Week Twelve

Due on Weebly and BB November 9

Chapter Nine: Writing Across the Curriculum

Before Reading Chapter 9:

Respond to the following quote from the textbook: “Sometimes reading and
writing are taught in classrooms as if they bear little relationship to each other.
The result has often been to sever the powerful bonds for meaning-making that
exist between reading and writing.” Discuss writing assignments that, from your
own experiences, enhanced meaning-making.

One of the reasons I enjoy literary analysis is because you use writing as a means to
discover. In both my high school and college classes, I’ve been asked to discuss a
literary text to see how the different components that make up the text give insight.
Usually this involves research, brainstorming a multitude of possible meanings, and
making connections. I learn more by doing a literary analysis than anything else.

While Reading
Each previous week I have provided you with a graphic organizer to take notes on
the weekly reading. This week I want you to create your own graphic organizer or
reader response sheet to complete for the first part of this chapter (pages 239-
262, about Writing to Learn). Insert it below:

Questions or key concepts based Important details from the reading

upon the reading

The Reading-Writing Connection o Helps us to understand what we

already know; what we don’t think
we know that we actually do
know; and what we don’t know
until we have engaged in the
process of meaning-making.
o Whereas the writer works to make
a text sensible, the reader works to
make sense from a text.
 o Involve purpose, commitment,
schema activation, planning,
working with ideas, revision and
rethinking, and monitoring
o read.
o Teachers can put students into
writing-to-read or reading-to-write
situations because the writing
process is a powerful tool for
exploring and clarifying meaning.
Writing to Learn (WTL)
o Short and informal
o Explore ideas and clarify what they
are thinking about in relation to
their content or subject matter.
WTL Activities o Microthemes: Miniessays that
discuss key content themes
o POV Guides: students “get inside
the skin” of a character or a subject
under study
o Unsent Letters: role-play situation
in which students are asked to
write letters in response to the
material they are studying.
o Biopoems: require students to play
with ideas using language in a
poetic framework. Follows a
pattern that enables writers to
synthesize what they have learned
about a person, place, thing,
concept, or event under study.
o Text Response Task Cards: direct
the students to respond to the text
in a way that involves authentic
practices of the discipline. Write in
a way that uses the tone,
language, and thinking skills of
each respective content area.
o Admit Slips & Exit Slips: FAs that
allows you to check for
understanding
 o Academic Journals: generate ideas,
create a record of thoughts and
feelings in response to what they are
reading, and explore their own lives
and concerns in relation to what they
are reading and learning.
o Response Journals: allows students to
record their thoughts about texts and
emotional reactions to them.
o Double-Entry Journals: In the left
column of the journal, students may
be prompted to select words, short
quotes, or passages from the text that
interest them or evoke strong
responses. In this column, they write
the word, quote, or passage verbatim
or use their own words to describe
what is said in the text. In the right
column, the students record their
reactions, interpretations, and
responses to the text segments they
have selected.
o Learning Logs: students keep an
ongoing record of learning as it
happens in a notebook. They write in
their own language, not necessarily
for others to read but to themselves,
about what they are learning.

For Monday in class:

Today we will be jigsawing an article on the integration of reading and writing in
the content area classroom. I have created an interactive reading guide to go
along with the activity. You can access both documents below:

Reading and Writing Alignment

https://goo.gl/HqUYCz

Reading Guide for Reading and Writing Alignment

My Assignment: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nNMFWBBoc-
ocuuxIH9vIns8fVxHg8dUhH8oSEMp13ec/edit?usp=sharing with the article annotations
For Wednesday:
Before Class
Read: Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2013). Writing in the Disciplines: Even When You Are Not a Writing
Teacher.
http://schd.ws/hosted_files/wssi2017/a5/engaging-the-adolesent-learner-10pvobr.pdf

From the Fisher & Frey article, review two or three writing to learn strategies for
your content area that were not presented in the Vacca chapter. Briefly describe
the strategies in the space below. Be prepared to share in class. Discuss why
you selected these particular strategies and how they will support students’
understanding of your content.

Yesterday’s News: Summarize the main points discussed the previously day to see if
the knowledge stuck.
Keep it Simple Sister (KISS): Describe what you’ve been learning as you would to a
younger sibling. Keep it simple and to the point.
What-If? What if_____ hadn’t occurred? What would happen?
****I actually used this in a lesson!

In-class Wednesday: Include your notes from the two mini-

teaches here:

R.A.F.T.
My presentation-no notes

Unsent Letters
o Write a letter as an American soldier serving in Vietnam
o Two key events, one question
o Write as a friend or a college student
o Similar to RAFT

After Reading:
You will complete “after reading” in next week’s guided reading prompt.