“Improving the AcademicWriting of Long-Term English

Learners”

Margaret Tomita, Associate DirectorSan Jose Area Writing Project, SJSU

March 5, 2011

•What challenges do you face when asked to improve the academic writing of your ELLs ?

“What % of an EL’s day is spentdiscussing lesson content, using

completesentences, or using relevant academic

language?”

__2 % __5% __8%

Learning Outcomes: You will learn five strategies that improve Academic Writing

1) Use of sentence and paragraph frames (“mortar words”)

4) Set a clear reading purpose and academic writing outcome for students before the read a text.

5) Establish Writing Instructional Routines: Example: “ TIMED WRITING”

3) Link extended academic oral language practice with specific writing purposes

2) Use of color-coding to visually separate information

“What is academic language?”

“What language do students need to USE to understand language arts,

science, social science, or math content?”

•“bricks”: content specific

• “mortar”: words/phrases that connect and hold the content specific words together

“Bricks”

science: volcano,mitosis, gravity, force,photosynthesis

history: democracyrevolution, right, oligarchy

language arts: plot metaphor, character

“Mortar”

hypothesis, variable,if....then

therefore, as a resultconsists of, represents,

analyze, compare, describe

ELL:in, among, although (verb)-leave, let, (pronoun)-they, she

What might be “mortar words” you would use to

compare and contrast twodifferent people?

60

1. Both___and __are similar(different) because______

2. On the other hand,_____

3. ____and ____ have thesame (similar)_________.

__

both

similar

have in common

compared to

are different

but

COMPARE and CONTRAST

Text

Because of________, __________________

Immediately before this event,_________.

As a result of this event,_________________

A significant effect of this event was_____________

Cause and Effect

Why did it happen?

What happened as a result?

Explain how the basic units of DNA fit together and what the DNA structure looks like.

Word bank:nucleotidedouble helixdeoxyribosephosphate groupsnitrogen baseschromosomes

PARAGRAPH

The basic units of DNA are_______ ______________________________.They work together by_____________.______________________________The structure can be described as__________________________________________________________.

“What were three major events that led to the signing

of the Declaration of Independence?PARAGRAPH FRAME

There were several major events that led tothe signing of the Declaration of Independence. First,__________. This resulted in_____.

Next,_____

“Name one of the Romans’ greatest achievements. What were important effects of

this achievement?”

LANGUAGE FRAME:The greatest achievement of the Romans

was____.One major result of this achievement was_____.

To explain,____________

Because_____,As a result of_______,

“Why is it important for you (teacher)

to set a clear purpose for reading a text?”

“Why is it important for students to write after they read?”

Write a summary of the article “The Abominable Snowman”. 1. A first sentence that states the main idea of the article.

The article “The Abominable Snowman” (tells, explains, describes)...

2. Three to five major points/ideas3. Organized in a logical, easy-to-follow order.

“Do you believe that Yeti exist?”Write a persuasive paragraph to support your position.1. A first sentence that states your position.2. Two or more reasons for your position.3. Specific details, examples or explanations that support your

reasons

“My Plan to Capture a Yeti”Write a story on your plan to capture a live Yeti. 1. A beginning, middle and end to your story.2. Description of how your plan worked (or did not work)

“Why establish consistentwriting instructional

routines?”

“10,000 hours of practiceto become an expert”

The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Ray Allen, Boston Celtics RECORD: All Time -3-Point Shot Leader POINTS: 2,562

Ray Allen practices his 3 point jump shot for one or two

hours before every game.

The importance of practicefor CONSISTENCY and toimprove performance.

“Routines help to establish students’ expectations for what they do, how they do

things, and why they are doing it.”

(Instructional routine VS. non-instructional routine)

“They provide consistent and multiple opportunities for students to practice academic writing (and get better at it!)”

TIMED WRITING:

“Should teachers’ names be published in the newspaper to show they are effective

based on their students’ test scores?”

INSTRUCTIONAL ROUTINES SELF CHECKLIST

__1. I can explain the routine and why I am doing it.

__2. I know what to do for each step of the routine.__3. I know how to check my own progress.

Examples: Instructional RoutinesAnticipation Guide

Quick Writes Timed Writing

Think-Write-Pair-ShareThink-Pair-Share

FishbowlPreviewing a Text

Notetaking Vocabulary Concept Map

Double Entry Journals

REFLECTION:Five ways to improve ELL Academic Writing

1) Use sentence and paragraph frames (“mortar”) for different types of academic writing.

2) Use color-coding to visually separate information.

3) Extend oral language practice that supports specific

writing purposes: (cause/effect, explain, compare/contrast)

4) Set a clear reading purpose for students and ask them to write about their reading.

5) Establish consistent Writing Instructional Routines.

REFLECTION

•Based on what I learned to day, I plan to ______.For example,____________.

•In order to improve my students’ academic writing, I will_______. This means that _____________• The most important idea today was _________.In other words,_________.