A Hands-on Lesson in Writing to Learn
By D. Reaman
Objectives:
1: To familiarize participants with the concept of Writing to Learn.
2: To introduce participants to two Writing-to-Learn methods: Reader-Response and Exit Slips.
3: To give participants first-hand experience with Writing to Learn by participating in two strategies.
Rationale:
Students learn to write better if they write often. Given Writing-to-Learn assignments, students will acquire a deeper understanding of subject matter and explore their understanding of what they already know. Through writing, students use their own terms, placing them at the center of learning and discovery.
Procedure:
1: As a group, brainstorm on the word "bean" to motivate the writing process and collect personal responses. Inform students that their responses should be limited to one or two words, not complete sentences.
2: Solicit ideas from participants to cluster the responses, showing how ideas can be combined for writing and demonstrate how students can have entirely different responses and reactions.
3: Present "Marshall," a poem by George Macbeth. Read the poem aloud twice by student volunteers.
4: Explain what a metaphor is and solicit examples of how Macbeth uses the metaphor of "bean" throughout his work.
5: Ask participants to respond to the poem by writing their reactions and thoughts on paper, adjacent to the poem.
6: Discuss their responses aloud and talk about how their personal reactions relate to the ideas previously created in brainstorming.
7: Explain how reader-response is used in Writing to Learn.
8: Present the concept of exit slips. Using exit slips, ask participants to record how they believe their future students can benefit from Writing to Learn.
Materials:
"Writers Inc: A Student Handbook for Writing and Learning," by Patrick Sebranek, et. al..
"Marshall," by George Macbeth.
"Daybook of Critical Reading and Writing," by Fran Claggett, Louann Reid and Ruth Vinz.
Evaluation:
Each participant will contribute to brainstorming and clustering.
Each participant will record their own responses to the poem.
Each participant will explore their views on Writing to Learn.