My main take away from his talk was the importance of using models of good writing as a way to teach students writing. To see the power of modeling, we watched Ron Berger's video about "Austin's Butterfly" in which Austin's drawing is scaffolded through models, critique, and revision.
How can we expect our students to draw a butterfly without looking at a butterfly? | |
Emulation.
If we want our students to write something other than a stock, 5 paragraph essay, then we need to show them what other options are available to them. The more writing that students are exposed to the more their writing will improve. If we want our students to be writing in ways that are more authentic and more discipline specific, then we need to provide them models. Through models, students first have to engage in a close reading where they deconstructing the text in order to examine how the piece is written and structured, as well as the type of language authors use and the effect of those stylistic choices. This process of modeling not only helps students learn the subject matter, but it also helps them learn the “language, discourse, and writing practices valued by the discipline” (Potash & Ciecierski, 2015, p. 16). In order for students to develop as writers, we have to provide them access to good writing. Then they can start noticing good writing, which will make their writing better. If we want students writing like disciplinary experts, then we have to show them what this kind of writing entails through access to models and the opportunity to emulate good writing.
References
Expeditionary Learning. (9, Oct 2013). Austin's butterfly: Building excellence in student work-Models, critique, and descriptive feedback [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZo2PIhnmNY
Pytash, K. E., & Ciecierski, C. (2015). Teaching from a disciplinary literacy stance.Voices from the Middle, 22(3), pp. 14-18.