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Reflective Writing: Making Thinking and Learning Visible

4/30/2021

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BY LAURA RIGOLOSI

When we ask our students to write reflectively on a topic, we are asking them to think about the topic, and put that thinking on paper. This seemingly small ask can have big effects, including an increased awareness of one’s own thinking and learning. 

Why might you ask students to engage in this process? As Dr. Saundra McGuire, LSU chemistry professor and learning expert explains, ā€œlearning is about being able to explain something and apply it in other ways.ā€ Reflective writing, then, is a way for students to bring their knowledge to the forefront, creating space for them to explain their ideas and apply them in ways beyond the immediate context. For example, when we are reading a challenging class text in English, such as a Shakespearean play, we want our students to do more than read and interpret that particular Shakespearean text; instead, we want them to have an awareness of how they are reading that play in order to later apply those same reading dispositions to another challenging text. 

The more we can help our students understand their own metacognition when reading and learning, the more ownership they have over that learning. This is empowering for our students. Teaching students to be aware of their thinking is the first step in reflective writing — and with this awareness comes the ability to apply thinking patterns to other arenas. 

Introducing a double entry journal 

When we ask our students to engage in reflective writing, we are trying to peek inside their minds to check if they are understanding key concepts, but also we are trying to help them name their own thinking moves. This is why writing to learn is such an important practice in our teaching — we are using writing as a reflection tool to make students’ thinking visible.

In my two decades of teaching, I’ve seen more graphic organizers than I’d care to admit, and in the end, I always return to the double entry journal when I need students to respond to a text in a reflective way. The double entry journal is the most simple graphic organizer imaginable to help students focus on a particular text, and encourage their thinking around that text. 

The goal of the double entry journal, circling back to McGuire, is to be able to explain the text and apply it. Keep in mind, when we say ā€œtextā€ it could be a broad use of the term, including math problems, an historical event, a quote from a text, an image, etc. 

In an article I co-wrote with Jacqui Stolzer, a fellow K-12 coach, we discussed how ā€œdouble entry journals include two components: a column on the left, partially filled out with quotes from the text, and a column on the right, which is open for viewers to share their thoughts. Returning to the ideas presented in UDL [Universal Design for Learning], a double entry journal that includes specific lines from the text is useful for students who have central executive challenges, but in reality, everyone can benefit from the text references.ā€ 

While the double entry journal is a template for reflective writing, teachers can differentiate this tool by pulling out specific quotes for students, or by giving students free reign to respond to quotes that strike them. 

Modeling the double entry journal

Below is an example of a double entry journal that I wrote as a way to show my thinking about a text. In my entry here, I share a quote in the left column that I find provocative, and in the right column, I unpack what it means to me. A student reading this double entry journal might be surprised by all of the reading thoughts I have after reading Bateson’s brief line, but this is the point! We want students to see that my brain is active when I am reading, and in this example I am trying to name some of the thinking moves I am making as a reader. 
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ā€‹ā€œInsight, I believe, refers to that depth of understanding that comes by setting experiences, yours and mine, familiar and exotic, new and old side by side, learning by letting them speak to one another.ā€ 

​— p. 14 Bateson, Mary Catherine, Peripheral Visions


































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​Sometimes when I am stuck in my head, in between projects, and wondering if I should grade, lesson plan, make tea, fold laundry, or stretch on the floor, I find myself drifting towards my bookshelf. The phone is an easier place to procrastinate — scrolling and mindlessly looking at the pretty things, but I know this isn’t healthy and leaves me feeling unfulfilled; it is a time suck that I regret. 

Today, I pull out Peripheral Visions, a book I first read years ago in graduate school. It gave me insight into how perspective matters, and how our perspectives are all idiosyncratic. I read it from time to time when I need to recalibrate my thinking. 

I reread the first chapter, and I am struck by this quote by Bateson. The idea that insight ā€œcomes by setting experiences, new and old...letting them speak to one anotherā€ is a complex concept, and I reread the sentence several times. What a perfect way to explain insight — it is not the experience alone that teaches us, it is pairing the experience with a lived moment we have already had. It’s learning layered with experience, and the realization of it all. 

