Вы находитесь на странице: 1из 11

Monica Messing

March 6, 2015
TE 848
Teaching Project
Informational Writing in Second Grade:
Using Text Structure as a Way to Understand Audience
Thereisanecessaryskill,whenyouentercollegelevelcourses,tobeabletounderstand
nonfictiontextanddemonstrateacriticalviewofthetextthroughwriting.Studentsneed
tohaveadequateexposuretobothnonfictionreadingandwriting,accordingtothe
CommonCoreStateStandards.Butformanyteachers,theprocessofteachingstudents
howtoillicitanunderstandingofinformationalwritingremainsadauntingtask.Within
mysecondgradeclassroomthereisevidencethatmystudentsunderstandthatthe
purposeofnonfictiontextistoprovideinformation.However,studentsneedtobeable
totaketheirunderstandingofauthorspurposedeeperiftheyregoingtoindependently
createexpositorywriting.AccordingtotheCCSSAnchorStandardsforWriting,
[Students] learn to appreciate that a key purpose of writing is to communicate clearly to
an external, sometimes unfamiliar audience, and they begin to adapt the form and content
of their writing to accomplish a particular task and purpose. Studentsneedabasic
understandingofforminordertoeffectivelyactasanauthor.Itswhenstudentsare
askedtoformtheirowninformationalwritingthatmanystudentsdontknowwhereto
beginorwhattheiraudiencemightrequire.
Myteachingprojectzerosinontheroleoftextstructureasastrategyforhelpingstudents
discovertheaudienceintheirwriting.Usingmentortextsandstudentselfassessments
studentswillbeencouragedtothinkcriticallyaboutthebeststructureinwhichthey
shouldpresenttheirinformation.Theyllponderandexplorequestionsaboutthe
audienceinordertodetermineorganizationalstructures.Theexplorationofstructureand
audiencewillbeusedtoproduceamagazinearticleinwhichstudentsgiveinformation
onaPersonalExpertisetopic.Thegoalistohelpstudentsimaginetheneedsofthe
readerinordertoevaluateiftheyvesufficientlyrelayedtheirinformation.Withthe
increasedemphasisoninformationalgenreintheCCSS,itsimportantnowmorethan
everthatstudentsareabletoorganizetheirinformationinawaythatwilladequately
communicatetheirpurposeasanauthor.

TheRoleofTextFeaturesinInformationalWriting
Bythetimestudentsreachsecondgrade,manyofthemhaveencounteredandare
familiarwiththemajorityofthedifferenttextfeatures.TableofContents,diagrams,
captions,glossaries,index,andboldwordsarefrequentlyusedinnonfictiontextsacross
theirreadinglevel.Towardsthebeginningoftheyearwereviewedmanyofthesetext
features.Wedusethemtolocatenewinformationortohelpanswerquestionsinour

reading.Itsnotsurprising,then,toseestudentsabletocorrectlyidentifynonfictiontext
featureswhilereading.Inwriting,however,studentsarerequiredtothinkmorecritically
aboutthepurposeofthesefeaturesasanauthor.Inorderforstudentstounderstandhow
toeffectivelywriteinformationaltext,theyneedtounderstandthepurposeofdifferent
componentsofinformationtexts.

