A timer and a stamp. When we do warm up writing, a timer and a stamp have been very effective. Those who compete the writing within the time get a stamp, and those who do not, do not.
Similar to puppy training, affirmation of every positive action prior to writing helps as well, such as having paper and pencil. They will write for a stamp and a lot of praise.
Promote various writing contests so students can win cash, prizes, and awards. I think this boosts their writing confidence when they get recognized and gives them more achievements to list on their applications, resumes, etc.
No secrets here. But when we do write I simply explain the importance of it with the new testing styles. I find their main worry is misspelled words, but I encourage them by saying, don't worry so much about spelling as long as your point get across. I say spelling will come later, but getting the point across is sometimes more important. That seems to work.
Break it up for students. Smaller prompts that tie in together. Give students a chance to share too; they love to talk. I also find that giving them some chance to get creative, creating analogies for exams, is a it more motivating too.
"You wake up to find your dog sitting at the edge of your bed on top of your backpack. He cocks his head to the side and says in plain English "You won't be going to school today." What happens?
Then we take turns reading aloud. What usually ends up happening though is a handful of kids really enjoy writing funny, interesting journal topics and ALWAYS want to share. While others don't care to write regardless of how interesting the journal topic is or how much fun their classmates are having coming up with creative stories. I tell them they don't get a stamp unless they write at least half a page.
1) Quick writes after demonstrations and homework assignments on writing paragraphs about math definitions/concepts. 2) I give sentence frames or model what responses I expect when they write. 3) I have them create stories/scenarios based on problems.
Students have media guides that they must answer are worth 40% of their grade. We stop and go over the answers as the video progresses so that they know how to spell the words and formulate the responses. I have told them that this is to help them answer the new CCSS.
Unfortunately not all students take the written work serious since it's "music."
In my class we do journals at the end of the class sharing what the students did. They seem to enjoy writing about themselves and telling their story. Also, a word bank seems to give them a structure, goal, and support that they enjoy.
Timed writing prompts, having students tell stories from the point of view of a micro-organism, creating a timeline and telling a story about the sequence of events, scientific article DBQs (document based questioning).
My writing assignment topics connect with the students daily lives. My homework assignments, projects, essays and explanations on things all connect with prior knowledge and makes connections with the students.
I taught my students to use outlining to organize the main ideas and details that they find in their reading or research. They I tell them to follow their outline. I think this discourages the tendency to just copy straight from their sources. I also provide a detailed rubric for their major writing assignments.
Getting my student to write in math class is hard, especially because they are not used to it. But doing math analysis problems is one way to get them to write in math because they are required to analyze and explain their process in words. For this one type of task I require them to write a few sentences. Another way is to have them right their basic math answer in a sentence. It may not be a paragraph, but they are learning to write a sentence for their problem and also rethinking what the question originally asked them, which they often forget.
We answer daily writing prompts in our journals for the first 20-30 mins of class. First we discuss the prompt, we use sentence starters, a word bank, and a checklist/rubric to edit their work.
Most of their writing happens in their lab reports and their daily warm-ups. I emphasize on the words "what you think" in their warm-ups to make it less scary for them to write.
Students with disabilities and are ELL struggle a lot with writing full research papers/ complete essays. I provide opportunities for free-writing or journal topics of interests that will hook them. I also provide graphic organizers to help them structure their essays and provide students to read each other papers for feedback to give them more ownership and I provide a lot positive affirmations stampers etc.
I really like how many mentioned daily writing activities such as quick writes and warm ups. I love the infusion of writing in math, science, music, and history classes (particularly math and music as both are not typically associated with 'writing'). This new CCSS world is forcing students to use language more actively in all aspects of learning.
Like many of you, I find timers to be very effective, as well as positive praise. Engaging topics (telling stories from the point of view of ____, how fun!) often inspire writers but may not be the case for cautious writers or students who do not see themselves as writers. Sentence frames and focusing on getting a message across rather than getting bogged down by spelling are also both fairly effective. For our students with a strong background in a language other than English, giving them the opportunity to draw from that primary language helps them access content and provide a richer written response. Word banks (both general academic words and content specific words) as well as offering cognates help our English Learner and Special Education populations.
I find I had to consider how much think time I offered, how often students are able to pair share prior to writing. I really like using Thinking Maps to help students organize their thoughts for the task at hand (a partner teacher once shared with me her astonishment when my ELD students, on their own, created thinking maps for a math assessment because that student felt so comfortable using the various maps in my ELD class).
With all this said, I feel that for some of our students, some who may have limited literacy skills in any language, there isn't a 'secret'. I have to try a variety of things and some may work one day and not the next... The key or the 'secret' is to keep trying. To be sure I do not rely on one approach that worked one time. It is not easy or straight forward, to be sure.
A timer and a stamp. When we do warm up writing, a timer and a stamp have been very effective. Those who compete the writing within the time get a stamp, and those who do not, do not.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to puppy training, affirmation of every positive action prior to writing helps as well, such as having paper and pencil. They will write for a stamp and a lot of praise.
True! a timer and stamper helps monitor their writing productivity
DeletePromote various writing contests so students can win cash, prizes, and awards. I think this boosts their writing confidence when they get recognized and gives them more achievements to list on their applications, resumes, etc.