As I’m beginning to gather these crumbs of ideas and write my response, I think about earlier today, when my nine-year old daughter asked me to review a math problem with her: Is 6/8 greater than 4/8? Explain.

She told me, yes, she knows 6/8 is greater than 4/8. When I ask her to explain it, she draws pies made up of eight slices and colors in four slices, and on the other pie colors in six slices. 6/8 is more than 4/8 she shows me; more slices are shaded in the picture of 6/8. When we talk about the denominator, she builds on her understanding and begins to realize with the same denominator, the numerator really matters in terms of value, or which fraction is bigger. She layers her understanding by building on what she knows. We agree that we would rather eat 6/8 of a cookie than 4/8 of a cookie. 6/8 is more cookie than 4/8 of a cookie! 

Whether we realize it or not, we lean on our prior experiences to help us sort out the present. It reminds me what we recommend as a way to teach content-area literacy; we suggest helping students build prior knowledge before beginning a new text. The prior knowledge mixed with the new knowledge can make for powerful learning moments. 
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​After sharing a double entry model like this with students, I would ask questions such as: What do you notice I am doing as a writer in my double entry response? What moves am I making? My example is a bit of a stream of consciousness, and this shows students how I can engage with a text in complex and somewhat messy ways. And that is okay! Writing, learning, and reflecting tend to be messy and nonlinear paths. While students may not write as much as I do in the example above, offering them an advanced model can demonstrate the possibilities and multiple ways in which they can respond to a text using this format. 

Writing your own model for your students and asking them to notice and name the different ways you responded to the text can be instructive in two ways: students are able to see what we mean by ā€œreflective writing,ā€ and they will glean more understanding of the text through your reflective writing. 

When students are asked to write a response to a quote, an equation, an historical event, or a math problem, they have to find something to say. They have to breathe life into that text — both to help themselves understand it more, and to realize how it changes and influences their perspective. This is how reflective writing is a useful tool; it is a type of writing that nudges students to notice what they are thinking, and to document it for others to see. By naming what they think, students are also teaching themselves what they know, and owning their own questions.
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RAISE THE BAR FOR STUDENT WRITING
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THE POWER OF PERSONAL WRITING
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CELEBRATE STUDENT VOICE

TAGS: LAURA RIGOLOSI, LITERACY, WRITING
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Pairing project-based learning & packaged curricula

3/29/2021

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Incorporate PBL into existing tasks and create engaging, meaningful opportunities for your students.
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CRISTINA ROMEO COMPTON
Elementary & Project-Based Learning Specialist

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Project-based learning is a widely used term in education. Although many educators have a general understanding of what it means, it’s often met with uncertainty and apprehension. 

A simple Google Search of ā€œproject-based learningā€ results in 10 pages of articles or blogs, written by various organizations, institutions, and individuals. For instance, cultofpedagogy describes project-based learning as a combination of standards, best practices of UBD (understanding by design), and formative assessments. ASCD describes a project as meaningful if it fulfills two criteria: that students "feel the work is personally meaningful, as a task that matters" and that the project fulfills a ā€œmeaningful purpose.ā€ Edutopia describes project-based learning as learning that tells a story. 

Throughout my 15 years of teaching and coaching, I’ve seen varying interpretations and implementations of project-based learning myself, which have been further complicated by the move to remote and blended learning environments. For educators who are working with packaged curricula, it can be especially difficult to see the opportunities available for introducing PBL in classrooms. But focusing on the core components of this work can support us in establishing engaging, meaningful, and doable project-based learning experiences for our students. 

Components of project-based learning

​One of the most well-known and admired institutions when it comes to project-based learning is the Buck Institute. They offer what I think are very helpful criteria to inform what project-based learning can look like: 
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​In line with much of the graphic, our K-12 coaching team believes that projects are a wonderful way to help students cultivate 21st century skills, focus on a pressing topic or issue, develop their identity as readers and writers, and engage in a writing process that involves extensive feedback, revision, and reflection on their learning. We believe the pedagogy of project-based learning is about: 

  • Beginning with a driving question or challenge: What is a pressing topic, issue, or problem that we are thinking about? 
  • Revolving instruction around inquiry into an essential topic: How can the driving questions serve as a lens to read, write, research, gather, and explore? 
  • Incorporating student voice and choice: What are the ways in which students are a part of the design, the driving questions, the topics and themes? 
  • Approaching essential skills from multiple perspectives: What interdisciplinary connections could (or should) we be making? 
  • Integrating teacher and peer feedback and revision: How and when are we creating a community of learners that supports one another? 
  • Concluding the project with a celebration, ideally public: How are we going to celebrate the learning and share it with a wider audience? 