TheveryfirstactivitywedidinourinformationalwritingunitwastogoonaText
FeatureWalk(KelleyandClausenGrace,2010).Studentswereaskedanessential
question,Howdoauthorsofnonfictiontextshareinformationwithreaders?andwere
askedtolookattextfeaturesspecificallytoanswerthequestion.Theyviewedavariety
ofnonfictiontextsandwrotedownthedifferenttextfeaturestheywereseeing.After
severalminutesofindependentandpartnersearches,wecametogetherasagroupto
discusswhatwewereseeing.Thisdiscussionwasrecordedinagraphicorganizerforour
reference.Wespentseveraldaysdoingthissothatstudentshadtheopportunitytoview
avarietyofdifferentnonfictiontexts,includingmagazinearticles.Towardstheendwe
revisitedouressentialquestionandagainasked,Howdoauthorsofnonfictiontextshare
informationwithreaders?Studentsunanimouslyhadaverydirectanswer;theyusetext
featurestogivethereadermorespecificinformation.Somestudentsexplainedthatthey
usedthepicturestohelpthemknowwhatsomethinglookedlikedortheglossarytohelp
themwithanunknownword.Itwasclear,then,thattextfeatureshaveapurposefor
authortoclarifyinformationforthereader.
Istartedwiththislessonforseveralreasons.Thefirstisthatitsessentialforstudentsto
beabletothinkofnonfictiontextfromadifferentperspectiveofanauthor.This
lessonhelpedstudentsshifttheirframeofthinkingfromthatofareadertothatofa
writer.Itsetthestandardfortheauthorspurpose.Theexplorativenatureofthislesson
helpedtobothclarifyforstudentswhatnonfictiontextisaswellaswhatisexpectedfrom
nonfictionwriters.ThesecondreasonIstartedwiththislessonisbecause,bythemonth
ofFebruaryinsecondgrade,studentshavearelativelyclearunderstandingoftext
features.Itssomethingseenandusedforseveralmonths.Startingwithtextfeatures
gavestudentstheopportunitytoapplytheirbackgroundknowledgetothisunitofwriting.
TextStructuresWhyFocusonStructureinElementaryWriting
Fromthispoint,studentsstartedtopinpointwhattheirtopicfortheirmagazinearticle
wouldbeinthiscasetheirpersonalexpertise.Wespentsometimenarrowingdown
ouroptionsuntilwehadfinallysettledonaspecifictopic.Iusedthetopicofschoolto
modeltheprocesswhilestudentschosetheirowntopics.Therewasawidevarietyof
topicschosensuchasdogs,gymnastics,soccer,Beethoven,andpetturtles.
OncestudentssettledonatopicIrealizedtheywerestrugglingtounderstandwheretogo
forthenextstep.Manyofthemhadstartedtosimplymakealistofeverythingthey
knewaboutthetopic.Asstudentsweresharingtheirwritingwiththeirpartners,Inoticed

thattheywereincludingvaguedescriptionssimilartotheAllAboutwritingtheydid
infirstgrade.Manystudentswereusingsubheadingstocategorizetheirwriting,butit
stillseemedtobeoneortwoparagraphsaboutatopic.Studentswerestrugglingtotake
theirideasfurtherasauthors.Thisisacommonthemeinearlyelementaryclassrooms
studentsconsistentlygivemorevagueinformationwhensharinginformation(Read,
2005).ButIwantedtotakemystudentswritingfurther,andIknewmysecondgraders
werecapableoforganizingtheirthinkingbecausetheyweredoingitduringourreading
andpartnershares.ItbecamecleartomethatIwantedtousethisinformationalwriting
processasawayforstudentstoexploreandcreatetheirmagazinearticle,utilizingtext
structuresinsteadofsimplygivingatopicandlistingdetailsaboutthattopic.
UsingourmodeltopicofSchoolIencouragedthemtothinkcriticallyaboutthis.We
hadmadealistofthingswedoatschoolandIstoppedandasked,Doesthistell
someonealltheimportantthingstheyneedtoknowaboutschool?Ofcourse,the
answerwasno.Theresnochancealistofthingsyoudoatschoolwouldhelpsomeone
understandwhatitsliketobeasecondgrader.Oneofmystudentsevenstated,Its
morecomplicatedthanthat.
Exactly.Informationaltextsaremorecomplicatedthanthat.Theyremorethanjusta
listofideasallaboutatopic.Theresatonofinformationwegetfrominformational
texts,theydontjustlistwhatyoudoatschoolbuttheytellyouwhereyoudoit,whatit
lookslike,howyoudoit,whoyoudoitwith,etc.Itoldstudentsthatauthorswhowrite
nonfictionhavelotsofchoicestomakeandthatweweregoingtostartthinkingabout
whatchoiceswehavetomakeifweregoingtoreallyshowourreadersthewhole
picture.
Itbecameabundantlyclear,afterdoingourtextfeaturewalk,thatstudentsweremissinga
clearunderstandingofinformationalwritingtextstructure.Theyhadknowledgeabout
theirtopicbuttheyneededmoresupportorganizingthatknowledgeintoaninformational
magazinearticle.
Istartedtoseeaconnectionfromourreadingpracticesintoourwritingpractices.Often,
whilestudentsarereadingnonfictiontexts,theyreusingagraphicorganizertohelp
categorizenewinformationintheirmind.Thisallowsourbraintostructurethe
information,makingitmoreaccessibletousetheinformationatalaterdate.Teaching
text discourse patterns and structures through the use of modeltexts
and then applying these in childrens writing helped them to
simultaneously improve comprehension and writing composition.
(JonesandReutzel,2013).Thestructureofaninformationaltextiscrucialforreaders
tocomprehendatext.IknewIhadtohelpmystudentsmakethisconnectioninorderfor
themtousestructureasabasisfortheirmagazinearticles.

