Q. What do students need to know in order to read and write narrative, argument and

informational texts? (and to meet and exceed the CCSS)?

A. Five kinds of composing (the writing process on steroids!)Five kinds of knowledge (necessary to deep and transferable understanding)

Michael W. Smith, Temple University; Jeffrey D. Wilhelm and Jim Fredricksen, Boise State

University

Declarative Procedural

Form

Substanc

e

5 Kinds of Knowledge

Declarative Procedural

Form

Knowing the names and definitions of Toulmin’s elements Naming the ordering principle of a list.

Knowing the elements of the Freytag pyramid

Being able to devise a warrant (evidentiary reasoning) to link data to a claim Being able to employ parallel structure and significant principles of ordering Being able to create a compelling problem

Substanc

e

Knowing the content of a literary text Remembering and reciting what is on a listKnowing the details of a personal experience

Knowing some particular details of the geographic situation of a setting

Being able to find compelling textual evidence Having strategies for generating lists

Being able to imagine details of a created experience

5 Kinds of Composing

• Composing to Plan• Composing to Practice• First-Draft Composing• Final Draft Composing• Composing to Transfer

.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Narrative is about trouble and how people respond to it.

Expect ations

//(break)//

Purpose & Context

“… (people) do a lot of things that prevent their

seeing the narrative structures that

characterize their lives. Mostly, they don’t look, don’t pause to look…”

-- Jerome Bruner

Where?When?Why?

Composing different types of narratives can help students

notice, challenge, and even change narratives.

How to find or invent the substance of narratives

CharacterStory world

TimeFilter Slant

Collecting characters helps students find and invent stories.

W = the character’s world

A = the character’s action steps to a goal

G = the character’s goal

S = the character’s notion of what’s at stake---------------------------

From Peter Rubie and Gary Provost’s (1998) How to Tell a Story

Using the 5 kinds to teach informational text structures

CCSS Anchor Standards for Teaching Literacy in the DisciplinesText Types and Purposes• Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of

substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

• Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

• Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

70% info text across subjects

• We’re going to have to do more teaching of informational texts and more explicit teaching of informational text structures

• We are going to have to help our colleagues in content areas to do more and more explicit teaching of the reading and writing of informational text

Informational Text Types/Thought Patterns named in the CCSS

• Naming• Listing• Summarizing• Describing• Process Description/Explaining/ How To• Defining/ Extended Definition• Comparing• Classifying/ Differentiating/ Grouping• Cause – Effect• Problem – Solution

Bruner: Narratives vs. paradigms – patterns that do functional work

• The paradigmatic: "To perceive is to categorize, to conceptualize is to categorize, to learn is to form categories, to make decisions is to categorize.” (Bruner)

That is, each kind of informational text structure embodies a

specific pattern of thinking with and through categories. In turn, this means that teaching students how to understand, produce and use informational text structures means that we are teaching them how to think with these categorical patterning tools.

As writers and as readers• To understand text structures as thought

patterns, to be able to generate and comprehend such structures, students must understand the purpose of the text structure (what work it does) the context in which it can do such work, content (substance), and how the content is structured to meet the purpose (form) and create specific meanings and effects.

Gut Check while planning units

• The five kinds of composing and five kinds of knowledge are teaching heuristics for teaching students heuristics that they can use for reading and writing now and throughout the future.

• So, we must make sure to engage students in activities that help them 1) understand purpose and context, 2) access prior knowledge and learn invention strategies for developing new knowledge, 3) shape and structure data into conventional forms that exert particular meanings and effects

Listing as a thought pattern/text structure

• More complicated than you might think!• Helps us learn invention and structuring

strategies with implications for all other informational text structures

Composing to plan/Knowledge of purpose and context

Invention Strategies: Brainstorming; Ethnographic Seek and Find activity:

When do you use listing in your everyday life? (Grocery lists, Basic 5 for kayaking, etc.)

What “work” do the lists get done?

When do you use listing in your disciplinary work?

What “work” gets done through these lists?

Composing to plan/Knowledge of purpose and context

• Brainstorm for a unit or text you already teach

• What kind of essential question could you ask that would require and reward the reading and writing of lists (or any other informational text structure)?

• E.g. What do we need to survive and thrive? Survive and thrive middle school? While living in a foreign culture? Etc.

Composing to Plan/ Procedural Knowledge of Substance – strategies for generating and inventing the stuff

• Contexts for listing activity – what strategies would you use to generate the list?

Grocery store, kayaking/trip, buying presents

• Strategies of Invention: Geo-scan, Schedule scan, Body Scan, Interview/Survey experts, etc.

• Put on anchor chart

Composing to Practice/Procedural knowledge of substance and form

• Simple vs. significant lists• Think alouds with lists (model the strategies

and crux moves, mentor, monitor their use)• Revisions with lists – what do we need to

know to make lists significant? More significant?

