This power point was used to introduce secondary school teachers to the writing-to-learn strategy.

1. Writing-to-learn
How to use writing in every classroom to
improve content area learning.

2. • The top 10 reasons why you write:
(use your brochure to record your response)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8
9.
10.
Why do you write?

3. • The top 10 reasons why I write:
1. To remember things - lists Why 10?
It makes you go past
2. To plan the obvious and think
3. To figure out what to do more deeply.
4. To explain my opinion (to complain)
5. To model
6. To say thanks
7. To reflect and record - diary
8. To make summaries
9. To request things – emails, letters
10. Because I have to (eg. Reports)
Why do we write?

4. • Most of us write to:
- Communicate information
- Clarify thinking
- Learn new concepts and information.
• Students need to practice to able to use writing
effectively to meet these same goals. One or two writing
classes just don’t provide enough writing practice.
A life of writing

5. • Today, my goals are for you to learn:
1. Why writing is important in every
classroom.
2. How you can improve student
achievement in your classes by using
writing-to-learn strategies.
Learning intentions

6. ASK YOURSELF
• How often do you ask students to write?
• What types of writing do you ask of them?
• Do you encourage learning through writing?
• Research shows that if students aren’t writing often, in every
subject, they will lose confidence in writing, resent it when
they are asked to write by only some of their teachers
and, most importantly, not learn as effectively as they could.
Writing in YOUR classroom?

7. It’s more difficult to convince teachers that writing is
a learning process than it is to convince them that
talk is, because so often teachers use writing as a
way of testing. They use it to find out what students
already know, rather than as a way of encouraging
them to find out. The process of making the material
their own--the process of writing--is demonstrably a
process of learning.
James Britton
Writing and teaching.

8. • In recent years, our NAPLAN data shows that at least 60% of our
students are operating not at the expected level in writing.
• In particular, the majority of boys at our school are well below the
expected level in writing, and fail to progress at the expected rate
between Year 7 and 9.
• Anecdotally, many teachers comment that students in all subjects are
reluctant to write.
• Our VCE data suggests that student performance in a range written
tasks in most subject areas is below where we would like students to
be.
• WHAT CAN WE DO?
Writing at SHC.

9. • Increasing non-fiction writing in our classrooms raises student
achievement in all subject areas (Peery, 2009).
• Writing about the material helps students learn it better and retain it
longer, whatever the subject (Nilson, 2008).
• It’s hard to write something of substance without knowing the subject
well – writing-to-learn activities prepare students for this.
• Bangert-Drowns, Hurley and Wilkinson (2004) found that writing-to-
learn activities can have a positive impact on academic achievement.
In particular, the use of metacognitive prompts –those that made
students ‘reflect on their current knowledge, confusions and
learning processes’- proved highly effective.
What the research says.

10. There are two broad terms used to describe cross-curricula writing:
writing-to-learn and learning to write.
• Writing to learn activities are designed more for meta-
cognitive effect ie for students to record their ideas, reflect upon their
learning and grapple with unfamiliar content. The goal is for them to
learn more deeply.
• Learning to write activities result in more polished products.
These must show content area learning plus competency in a
particular writing form. While all subject area teachers are required to
teach students how to write specific forms of writing and use subject
specific vocabulary, it is the responsibility of the teachers of English
to instruct students in the mechanics of the English language.
How is writing-to-learn different to other
writing we ask students to do’?

11. • Writing-to-learn activities, which are generally short
stints of writing, can switch students’ brains from off to
on.
• It is necessary to have students write in order for them to
deepen their own learning. Is assists them to reflect on
their learning, which is linked to increased
understanding, and supports their increasingly
sophisticated use of specific vocabulary.
Writing to learn

13. • In order to make the writing process an important
component of learning in any class, we must first make
sure that our students are comfortable with it.
• Low risk, engaging writing must precede higher
risk, intellectually rigorous writing.
Writing-to-learn

14. Writing to learn (low stakes) Published writing (high stakes)
Short Substantial
Spontaneous Planned
Informal Conventional
Exploratory Authoritative
Personal Audience centred
One draft Drafted
Unedited Edited
Ungraded Assessable
Types of writing

15. 1. Use the graphic organiser provided to identify the low
and high stakes writing activities you use in your
classroom.
2. Then, use the top section of the Y chart to evaluate how
you use writing in your classroom. Write for one
minute.
A writing break

16. • Turn to a partner and share your thinking about writing in
your classroom.
• The person who travelled the greatest distance from
Swan Hill during the holidays speaks first for 30
seconds, then swap.
Think, write, pair/share

17. • ‘Low stakes’ writing-to-learn activities lead students to
make decisions, encourages them to engage with
ideas, forces them to think about how words work and
which ones to use, and helps with later recall of ideas.
The importance of ‘low-stakes’ writing.

