Writing for Understanding Instruction
Teacher Plan
Teacher Sarah Chap
Class 8th grade Health/F&CS
Date Fall 2011
Writing genre Argument (Persuasive/Opinion)
Topic / Subject / Text
CENTRAL IDEAS
Content: There are many factors – health/nutrition, responsibility, temptation, personal preference, decision-making abilities – involved in making food choices.
Reading: N/A
Writing: In an argument (persuasive/opinion) piece, students must support a thesis with evidence.
Focusing Question
Should schools regulate the types of foods they serve at school lunch?
Focus (answer to focusing question)
Schools should regulate lunch options because:
-They can offer nutritious foods and eliminate unhealthier options
-This can reduce temptation so students are less likely to “slip up”
-This can also eliminate “pressures” that some students may face to choose certain foods
-Better nutrition = better behavior, higher test scores, healthier students, increased self-esteem, etc, etc
-Doesn’t rely on students’ responsibility (or lack there of) to make healthier choices,
-Help students realize healthier foods can taste good, too!
-Lack of decision-making skills, lack of seeing consequences (especially long term) of choices
Or
Schools should not regulate lunch options because:
-Any food, if chosen in moderation, can be part of a healthy diet (this can even help teach concepts of moderation, portion, etc)
-“Unhealthy” foods taste good!,
-By providing choice, students can learn responsibility,
-Students feel in control through having choice (and being trusted to make healthy choices)
About VWC
The Vermont Writing Collaborative is a group of teachers in Vermont (and elsewhere!) whose mission is to help all students, K - 12, write thoughtfully and effectively.
The five founding members are: Jane Miller of Burlington, Karen Kurzman of Derby Line, Eloise Ginty of Thetford, Joey Hawkins of Strafford, and Diana Leddy of Strafford. Among us, we have over 130 years of public school teaching experience at all grade levels.
In the fall of 2008, we published a book through Authentic Education (with a foreword by Grant Wiggins) called Writing for Understanding:Using Backward Design to Help All Students Write Effectively.
Since then, we have offered courses and workshops in the principles of Writing for Understanding around Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and elsewhere.
The five founding members are: Jane Miller of Burlington, Karen Kurzman of Derby Line, Eloise Ginty of Thetford, Joey Hawkins of Strafford, and Diana Leddy of Strafford. Among us, we have over 130 years of public school teaching experience at all grade levels.
In the fall of 2008, we published a book through Authentic Education (with a foreword by Grant Wiggins) called Writing for Understanding:Using Backward Design to Help All Students Write Effectively.
Since then, we have offered courses and workshops in the principles of Writing for Understanding around Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and elsewhere.
Welcome, VWC members!
June, 2011 - what a grand Summer Institute! We held four different strands, and had the honor of working with both old friends and new ones. It was a joy!
Teachers are working on a whole new batch of Writing for Understanding sequences, and those will begin appearing here. If you're a course participant, thanks for posting and giving your thoughtful feedback.
If you're a VWC follower, your feedback is most welcome as well!
Teachers are working on a whole new batch of Writing for Understanding sequences, and those will begin appearing here. If you're a course participant, thanks for posting and giving your thoughtful feedback.
If you're a VWC follower, your feedback is most welcome as well!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
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Wow, Sarah, the content of all three of your writing assignments is so relevant to healthy living. You aligned each topic well with your choice of writing genre (food choices - persuasive, peer pressure - reflective, advertising tactics - informational). I know it can be difficult to coordinate with teachers of other subjects, but it might be interesting to see if a language arts teacher might find a relevant text (ie. The Chocolate War) for students to read just prior to your study of peer pressure. That might give them a common reference point for discussion and possibly enhance their writing as well. I think you have the beginnings of some very rich units. Great job! Judy :)
ReplyDeleteI am hopeful that my language arts teachers, as well as the literacy specialist, will be able to help me incorporate these and other ideas into my curriculum. Maybe it will catch on in other "specials" classes, too! And, yes, I would love to find some relevant texts for my classroom! Thanks for the encouragement!
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to see some of the activities the kids could do to get ready to write this persuasive essay. The movie King Corn is especially thought-provoking and makes everybody think about what we are eating.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic! nothing so important as increasing awareness about what we eat.
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to see these wonderful writing lessons in your content area. You have some great focus questions and ideas for children to respond to. There are some great picture books that could also go along with your units to introduce or support your topics that older students would enjoy as well.I know your Literacy specialist/Librarian could give you some ideas. Lots of ideas from this group as well to tap into. Thanks for sharing and good luck with your units!
Sarah - I really like the topic you have set up for students to think about. This would set up a really interesting "so what" kind of conclusion that would really have students think about the focus question. Thank you for incorporating persuasive thesis with evidence outside of LA & Social Studies. Students need to see this kind of thinking a lot and need to practice a lot. It looks like you have set up your students for some real good success with the layout of your writing plan.
ReplyDeleteI noticed in an earlier post by Judy about teaming with an LA teacher. I was thinking something very similar but being a Social Studies teacher, I was thinking about collaborating with that content area. The question of "should schools regulate?" is, in essence, a great government question. Obviously, this may send things in a very different direction than what you were thinking, but it could be really interesting, and something that an 8th grader could grasp. Another thought that I had was a short clip from the movie SuperSize Me. There is a short section where the director/producer goes to look at school lunches and behavior. This is pretty powerful and in a different medium for your students to collect evidence.