High School Cohort: Reading and Writing Expository Texts

Michelle Fowler-AmatoHeart of Texas Writing ProjectOctober 6, 2011

“The best nonfiction writing begins with a writer’s passionate curiosity about a subject.”

JoAnn Portalupi and Ralph Fletcher, Nonfiction Craft Lessons: Teaching Information Writing, K-8

Capable Writers--Characteristics

• Risk taking

• Willing to revise

• Coherence      

• Reflective      

• Love of Words      

• Sense of Audience·      

• Interpret and give effective feedback

• Able to distinguish between different forms of writing·      

• Appreciation of others’ writing·      

• Creative·      

• Can communicate their thoughts effectively·      

• Can write for a variety of purposes in a variety of circumstances·            

• Free-thinker·      

• Coachable·      

• A self-starter·

• Use a metacognitive thought process about writing  

•       

Classrooms that Support the Capable Writer

A safe, welcoming environment

Time to think

Opportunities to experiment without penalty

Time to think

Openness to discussion about writing

Practice, practice, practice

Wide reading

Fluid and flexible

Access to resources

Opportunities to write, share, and publish

Exposure to a variety of text forms

Choice in the classroom

Provide models and modeling

Opportunity to question the forms and play with the forms

Turn and Talk

So…..How is your workshop supporting the development of a capable writer? In other words, “How’s it going?

Our purpose…

Today, we will explore the genre of feature article by experiencing a mini-inquiry into this form of writing.

We will spend time reading examples and developing criteria for the structure of feature articles for the explicit purpose of learning how to write in this genre.

During this process, we will build on our use of the writers’ notebook as a tool for thinking—a place where we can write about our “own unique understanding of the world” (Lattimer, 2003, p. 71).

Our thoughts on the genre…

The last time we met, we generated the following list of criteria for feature article:

Inform/ExplainFacts included/ present tense·      

Learn something new from the author·      

Reveals something current·      

Adds human experience to engage the reader·     

Includes a specific/central topic

Thinking Through the GenreFeature Article

• Turn to page 70 in the Lattimer (2003) chapter. At your table discuss what is the purpose of a feature article.

• What will your students need to do in order to read and write in this genre?

• What will your classroom look like when students are engaged in this inquiry?

Magazine Flood

Take a few minutes to look through the magazines on your table, and the models you brought with you.

In your writer’s notebook generate a list topics that are represented.

These magazines provide examples of feature articles but also generate possibilities for topics

Notebooks: We write to figure out what it is we want to say

“…use writing as a tool of thinking. We are using writing to find out what’s inside our heads, to dump ideas down on a page so we can play with them, move them around, make connections, figure our what’s important, cross some out, and highlight others. In other words, we are thinking. And this kind of thinking, using writing as a kid of torque wrench of the mind, is officially writing to learn” (Daniels, Zemelman, & Steineke, 2007, p. 21).

We write to…Surface prior knowledge, including misconceptions

Activate thinking

set class and individual goals for an upcoming unit

stop and collect their thoughts

sort out ideas

notice and hold their thinking

synthesize what they have learned

connect with others

compare notes

plan projects

(Daniels, Zemelman, Steineke, 2007, p. 28)

Notebooks—Writing to Think (Bomer, 2011)

“By and large, notebooks are locations for students to work on self-control of literacy that allows them to name experience, construct identities, and imagine powerful social positions. Students must feel, overall, that they have control over their notebook” (p.195).

Mini-lessons—Writing to Think

Starting with little, nearby things

Taking little mentionings and extending them

Probing for issues of fairness and justice

And then…gather entries about a chosen topic (See Bomer, 2011, p.197).

Writing to Learn

short

spontaneous

exploratory

informal

personal

one draft

unedited

ungraded

Public Writing

substantial

planned

authoritative

conventional

audience-centered

drafted

edited

assessable

Public Writing

research papers

lab reports

proposals

biographies

historical accounts

legal analyses

articles

editorials

reviews

essays

literary criticism

speeches

persuasive essays

letters

Thinking through the Genre of Feature Article

A feature article is something written “to inform readers about something they never realized could be so complex and interesting” (Bomer, 1995, as cited in Ray, 2006, p. 215).

“Not the top news article, interesting to read because it’s news, not the straight facts-only information found in encyclopedias and reference books, the feature article is…interesting to read because the writer has deliberately crafted it to engage the reader’s attention while including all sorts of interesting information” (Ray, 2006, p. 215).

Reading Workshop

Fill the classroom with the sights and sounds of feature articles

Include a daily read aloud that includes a variety of topics to build student interest

Scaffold the reading of nonfiction texts to develop content expectations that guide the students reading of the texts.

Reading Workshop

Day 1“Reading text features”• Captions, titles, maps, graphs, section

headings, etc.

Day 2Word study• Titles and the additional possibilities

for topics

Day 3Reading Comprehension• Predicting the Big Idea

Reading Workshop

Day 4Accountable Talk

Presenting an article

Day 5Reading Comprehension

Responding to an article

Writing Feature Articles: Big Ideas That Grow Out of Our Own

Experiences

“We did ask students to determine an initial big idea-right up front-one that grew out of their own experiences with and prior understanding of their topic. Having a stated big idea allowed them to find better sources of information and ask better questions. However, we also encouraged students to be open to the possibility of reshaping or extending their big idea as they pursued their research or writing.”

