As content area
teachers, there are a few things we can do to help motivate and engage students
to write.
In “A Range of Writing Across the Content Areas,” Fisher
and Frey (2013) stated that the most important things to keep in mind is for
teachers was to build stamina, discussions and knowledge. As long as a teacher
keeps that in mind, then the activities will follow. It is also important to
start establishing writing routines in content areas. Fisher and Frey (2013)
give three instructional routines that any teacher can follow and adjust
according to their own classroom and subject. The first one they introduced and
resonated to me the most was what they call Power Writing. Power Writing is a
method for improving writing fluency through brief, timed events (Fishery &
Frey, 2013, p. 97). The teacher simply gives the class a word or phrase, the
students are then as to write as much and as well as they can on that topic. The
teacher can do this for a minute and this routine is repeated two more times. As
they finish each section, students will reread what they wrote, circling errors
they made, and then they count the number of words they wrote, keeping track of
this in a designated area. The goal is to have their number of words increase the
more they practice this. This activity builds their writing fluency, activates
knowledge, and provides teachers with information about student error patterns
(Fisher & Frey, 2013, p. 97).
I believe that this is an activity that you can make a
routine in your Mathematics, Social Studies, or Science class. It also allows
students to then engage in discussion about it, sharing students’ thoughts and
building on other students’ ideas. The activity is flexible for any secondary
classroom content area and will work on various topics. Another positive thing
about this activity is that it doesn’t take up too much time, so teachers can
still focus on the main part of their lessons, while working on writing as
well.
Another strategy teachers can use to engage and motivate
students is annotating texts. Fisher and Frey (2013) explained that you should
use this to help students write from sources to inform and explain. This is
most beneficial to science and social studies, due to the fact that it is a
CCSS writing anchor standard- “Conduct short as well as more sustained research
projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject
under investigation” (Fisher & Frey, 2013, p. 99). Students are given texts
that they must collect evidence from and turn it into an
informative/explanatory prompt. When students learn how to annotate texts, they
build on their critical thinking skills and learn how to carefully read texts. This
will help collect their evidence that is needed. Fisher and Frey (2013) mention
a teacher, Mr. Martin, who before letting students annotate texts, give them
text-dependent questions to guide their annotations.
Scenario:
Subject: United States
History II course
Before teacher starts
Chapter 29 Unit 1 on the Civil Rights, teacher can start with Power Writing activity
(Fisher & Frey, 2013). Teacher will write these words/phrases on board the
board. Timing each one for 60 seconds.
·
Segregation
·
Martin Luther
King Jr.
·
Civil Rights
Between each power
writing students will circle errors and count correct words. This topic has not
been covered since students were in primary grades, therefore this activity will
help activate prior knowledge on the subject. Fisher and Frey said they had
more than one student tell them that “I didn’t know what I thought until I
wrote it down” (p.97).
After the three writing
activities, teacher can then start a discussion on civil rights. Students can
then share ideas that came to mind. This incorporates the discussion and oral
fluency needed that Fisher and Frey recommend.
Teacher will then
introduce Chapter 29 Civil Rights. Before they begin to read, teacher will give
students their opinion writing prompt for Unit 1: “Do you think the nonviolence
used by civil rights activist was a good tactic? Explain. Keep in mind the
Montgomery bus boycott, television coverage of events, and sit-ins.” “Writing
from sources in an important aspect of content area learning” (Fisher &
Frey, 2013, p. 99).
Now students can
annotate copied pages of Unit 1, keeping this question in mind. This gives
students a purpose to the reading and will help keep them engaged in the lesson.
Teacher will review key annotations that Fisher and Frey (2013) recommended
such as underlining, asterisks, circling key words/phrases, highlighting, writing
in margins or at the top and bottom of pages.
After reading the
lesson, students will then be able to formulate their own opinion and find the
necessary textual evidence to support their opinion.
References
Fisher, D., & Frey,
N. (2013). A range of writing across the content areas. The Reading Teacher, 67, 96-101.
