Writing to Learn
“As an administrator, you are always looking for strategies that are going to increase student learning. I feel that [Collins Writing] can do that…The strategies fit into any class, any lesson, in any curriculum. They engage students and give them license to think.”
- Jeff Judy, Principal, Hardin-Houston High School
When Mark Platfoot’s world history students were studying the Black Death, he asked them to write an essay explaining how that pandemic, which plagued Europe 700 years ago, compares to Covid-19. The assignment challenged the seventh graders to connect what they were learning about the past to their lives today.
“Writing forces students to make connections,” says Mr. Platfoot. “Instead of just asking kids to regurgitate information, you are asking for higher-order thinking. They take what they have read about and learned about and make connections to the world and determine how it impacts them today.”
Teachers in every classroom in the Hardin-Houston Local School District are guiding students toward deeper learning by frequently assigning writing exercises like the one above. It doesn’t matter if the class is social studies, language arts, music, or art. They began to implement this practice in the fall, 2020, and it has become a common occurrence in most classrooms ever since.
Writing Across the Curriculum
The need to strengthen the writing skills of all students came to light as the district was developing its most recent strategic plan. “We felt strongly that writing was a weakness for us, across K-12, and ‘writing across the curriculum’ became a district-wide goal,” explains Sara Roseberry, principal, Hardin-Houston Elementary School. After analyzing various programs designed to enhance achievement in this area, the district chose to implement The Collins Writing Program during the 2020-21 school year.
“We did not want this to be an ELA initiative,” she continues. “That’s why we chose Collins Writing, because it is not at all an ELA initiative. It is using writing to learn the content areas. Once teachers discovered that, they embraced it. It’s not in any way an added thing on their plate. Teachers incorporate what they are doing very naturally by using these strategies in the classroom.”
Collins Writing is a research-based initiative that offers teachers writing strategies designed to help students understand and recall content. The strategies are simple and the same for high school as they are for kindergarten.
Through a series of professional development sessions, teachers become familiar with the “Five Types of Writing”* and learn how to use each to help students achieve academically. The program uses a consistent approach and language across all grade levels and subject areas. Writing assignments are frequent, usually short, and pertain to the content being studied. The purpose is to increase student involvement in the lessons, promote deeper thinking about the subject, and allow teachers to assess student understanding of the concepts.
*Five Types of Writing
Type 1: Brainstorming - Writing to get ideas on paper.
Type 2: Respond Correctly – Very short, quick assessments. Shows writer knows something about a topic or has thought about it. A correct answer to a specific question. Best used as a quiz.
Type 3: Edit for FCAs – Substantive content. Read aloud to see if the draft meets specific criteria or focus correction areas (FCA). Examples of FCAs: write in complete sentences, use three academic vocabulary words, or give two examples to support your thoughts. Revision and editing are done on the original.
Type 4: Peer Edit for FCAs – Type 3 writing read aloud and critiqued by another for FCAs. Asks for meaningful feedback from a peer.
Type 5: Publish – Writing is error-free and of publishable quality.
Applies to All Subjects
“As far as writing across the curriculum goes, this truly does go across the curriculum,” comments Jeff Judy, principal, Hardin-Houston High School. “It can be used in social studies or English class, but our art teacher will also use it. Our music teacher will use it. The strategies can fit into any class, any lesson, in any curriculum. It engages students and gives them license to think.”
A grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation allowed Hardin-Houston to contract for three onsite professional development days with consultants from Collins Education Associates (CEA) (due to Covid-19 two sessions had to take place virtually) and ongoing coaching for all teachers in the district. The initial PD began in fall, 2020, and it is continuing into 2021-2022.
“The majority of our staff have grown to love this,” remarks Ms. Roseberry, after several months of implementation. “We had some resistance at first, but once teachers started using it in the classroom and saw how powerful it can be for getting kids to think at a higher level, they understood its benefits.”
Mr. Judy agrees: “The teachers realized that these are practical strategies that can be easily used in their classrooms. They have utilized the strategies and utilized them well. They didn’t have to make huge changes as to what they were already doing. And they’ve seen the impact on their students. It has forced students to think more critically about the content.”
Letting Them Show Depth of Knowledge
World history teacher, Mr. Platfoot, an 11-year teaching veteran, says he learned strategies during the very first PD session that he put to use in his classroom immediately. “Each time we have a training, I learn something new that I challenge myself to do,” he remarks. “Once you start using it, it’s like anything else; if you embrace it, you can have great results.”
Mr. Platfoot frequently asks students to create their own questions about the content they are studying, and he selects from among those they submit for class assignments. “It allows students to be creative, to add their own flair to a quiz,” he says. “They get fired up about whether or not I pick their questions. My seventh graders just eat this alive – they really enjoy it.
“This has definitely changed the way that I teach,” he continues, explaining that he used to have more class discussions where “the same couple of kids would have probably answered all the questions. This has forced me to have the students expand on their learning with writing. It allows them to make connections.”
Ms. Roseberry notes that Dr. Collins challenges teachers to always be cognizant of the purpose for the writings “These writings are not designed to get surface-level information from kids,” she explains. “The purpose is always to go deeper – to get them thinking deeply, more outside the box, in more creative ways. That’s something that is highly stressed in the training. That’s the purpose of these writings.”
Teachers in the Hardin-Houston School District attend a professional development session in October 2021 to learn strategies to incorporate “writing across the curriculum.”
Consultants from CEA have returned to Hardin-Houston this fall to continue coaching and supporting the district’s teachers as they implement the writing strategies in their classrooms.
“This is not a one-year initiative for us; we see this continuing,” Ms. Roseberry says. While perfecting the students’ writing skills is a secondary objective, she says she has clearly noticed a difference in the primary students’ writing.
”I am sure that will continue to develop over time as our kindergartners and first graders get to junior high and high school.”
“The fact that we do this as a district – that we are using it with all of our students – is something that can really impact learning,” adds Mr. Judy. “As administrators, you are always looking for strategies that are going to increase student learning. I feel that this is one of those programs that can do that.”