In this session, author Angela Peery shares writing strategies that can be used across the curriculum in order to heighten engagement, increase critical thinking, and refine craft.

1. Write More, Learn More – Ideas You Can Use Tomorrow
Angela Peery, Ed. D. drangelapeery@gmail.com drangelapeery.com
I. Why have all students engage in meaningful writing?
Author and Educator Mike Schmoker says this in his book Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve
Student Learning:
“The lesson to be learned from the last 30 years should be this: We will never educate all students
until we appreciate the value of time and stop preventing them from engaging in… immense amounts of
reading, discussion, and writing. These are the indispensable and primary means of acquiring content
knowledge and intellectual skills.”
Donovan Walling, in Writing for Understanding: Strategies to Increase Content Learning is right when he says:
“Writing increases understanding in all content areas, whether math or science, social studies or
foreign language, art or music, or physical education. And you don’t have to be a writing teacher in order to
use writing as an instructional tool any more than you need to be a computer programmer to use a computer
or an auto mechanic to drive a car.”
Graham and Hebert (2010) have made the argument quite eloquently in Writing to Read: Evidence for How
Writing Can Improve Reading:
“The financial and social costs of poor literacy have been well documented… The consequences of
poor reading and writing skills not only threaten the well-being of individual Americans, but the country
as a whole. Globalization and technological advances have changed the nature of the workplace. Reading and
writing are now essential skills in most white- and blue-collar jobs. Ensuring that adolescents become skilled
readers and writers is not merely an option for America, it is an absolute necessity.”
II. Strategies that heighten engagement
A. Think-ink-pair-share
This is really think-pair-share with writing added. Everyone knows (or thinks they know) about think-
pair-share. It’s great for active processing, high engagement, etc. – but could be enhanced by adding writing
– also good for more introverted students because they feel safer in writing and feel more prepared for
talking
Here is what one elementary student wrote during the “think-ink” portion of this strategy during a
science lesson:
I know a few things about our solar system. Like for one, the earth is part of this system, but it’s only
one of many planets. Stars and asteroids are also part of the solar system. You can see them in the sky if you
watch at night. I want to know how many planets and moons there are. I hope we learn that.
B. Alphabet brainstorming (also called the ABC list)
This is a brainstorming protocol based on the letters of the alphabet. It can also be adapted and
called alphaboxes (which I learned from Janet Allen). See the examples at the end of this handout.
C. Pass the paper
Pass the paper is a strategy that is collaborative, fast-paced, and fun. If your class is large, you can
have several papers going at once so that students are not sitting for long periods of time waiting for the
paper to come their way; I have even seen teachers do a sheet of paper per row or per section of the room
successfully.

2. Basically, you, the teacher, provide a prompt or a beginning sentence. Then you set the parameters
for the rest of this writing “game.” When the paper gets to a student, he or she follows your parameters and
adds his or her ideas to the writing that has already been placed on the paper.
So, for example, if I were teaching Romeo and Juliet to 9th
grade students, as I did for many years, we
might start class one day using the strategy. Let’s say we had just read through the famous balcony scene,
where our two young lovers are bemoaning the fact that their families are enemies and yet they are
attracted to each other. Because my classes usually had about 25 students, I think I would start a sheet of
paper on each side of the room, so that two sheets would be passed simultaneously. On one sheet of paper, I
would write this sentence and invite students to add one sentence each as the paper traveled around: “It is
possible to fall in love at first sight.” On the other sheet of paper, I might take the opposite stance and write
the following: “You can’t possibly be in love with someone as soon as you’ve met them.” (Alternatively, I
could have focused on the family feud instead and written something like, “Your family should not have a say
in who you date” and “It is important to honor your family’s feelings when choosing someone to date”).
This strategy is fast-paced and fun, but it also supports the active use of students’ best grammatical
skills and fluency if you set the parameters carefully. Most often I see teachers use the “one sentence” rule –
students add one sentence to the sentences that have already been written.
One variation is to have the students fold the paper as it is passed so that the next student sees only
the sentence that was written before. At the end, the teacher reads the entire composition, which
sometimes has humorous disjointedness. Another variation is to have students write only one word, rather
than a sentence. This is most often used in the lower grades, where it takes students a little longer to do the
actual handwriting required. Students can be instructed to add a maximum of one word and one punctuation
mark.
III. Strategies that support critical thinking
A. Criss cross writing
This is a basic comparison matrix. It can be used as a quick formative assessment, a note-taking tool,
or a prewriting strategy. (Thanks to McMinnville, OR teachers for this partial example.)
Clatskanie Chinook Tillamook Coos Athabaskans Alsea
Location Upper
Nehalem
Valley
How did they
get their
name?
Possibly means
“swift running
water”
What are they
remembered
for?
Warlike Peaceful and
loved
entertainment
Extinct or Not? Extinct
(smallpox
epidemic)
Not – 2000
registered
members
today
Other Notable
Features
Skilled hunters
and fishermen
Used boards to
flatten baby’s
heads so they
looked
different from
other tribes
Skilled basket
weavers

