Writing Strategies

Writing Strategies Introduction and History of Content Area Literacy College Students Content Area Teacher and Text Selection Assessment Reading Strategies Writing Strategies Summary References

Students connect and integrate ideas as they write (Johnson & Holcombe, 1993). “Wring to learn provides a format for students to demonstrate their personal understanding of course content” (Andrews, 1997, p.142). Most reading strategies above incorporate writing as part of their steps. The following writing strategies use writing to learn and connect students’ prior knowledge to the reading material: Dialectical journals; summary writing; KWL; Planning, Organizing, Writing, Editing, and Re-writing, (P.O.W.E.R.); Predict, Organize, Rehearse, Practice, and Evaluate (PORPE) (Andrews, 1997; Edwards, 1992; Friend, 2000; McNeil, 1992).

Dialectical Journals

Students and teachers “maintain and ongoing dialogue” about what is being read (Readence, Bean, & Baldwin, 1992). Teachers assess students’ understanding of the material and immediately respond to them (Edwards, 1992; Readence, Bean, Baldwin, 1992). Edwards (1992) believes that dialectical journals improve students’ critical thinking skills. Students need direct instruction and build on levels of thinking in using dialectical journals (Edward, 1992).

Summary Writing

Summary writing is a writing to learn strategy that “enhances student comprehension” (Readence, Bean, & Baldwin, 1992, p. 221). Students need direct instruction when learning to write summaries (Moore, Moore, Cunningham, & Cunningham, 1998; Friend, 2000). Friend (2000) defines four features of summary writing in content areas: summaries are brief, give main points, in students’ words, and guide students studies. Since summaries are in the students’ words, students need to think, understand and relate ideas read in order to write summaries (Allington, 2001; Friend, 2000).

KWL

KWL uses writing to learn in all three stages. Students write before, during and after reading, and they make connections between their prior knowledge and new content information (Andrews, 1997; Dowhower, 1999; Lapp, Flood, & Farnan, 1996; Manzo & Manzo, 1990; Readence, Bean, & Baldwin, 1992).

P.O.W.E.R

Planning, Organizing, Writing, Editing, and Re-writing is a technique for improving written communication (Mitchell, 1993). In the Planning stage, students, select a topic, think about purpose and audience, and choose the approach such as informative, description, persuasive, etc. (Mitchell, 1993). Next the students organize ideas, decide which ideas relevant, and add on new ideas if necessary (Mitchell, 1993). Students during the Writing stage begin pre-writing by creating a thesis statement, turning their ideas into an outline, and writing an essay (Mitchell, 1993). Then students edit their essay and consult with peers and/or teachers (Mitchell, 1993). Finally students re-write their work.

PORPE

Students using Predict, Organize, Rehearse, Practice and Evaluate (PORPE) generate and answer explicit and implicit short answers and questions (Simpson, Hayes, & Stahl, 1989; Manzo & Manzo, 1990; Readence, Bean, & Baldwin, 1992). Students during the Predict step are asked to generate essay questions from their reading. Next, students organize the information to answer their questions. During Rehearsal, students study and learn the material they have organized, and then they practice composing essays. Finally, students evaluate how the teacher might grade their essay (Simpson, Hayes, & Stahl, 1989; Manzo & Manzo, 1990; Readence, Bean, & Baldwin, 1992).

Introduction and History of Content Area Literacy

College Students

Content Area Teacher and Text Selection