Heuristic for reading lists (could use while reading CCSS Anchor Standards)

• What is the topic of the list? Explicit and implicit?• What is the purpose of the list?• Is the list simple or significant?• If significant, what is the ordering principle/s both

overall and within segments• What are the repeated motifs/themes/cover

terms that provide coherence?• (moving towards summary) Revisit the topic and

rephrase as needed. Identify most important Power Words/Cover terms – use to frame a comment about the topic

Practice with substance and form: Simple vs. Significant lists

What’s the topic? The ordering principle?• LA Rams• Seattle Supersonics• Baltimore Colts• Brooklyn Dodgers• Philadelphia Athletics• Cleveland Browns• Washington Senators

Practice: Purpose, Content, Form with substance from the inquiry topic

• Water• Food• Shelter• Clothing• Affection

• Have students add to lists you create, create their own lists related to the unit, create lists with outliers, share and respond, all the while identifying topic and organizing principles : practice, practice, practice!

Topic, possible Outliers?

• Banana• Apple• Snickers• Rice Cracker• Peanuts

Early and Final Draft Composing/Bringing all five kinds of knowledge together

• Articulating lists that answer the inquiry, e.g. what do we need to know to survive middle school?

• Articulating and applying standards for generating significant and usable lists, ordering of lists to fit purpose

• Revising – moving, changing, adding, deleting items from the list

• Proofreading• Sharing, presenting, publishing, making archival

Composing to Transfer/Looking to the future

• Concentric Circles – Layers of Understanding- what have you learned about surviving, about listing? What do you need to remember for your final composition, for the future?

• Muddy/Marvy• Past- present – future protocol• New Application, e.g. songs – how is the list significant?

What meaning and effect is achieved?• From The Rape of the Lock: On Belinda’s dressing table“Here files of pins extend their shining rows,Puffs, powders, patches, Bibles, billet-doux.”

Gut check?

• How were all five kinds of composing used to develop all five kinds of knowledge?

• How were students involved in activities that required them to “produce” meaning through lists – to actively understand purpose, plan, generate and shape substance?

Let’s look at SUMMARY writing

• Because everybody summarizes all the time and it is WAY WAY harder than we think to do it well.

• Text structures are tools – for getting work done

• Text structures are culturally constructed and are therefore improvable and extensible

• Summaries use lists

Composing to Plan/Knowledge of Purpose and Context

• Compose an Essential Question, reframing a unit you teach into a problem to be solved that will require and reward summarization.

• REQUIRING SUMMARY: What do we need to know to be an informed voter?

Composing to plan a summary/procedural knowledge of substance and form

• Berke: “[Summarizing requires] capturing the purpose and topic, the key details, and the pattern expressed by the relationships between those details to communicate the key idea(s).”

• CCSS Anchor standard #5 for Writing, #2 for Reading

Composing to plan/ Procedural knowledge of substance:

Basic heuristic for generating the substance of a summary

• Key details essential to understanding (a list!)• Topic (general subject and purpose of the list)• The patterning of the those details• The point or comment about the topic

expressed by this patterning of these details.

Macro-rules for summarizing (Brown)

• Deletion: 1- discard non-crucial information; 2- discard redundant information

• Substitution: 3- superordinate term for a list (generalization rule); 4- superordinate action for a list of actions (integration rule)

• Pure Summary: 5- Use a topic statement or key detail for a section of text; 6- Invent a topic statement or key detail that encompasses a section of text

Integration and Generalization Rules

• Brushing teeth, mouthwash, putting on pajamas, say goodnight to parents = (integration)

• Oatmeal, dry cereal, milk, OJ, pastry poppers = (generalization)

• Read a variety of resources from different perspectives and make sure you know the perspective of each resource. Read news magazines. Talk to people with differing opinions. Meet the candidates if you can. Go to debates or informational meetings, or watch them on TV or over the Internet. Write down and justify your decisions on each candidate and referenda issue before the election =

Summary of THE HUNGER GAMESApply rules of deletion

• Katniss is main character• Katniss is a hunter• Gale likes Katniss• Sister is chosen as female tribute for Panem to

participate in the hunger games, a punishment for past uprising Districts against Panem

• Katniss takes her place • Katniss and Peeta whisked to capital to be prepared for

the Games• Dressed in flames for opening ceremonies

Topic-Comment strategy

Defining

Practice identifying meaningful groupings: The pyramid game

• Panda

Practice classifying the data: The pyramid game

• Panda• Rabbit

Practice classifying the data: The pyramid game

• Panda• Rabbit• Chevette

• Now identify the criteria for being on the list

Practice identifying contrastive examples and explanations

• Twinkie• Mudpie• Apple• Little Debbie• Snickers • Jolly Ranchers• IDENTIFY THE CRITERIA FOR BEING ON THE LIST,

AND DISQUALIFYING CRITERIA - WHY ONE DOES NOT FIT THE LIST AND IS A CONTRASTIVE EXAMPLE

• Cf. Collaboration, speaking and listening standards

Frayers

Roundtables 8 a.m. SaturdaySigning at 10 a.m. Saturday Heinemann booth