1. The Research on Writing
Why Students Need to Write

2. This presentation was developed for the PIIC PLO by Joe Ginotti, Director of the Graduate School of Education, Penn Literacy Network, University of Pennsylvania
PIIC PLO
State College, PA
October 12, 2015

3. Write, Turn and Talk Your School and Writing
What’s going well?
What needs to be better?
As a coach, how do you nurture writing as a best practice?
NAEP research shows that there are “wildly” inconsistent practices in writing instruction in middle and high schools in the US.
Writing is the easiest score to change by practice.
Reading is next.
Math is 3rd.

4. What’s New in the Research?
Neuroscience and cognitive science research are increasingly providing information that correlates creativity and the practice of writing with intelligence; academic, social, and emotional success; and the development of skill sets and higher-process thinking that will become increasingly valuable for students of the 21st century. Consider all of the important ways that writing supports the development of higher-process thinking: critical analysis; induction; deduction; prior-knowledge evaluation (not just activation) for prediction; recognition of relationships for symbolic conceptualization; evaluation of emotions; including recognizing and analyzing response choices; and the ability to recognize and activate information stored in memory circuits throughout the brain’s cerebral cortex. Judy Willis, Neurologist and Consultant, The South Coast Writing Project.
New standards involve all of this (TDA, Math Practices)
Often writing is seen as a product rather than a process.
Writing improves memory, transfer, critical thinking, ….. Everything we know about learning.

5. What’s New in the Research?
“That’s all fine and good, but I teach math (or science)”:
Writing can help the brain to develop the logical functions required for successful math and science learning. From the ages of 8-18, a rapid phase of maturation takes place in the brain, developing an individual’s “executive function.” The practice of writing can enhance the brain’s intake, processing, retaining, and retrieving of information. Through writing, students can increase their comfort with and success in understanding complex material, unfamiliar concepts, and subject-specific vocabulary. When writing is embedded throughout the curriculum, it promotes the brain’s attentive focus to classwork and homework, boosts long term memory, illuminates patterns, gives the brain time for reflection, and when well-guided, is a source of conceptual development and stimulus of the brain’s highest cognition.
Judy Willis, Neurologist and Consultant, The South Coast Writing Project
Exectutive Function – basically, how we learn.
Writing is a tool for learning – this is an easier sell than “writing across the curriculum”

6. Some Interesting Facts
Less than 2% of high school students will major in English in college.
Less than 1% of high school students will enroll in journalism or professional writing-related majors in college.
Elmore and Abelman, “When Opportunity Knocks…” CPRE, 1999
But we see most writing occurring in ELA classes.
Journalism is one of the most rapidly declining majors in college.

7. Some Interesting Facts
Writing is identified as #2 on the list of academic predictors for college success.
Professors cite the lack of habit, voice, passion, and completeness as the most pronounced deficiencies in college freshmen.
Higher Education Research Institute, “Report on Academic Readiness,” 2008
Refers to HOW MUCH they write, not how well.
#1 – How much a student reads, not how well.

8. Some Interesting Facts
Writing skills are identified as a core requirement of more than 95% of the top 25 top-paying jobs in America.
Writing skills are identified as a core component of 75% of the top job opportunities for high school graduates entering the job market.
Sauter, “High Skills, High Pay…” ACT Information Brief, 2007
There are specific skills to write at this professional level
HS graduates entering the work force – think about office workers, clerical work, etc.