TextFeaturesvs.TextStructure

ThefirstthingIdidtohelpmystudentsunderstandtheimportanceoftextstructurein
writingwastochoosebettermentortexts.Itbecamecleartomethat,whilemanyofthe
textswewerelookingathadavarietyoftextfeatures,mostofthemconsistedofthe
sametextstructure.IfIwantedmystudentstobeabletoutilizethedifferentstructuresin
theirreading,thanIwasgoingtohavetoprovidethemmentortextsthatcouldshow
themthevalueoftextstructure.Using well- structured exemplars of
informational text structures to provide text structure instruction helps
young students more easily recognize text structures, thus allowing
them to use this knowledge later on to comprehend less wellstructured, complex information texts (JonesandReutzel,2013).Ifoundthe
followingresourceshadavarietyoftextstructuresforstudentstouse:

Gibbons,Gail(2000).ThePumpkinBook.HolidayHousePublising.
Tagholm,Sally(2009).IncredibleInsectsQ&A.DKPublishing;NewYork,
NY.

Wolfman,Ira(2014).Turtles&Tortoises.PearsonDigitalStudio.NewJersey.

Anastasio,Dina(2014).SoundAcrosstheWires:AlexanderGrahamBellInvents
theTelephonePearsonDigitalStudios;NewJersey.

Ispecificallychosebooksthatutilizedavarietyoftextstructures.Ialsousedavarietyof
magazinearticles(NationalGeographicKids).
Nowthatwehadmentortextsthatwerespecifictoourneeds,wewalkedthroughthe
textsagain.Thistime,wewerelookingforthekindofinformationtheauthorwasgiving
us.ImodeledthislessonoffofthelessonUsing Text Features to Understand Text
Structures (Michael Friermood, 2015). We made a T-chart and listed the text features we
know. Then, we used those text features to help us think about the structure, what is the
author trying to help us learn? For example, in The Pumpkin Book, the author shows us a
page with the life cycle of a pumpkin. Each picture has a caption that describes the stage.
I recorded our conversation of this page in the text:
Teacher: What text features do we see?
Student 1: Pictures, well actually drawings
Student 2: Captions!
Teacher: Ahhso Gail Gibbons uses pictures and captions...but why? What does she
want us to learn here?
Student 3: She wanted us to learn, like, how does a pumpkin growI mean what happens
first and then next until its a pumpkin

Student 4: Like a pumpkin life cycle!


Teacher: Right! She wanted us to think about how a pumpkin grows, from the beginning
to the end. This is called a sequence, when you tell something from the beginning to
the end. Weve done this before in writing when we wrote our personal narratives, we
told our stories from the beginning to the end. Nonfiction books use a sequence, too,
except here its telling us the sequence of the life cycle of a pumpkin seed!
As we read, we realized that the authors were showing us photographs of a tortoise next
to a turtle because they were comparing them, or that the texts were showing us how-to
do something by sequencing. We started filling in our projected T-chart and when we
were finished we had a completed list of text structures (Figure 2).
Figure2:TextFeaturesvs.TextStructure

Adapted from Michael Friermoods Text Structure Chart (2015)

Fromthispointonintheunit,IprojectedthisTcharteverytimewewerewriting.It
endedupbeingavaluabletoolbecausestudentshadlearnedaboutmanyofthese
structuresinreading,especiallythedescription,compare/contrast,andhowtowriting.I
modeledtakingatopic,school,andusingthetextstructuretohelpmeorganize.One
specificlessonIdidwasonthelanguageauthorsusewhentheirgivingdescriptions.We
decidedtousetheDifferentKindsofThings(description)structuretodescribethe
materialsasecondgradermight
needforschool.Westartedby
Figure 3: Informational Phrases
drawingafewmaterials,adesk,
scissors,backpack,etc.I
Phrases Authors Use to give Information
encouragedstudentstotakethat
For example
thinkingdeeperbydescribingwhy
Most importantly
eachmaterialwasimportant.For
Another kind
instance,abackpackisimportant
__ is different from _ because
__is similar to __ because
Adapted from Table 1: Informational Text
Structures (Jones and Reutzel, 2013).

