Think before you write

In anticipation of our next writing pieces -- especially I-Search.

Think Before You Write
Joanna Hawkins

After teaching 7th and 8th grade students the mechanics of researching and writing a well-crafted research paper and giving the class plenty of time execute their projects, teacher Joanna Hawkins and her colleague were surprised at the mediocre results. Even the best papers were not consistently thoughtful, precise, or well developed.

However, when students gave poster presentations tied to their research papers, which had addressed the struggle of African Americans to create a nation of equality after the Civil War, the two teachers were equally surprised about the content knowledge, enthusiasm, and thinking that students exhibited.

How could the students' clear demonstration of knowledge—as seen through the poster presentations—come through in their writing? To resolve the problem, the teachers developed a process, "Writing for Understanding," to structure the research paper unit.

Writing for Understanding
Besides focusing on a big idea and framing that idea within an essential question, then helping students to structure their papers and using the writing process (draft, conference, revision) to hone their thinking, "Writing for Understanding" hinges on two essential steps: building a working knowledge of the content and processing and capturing that knowledge.

A teacher can help students build their working knowledge of the content by helping them develop relevant vocabulary and giving them opportunities to comprehend related texts through appropriate reading level materials and discussion. Frequent discussion also offers students opportunities to refine their knowledge so they will know what they're talking about as they sit down to write their research paper.

To process and capture knowledge, Hawkins advises teachers to "be intentional" about having students take notes so they have opportunities to capture their understanding in their own words. For example, in a history unit on the Battle of Dunkirk, Hawkins' students reread related texts using the essential focusing question as their lens: "How do the forces of technology, geography, desire for power, economics, and values influence the little boats' rescue of British soldiers at Dunkirk?" Using a template to break down the questions into its parts, her students analyzed the event by taking notes on each factor.

Hawkins maintains that, by using the "Writing for Understanding" process, the strongest students frequently showed levels of insight that amazed the teachers, and struggling students produced writing that showed solid understanding.

The "Writing for Understanding" Process

1) Select an enduring understanding or big idea that students should demonstrate in their written product.

2) Develop a focusing question that will enable students to approach the big idea in a specific, manageable way.

3) Build working knowledge of the content.

4) Help students process the knowledge, capturing it in notes so that they can use it in their writing.

5) Help students structure their writing so that their thinking is clear.

6) Use the writing process (draft, confer, revise) to help students produce a written product that is focused, organized, and developed to show understanding of the big idea.

Educational Leadership
October 2006 | Volume 64 | Number 2
Reading, Writing, Thinking Pages 63-66