Solidify Content Knowledge Using Summarizing and Writing to Learn Strategies

for High School Science

Expected Outcomes

Participants can and do:• Understand how practicing reading

strategies can solidify and enhance learning in science.

• Understand how to teach students to use the summarization strategy.

Lexile Text MeasuresHS Lit College Lit HS Text College

TextMilitary Personal Entry Lvl

JobACT, SAT,

AP

1600

700

1100

2009 NAEP Proficient Reading Level

Eighth-grade students performing at the ProficientLevel should be able to:• Provide relevant information • Summarize main ideas and themes• Make and support inferences about a text• Connect parts of a text• Analyze text features• Fully substantiate judgments about content and

presentation of content

What does this mean for my content?

Common Core State Standards

Common Core Instruction LESS

• Teacher lecture• Whole group• Assigned seat work with

little opportunity to practice new learning

MORE

• Think alouds, modeling, students processing information actively

• Short whole group time with small group time to process info

• Opportunities for practice, discussion in pairs/small groups before assigning independent work

Explicit InstructionDeepen understanding of content

Model

Provide guided practice with feedback

Provide supported, independent practice with feedback

Where do I begin?

• Determine what students need to know and be able to do.– What key concepts are to be learned?– What will students be expected to read, discuss,

write, and present?• Determine tools to use for learning.

CLONING

Summarizing• Is not:– Retelling– Long– Full of a lot of interesting

details

• Is:– Process of identifying

salient information– Concise and specific– Reinforcing and

consolidating the many processes involved in learning from text

Summarization

Model Lesson

Animal Clones: Double Trouble?While Reading Handout: • Stop after each section• Highlight what you think is key to

understanding the text• Write a few words about the most important

information

After Reading:

• Share with neighbor what you highlighted/annotated.

• Add to key points or delete information after discussion.

• Write a summary in 15–25 words using the key points.

“It’s easy to make things look hard but hard to make things look easy.”

--Helene Lagerberg

Summarization

Prerequisite Skills

• Determine importance• Delete unimportant information• Condense information• Categorize terms into specific groups• Transform condensed information into writing

Substitutesubordinate terms for lists

Selector invent a topic sentence

Deletetrivial and redundant material

Summarization

GIST

Gist is a strategy used to determine the main idea of a text in as few words as possible.

Tools for Teaching Content Literacy, Janet Allen

Possible Framework• Set objective/relevance - 2-3 minutes• Hook – video clip, article, question, picture – 5 minutes• Mini – lecture (Content based) – 8-10 minutes• Focused Reading Assignment – 10 – 12 minutes• Writing Task modeled and assigned – 5 minutes• Students work on assignment – 10 - 15 minutes• Wrap-up learning – 3-5 minutes

Design a Lesson

Jaywalking

Writing To Learnin High School Science

“If students are to make knowledge their own, they must struggle with the details, wrestle with the facts, and rework raw information and dimly understood concepts into language they can communicate to someone else. In short, if students are to learn, they must write.”

-Vartan GregorianPresident, Carnegie Corporation

Expected Outcomes

Participants will: • Model Writing to Learn as a tool of

thinking and reflection• Use various Writing to Learn

strategies to increase student engagement and learning

• With your table group, list eight types of writing that you use in your science classroom.

• Place each type on a separate sticky note and place on the wall.

Writing To LearnWriting To Learn• Short• Spontaneous• Exploratory• Informal• Personal• One draft• Unedited• Ungraded

Formal Writing• Substantial• Planned• Authoritative• Conventional• Audience centered• Drafted• Edited• Assessable

Content-Area Writing, Harvey Daniels, et al

Writing To Learn Can:• activate thinking• help us collect and synthesize thoughts• help us to sort ideas• help us notice and hold on to our thinking• help us make connections• enhance discussions• help us set, assess, and evaluate learning

goals

Writing To Learn is not:

• Copying notes from the teacher• Answering questions at the end of

the chapterContent-Area Writing, Harvey Daniels, et al

Writing Break Procedure• Students stop and reflect in writing on the

activities or information being presented.• Quick sharing with partners or whole class

follows this writing.• Duration: 2 minutes• Writing Breaks can consist of words,

phrases, questions, confusions, connections, distractions, etc.

Content-Area Writing, Harvey Daniels, et al

Minute PaperSignificant Points

Unanswered Questions

WOW’s for Application

If students are notquestioning, they are not

comprehending.

The process is more valuable than the

outcome.

Writing to Learn: Strategies for Assigning and Responding to Writing Across the Disciplines, Sorcinelli, et al

Consider this• Poor writing skills cost businesses

$3.1 billion annually• Only one out of four twelfth-

grade students is a proficient writer

Writing to Read

Did you know…

• Low education is a significant factor for Alzheimer’s disease and all other forms of dementia.• Reading habits between the ages of 6-

18 appear to be crucial predictors of cognitive function decades later.

Reading Reasons, Kelly Gallagher

Common Core State Standards

• Designed to “Complement and Enhance” the content• Designed to help students become

“college and career ready”

Design a Lesson

Assigning Grades

• Not graded for grammar or spelling• Writing to Learn instead of Learning

to Write• Participation

Content-Area Writing, Harvey Daniels et al

What is the message of this clip as it relates to

teachers and teaching?

Raymond

Slips• Can use index cards• Spend 1-5 minutes at the end of class• Offer students 1 prompt or several options• Diagnostic• Categorize/Deal the cards out in stacks to

address the next day

Content-Area Writing, Harvey Daniels, et al

Writing to Learn Strategies

SOAPWriting BreakMinute Paper Exit Slip

Our Gift to Students

• Helping them become strong readers, proficient writers, and critical thinkers• In helping them develop, we give

students options.

Reading Reasons, Kelly Gallagher

References:• Content-Area Writing, H. Daniels, S. Zemelman,

N. Steineke, 2007.• Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning,

Doug Buehl, 2009.• Reading Reasons, Kelly Gallagher, 2003.• Writing to Read• Writing to Learn: Strategies for Assigning and

Responding to Writing Across the Disciplines, M. Sorcinelli, P. Elbow, 1997.

1. As a result of this training, what do you plan to do differently in your classroom?

2. Which elements of this training were most effective for you?

3. What do you still hope to learn about scientific literacy?

4. If you are interested in a classroom visit next year, please provide your contact information.

Reflection