Now that we’ve laid out some of the basics, we can investigate what project-based learning might look like in action. The questions above can help inspire task revision and allow you to incorporate project-based learning into pre-packaged curricula, without starting from scratch.

Creating relevant, meaningful tasks

Recently, I partnered with a school in Brooklyn to support them as they designed and reimagined assessments for online learning. As an elementary school, they had adopted a packaged curricula for English Language Arts instruction. My goal was to help them make existing tasks and assessments more engaging and relevant for students, and support them in redesigning the tasks as they were written in order to infuse elements of project-based learning — without compromising rigor. 

We began with a first grade writing task that focused on persuasive reviews based on favorite places, foods, etc. To begin revising this task, we started by examining three important questions, informed and inspired by the Buck Institute: 

  • Is it engaging?: Will my students enjoy it? Does it allow them choice? Does it consider modifications of the task for my students? 
  • Is it meaningful?: Does it have a real audience and purpose? Is it relevant? Does it reflect real world goals and skills? 
  • Is it doable?: Do I have all the resources I need, the time, the considerations? What might I have to teach online that I didn’t consider when teaching in person? This last question was particularly important at the time, given the swift transition to online learning, and the fact that teachers and students had limited access to materials, resources, and technology. 

We used these questions to guide our analysis and revision, referring back to the original task:

  • Is it engaging?: Ideally, it is offering students choice, by allowing them to choose what they’d like to review.
  • It is meaningful?: As it’s written, the purpose and audience for this task is unclear. 
  • Is it doable?: Due to some limitations with remote learning during a global health crisis (students would be unable to participate in field trips, conduct observational research at various locations, etc.), we concluded that we might need to scale down the list of possible topics to help focus what students could reasonably review. 

Turning the task into a project

Now that we have been able to identify the basic possibilities and challenges with this task, we can continue on to revision, and begin to shift our original task into a project. When it comes to developing authentic and meaningful projects, we like to turn to a promising practice called GRASPS. This stands for:

G: What is the goal of the project? 
R : What is the role of the student? 
A: Who is the audience? 
S: What is the structure of the writing? 
P: What is the purpose? 

In conjunction with our earlier questions, the GRASPS framework is a helpful tool in redesigning tasks and ensures that our revisions are clear. In our example, the responses look something like this: 

  • Project goal: Craft persuasive reviews focused on the following topics/ideas: 1) best at-home foods/recipes, 2) best games to be played with family members, and 3) best spaces/places to see in your neighborhood. 
  • Student role: Expert reviewer 
  • Audience: Reviews will be read by peers 
  • Structure: Students will submit reviews in the form of essays 
  • Purpose: To share ideas for how to have fun and stay safe during the pandemic

Equipped with these revisions, we can now more easily shift the original writing task to one that is project-based, and understand how we can introduce these ideas to students. This not only generates excitement for students, but teachers as well — our partners in Brooklyn were eager to plan and implement this project within their classrooms, and were excited about the additional possibilities for creativity. 

​What I hope is evident throughout this process is that project-based learning can have a variety of entry points — whether you’re teaching remotely or in-person, creating your own projects, or reimagining pre-packaged curricula. Regardless of your situation, recognizing how instruction can be meaningful, relevant, and doable — even with the current parameters of teaching and learning — is possible. 
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DESIGN ENGAGING WRITING EXPERIENCES
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UNPACKING PROJECT-BASED LEARNING
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PROJECT-BASED WRITING INSTRUCTION


TAGS: CRISTINA ROMEO COMPTON, PROJECT-BASED LEARNING, WRITING
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Celebrating student voice with the Student Press Initiative

11/9/2020

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Writing for publication can create awareness, raise social consciousness, and provide students with essential life skills.
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By CRISTINA ROMEO COMPTON, JEN DECERFF, and SHERRISH HOLLOMAN

​When a student writes for publication, there is a shift in the dynamic between the student and their work. Picture yourself asking a student whether or not they spent a significant amount of time on their writing, only to have them respond, ā€œWhy would I spend time on it? It’s just for you.ā€ In contrast, consider a student, who previously considered himself anonymous, telling his teacher, ā€œMr. Nick, I’m famous now!ā€ after the book he co-authored with his classmates was published. Two very different reactions to a writing experience. How do we understand these two contrasting responses from young writers?

