Response to Podcast

"Writing Across the Curriculum"
Writing strategies help upper elementary and middle school students with reading 


In this podcast, the author speaks about the importance writing plays in literacy. There are different types of writing when it comes to education. There is "learning to write" which typically and English Language Arts topic which teaches students how to write for expression, narrative essay etc. What teachers need to consider as well is that there is also "writing to learn". This is an instructional approach which uses different strategies and writing techniques to help create a deep understanding and comprehension. Many teachers in upper elementary level, middle school and high school find these techniques particularity helpful for content reading. Frequently in content reading the ideas and concepts can be difficult for the student to have true understanding, so using writing strategies in combination with the reading strategies proves successful.


There are many different writing strategies teachers can adapt with their reading, but they are essentially broken down into pre-writing, during writing and after writing assignments. Many of the pre-reading assignments concentrate on activating students prior knowledge and creating inquiry. For instance, using a technique such as Brainstorming, the students can work in groups and jot down ideas about what they think the reading will be about. Then they could read the text and return to their brainstorming notes and writing to see what was correct about their assumptions and what was not. Another pre reading assignment is something called a one minute paper. The student would write quickly about a question the teacher assigns. The question could be as easy as what do you think about photosynthesis? Or s complex as discuss important components of photosynthesis.


Many of the during reading strategies focus on note-taking skills, and teaching the students how to take notes during their reading. It's a read, stop, think technique. I have actually seen this in process in a fourth grade class. The students were reading fiction books but were provided sticky notes. On each of the pages they were supposed to stop reading, think about what they read and jot down some key ideas. Later the students were to refer back to the stickies during a conversation about the reading. These sort of techniques help slow down the reader and increase comprehension.


Post reading techniques are important because they demonstrate student comprehension. These small activities can be used as informal assessment and conversation about comprehension between the teacher and student. One popular strategy is to have the students create an index card which has a compare/contrast and analyze portion and one that answers open ended questions provided by the teacher. This can indicate the level of compreheshion to the teacher very quickly, and the teacher can hand back an index cards with notes on where the student is and what the student can do to increase their level. One of my favorite tools are graphic organizers, and this is a good way for students to organize and record their own thoughts.


The idea is to create techniques and strategies to arm the students with the ability to have creative and critical thinking and writing skills. This helps deepen literacy in your classroom, especially if you are concerned with ways to create comprehension, in sometimes tougher content areas.