CE-MIST Writing Across the Curriculum Teaching Strategies

CE-MIST Writing Across the Curriculum Teaching Strategies

Strategy # 1: Structured Paired Brainstorming and Think, Pair, Share

Before reading a piece of text, ask students to brainstorm with a partner. What do they know about this topic? This focuses students’ attention before reading. Ask them to record their thoughts, and then comparetheir notes with another group (groups of 2 become groups of 4).

Strategy # 2: Structured Note Taking

Provide a graphic organizer or specific format for students to respond to text while they are reading. This strategy helps students interpret text and provides a model to organize what is important. Suggested structures for organizing concepts include:

Cause/Effect
Goal/Action/Outcome
Compare/Contrast
Problem/Solution
Concept/Definition
Perceptions/Reactions/Associations

Suggested 3-column Response Heuristic for structured note taking in the content areas:

English / Important Quote / Author’s Meaning / Connections to My Life
Math / New Term / Diagram/Symbol / Use/Examples
Science / Observation / Explanation / Connection to the Real World
Social Studies / Important Event / Effect / Unintended Effects

Strategy # 3: Forced Choice

After the students read, ask them to choose the most important item in the text and be prepared to defend it with a line of reasoning.Consider making this a kinesthetic activity by setting up an Agree/Disagree continuum line across the classroom. Students stand on the line to express their opinion. Another option is to stage a debate with randomly assigned opinions/roles. Content area forced choice examples are:

English / Choose another ending and defend it with a line of reasoning
Math / Choose a way to solve a problem and explain your reasons
Science / Take sides on an issue and provide a line of reasoning
Social Studies / Choose the most important person or event and give a line of reasoning

Strategy # 4: RAFTs

Writing a RAFT encourages creative thinking and motivates students to demonstrate understanding in a nontraditional yet informational written format. This strategy works with all disciplines and is great for differentiation; it can be adjusted for any topic or skill level. The student has a role to play and as they think in that role, they have to communicate to a given audience using the format noted on the topic listed. This strategy requires students to process information and use critical thinking, rather than just write answers to questions.

How to use it:

Using your essential questions, analyze the important ideas or information you want students to learn. Consider how writing might enhance student’ understanding of a topic (e.g., stages of the digestive system). This focus establishes the writing topic.
Brainstorm possible roles students could assume in their writing. For example, a student could imagine he was a spark plug and describe what occurs when his engine starts.
Next, decide the audience for this communication. Using that audience, determine the writing format. For example, a green plant could be writing to the sun in the format of a thank you note for the sun’s role in photosynthesis and plant growth.
Students brainstorm, write, share, revise, and polish their RAFTs.

Suggested RAFTs for the content areas include:

Social Studies- Death of a historical figure, description of an event
ELA- Story mapping, literary elements, characters, setting
Science- making observations, supporting inferences with data and evidence
Math- Patterns in data, statistics (mean, median, mode), terms and vocabulary

EXAMPLES:

Science / Social Studies / Math
Role / Red blood cell / Civil War soldier / Denominator
Audience / Other red blood cells / His family / Numerator
Format / Travelogue / A friendly letter / Telegram
Topic/Task / Describe your journey through the circulatory system / Describe conditions in the Confederate or Union army / Describe how “uncommon” the denominator is in the fraction

Sample completed RAFTs:

WANTED: Human body cells without nuclei. Must be capable of transporting oxygen to body cells. Hemoglobin required. Must have originated in the bone marrow. All types may apply: A, B, AB, and O.

WANTED: Polygon with three sides and three angles. Angles must add up to 180 degrees. One right angle is required.

WANTED: Colonists for the New World. Must be willing to work hard. Persons seeking religious freedom are encouraged to apply. Send letter of application to William Penn.

Strategy # 5: Cinquain Poetry

Even reluctant writers may enjoy synthesizing information by writing a cinquain.A cinquain (pronounced sin-cane) is a 5-line poem witha limited number of words.

Line 1: One word topic
Line 2: Two words that describe the topic
Line 3: Three words (try to use action verbs)
Line 4: Four words (try to use feeling words)
Line 5: One word synonym of the title or a word that sums it all up

Cinquain Examples:

Math / Science / Social Studies
Triangle
Three sides
∑ angles 180 °
Right, equilateral, obtuse, acute
∆ / Nucleus
Cell brain
Membrane-enclosed organelle
Contains cell’s genetic material
CEO / Crusades
Holy wars
Two religions fighting
Failure church/Success commerce
Pilgrimage

Strategy # 6: Quick-Writes

This is a paired activity in which students have a short period (typically 30-60 seconds) to share all they know about a topic in writing. Alternatively, you can ask students to individually respond to poetry, prose, a film, text, etc. for a few minutes every day. Quick-Writes should only be assessed for content if they are assessed at all.

Strategy # 7: Primary Sources

Textbooks are secondary sources; someone compiled, edited, and interpreted the material.Using primary sources makes the information real and authentic; contextualizes learning; addresses multiple means of learning; and is a hook to capture students’ interest.If students create it, write it, dance it, text it, or DO IT… it is primary! The students take ownership. Primary sources could include:

Documents / Music / Letters
Photographs / Artwork / Journals or Diary Entries
Films / X-Rays / E-mails or Text Messages

CE-MIST Writing Across the Curriculum Teaching Strategies

Two great on-line resources for primary sources are:

SC Digital Library

Library of Congress Digital Collections