Writing to Learn

Differentiating between learning to write and writing to learn can be very difficult for some educators. Many subject teachers cannot see the purpose of writing in their classrooms because they believe that their students will write enough in their English classrooms. This cannot be far enough away from the truth. Writing to learn is not only useful in every subject area, but can almost be considered essential. Writing to learn ensures that students not only understand a subject, but have the depth of knowledge needed to write extensively about how and what they learned regarding that subject.

There are many different ways to incorporate writing to learn into any subject classroom. One that I liked in particular was using writing to help teach math found in Improving Adolescent Literacy. I was not every a math-minded student. I did not like not knowing WHY two plus two equalled four, for example. I think logically, which sometimes hindered my understanding of math. If I had a teacher that had my class play "Name that Math!" everyday before class, I may have excelled more. I also related to using the RAFT method, which can be incorporated into almost any subject matter. I can remember using this method when I was in school. Having to understand all of those points of view while writing helped me look at a subject from a variety of perspectives. This can also open students minds to other ideas. I also thought the idea of giving students outlines for their writing was a good idea. This helps scaffold the students into becoming independent writers later on, and helps the not-so-confident writers gain their footing.

Reading both the article and the chapter showed me how important writing can be in a classroom. Being able to write about a subject that has been taught shows incredible comprehension and depth. Writing to learn enforces the idea of teaching metacognition by having students write about what they are thinking throughout their learning process. This gives students a better awareness of how their mind is working while learning. I will definitely be using writing to learn in my own classroom.

Questions: 

How can a lower elementary school teacher incorporate writing to learn with students who are just beginning to learn how to write?

What is a way that writing to learn could be used in the ELL classroom that would not be overwhelming to them?