Founded in 2002, the Student Press Initiative (SPI) was designed to develop, foster, and promote writing across the curriculum through student publication, and revolutionize education by advancing teacher leadership in reading and writing instruction. Students transition from ā€œwriting for their teacherā€ to writing for an audience of their choice. To date, SPI has published over 850 books representing the original writing of over 12,000 students. SPI’s core values — project-based instruction, real-world authorship, community of learners, and celebrating student voice — resonate throughout these books. The grounding of these values raise the bar for what, how, and why students write. 

Project-based instruction

We believe in using publishing for a real-world audience as a means to design and shape curriculum and expectations, as well as promote student engagement.

We employ a backwards-planning model, where a final product is used to form an infrastructure for classroom instruction and activities. Through inquiry of the specific requirements and expectations of each project, teachers and students can better articulate the behaviors, artifacts, and customs necessary for the successful completion of the project — and being that publishing a book is a shared experience, students work together to support and encourage one another in new and powerful ways. 
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Publication projects help to shape the culture, rituals, and routines that take place in the classroom. At the start of a project, a large calendar often overtakes the walls of a classroom, and teachers and students work together to identify the genre, audience, and purpose of their project, as well as establish details and deadlines. This helps establish a strong sense of community and collaboration. This is project-based learning at its best! 
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PURCHASE THIS BOOK
Who We Were, Who We Are
Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies
​Bronx, NY

ENL students at the Morris Academy of Collaborative Studies (MACS) in the South Bronx created this collection of narratives and opinion essays showcasing snippets of their complex lives and ideologies, as well as their struggles in this ever-changing world. Who We Were, Who We Are is the fifth anthology from MACS, demonstrating the school's passion and commitment to project-based learning, and providing a platform for students to go public with their learning each year. These projects have become a signature part of their ENL curricula, and each publication serves as the major assessment of student learning throughout the year. 

Real-world authorship

Real-world authorship shapes our approach to teaching and learning. Whether the audience is a class of incoming freshmen or first-year teachers in training, we work to connect young writers with actual readers. In the SPI model, classrooms become publishing houses in which teachers and students collectively shape an editorial vision. By exploring questions, issues, or concerns that exist in the world, their community, or within a specific content area, teachers and students collaborate to define a meaningful genre, theme, and audience. Writers then work to understand the expectations of their audience as they craft pieces with real readers in mind.
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No matter the content, there is always a real-world model that can demonstrate student learning with panache and voice that will engage readers. Through participation in a publication project, students develop skills and processes similar to those of professional authors. Students are supported through pre-writing and a gathering of ideas, drafting while consistently revising and editing, and finally, publishing, where they format and polish their writing to prepare for publication. Students experience ā€œrealā€ expectations and deadlines for publishing their book. Through these experiences, a strong sense of excitement, energy and urgency emerges. 
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PURCHASE THIS BOOK
A Time for Change: NYC Teens Speaking Up Against Human Rights Violations
Global Learning Collaborative (GLC)
New York, NY

In the midst of a global pandemic, Social Studies students at GLC explored the 30 Articles of Human Rights, many of which have been heightened and exposed as a result of COVID. Students read the articles, chose one they personally connected with, and wrote about why it resonated with them in their short, autobiographical accounts. They researched the ways in which these articles have been violated in the past, and continue to be violated today. Their published pieces are particularly relevant to current events surrounding COVID-19 and the many protests around inequitable treatment of citizens in the US. In this collection, the authors provided examples of how human rights abuse is both national and international, and reflect on how basic human rights affect them, their families, and their community at large. Through this publication, students elevated their voices and connected to the world around them.