becauseitkeepsyourhomeworkandlibrarybooksneat.Usingthisexample,we
brainstormedphrasesauthorsoftenusetodescribewithininformationaltext(Figure3).
Studentswerebeginningtousethesephrasestoconnecttheirideasintosentences.Ialso
noticedstudentsstartingtousethesephrasesastheyweretalkingtotheirwriting
partners.
ManystudentswereabletousethelistoftextstructuresseeninFigure2tohelporganize
theirthinking,andthisorganizationhelpedthemutilizelanguageinordertoinformthe
reader.Whentheirorganizationwasclear,studentswereabletoclarifytheirknowledge.
Writingwithinaparticularfunctionenableswriterstoorganizemeaningaround
intentionandlanguageratherthanaroundthestructureofacompletedproduct(Graham,
MacArthur,Fitzgerald,2013).Ifoundthatmanyofmystudentswhohadwrittenlists
Figure 4: Billy Struggles to Structure beforewereabletousethelistof
structurestohelpfindthelanguage
his Thinking
necessarytoelaborateontheirtopic.
Anexampleofthisisfrommy
conferencewiththisstudent,Billy.He
waswritingaboutturtles,specifically
petturtles,butwasstrugglingtogo
deeperthansimplyalistof
informationaboutturtles.AsIwas
conferencingwithBillyitwasclear
thatheheldalotofknowledgeabout
havingapetturtle.Hehadmadealist
withseveralveryimportantdetails
aboutturtles(Figure4).Itlooked,
however,likeBillyhadsimplylaid
everythingheknewaboutpetturtles
downonthepaper.Thelanguagehe
Billys second idea states, Turtles like
usedwasnotinformative;itwas
the sun so you should put them under
simplyfactsaboutpetturtles.There
a light bulb
wasnoorganization,whichwas
causingBillytogetconfusedinhis
ownwriting.Inhislist,Billywrotethatturtlesneedtobeunderalightbulb.WhenI
askedhimtotellmemore,Billywentintogreatdetailaboutthetanksyouneedifyou
haveapetturtle.Hetoldmehowtocleanthetanks,thateachofthetanksneedafilterto
keeptheairclean,andthatyouneedlightsthataresafefortheturtles.Billyknewso
muchaboutthisdetailofpetturtles;hejustwasntsurehowtoorganizeit,leavingthe
languageoutofreachforhim.Wereferencedthetextstructuresfromourchartand
realizedthatBillywasgivingusadescriptionofthetank.Hedecidedtouseadiagramto
showthetankandthendescribeitinwriting(Figure5).Whenhewasfinished,hehada
specificportionthatwasdetailed,wellorganized,andhadatextfeaturetohelpthe

reader.Byusinghisknowledgeabouttextstructure
Billywasabletogivethereaderdescriptive
informationaboutpetturtles.

Figure 5: Using Structure to


Inform

Otherstudentsutilizeddifferentstructuresintheir
writing.Onestudent,Scott,waswritinghisarticle
onlions.Heisastudentwhooftengets
overwhelmedwithwritingandreceivesreading,
writing,andspeechsupport.Hewasabletodeepen
histhinkingbydoingasectionthatcomparedand
contrastedlionsandcheetahs.Anotherstudentused
thesequencestructuretowriteaboutthelifeof
VincentVanGogh(whenIaskedhimhowhe
knowssomuchaboutVincenthestated,Myhigh
schoolsisterlovesartshealwayswalksaround
blabbingabouthim).Anotherstudentwaswriting Billys draft of his descriptive
section on tanks.
herarticleongymnasticsandwrotehowto
portionsforeachpartofgymnastics,thebars,vault,
andbeam.
Ifnothingelse,thislessonallowedstudentstobroadentheirhorizonastheywrotetheir
informationaltext.Thevarietyintopicandstructureintheirfinalproductsastounded
me.Thiswasthemostdiverseourwritinghadeverlooked.

ExpandingTextStructuretoAuthorsPurpose
Onestudent,inparticular,caughtmyattentionasshewaswritinghermagazinearticle.
Natashastopicwasdogsbecauseshedhadseveralfosterdogsathome.Natashafeltshe
hadknowledgeaboutdogbreedsandwasstartingtowritehermagazinearticleonseveral
differentdogbreeds.Whileshewassharingherwritingwiththeclassonedayattheend
ofherwritingtime,shementionedthatsheknowsaboutdifferentbreedsbecauseher
familyfostersdogs.Anotherstudentshoutedout,Whatdoesthatmean?andNatasha
startedtotellingusaboutwhyherfamilyfostersdogs,becausetheydonthaveahome
buttheyrelookingforone,soherfamilytakescareofthedogsandkeepsthemsafe
untiltheyfindtheirforeverhome.Theclasswasinstantlyintriguedbythisandafew
handsshotupwithquestionsaboutwherethedogsgo,howlongtheyfosterthemfor,if
itssadtosaygoodbye,etc.Natashastartedtorealizethatshewaswritinghermagazine
articleaboutdogsforthewrongreason.Shehadstartedtowriteaboutdifferentbreeds,
becauseshedlearnedsomuchaboutthembyfosteringthem.Butasshesharedher
writingshestartedtorealizethatwhatshereallywantedtowriteaboutwhatfostering
dogs.Natashasaid,CanIchangemytopic?,andwhenIaskedherwhyshesaid,
BecausefosteringdogsisreallyimportantsoIwantotherpeopletodoit.

