The overall philosophy with writing is that it must be taught in conjunction with reading. Too many teachers- myself include- view reading and writing as separate subjects that require their own separate teaching time. Best practice, however, writing should be taught with reading. Here are a few ways to incorporate writing with reading- besides the standard 5 paragraph essay.
1. Microthemes: writing the main idea of a passage or text on a note cards. The note cards can be graded or used for study guides later on. This can be especially helpful when studying non-fiction such as information about an author or time period
2. Unsent Letter: students write unsent letters to characters in a book. The letter can be written from the point of view of a character in the novel or themselves
3. Biopoems: Biopoems have the same format and student insert specific information they have learned about a person. The lines are standard such as "four traits that describe this character" or "resident of _____". Students can create biopoems with characters from a book or real people they are learning about
4. Response Journals: Response Journals allow students to respond to their thoughts about the text or even make predictions. Teachers can ask guiding questions related to the book to help students be thinking about the essential questions. The teachers provides opportunities for students to write in these journals throughout the unit
No comments:
Post a Comment