9. What Stands Out for You?
What are the implications of this research for you?
Does this challenge any long-held beliefs?
With whom would you like to share this information?
Please Discuss

10. Why is Writing So Important?
Promotes processing and learning:
Connections to prior knowledge
Comprehension
Deeper understanding
Retention
Promotes critical thinking skills
Promotes vocabulary development
Promotes effective communication skills
Promotes effective assessment
Brown, Collins, Duguids, The Culture of Learning, 1999
Writing matters! It is a high volume return for investment of time.
Writing forces students to translate concepts into their own words.
What we teach doesn’t matter if they haven’t processed it.
There is no better learning tool than writing it down.
Helps students understand how – what I’m learning today relates to what I learned yesterday
Critical thinking – thinking again in a different way
Vocabulary – need 8-15 oral repetitions or experiences BUT fewer if writing it authentically – there is a stronger connection, better understanding and more efficient retrieval
Communication Skills – reason writing is so important in the workplace (formal, informal, tone, knowledge of audience, voice) Most kids think the teacher is the audience.
Assessment – formative assessment is best when students generate an answer, not recognize an answer
Writing builds a stronger cortex – a retrieval system in the mind

11. What Will Make a Difference?
Habit
Fluency
Authenticity
Variety
Choice
Focused Practice
Focused and Timely Feedback
Writing Next, Carnegie Commission, 2007
Habit – writing is a motor skill and a cognitive skill. In grades 5-12 students need 12+ opportunities to write (creating, drafting, composing – NOT copying) Needs to be across content – this cannot happen in any one class
Fluency – writing becomes a natural process (jotting, reflecting, journaling, noting observations, tickets out the door) Reading their writing aloud improves fluency. You recognize errors better when you read aloud. When reading silently you are remember what you were thinking when you wrote.
Authenticity – Brown, 2002: 92% of writing in school is some form of an essay. Less than 2% of writing in the real world is essay.
Variety – need to adjust style and voice when considering the audience and the format. Pushing too soon to multiple paragraphs negatively impacts writing.
Choice – writing improves when students have ownership. Choice also increases engagement and motivation.
Focused Practice – students learn more from composing and drafting than from revising. The writer grows more when they have multiple opportunities to START Length is unrelated to quality!
Feedback – the more teacher corrects, the LESS they grow as writers. Should only grade 2 to 5 areas on a paper. Conferencing is still best hours is the opportunity for feedback. 48 hours is the drop dead timeline. After that feedback doesn’t matter. Given feedback and a grade students look at the grade and not the feedback.
Study guides are only helpful when students make them. If using powerpoint or giving notes, provide as little verbage as possible. Students should need to make notes (not copy notes). Copying does nothing to promote learning.
Students need to learn that they must stop and think, write and process in order to remember.

12. Is the Pen Mightier than the Keyboard?
There IS a difference between writing by hand and typing at a keyboard.
There are cognitive benefits to putting a pen to paper:
Compared to typing on a keyboard, writing by hand uses more complex brainpower – it integrates three brain processes:
Visual: seeing what is on the paper in front of you
Motor: using your fine motor skills to actually put the pen to paper and form the letters to make the words.
Cognitive: Remembering the shapes of the letters requires a different type of feedback from the brain.
Advances in Haptics, by Anne Mangen and Jen-luc Velay, National Centre for Reading Education and Research, 2013
Keyboarding is more like recognizing than generating
Need to define and refine motor skills

13. Is the Pen Mightier than the Keyboard?
There are cognitive benefits to putting a pen to paper:
It coordinates left and right brain processes
It boosts cognitive skills (processing of thoughts, feelings, connections to prior knowledge)
It inspires creativity (when “connected” script is used)
It imporves memory and retrieval of ideas
Recommendations:
Consider purpose and product
Consider fluency at the keyboard
Consider access
Consider assessments
Teach keyboarding skills
Seek a balance
Creativity is an important element
Problem is that we don’t teach cursive anymore. Connected script activates different areas of the brain than manuscript
Need to know how to compose on the keyboard – different from typing their handwritten draft for publication
Assessments – if taking assessments on the computer, need to teach these skills of reading and composing at the computer

14. Staring at the Blank Page Coaching Writing in all Content Areas
PIIC PLO
Concurrent Sessions
October 13, 2015

15. Agenda Reviewing Writing to Read Recommendations
Experiencing a Writing Unit using a Text Set
Scaffolding Writing Instruction
Coaching a Process for Writing Instruction

