What It Is ‘A teacher friend of ours puts it bluntly: “Writing breaks are a reminder to me to just shut up every once in a while and let the kids think.” While we often feel pressured to talk til the bell—to pack as much content as we can into a class period—we also know that kids don’t remember aj much when they are overwhelmed. As we said in Chap- tet 1, less content can be incre, if more is actualy retained. ‘We already previewed this simplest of all writingo-learns a couple of pages back And the tite says i all. At specific points during class, students stop and reflect in writ- ing on the activities happening or information being presented. Some quick sharing et ther with partners or the whole class usually follows this writing, When to Use it and Why Remember that kids recall between 10 and 50 percent of what they read, hear, and 26? Now think of our most common classroom activities: in-lass reading, large group ‘discussion, teacher lecture, film or picture viewing, All of these certainly focus on cov- ering content, yet alone they often leave students remembering far less than we would like, By incorporating writing breaks at regular intervals, about every ten to Gwenty minutes, you can really Kick retention up a notch because writing and then talking about it moves the sticking rate into the 70 to 90 percent range. Play by Play Getting Started Before starting your presentation, film, activity, or in-class reading, decide when stu dents are going to stop and write. For a lecture or largesgroup discussion, you'll proba: bly want to stop about every ten to twelve minutes since that is the maximum atten tion span aduits have for focused listening (and perhaps optimistic for teenagers). For a film, it might be every fifteen or twenty minutes or after a key scene you want the students to 200m in on for further thinking, For examining a textbook illustration, slide, or transparency, students should study the graphic for a minute or two and write about what they see. For in-class reading, students might respond in writing atthe bot tom of each page or at a designated heading ‘Once you've determined the breaks, decide what topics you'd like the students to explore in their writing. Your prompts might be general: bile oy Wingo eas Strcagies 31<= what piece of information stands outa seems 87 important? Why? <= What are you thinking about right NOW? == What does this remind you of? <= What questions do you stil hav dingo the material on a sale of 1199 ( 10M shigh. ae ‘= Rate your understan ‘yaaat makes sense? What’ confusing your ‘or your promnps might be specie to the conten <= which character’ actions surpised you the mos? v= what would you do if you faced this probler? “= what igh have happened i Theodore Roosevelt had not overtaken constuce \ 4 tion of the Panama Canal from France? \ «© ow woul you describe the relationship bemeen TANA and RNA? Just before you launch into the lesson, form students into pats for today's wting - breaks, They need to be sitting near their partner, each should have & blank piece of i \ paper ready, ane they should undersian tat this exercise depends upon cleat, legible ! nandwriting, Working the Room \ ‘When you pause and students write cruise the room and read over thelr shoulders. 1 ‘esides offering the kids a moment to process the information before moving on. this vrring e-gves you a erance 0 see I STUGETS 8 stuck or confused anywhere, teen if ty are rot wring about thelr confusion struggle to write anything is 2 P- nt, Either Way, ‘ | off as wel, indicating an unclear Grasp OF & possible lack of engage! ‘ ornate be great to recogrize a tearing gap ren AES into the lesson rather than : ‘wo weeks laver, on the unittest? putting the Writing to Work das whe best way to get students rouse this informal ‘wing is t0 follow with some pal sharing, Once the weng tie uP, have students trade papers with their partner and sana senly Nex, rite ther co cortnue the converse! ‘out loud, commenting on i ach other’ ideas. after the partner sak call On KO OF three pairs for a quick sum : trary of ther comments, This lagu? POTS important because it creates a ‘ountabity, Ir students nove trey might Be asked to share, they wil alk about thelr ‘writing versus what happened a fast Seekend's party. Quickly carly any questions that arise and then move on fo the next segment ener Ba conrenrsanen warringTextbook Connections [Almost all modern textbooks have some questions that go beyond the standart factualecall, skim-ihetextforthe-answers questions. Why not use some of those high-order inking questions for some of your warting break prompts? Modify them so that students respond in writing to these big ideas as they read. And, as mentioned catler, have the kids look raoneseloseysacthe:chacs drawings and-picsuressthestext, _ features tan-snateniorypiealipignoreas wey:ned, After all ‘around a fiteen-pound textbook for each class, they might as those extras that are contrigting to the added bulk! What Can Go Wrong? if they're going to cary ‘well start making use of any 7 SREY EER TES Brea Feulce HUST SAUL HORA ein oft ergot yeamerelearigsintherbeginningymakeryoorpremaptrspadic. That way the kids will be able to narrow theie thinking and get something down instead of siting and staring atthe blank page. Also after you've done writing breaks a few times, have students evaluate their writing with just a few criteria: ‘= Did | wrte forthe entire time? = How well did | support my ideas with specific detalls? <= How well did my writing create some interesting discus ‘Arcertain points, collect the writing breaks and give them points, a comment, something that shows this writing Is important to the class. Also, collecting them from time to time will give you useful instructional feedback, plus some samples you can use as models with next yeat’s class. Example in aistory class, students were asked to examine 2 rather propagandistc 1B60 news paper drawing depicing Native Americans attacking homesteaders, In her veting break, Christina wrote about what she sav, based on three cues built into the teacher's prompt: Clothing: The woman is wearing a long blue oléfashion style dress. The Native "Americans are wearing lolncloths and headresses. The guy on the ground has his sleeves like he was working. ‘Things: Hila cabin, tre stumps, a river, a shovel, nile. These things say thatthe settlers live and work a lot outdoors. The Native Amert attacking the man on the ground. ssion with my partner? a stamp. a check, a few ican holding the knife is ik ts Ey ngeoter Sees 33their lives because the Native Americans a& because the settlers have ng for Feelings: The setters are scared for trying to il them, The Native Americans ar mad 'otheit property The woman inthe back is on the ground begai moved ont her life After stunts wrote for a minute oF to, Chey shared with a partner and then com pared their observations wath te rest of the ass, The kids found that different people ied ferent things. No two people interpreted ERE ilustration, something that ste dents viewed as a prety straightforward exercis®, exactly the samme. Variation a for this Kind of WTL isto help kids propare for @ 25: After having A longer-range us syudents reread their writing breaks from the unit. them to discuss and fist what tise they rernerber. once again fyou nace & cera OFS seldom gets mentioned, Sete nferation to rone non in your review ng ihe He needs and not seaming wauable moments on concep te sudents eaty control