Natashasthinkinggotmybraingoing,anditforcedmetothinkaboutauthorspurpose
inamorecriticalway.Before,Ihadbeenteachingstudentsthatourpurposeherewasto
inform.Butauthorsinformothersinavarietyofways,andinNatashascaseshewanted
toinformothersaboutfosteringdogssotheymightconsiderdoingit,aswell.Istartedto
thinkaboutwaysIwouldhelpotherstudentsthinkcriticallyabouttheirpurposein
writingtheirmagazinearticle.IadaptedalessonfromaunitonInformationalWriting
(MichiganAssociationofIntermediateSchoolAdministratorsandOaklandSchools,
2013)andencouragedstudentstoconsiderwhattheywanttheirreadertoknowafter
viewingtheirarticle.UsingthetextSurprisingSharks!(DaviesandCroft,2003),we
askedthequestions,Whatdotheauthorswantustoknow?toseethatthepurposewas
toinformpeoplethatsharksreallyarentadangertohumans.WethenusedNatashas
exampletothinkabouthowourmagazinearticlescanmakeourreadersthinkin
differentways,too.
Isawsomeproofthatstudentswerethinkingmoreabouttheirreadersastheywere
writingtheirmagazinearticles.Onestudentnarrowedherarticle,whichwasAllAbout
Swimming,downtoBeingonaSwimTeam,wheresheincludedswimminggear,
swimmingrules,andhowtoportionsonswimmingform.Anotherstudentnarrowedher
topicdownfromThingsthatFlytoAirportswhereshetolduswhatyouneedto
knowabouttheairportifyouregoingonatrip.
Otherstudentskepttheirwritingthesame,buttherewasstillproofthattheywere
thinkingaboutthepurposewhentheywerewriting.Attheendofourunit,duringour
writerscelebration,westoppedaftereacharticleandIasked,Whatwas____sreason
forwritingthis?IhadgreatresponsesfromstudentsthatIknowtheylllearntoapplyto
theirwritinglaterintheirschooling.
Closing
Thiswasadifferentkindofinformationalwritingunitformebecausethetopicitselfwas
personalexpertiseforstudents.Theywerentresearchinganswerstoaquestionor
summarizinginformationfromatext.Theentirepurposeofthisunitwastoengage
studentsintheprocessofhowauthorsinformothers.
WhenIstartedthisunit,Iwasntsureifthemessageoftextstructurewasgoingtobe
understandabletomystudents.Iwasworriedthatmystudentswouldntunderstandthe
intentionalvarietywithininformationaltext.Itbecameclearthatinfactmystudentsdid
havesomeknowledgeabouttextstructurealreadyfromreading.Myjobwassimplyto
connecttheirreadingknowledgetotheirwritingexperience.Someofmystudents
respondedincrediblywelltothisandimmediatelystartedthinkingabouttheirmagazine
articleinamorecriticalmanner.
Itwastheimplementationofwritingpartnersthatreallyencouragedsomeofmymore
strugglingwriterstoalsothinkabouttextstructure.Mystudentswhoseemedtogetit
weremorethanwillingtolistentotheirpartnersarticleandgivesuggestions.Ican

recallonestudent,whowaswritingaboutfootball,whodecidedtoaddHowtoPlay
Footballasacentralpartofhisarticleafterhispartnertoldhimshedidntreally
understandhisarticlebecauseshedidntknowhowtoplayfootball.Anotherstudent,
whoisanEnglishLanguageLearner,decidedhistopicwouldbeLegos.Hispartnertold
himthatpeoplealreadyknowalotaboutwhatLegosare,sotheydecidedtogetherto
comeupwithafeaturethatratedthedifficultylevelofthevarioussetsofLegosthatare
availabletotheconsumer.Ourmagazinearticleswererichanddiversebecausestudents
werehelpingeachotherapplytheirknowledge.
Movingforwardintheyearstudentswillconductaresearchproject.Ifeelstronglythat
thisunitprovidedthebuildingblocksstudentsneededinordertoeffectivelyresearch
informationandcontinuedinformationalwriting.Ialsothinkthisunithelpedprepare
studentsforsomeofthewritingpromptstheywillbegintoseeastheymovetothird
grade.Understandingthefunctionofdifferenttextstructures(compare,contrast
describe,etc.)willhelpstudentsdeterminetheirjobinwritingoftheirfuture.

