Understanding in Writing Bottleneck Conceptual Understanding in Writing Bottleneck -Julie Edmonds, Energy Tech High School

Proficiency in High School Writing One-background/ rationale for bottleneck

Energy Tech 10th Grade English Benchmark Data School data relating to bottleneck

What is the bottleneck? Students lack conceptual understanding of the task, text, purpose, and audience of writing There is a gap between successful test prep writing and college writing. Test prep writing asks students to write with minimal thinking, whereas a high quality college writing assignment asks students to think deeply than write to express that thinking What is the bottleneck?

Why do students lack conceptual understanding in writing? My school’s English curriculum emphasizes performance on time-pressured test essays to prepare for the English Regents

How do experts approach this bottleneck? A lot of writing work takes place BEFORE writing (rereading prompt, annotating, outlining, gathering evidence) as well as in the revising and reworking of the draft

Curriculum Adaptation Question How do we add thinking back into the curriculum to encourage a more college-ready writing process?

Curriculum changes to address this bottleneck: Embed writing topics more throughout units Add more engaging writing assignments Give “freewrite” time to gather ideas Provide more models of different stages of the writing process Spend more class time writing and create more expectations around planning and outlining Provide feedback in one-on-one conferencing

Writing Assignment Example Option 1: Research North Korea. How do elements of the current North Korean totalitarian regime reflect aspects of one of our prior texts (Lord of the Flies or Fahrenheit 451) and our current text, Night?

Student Freewrite Example

Feedback and Motivation: Conference Purpose Provide in the moment feedback Address problems and misconceptions Communicate clear, high expectations of next steps Motivate students to work harder through discussion Help students develop language to discuss their writing choices, and ownership over their ideas and process Teacher benefit- allowed me to assess the needs of the class and design mini-lessons to address repeated issues

Feedback and Motivation: Conference Structure Ask student: “What are your goals for this writing? What do you need help with?” Read some of their writing and give feedback related to their objectives. Give concrete possible next steps. Ask student: “What will you do when you return to your seat?” Clarify or encourage as needed. Take notes in spreadsheet (shared with other teachers if co-taught class). At the end of the period give an exit slip with a written response check-in to see who to follow up with/ which issues to address further.

Conference Feedback Spreadsheet Example

Student Survey on Writing Process Question: How did creating an outline before writing the essay influence your writing process?

It helped me in some ways but at the same time I felt like it was a lot of writing and thinking that I had to put into it but it was helpful.”

It helped me have a set idea for what I wanted to write in my essay instead of aimlessly staring at the paper without a clue of what I should write."

This really benefited me in creating or rewriting my thesis so it would be stronger. I originally had simple thesis at the beginning. But when there was time to conference with the teacher it really was clear what I needed to do.”

Julie Edmonds jedmonds@energytechhs.org