18. Daniels and Zemelman

19. What writing-to-learn isn’t.

20. • Turn and talk – Define writing-to-learn and explain why
it is important .
Tallest person – speaks first – 20 seconds
Next tallest – adds something new – 10 seconds
Next tallest – adds something new – 10 seconds
Last speaker – sums up what was said – 20 seconds.
• Now write. In your brochure, define what writing-to-
learn is. No talking!
Vocabulary to use:
Metacognitive, reflect, think, record
, short, exploratory, informal, low
Talk then write
stakes, unedited, ungraded, retain, r
egular,

21. • Some writing-to-learn strategies can replace whole
class discussions.
• Whole class discussions:
• Pulling teeth
• One person talking and twenty five waiting for a turn
• Doesn’t require all students to engage with the material and
think.
Why write rather than talk?

22. Writing-to-learn
Listing Note-taking Graphic Organisers Reflective Writing Creative writing
ABC Cornell notes
Venn diagrams RAFT
Top 10 Combination notes
Tree charts ‘I am poems’
Top 3 Outlines
Flow charts Entrance and exit slips Bio poems
Cycle diagrams Think, Write, Pair/share Recasting the text
4 square reflection
Most important word
and symbol
Processing your process
Writing to learn activities
Source – Peery, Writing Matters in Every Classroom, 2009

23. At the beginning of a lesson:
• Activates prior knowledge
• Activates further thinking
• Supports setting class and individual goals 20%
Along the way:
• Stop and collect thoughts
Learning Framework
• Sort out ideas
60%
• Notice and record thinking
• To ensure everyone is on task and thinking
• Review and re-adjust goals
• Get ready to move ahead
Later
• Synthesise learning
• Connect with others
20%
• Compare notes
• Reflect on learning
When to use writing-to-learn activities?

24. • Use the brochure to complete this activity
• There are photocopies of different writing-to-learn
activities: Admit/Entrance slips, Lists, Cornell
Note, and Writing Breaks.
• Distribute them amongst the group.
• Summarise the key features of your writing-to-learn
activity and identify how you could use it in your subject
area. You have five minutes to do this.
• When directed to begin, share your findings with your
group. Each person will have one minute to talk. Take
notes as required. You have four minutes (one minute
per person) to do this.
Group work – writing-to-learn activities

25. • In your brochure, brainstorm the writing-to-learn
activities you could use next week.
What can I start to do next week?

26. • Top 10 list
• Writing break
• Think, write, pair/share
• Talk then write
• Graphic organiser
• Cornell Note
• Top 3 list with justifications
• Admit/entrance slip
• ABC list
• Exit slip
Writing to learn activities
introduced today.

27. • If there’s time!!
• Learning Framework
• Visuals
• Talking
• Variety
• Boxes and borders –brochure
• ICT
Whole group discussion

28. WHERE TO NEXT?
• Many students, especially boys, don’t arrive in our classes
thrilled about writing in general.
• Many have the notion that writing is reserved for English
classes.
• A lot of our students lack writing confidence, so writing to
learn activities are a way of building confidence, competence
and knowledge in non-threatening ways.
• Try one or two activities to start with, ones you feel
comfortable with or are new to you. Share ideas.
• Further PD will be provided to develop your writing-to-learn
knowledge and broaden the variety of activities you use.
• Remember – the more you ask your students to write and
to solidify their thinking, the more they learn.
Start using writing-to-learn activities straight away.

29. • Exit slips are another writing-to-learn tool. They are a good way to
get feedback about what students learnt in the lesson. Keep the
question simple. It can be topic specific, ask about learning
problems, what was enjoyed, what skills were learnt, what activity
was best for learning etc. Collect them to inform your teaching in the
next lesson.
• There are many templates to adapt on the internet.
• Please complete the exit slip and hand it to me before leaving.
Reflection – the exit slip

30. • Cobbin, Keay and Willy, Steve, Literacy Coach Training
Workshops, Bastow Institute of Educational Leadership,
2011
• Nilson, Linda, ‘Writing-to-learn Activities and
Assignments’ from Teaching At Its Best, 2008
• Peery, Angela, Writing Matters in Every Classroom,
Leadership and Learning Center, Englewood, 2009
Sources

31. • Photocopies of explanations of four writing-to-learn
activities – Lists, Cornell Note, Writing
Break, Admit/Entrance slips
• Note taking booklet – top 10 list, low and high stakes
writing, writing break, group work
• Reflection - Exit slip.
• Explanation for writing break and exit slip for ‘take-
aways’ (see ‘Writing to learn’ word doc)
Materials needed