ReplyDeleteNo secrets here. But when we do write I simply explain the importance of it with the new testing styles. I find their main worry is misspelled words, but I encourage them by saying, don't worry so much about spelling as long as your point get across. I say spelling will come later, but getting the point across is sometimes more important. That seems to work.
ReplyDeleteBreak it up for students. Smaller prompts that tie in together. Give students a chance to share too; they love to talk. I also find that giving them some chance to get creative, creating analogies for exams, is a it more motivating too.
ReplyDeleteI always try to do Interesting Journal Topics.
ReplyDelete"You wake up to find your dog sitting at the edge of your bed on top of your backpack. He cocks his head to the side and says in plain English "You won't be going to school today." What happens?
Then we take turns reading aloud. What usually ends up happening though is a handful of kids really enjoy writing funny, interesting journal topics and ALWAYS want to share. While others don't care to write regardless of how interesting the journal topic is or how much fun their classmates are having coming up with creative stories. I tell them they don't get a stamp unless they write at least half a page.
Provide options and structure.
ReplyDeleteI like what Ramos said about just worrying about getting the point across.
ReplyDelete1) Quick writes after demonstrations and homework assignments on writing paragraphs about math definitions/concepts.
ReplyDelete2) I give sentence frames or model what responses I expect when they write.
3) I have them create stories/scenarios based on problems.
Students have media guides that they must answer are worth 40% of their grade. We stop and go over the answers as the video progresses so that they know how to spell the words and formulate the responses. I have told them that this is to help them answer the new CCSS.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately not all students take the written work serious since it's "music."
In my class we do journals at the end of the class sharing what the students did. They seem to enjoy writing about themselves and telling their story. Also, a word bank seems to give them a structure, goal, and support that they enjoy.
ReplyDeleteTimed writing prompts, having students tell stories from the point of view of a micro-organism, creating a timeline and telling a story about the sequence of events, scientific article DBQs (document based questioning).
ReplyDeleteMy writing assignment topics connect with the students daily lives. My homework assignments, projects, essays and explanations on things all connect with prior knowledge and makes connections with the students.
ReplyDeletehttp://writingprompts.tumblr.com/post/61581315497/765-thoughts-from-future-people-about-life-now
ReplyDeleteThis is a great resource for interesting prompts and pictures.
I taught my students to use outlining to organize the main ideas and details that they find in their reading or research. They I tell them to follow their outline. I think this discourages the tendency to just copy straight from their sources. I also provide a detailed rubric for their major writing assignments.
ReplyDeleteGetting my student to write in math class is hard, especially because they are not used to it. But doing math analysis problems is one way to get them to write in math because they are required to analyze and explain their process in words. For this one type of task I require them to write a few sentences. Another way is to have them right their basic math answer in a sentence. It may not be a paragraph, but they are learning to write a sentence for their problem and also rethinking what the question originally asked them, which they often forget.
ReplyDeleteI have students pair share then discuss within the table group before writing.
ReplyDeleteWe answer daily writing prompts in our journals for the first 20-30 mins of class. First we discuss the prompt, we use sentence starters, a word bank, and a checklist/rubric to edit their work.
ReplyDeleteMost of their writing happens in their lab reports and their daily warm-ups. I emphasize on the words "what you think" in their warm-ups to make it less scary for them to write.
ReplyDeleteGuided notes, Graphic organizers, group recorders and technology (Word) can assist them in grammar/spelling.
ReplyDeleteI meant, "THEN I tell them to follow their outline."
ReplyDeleteStudents with disabilities and are ELL struggle a lot with writing full research papers/ complete essays. I provide opportunities for free-writing or journal topics of interests that will hook them. I also provide graphic organizers to help them structure their essays and provide students to read each other papers for feedback to give them more ownership and I provide a lot positive affirmations stampers etc.
ReplyDeleteI'm using quick writes using content vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteI really like how many mentioned daily writing activities such as quick writes and warm ups. I love the infusion of writing in math, science, music, and history classes (particularly math and music as both are not typically associated with 'writing'). This new CCSS world is forcing students to use language more actively in all aspects of learning.
ReplyDeleteLike many of you, I find timers to be very effective, as well as positive praise. Engaging topics (telling stories from the point of view of ____, how fun!) often inspire writers but may not be the case for cautious writers or students who do not see themselves as writers. Sentence frames and focusing on getting a message across rather than getting bogged down by spelling are also both fairly effective. For our students with a strong background in a language other than English, giving them the opportunity to draw from that primary language helps them access content and provide a richer written response. Word banks (both general academic words and content specific words) as well as offering cognates help our English Learner and Special Education populations.
I find I had to consider how much think time I offered, how often students are able to pair share prior to writing. I really like using Thinking Maps to help students organize their thoughts for the task at hand (a partner teacher once shared with me her astonishment when my ELD students, on their own, created thinking maps for a math assessment because that student felt so comfortable using the various maps in my ELD class).
With all this said, I feel that for some of our students, some who may have limited literacy skills in any language, there isn't a 'secret'. I have to try a variety of things and some may work one day and not the next... The key or the 'secret' is to keep trying. To be sure I do not rely on one approach that worked one time. It is not easy or straight forward, to be sure.
Show a picture and ask for a reaction in writing
ReplyDelete