16. Writing to Read
1: Have students write about the text they read 2: Teach students the writing skills and processes that go into creating text 3: Increase how much students write
Go over talking points from this research done by Carnegie Corporation
Found at this address:
Talking points:
Writing to Read (Graham & Hebert, 2010) general findings include:
I. Have Students Write About the Texts They Read. Students’ comprehension of science, social studies, and language arts texts is improved when they write about what they read, specifically when they:
• Respond to a text in writing (writing personal reactions, analyzing and interpreting the text)
• Write summaries of a text
• Write notes about a text
• Answer questions about a text in writing, or create and answer written questions about a text
II. Teach Students the Writing Skills and Processes That Go Into Creating Text. Students’ reading skills and comprehension are improved by learning the skills and processes that go into creating text, specifically when teachers
Teach the process of writing, text structures for writing, paragraph or sentence construction skills (improves reading comprehension)
Teach spelling and sentence construction skills (improves reading fluency)
Teach spelling/word analysis skills (improves word reading skills)
II. Increase How Much Students Write. Students’ reading comprehension is improved by having them increase how often they produce their own texts.
Graham, S., & Hebert, M.A. (2010). Writing to read: Evidence for how writing can improve reading. A Carnegie Corporation Time to Act Report. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.
How could this information inform your coaching?
3 minutes to talk at tables
Presenter listen in and share out some important points overheard
(Helpful if you can identify which table group generated the important point)

17. WORK A Writing Unit Middle School ELA
Introduce the unit – designed for secondary students
You will see a set of texts utilized in this unit – a painting, a poem, an essay
You will see the analysis deepen with each text.
As we go through the unit, we will pause to consider what scaffolds are or could be put in place to support student success.
Unit designed by Carol Jago
Described in Educational Leadership
“Writing is TAUGHT, Not CAUGHT”
April 2014

18. What role does work play in your life and in the lives of those around you? Write at least 4 lines
Allow 3 minutes for participants to write.
Check or stamp their writing
Stop – this could be considered a scaffold – activate background knowledge before entering text or instruction

19. What Task?
How does work define an individual? After reading the provided painting, poem, and essay on work, write an essay in which you analyze the authors’ claims about work. Support your discussion with evidence from the texts.
(LDC IE4)
This is a preview of the writing task that will come at the end of the unit. Set the stage with this slide.
Note the link to literacy design collaborative (LDC)
While Carol Jago did not design this as an LDC unit the parallels are obvious.

20. The Potato Eaters Vincent van Gogh
Examine van Gogh’s painting on the next slide.
Silent Reflection: How does work seem to have affected the people in this picture?
Share your observations at your table. Be sure to use evidence from the painting to support your claims.
Directions for the next slide

21. How does work seem to have affected the people in this picture?
Allow 2 minutes for SILENT reflection
Jot down ideas and evidence during silent reflection using post-it notes (a recommended strategy is to take notes)
Talk at tables or with a partner
Share reflections as a group
Toss the koosh ball – when you catch the ball, share one of your thoughts

22. Scaffolding Embedded in the lesson: Other ideas?
Silent, personal reflection before any sharing
Collaborating with a partner
Taking notes
Use of a visual rather than written text
Other ideas?
Allow participants to share ideas at tables
Slide will animate

23. Coaching Connections
In which part(s) of the BDA cycle would questions about scaffolding be most critical?
What questions could you ask a teacher to consider scaffolds for students?
Ideas for additional scaffolds:
Sentence starters, more in depth question for advanced learners
Provide some vocabulary for students to use in the conversations

24. Digging by Seamus Henry
Between my finger and my thumb   
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.
Under my window, a clean rasping sound   
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:   
My father, digging. I look down
Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds   
Bends low, comes up twenty years away   
Stooping in rhythm through potato drills   
Where he was digging.
The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft   
Against the inside knee was levered firmly.
He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep
To scatter new potatoes that we picked,
Loving their cool hardness in our hands.
By God, the old man could handle a spade.   
Just like his old man.
My grandfather cut more turf in a day
Than any other man on Toner’s bog.
Once I carried him milk in a bottle
Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up
To drink it, then fell to right away
Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods
Over his shoulder, going down and down
For the good turf. Digging.
The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap
Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge
Through living roots awaken in my head.
But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I’ll dig with it.
Presenter read the poem aloud while participants follow along.
OR, click on the title to have the poet read the poem himself. If you do this, start the audio and minimize your browser to go back to this slide for participants to follow along.