Teaching Today Ā· Students As Authors: Student Press Initiative

Community of learners
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SPI challenges traditional notions of ā€œexpertsā€ in the classroom. Inspired by the work of Lave and Wenger (1996) and what they call ā€œcommunities of practice,ā€ we aim to cultivate students’ sense of expertise as writers by engaging in processes such as thoughtful inquiry of mentor texts, peer review, and peer editing. Through such processes, teachers and students work to establish a community of writers, consisting of many experts and many resources for learning and growing as authors. 

We encourage teachers and students to engage with a variety of texts as they begin to define qualities and attributes of powerful writing. As students learn the skills needed to write successfully, they also become experts in the project’s central theme as they read mentor texts, break genres down into smaller components, and ultimately, craft pieces that represent their learning and culminate in a final publication. A project designed around an in-depth genre study and inquiry invites students into a shared experience, and allows teachers to craft a thoughtful curriculum that addresses specific content and skills.
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PURCHASE THIS BOOK
Origin Stories
Hisar School
Istanbul, Turkey

Origin Stories ā€” the first publication from students at the Hisar School — showcases a multi-genre anthology consisting of fiction stories, personal essays, non-fiction essays, and graphic artwork. One of the central structures of this project was to match each writer to a peer editor who would read their work and offer feedback to support the writing process, as well as inform specific revision strategies. Students also played a major role in the production of the project, making decisions on the design, layout, and formatting of the publication, as well as creating the cover and interior art. This strong sense of collaboration and creativity is reflective of a true community of learners. ā€‹

Celebrating student voice
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Every student has a unique voice. Rather than celebrate the work of select students, we aim to celebrate the work of all students, using publication and celebration as a way to leverage and encourage participation.

We believe every project should culminate in celebration — whether teachers and students decide to host a large-scale public reading at a local bookstore, smaller readings at locations such as their own school auditorium or classroom, or virtually with classmates, families, and friends. Celebrations — no matter their size or format — are powerful and rewarding experiences, and allow students to proudly share their writing with their community.
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PURCHASE THIS BOOK
Moods of New York
International High School at Lafayette
New York, NY

A powerful publication that showcases the voices of ENL students — many of whom recently immigrated to the US — as they share places in New York that help them feel at home. In this anthology, the authors explore the meaning of ā€œhomeā€, celebrate their unique perspectives, and make connections to a new city. Beyond creating powerful pieces of writing, these students also formed committees consisting of editors and cover designers, and engaged in peer-to-peer feedback, leveraging their strengths to publish a one-of-a-kind collection. Earlier this year, the authors gathered in their school library alongside parents, school leaders, and community members to celebrate their writing. As we witnessed them read excerpts from their publication and autograph copies of their work, we were reminded of how powerful it can be to memorialize and amplify the voices of young writers. 

Writing can serve as a tool for creating awareness, raising social consciousness, and providing students with essential life skills. Our core values change the perspective and perception of writing for students around the world. These values, deeply embedded in our publications, reflect best practices for teaching writing in the 21st century, and help prepare students to succeed in lifelong learning. 

​To learn how you can partner with the Student Press Initiative and bring your students' writing to life, please reach out to us here. 
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REFLECTIVE WRITING EXPERIENCES
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STUDENTS AS AUTHORS
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RAISE THE BAR FOR STUDENT WRITING

​TAGS: CRISTINA ROMEO COMPTON, INITIATIVES, JEN DECERFF, PROJECT-BASED LEARNING, SHERRISH HOLLOMAN, STUDENT PRESS INITIATIVE, WRITING
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Write to Learn: The power of personal writing

6/15/2020

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By COURTNEY BROWN

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ā€œWriting to learnā€ is a powerful concept that has long been espoused by literacy educators. In practice, writing to learn includes low-stakes writing assignments that generate authentic responses to prompts on a variety of topics. The goal of writing to learn is simply to unpack a subject, and the primary audience is the writer him/herself. 

Some of the most powerful writing to learn practices include personal, expressive writing that allows us to reflect on how we are feeling and thinking. This may take the form of quick-writes in response to a question, journal entries, or letters to ourselves and others. 