References

http://www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_ELA%20Standards.pdf

Clark,S.,Jones,C.D.,ReutzelD.(2013).Usingtextstructureofinformationalbooksto
teachwritingintheprimarygrades.EarlyChildhoodEducationJournal,41.4,
265271.Retrievedfromhttp://search.proquest.com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/
Kelley,M.J.,ClausenGrace,N.(2010).Guidingstudentsthroughexpositorytextwith
textfeaturewalks.TheReadingTeacher,64.3,191195.Retrievedfrom
http://search.proquest.com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu
Friermood,Michael(2015).Using Text Features to Understand Text Structures. The
Thinker Builder. Retrieved from
http://thethinkerbuilder.blogspot.com/2015/02/usingtextfeaturestounderstand
text.html?m=1
GrahamS.,MacArthurC.,andFitzgeraldJ.(2013).Bestpracticesinwritinginstruction.
TheGuilfordPress;NewYork,NY.
MichiganAssociationofIntermediateSchoolAdministratorsandOaklandSchools
(2013).2ndgradeinformationalwriting:personalexpertise.Retrievedfrom
http://oaklandk12public.rubiconatlas.org/Atlas/Browse/View/Curriculum
Read,S(2005).Firstandsecondgraderswritinginformationaltext.TheReading
Teacher,59.1,3644.Retrievedfrom
http://search.proquest.com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu
Troyer,SandraJ.(1993).Theeffectsofthreeinstructionalconditionsintextstructureon
upperelementarystudentsreadingcomprehensionandwritingperformace.
Retrievedfrom
http://search.proquest.com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/docview/62704204?accountid=12

98

WritersMemo
AsIwaswritingmyTeachingProjectIfoundmyselfdoingsomethingoverandover
againrereading.IcanttellyouhowmanytimesIreadtheparagraphsandmade
revisions.TherewereentiresectionsthatImovedaroundordeleted.Therewerelittle
blurbsthatIaddedintoprovideclarification.Withoutcertainty,Irelyonrereadingto
improvemywriting.
OneaspectthatIstruggledwithwhiletryingtoconductinformationalwritingwas
conciselanguage.Itendtouselong,descriptivesentenceswhenIwrite.AsIwas
rereading,Irealizedthatmystylesoundedmorenarrativethaninformational.I
attemptedtogobackandshortenmyphrasesorusemoresuccinctlanguage.Istruggled
todothis.Itwasdifficulttousemylanguagetogivebrief,understandableaccountsof
complicatedmoments(suchasaconferencebetweenmyselfandastudent).Thismade
methinkaboutmystudents,howitmustbehardforthemtofindtherightlanguageto
useintheirinformationalwriting.Somestudentsstruggledtonarrowtheirthoughts
down(suchasBillywhodidntknowhowtotakehislistofdetailsaboutturtlesand
narrowitdowntojustasectionaboutturtletanks).
IfoundthisstrugglewithlanguagetobeespeciallytrueformyEnglishLanguage
Learners.Scott,thestudentwhowroteaboutlionsandisanELLstudent,knewhe
wantedtocomparealiontoacheetah.Whenhewantedtotellusthatthecheetahhad
spotsandtheliondidnot.Hisoriginaldraftstated,Cheetahshaveblackblobsallover
themthatlooklikecircles,sometimestheyareeggshapesblobs.Hecouldntseemto
findtheword,spot,independently.IthoughtofScottwhenIstruggledtonarrowdown
mylanguage.
Thiswasmyfirstyeartryingtodoawritingunitthatspecificallyfocusedontext
structureandauthorspurpose.Itwasaquickpacedunitthatwewereabletocomplete
fairlyquickly.Iloveddoingthis,itgavemystudentssuchgreatinsight.Mystudents
loveddoingthis(mostlybecausewepublishedourmagazinearticlesonthecomputer,
completewithphotographs).IthinkIwillcontinuetotweakandpracticethisunitwith
mystudentsforyearstocomeinordertohelpthemthinkcriticallyabouttextstructure
withininformationalwriting.

Вам также может понравиться