Writing to Read

Another report I explored recently is Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading, A Report from Carnegie Corporation of New York.  I may have read this report earlier in the semester. However, I have the hard copy in my personal library, so I picked it up last week and begin to read it.

 

 

 

nwp.org



Click HERE to access the report.

 

In many ways the report reminds me of the information I gleaned from the article, The Neglected "R".  The Writing to Read provides evidence answering the following three questions:

1. Does writing about material students read enhance their reading comprehension?
2. Does teaching writing strengthen students' reading skills?
3. Does increasing how much students write improve how well they read?

The report identifies a cluster of closely related instructional practices shown to be effective in improving students reading.  The grouped three core recommendations. 

 

1. Have students write about the texts they read--this includes responding with a personal reaction, writing a summary, writing notes, and answering and/or creating a question about the text

     2. Teach students the writing skills and processes that go into creating a text--this includes the process of     writing, text structure, paragraph or sentence construction, and spelling skills.

      3. Increase how much students write.

<This doesn't exactly seem like rocket science to me, more like common sense. However, it is nice to have the empirical evidence for those 'non-believers'. >

The Reality:
Although our grandparents (and perhaps our parents) only needed a high-school education to find jobs that paid enough to raise a family, this is a rarity today.  Changes in our world and our workplaces have increased the need for young adults to attend some form of higher education, whether it is a two or four year college.

A Grim Snapshot from WTR Report:

• Forty percent of high school graduates lack the literacy skills employers seek
• Only one out of four twelfth grade students is a proficient writer
• One out of every five college freshman must take a remedial writing course
• Three out of ten high school students do not graduate on time

The good news!
After meta-analysis on the effects of the three recommendations above, there was positive growth in student achievement! (Again, not rocket science--but enough evidence to rock the boat and shake things up a bit with instructional practices).

I appreciate how the report gives specific examples of how to implement the instructional recommendations.

Examples:

Extended Writing Example

• With guided journal writing students respond to text by answering open-ended questions about it in writing. For example, students might be asked to analyze why they think characters acted as they did and indicate what they would do in the same situation.

::Side Note::

We have started to do more of this at our school using the Guided Reading Plus lesson plan framework incorporating Better Answers prompts with the "formula" of how to look good and sound smart <Give a gist, add a body of details, and a wrap up.>

::End Side Note::

Writing Instruction: Examples

•  One instructional procedure that facilitates reading growth is sentence combining.  With this method, the teacher models how to combine simpler sentences into more complex ones. Students then practice combining similar sentences. An interesting twist on this approach is to have students combine sentences in material they are reading or disassemble such sentences.

::Side Note::

Interesting that the source for this suggestion was from Hunt and O'Donnell in 1970!!!  This idea makes so much more sense than an endless packet of "grammar" worksheets.

::End Side Note::

Conclusion

The study showed that students' reading abilities are improved by writing about texts they have read; by receiving direct instruction in spelling, in writing sentences, in writing paragraphs, and text structure, and by increasing how much and how frequently they write.   The key in this report is DIRECT TEACHING---NOT ASSIGNING.  I think sometimes we get confused with the difference between showing students how and telling them what.

I think the best thing to do with this report is to synthesize the big nuggets into an engaging presentation/workshop and have teachers try on some or all of the instructional recommendations.
I look forward to discussing this report with my coaching colleagues at UMO in the near future. :)