Although personal, expressive writing is not necessarily a measurable outcome of learning, it is possibly some of the most important writing that we can ask students to do. Personal writing not only helps students develop their voice, but offers them precious space to reflect and process their feelings and thoughts, in order to feel emotionally strong and balanced. James Britton adds that expressive writing helps students academically, to ā€œdiscover, shape meaning, and reach understanding.ā€ As we plan instruction, whether remote or in-person, creating space for expressive writing is crucial, especially during times of crisis or change.

During the remote learning period that has surfaced due to the COVID-19 crisis, teachers and schools across the world have worked overtime to reach and engage their students. Yet, even in cases where students appeared to have adequate access to digital devices, attendance was often lower than usual, particularly in middle and high schools in low-income neighborhoods.

Prioritizing mental health

When Principal Dr. Charles Gallo and his team at the New York City Charter High School for Computer Engineering, and Innovation in the Bronx — where I partner as an instructional and curricular coach — questioned students and their families about their low attendance, students reported feeling isolated, unmotivated, and in some cases, depressed, despairing, or scared. Dr. Gallo realized that his students’ social-emotional health and well-being needed to be tended to first. His students weren’t learning if they were not engaged, and they couldn’t engage if they were scared, depressed, or lonely. 

Swiftly responding, Dr. Gallo encouraged teachers to use their professional judgement to deviate from their planned units and lessons to prioritize students’ mental health and engagement by offering students opportunities to reflect and process their emotions and experiences around the pandemic. 

Encouraged by their principal, AECI faculty incorporated journal writing into their classes, which eventually evolved into plans for a schoolwide interdisciplinary project, grounded in personal, reflective writing. Students would craft responses to relevant essential questions, such as: How has the COVID-19 crisis had an impact on your personal life? How has it had an impact on society? What do you propose to solve or address the crisis?

Digital opportunities

In a digital world, where distance may make it challenging to interface with each student and check in about how s/he is doing, online options — such as Google Docs and Padlet — offer valuable asynchronous opportunities to read and respond to student writing with advice or supportive words.

While sharing personal writing online demands trust and confidentiality, some students have shared that the experience of writing into a Google Doc (as opposed to a notebook) makes them feel braver. For students who don't have access to devices, journaling in a notebook or on paper is a terrific low-tech option for reflection.

Incorporating these practices into your lessons can be as simple and informal as asking students to respond to a prompt that connects with the day’s topic. If you want to dig in further, consider some of these ideas: 

  • Writing for full presence: Open-ended, private writing for three minutes at the beginning of a lesson that can help eliminate distractions
  • Letter writing: To someone real or imagined, or even to past or future selves, which can help unlock feelings that are further from the surface
  • Kelly Gallagher’s personal writing prompts, which are centered around the topic of crisis, but can serve as inspiration for writing about other situations as well
  • 100+ writing prompts from Birmingham City Schools, which are grouped by options that are appropriate for younger, older, or all students
  • Ralph Fletcher’s Writer’s Notebook, which discusses the importance of documenting student lives through writing, how to encourage writing in the classroom, and more

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An entrypoint to abstract thinking

Dr. Gallo and his faculty first incorporated journaling into their instruction as a way to help students process and express their complex and troubling feelings. Expressing oneself through writing (whether on paper, by typing a note on a phone, or working within a Google Doc) allows us to identify and understand our thoughts, which in turn, helps us become more confident, calmer, and balanced. When we reflect on and process our thinking, we can also start to make crucial connections to comprehend more abstract concepts and ideas. This is how learning begins to happen. 

At AECI, students’ responses to how has the COVID-19 crisis had an impact on your personal life? became an entrypoint into an exploration of the more abstract second part of the essential question — how has the COVID-19 crisis had an impact on society? In Math and Science classes, students used their writing as a springboard for interpreting data that showed how COVID-19 affected their communities. In History classes, students connected the current pandemic to the Black Plague and the 1918 Spanish Flu, using resources such as historical journals, information from the New York Times, and the Smithsonian.

