Chapter 10-Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum

Kira Kalepp                        Week 13                 ENGED 463

Main Idea Trees

• Informational texts usually have several main ideas about a single topic.  A tree can help children visualize and organize information.  The topic you are learning about is the trunk of the tree and the main ideas about the topic are the large branches and details are the small branches

Time Lines

• Help us organize information in which the sequence of events is what is important
• Let students watch as you construct your timeline based on a paragraph of information

Compare/Contrast Bubbles

• Show the similarities and differences between two things can be demonstrated and organized in a Venn diagram or double bubble.  This type of graphic organizer is very versatile and can be used to teach students to compare and contrast two things-setting, characters, themes, versions of same tale and other traits

Think-Writes

• Are short, quick bits of writing that help your students focus and clarify their thinking
• Often completed in 2 minutes and never take more than 5 minutes
• They aren’t published, so they don’t require revising and editing
• Connection Think-Writes-before students begin to learn about a new topic in math, science or social studies, ask them to share what they already know, but instead have them answer a specific question and write it down.  During these connection think-writes, students are recoding their ideas on scrap paper which is essential to successful two-minutes think-writes because they don’t need much for this activity. 
• Prediction Think–Writes-when you can engage all students in using think-writes to have them predict what they think is going to happen or take place in the upcoming lesson.  Students can write their name on these small pieces of paper and can be referred back to during the lesson if they predicted right or were on the right path.  They work well in science and social studies
• Think-Writes for Summarizing-can also use think-writes to help your students do the thinking processes they use while they are reading.  Give them 3 minutes to mine the graphics and write down what they think that are going to learn about.  Then they will read the text then give them 3 sticky notes for making the 3 most important facts they learned about. 
• Think Writes for Concluding, Evaluating and Imagining-pose a question that requires students to draw conclusions by drawing on experiences and learning.  Tell them as they read, you want them to try and figure out how things are similar or different.  Then have them share their comparisons and support their ideas with information.

Classroom Application:  After reading this chapter, I learned that the more students read, the better and more fluently they will read, the more they write, the better and more fluently they will write.  These suggestions were to piggyback writing lessons to your informational text comprehension lessons. Writing paragraph summaries after construction of main idea trees, time lines or compare/contrast bubbles is actually easier for students than other writing because the information they need is available to them in an organized way.  The graphic organizer they refer to while writing also helps ease the spelling burden and allows them to write more fluently.  Think-writes are another way of connecting reading, writing and subject learning, which can be constructed to prompt students to make connections and predictions before they read and to prod them to use the thinking strategies of summarizing, concluding, evaluating and imagining as they read.  Lastly, research confirms that having students write during science, social studies and other subjects increases their learning in all these subjects and having them write regularly produces the greatest gains.