Week Twelve

Due on Weebly and BB November 9

Chapter Nine: Writing Across the Curriculum

Before Reading Chapter 9:

Respond to the following quote from the textbook: “Sometimes reading and
writing are taught in classrooms as if they bear little relationship to each other.
The result has often been to sever the powerful bonds for meaning-making that
exist between reading and writing.” Discuss writing assignments that, from your
own experiences, enhanced meaning-making.

The writing experience enhances “meaning making” through connecting reading and
writing. After reading a text, students can write a response to the reading as an outlet for
applying their knowledge of the text’s content.
One writing assignment that enhanced meaning-making for me was an essay I wrote for
my history class on Sparta last semester. Initially, the essay assignment was daunting: a twelve
page minimum research assignment. My topic, research on the Gymnopaedia festival in
correlation to Spartan obedience. This writing assignment provided me with a tool to express my
gained knowledge from the reading, while also enhancing my connection making ability to
Spartan youth training and Spartan military training with overall social obedience. The
connections I made through my constructing of the essay aided in my understanding and
participation in classroom lectures. I was able to make more precise distinction in connecting
social expectations, military trainings, and obedience in Sparta through writing my evidence in
an essay established through research of the Gymnopaedia festival.

While Reading
Each previous week I have provided you with a graphic organizer to take notes on
the weekly reading. This week I want you to create your own graphic organizer or
reader response sheet to complete for the first part of this chapter (pages 239-
262, about Writing to Learn). Insert it below:

Different Categories of Writing: Application in the Social Studies

Classroom:
Writing to Learn
Brief writing activities that require high
Microthemes POVG’s levels of critical thinking
Unsent Letters Biopoems
Admit / Exit Slips Dialogues These writing activities can be
implemented as a tool for students to
 apply their content knowledge, in order to
expand upon their learning.

These writing activities can also be

implemented as checks for
understandings for students, in order to
gauge their understanding and
application of a concept.

Writing in Disciplines Writing that explores, elaborates, and

clarifies content ideas.
RAFT Writing Research based writing
Guiding the writing process These writing activities can be used to
establish the purpose, audience, and goal
of individual writing activities.

These writing activities allow students to

practice the process of writing through
guiding students through the planning,
constructing, and revising stages.

For Monday in class:

Today we will be jigsawing an article on the integration of reading and writing in
the content area classroom. I have created an interactive reading guide to go
along with the activity. You can access both documents below:

Reading and Writing Alignment

https://goo.gl/HqUYCz

Reading Guide for Reading and Writing Alignment

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gasauoGzH2i05KNiIZjPUpv1cheY2iUFQkK4
WlzzQsc/edit?usp=sharing

For Wednesday:
Before Class
Read: Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2013). Writing in the Disciplines: Even When You Are Not a Writing
Teacher.
http://schd.ws/hosted_files/wssi2017/a5/engaging-the-adolesent-learner-10pvobr.pdf
From the Fisher & Frey article, review two or three writing to learn strategies for
your content area that were not presented in the Vacca chapter. Briefly describe
the strategies in the space below. Be prepared to share in class. Discuss why
you selected these particular strategies and how they will support students’
understanding of your content.

Writing to Learn Strategies for Social Studies:

In-class Wednesday: Include your notes from the two mini-

teaches here:

Aubrey and Mirina: RAFT:

Writing tool used to establish the “who, what, when, where, and why” of the writing
process.

A role-playing activity that allows students to “become” the content in a more engaging
and effective attempt at comprehending the content.

Tara and Libby: Unsent Letters:

Roleplaying activity / writing tool that has students apply their knowledge to real life
scenarios.

After Reading:
You will complete “after reading” in next week’s guided reading prompt.