A call to action

Following their investigation of the connections between personal experience and the societal impact felt by COVID-19, AECI students began to address the final essential question: What are your recommendations for addressing or solving the COVID-19 crisis? In keeping with the stages of Karen’s Hesse’s Depth of Knowledge framework and CPET’s Rigormeter, students moved from exploring their concrete realities to analyzing data and evidence, developing their own theories, and, finally, proposing a call to action. 

The project at AECI will culminate in a schoolwide portfolio of student writing and artwork, as well as letters to politicians that will incorporate supporting evidence from each discipline and propose solutions to elements of the COVID-19 crisis. Although AECI is focusing specifically on COVID-19, this type of interdisciplinary project can work for any relevant topic that’s applicable to your community. 

​For many of us educators, the demands of content, testing, or curriculum can leave us feeling as though we don't have time to incorporate personal writing into our lessons. However, when we recognize the benefits that come from creating space for students to make sense of their thoughts and feelings, we can see how this work is essential to student engagement, and how it can support the introduction of new content. When students feel emotionally balanced, personally engaged, and connected to a topic, real learning can happen — during times of crisis and every day.

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CELEBRATING STUDENT VOICE
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REFLECTIVE WRITING EXPERIENCES
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RAISE THE BAR FOR STUDENT WRITING


​TAGS: COURTNEY BROWN, LITERACY, RESOURCES, WRITING
2 Comments

Students as published authors: reimagining the writing process

7/25/2019

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By CRISTINA ROMEO COMPTON

Student writing is often read by one person (a teacher), and for one reason (a grade). But what if it could be different? 

Through our Student Press Initiative, we seek to engage students in writing projects that culminate in print-based publications. These publications are designed for specific audiences, shaped around specific genres, and become widely accessible to their school community and the general public. This process not only helps students to establish their voices as writers, but helps revolutionize education by advancing teacher leadership in reading and writing instruction. 

Raising the bar for student writing

Though each publication is a unique reflection of its student authors, the five phases of our publication process remain constant:

  • Laying the groundwork: Crucial for identifying the genre, audience, and purpose for a publication. The decision around audience is an important one, as it informs the style, tone, and language of a publication, as well as the level of detail students will need to use to best communicate with their readers. Equipping students with the tools they need to write for an authentic audience allows students to gain skills and perspectives that will serve them beyond the classroom. As James Moffet states, ā€œā€¦One of the indications of maturity is the ability of a speaker to predict what different receivers will need to have made explicit for them and what they will understand without elaboration.ā€ (Moffett, Detecting Growth in Language, 1992, p 21). 
 
  • Project planning: Focused on scaffolding, planning, and studying mentor texts that will inform the trajectory of your project, and getting acquainted with a critical component of publication projects: the production calendar.
 
  • Supporting the writing process: An exploration of the importance of backwards planning, and how it can inform your curriculum and instruction. Together, we examine promising practices for supporting your students with the main phases of the writing process, including: pre-writing, drafting, and revision.
 
  • Production: Once students have created a piece of writing, it’s important to help them begin the production process, both individually and collaboratively. In this phase, we support students and teachers in preparing polished writing for a larger audience, and explore best practices for providing feedback to students.
 
  • Going public: How can students prepare to share their work? In this final phase, we explore options for participating in public readings and hosting book release celebrations.

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Publication in action: personal narratives from the Bronx

This spring, we supported 9th and 10th grade Special Education students at the Bronx High School for Business (BHSB) through this process. Their teacher was eager to introduce a project that would provide her students the opportunity to share a meaningful experience through the writing of a personal narrative or poem.

With this in mind, our coaches worked alongside the teacher and her students to facilitate a conversation about the audience for their project. We asked questions such as:

  • Who would enjoy reading these narratives and poems?
  • What do we want the readers to gain?
  • What do we want the readers to know or learn?

After careful consideration and deliberation, these young authors felt strongly that they wanted to write to younger members of the Bronx Business community — primarily incoming students and siblings — in an effort to offer meaningful advice. Over the course of the project, students at BHSB were able to hone and refine their writing, particularly as it relates to communicating with their chosen audience. They were able to revise their writing to include more colloquial language and tone, which they recognized would be most effective for communicating with their young and familiar audience. 