-Heather Lattimer

Writing WorkshopDay 1

Finding a topic and a purpose• conferring

Day 2

Text structure: Understanding the scope of a feature article • effective types of information

Day 3

Getting organized• determining organizational structure and

outlining

Writing WorkshopDay 4

Crafting the feature article• the craft of writing a paragraph (quotation,

introduction of the speaker, a topic sentence)

Day 5

Analyzing previously read feature articles to determine what works and identifying the characteristics of those elements

• review of introductions, conclusions, craft titles & section headings, illustrations, captions, and layout in various feature articles

Writing Conferences: Taking On The Role of Editor and Writer

Choosing a Topic: Questions from the Editor

Is the topic interesting to you?

Who are your readers? Will the topic be interesting to them?

Is the information new? Explain.

Is your perspective new? Explain.

Will you be able to find information about your topic? Where?

Is the topic narrow enough? Explain.

What will you want your readers to understand about your topic? What will be your purpose or big idea?

Quick Write: Writing to Reflect

How has your thinking changed or developed as a result of participating in this conference?

Where will you go from here?

Reading Like a Writer

“Like any craftsperson, when a writer looks at other people’s writing, she often notices the way it is put together, the craft decisions that make it up. Once she knows how to do this, when a writer is reading, she is able to use that experience to get better at writing-for the rest of her life, hopefully, across contexts in which very different textual features are considered high quality.”

-Randy Bomer

Reading Like a Writer: Types of Information

Review “Immigration: A Dream Deferred.”

As you read, document the types of information that the writer makes use of in this article.

Share your thinking with those at your table.

Reading Like a Writer: Types of Information

What additional types of information did you come across in looking through other feature articles during the magazine flood?

Share your thinking with those at your table.

Finding the Balance

“Balancing the gathering of information with the development of a purpose can be delicate. On the one hand, you don’t want students to determine their big idea too soon. Doing so risks limiting the depth and variety of information available and often prevents them from developing a full understanding of their topic. On the other hand, students need to have a clear direction early in the process. They need to consider what type of information would be most helpful and to find appropriate sources within a reasonable amount of time.”

-Heather Lattimer

The Reflective Writer

In making decisions about what information to include, a writer must consider:

What is the purpose of my piece?

What types of evidence will allow me to accomplish this purpose?

Making a Plan

Reflecting on the purpose of the feature article that you will write, make a plan in your notebook for the collection of evidence.

Share your thinking with a partner.

Student Research As students gather information, provide them with opportunities to share what they learned, reflecting on how this information has changed or developed their thinking. This can be accomplished though modeling and conferring.

Lattimer (2003) suggests using the following prompts:

Have you considered this point of view?

How did that information reshape your thinking?

What do you want your audience to understand now?

What pieces of information best support your big idea?

Organizing Structures for a Feature Article

“Feature articles are shaped according to their topic, the information available, and their purpose. There is no one formula; there are many.”

-Heather Lattimer

Organizing Structures For a Feature Article

Compare/Contrast

Cause/Effect

Chronological

Problem/Solution/Response

Multiple Perspectives

Exploration of an Issue (Pros and Cons)

Reading Like a Writer: Organizing Structures

Choose one feature article that you came across during the magazine flood. As a table, review the article and determine how it is structured.

Is it organized according to one of the structures that Lattimer discusses (Figure 3.1 on page 95)? If not, how does the writer choose to structure his/her feature article? How does this compare to the choices made in “Immigration: A Dream Deferred”?

Organizing Structures for a Feature Article

Once information has been collected, students will review some of the ways that authors have chosen to organize feature articles, reflecting on the following questions:

Which organizing structure makes the most sense for my information and for my big idea?

Which organizing structures don’t make sense?

Is there a way to meld structures to suit my purposes?

Reading Like a Writer

“To determine how best to write a conclusion, craft titles and section headings, select illustrations, create captions, and prepare a layout, students first analyzed published texts and then experimented on their own work.”

- Heather Lattimer

Reading Like a Writer

Return to an article from the magazine flood, looking at the techniques that the author makes use of in crafting the various elements of the text. Make note of the choices that differ from the techniques the author makes use of in “Immigration: A Dream Deferred.”

Each table will be responsible for looking at one of the following features: introduction, conclusion, craft titles and section headings, illustrations and captions, and layout.

Each table will share their thinking with the group.

Final Reflection

Let’s look back at your initial reflection in thinking through this genre. What are you thinking now?

• What will your students need to do in order to read and write in this genre?

• What will your classroom look like when students are engaged in this inquiry?

• What are your initial thoughts about how you might approach this study within your own classroom?

Next Time

Live a writer’s life: Collect in your notebook.

Read Chapter 12 (Pointing Students Toward Audiences) in Building Adolescent Literacy in Today’s English Classrooms.

Read Chapter 4 (Editorial) in Thinking Through Genre (This will be emailed to you).

Bring in examples of editorials and pamphlets that might serve as mentor texts for your students.