25. Find a line that strikes you Write about it
Reread the poem
Find a line that strikes you
Write about it
What are some claims that are being made about work in this poem?
Follow directions on the slide
Allow 8 minutes for rereading and writing.
The question on the slide is animated. Only bring this up after everyone has completed writing.
This question should first be discussed with a partner before sharing in the large group.
Add thoughts from partner groups to a padlet
Padlet link

26. Scaffolding Embedded in the lesson: Poem is read to the students first
Multiple readings
No wrong answer
Still adding to students’ background knowledge preparing them for the task at the end of the unit
Text is short
Opportunity to talk with a partner before sharing
Text dependent questions designed to lead to the final task
Also a scaffold that the unit provides different types of text

27. Coaching Connections
What questions would you ask a teacher to reflect on their lesson plan so that there is a check for understanding of this poem?
Roles of the coach –
Pacing – this unit is weeks long!
Use of a text set
Scaffolding
Formative assessment
Learning outcomes

28. Read the article “Blue Collar Brilliance: Questioning Assumptions about Intelligence, Work and Social Class” by Mike Rose.
Through discussion, determine paragraph by paragraph how Rose constructs his argument and provides evidence to support his claim.
Mike Rose uses his mother’s experience as an accomplished waitress to make the case that physical work often involves high level thinking and analysis.
Allow 5 minutes for partners to follow the directions on the screen. They will only get as far as they can in that time.
At tables – discuss – what is his claim and what evidence have you gathered so far?
On chart paper – 2 column notes
Left – claim, Right evidence
This would become a tool when students begin to write to the assigned task.
Diner in Pawtucket, Rhode Island (Photo by Carol Highsmith/Library of Congress)

29. Scaffolding Embedded in the lesson:
Working collaboratively with a partner
Chunking the text
No wrong answer
Still adding to students’ background knowledge preparing them for the task at the end of the unit
Structured note-making (two-column notes)
Text dependent questions designed to lead to the final task
Also a scaffold that the unit provides different types of text

30. Coaching Connections
What is the role of the coach in ensuring the unit is successful?
Roles of the coach –
Pacing – this unit is weeks long!
Use of a text set
Scaffolding
Formative assessment
Learning outcomes

31. Time to Write
How does work define an individual? After reading the provided painting, poem, and essay on work, write an essay in which you analyze the authors’ claims about work. Support your discussion with evidence from the texts.
(LDC IE4)

32. What Skills?
Brainstorm skills students would need to be successful in this unit and completion of the writing task?

33. Would You Add/Change Anything?
Task analysis
Active reading (Note-Making)
Essential vocabulary
Note-Taking
Bridging conversation to writing
Writing process
Establish focus, plan, develop, revise, edit
Handout What Skills? From LDC
This is not a definitive list or intended to imply that skills listed by the table groups are “wrong”
Compare the list generated by the group -

34. Coaching Connections
As you look back at the lesson plan, were any of these skills taught?
As a teacher plans to meet the needs of students, where would deliberate instruction fit?
What might that instruction look like?
What support would the teacher need in designing and delivering a similar unit?

35. Table Talk
Discuss the instructional sequence in this unit (types of text, tasks, scaffolding, etc).
How are Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking integrated in this unit?
How could this be a model for other content and grade levels?
5 minutes for table talk
What would a text set look like in math or science?

36. Aha! & Huh?
Aha! On the lined side of the index card provided, list one or two points that you take away from this session.
Huh? On the unlined side of the card, list one or two questions that you still have.
Thank You!