As a result, they published The Barriers We Faced, The Bridges We Built. This collection highlights the obstacles many BHSB students have encountered — moving to a new country, struggling in school, and disagreeing with family and friends. Though many of these obstacles seemed insurmountable, these young authors were able to meet them head-on with persistence and resilience, building the bridges necessary to overcome their personal barriers. 


​TAGS: CRISTINA ROMEO COMPTON, PROJECT-BASED LEARNING, STUDENT PRESS INITIATIVE, WRITING
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Understanding your audience: who are you writing for?

4/30/2019

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By BRAD CAMPION

Do you change the style, tone, and format of your writing depending on who the writing is for? Of course you do. Do you teach your students to do the same?

Whatever your answer, it’s important for student writers to truly analyze, discuss, and contemplate their audience. Thinking about the audience they are writing for can inject a different form of energy into students and subsequently, their writing. In addition, getting students to adjust their language and writing style based on the audience they’re interacting with is a transferable, life-long skill that will benefit them down the road.

I recently introduced a Student Press Initiative project in an 11-12th grade class at one of our long-time partner schools, the Bronx’s Morris Academy of Collaborative Studies (MACS). This class, which is labeled as a Peer Group Connection (PGC) class, consists of 25 junior and senior students that act as peer mentors for incoming freshmen. These 25 PGC students participate in weekly outreaches with freshmen to help support their transition to the academic and social challenges of high school. Peer mentors and mentees that participate in PGC express an increase in their academic achievements, developed social/relationship skills, and are more motivated to graduate high school.

Given the impact of this program, the staff and students at MACS wanted every high school in the Bronx to include a peer-mentorship program in their curriculum, and decided the book we would create would promote the PGC program to other principals in the Bronx. And thus, we had our audience.

Who is our audience?

Throughout this project, the students’ writing has been powerful, raw, and passionate. At times, the energy in their writing was so strong that it was challenging to harness and refocus that energy to address our specific audience. To help students keep their audience in mind when writing, we used a few strategies.

First, we (myself and the PGC teaching staff) organized the students into three writing groups: pathos, logos, and ethos. We created these writing groups to design an environment in which students could constantly engage with and think about their audience. In addition, these rhetorical devices helped influence students to produce persuasive writing from day one, which added another layer of excitement into the writing process.

Second, I designed a graphic organizer called ā€œWho is our Audience?ā€ for students to reference. This tool allowed students to explore their audience (Bronx principals) in multiple ways — what are their interests, their responsibilities, their goals? This activity proved to be influential for students, as it tested their interview skills, allowed them to receive direct feedback from their intended audience, and become more informed writers.
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Lastly, we designed a Feedback Rubric that we could use with students while revising their writing. This rubric provides a checklist that writers can reference at any point throughout the writing process, and requires evaluators to reference specific examples from the text. See below for an example of the rubric and how you might complete each section.
Category
Task complete?
Explanation
Audience
Does the writing speak to Bronx principals?


Yes
In paragraph 2 and 3, you specifically address how PGC can be beneficial to building a tighter, inclusive community at other high schools.
Genre
Does the writing include a convincing story or an emotional plea?


Yes! Very powerful!
In paragraph 1, you tell the readers about your experiences/challenges as a freshman and how your PGC leaders made you feel more welcomed at school. I think this will be a good hook for our readers.
Persuasive writing
As a reader, are you convinced PGC is needed?


Almost there
I think the beginning and middle of your piece are outstanding. I do want you to take a closer look at your last two paragraphs. Perhaps expand on your experience as a senior/peer leader to contrast your opening story as a freshman. How have you grown? What effect did PGC have on you?
Grammar
Are there any significant grammatical issues?

Nothing major
Check my comments and edits on your piece.

Other thoughts



-


Look back at your graphic organizer or our mentor text if you are getting stuck.



Feel free to adjust our graphic organizer and rubric to your own needs, or use them as a starting point for your own project! If you’re interested in seeing the product of our collaboration with the PGC group at MACS, check back on our new releases page — we’ll be releasing our publication with MACS on May 31st. I wouldn’t be surprised if the writing included in this publication convinces you to introduce a peer-mentorship program at your school!
TAGS: PROJECT-BASED LEARNING, STUDENT PRESS INITIATIVE, WRITING
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