English writing skills (Serra). This article
also includes final tips to encourage young learners to write, such as engaging young writers in
short bursts of writing. I will be able to use these strategies and tips suggested in this article to
implement in my own classroom as well as answer my question on how to motivate young
students in writing.

6. Tompkins, G. E. (2012). Chapter 2: Developing Strategic Writers. In Teaching Writing:

Balancing Process and Product (pp. 32-55). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

This chapter in our textbook discusses the use of writing strategies. Writing strategies are
deliberate procedures writers use to solve problems that they encounter while writing (Tompkins,
p.35). With the use of these strategies, students will be able to plan, translate, and review their
writing. One component I really like about this chapter are the mentor texts paired with a
corresponding writing strategy. With this, students can discuss how the authors use of the
strategy affected the quality of text and then be motivated to incorporate that strategy in their
own writing.

7. Tompkins, G. E. (2012). Chapter 5: Personal Writing. In Teaching Writing: Balancing

Process and Product (pp. 106-153). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

This chapter in our textbook discusses personal writing. Personal writing is usually informal
and intended for the writer or a small, trusted audience (Tompkins, p.108). With the use of
personal writing, students have the opportunity to practice writing without the pressure of
specific guidelines. I especially like the section that discusses the use of personal writing
journals. Students keep personal journals in which they recount the events in their lives and
write about topics that they choose themselves (Tompkins, p.109). By allowing students the
freedom to choose what they want to write about, their motivation for writing will increase.

8. Tompkins, G. E. (2012). Chapter 8: Narrative Writing. In Teaching Writing: Balancing

Process and Product (pp. 178-199). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

This chapter in our textbook discusses narrative writing. This chapter begins by sharing a
strategy that a first grade teacher uses with her students. After reading a story with her students,
the teacher explains that stories have three parts: beginning, middle, and end. She then has the
students draw small pictures of the events on chart paper under beginning, middle, and end. I
really like this strategy of using mentor texts to teach how stories include a beginning, middle,
and end. Most of the research examining childrens knowledge about stories has been applied to
reading (Tompkins, p.180). With the use of reading and the strategy mentioned above, students
can then pick out the three main parts of a story when reading and then use that strategy to help
motivate them to create their own story.