3. B. Six-word text (or six-word summary)
Based on the six-word memoir online. Students are limited to six total words to sum up content or
respond in some way. (Thanks to teachers in McAllen, TX.)
Six-word summary of the story “The Most Dangerous Game”: On an island, hunter became hunted.
Six-word summary of the story “The Tell-Tale Heart”: That eye, that heartbeat – madness, murder.
C. Twenty ways to look at it
This strategy is a bit like 20 Questions, but it’s a mental reverse of that. The teacher poses a question
or gives a prompt and instructs the students to individually brainstorm 20 answers/responses.
One of my favorite prompts to use with students was, “Who are you? Give 20 answers or more.” I
would model a few answers first before sending them off to generate their responses. So, some of the
answers I would share are as follows:
1. Teacher
2. Writer
3. Wife
4. Daughter
5. Granddaughter
6. Sister
7. Aunt
8. Fan of Labrador Retrievers
The 20-answers template can be adapted to fit any subject matter fairly easily. Here are some
sentence frames you can use to develop your own prompts:
What are 20 things you remember about _____?
List 20 ways that _____ can be used.
What are 20 benefits of _____?
Give 20 reasons why we should (or should not) _____.
If you could meet _____, what are 20 things you would say or ask?
D. Triple response
The three parts of a triple response represent three types of thinking. The first is to state something
declarative. The second is to reflect or connect, and the third is to visualize. The visual is like a peace sign and
may initially heighten student engagement since it should be an unfamiliar one to them. (Thanks to Derrick
Cameron, principal in Canada.)

4. E. Quad notes
Students divide a sheet of paper into four squares of equal size; they can fold the paper to make
lines if they wish. (Or a student can create four squares using a device, if applicable.) The students then
read something, listen to a lecture, or watch an instructional video. It works best if you can divide the
text, lecture, or video into four fairly equal parts. For each part, students stop to take notes in one of the
boxes. In each box, they are allowed to put only four things: three key words and one picture or visual.
(Thanks to Chippewa Falls, WI teachers.)
I wonder why
residential schools
were even allowed to
be established. Did
people not learn
lessons from the
Holocaust and other
tragedies like it?
I learned that
residential schools and
the Holocaust have
some similiarities. They
both targeted people
unfairly.

5. Union
Confederacy
Slavery
Lincoln
Reunite the union End the rebellion
IV. Strategies that help writers refine their craft
A. Roving revision
This is a revision suggestion process that can be done whole-class or in small groups. A peer reviewer
looks for and comments on only one thing at a time. Three prompts/directions that have always worked for
me are the following:
-Box each first word of each sentence – are there too many I’s or the’s? If so, the writer needs to
vary sentence beginnings. The roving revision partner for this step could suggest reordering the sentence by
using arrows to connect sentence parts or carets to insert ideas.
-Circle every end mark. Read what’s between the two circles. Does it make sense? Is it complete?
Could it be improved?
-Underline each verb. Are there a lot of forms of the verb to be? And, if appropriate, are there
passive verbs that could be active? Make suggestions above or in the margin.
B. Making appositives
Teach students how to use appositives at the beginnings of sentences, within sentences, and at the
end of sentences. Examples: The leader who fought for peace among races, Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired
many young people. Tobias, the remaining member of our group, appeared on the river bank. Out stepped
Sam, the boy who had visited them many summers before.
V. Apply at least one strategy to one’s personal teaching situation and make explicit plans to
use it within two weeks
What can you take away from our session and use with your students? Please jot your ideas here and/or
share with a nearby colleague.

6. Alphabet Brainstorming and Additional Tasks
This is one student’s initial list about the novel The Great Gatsby.
Arrogant, awkward, assumption New York
B O
Class, cheating P
Daisy, depressed Q
East Egg Rich, racist
Fitzgerald S
Gatsby Tom
House party U
Innocent V
Jealousy W
K X
Laughter Young, Yale
Mindless Z
This is the same student’s list after she met with a peer for a few minutes in a pair-share situation.
Notice that there are multiple words for many letters and that there is experimentation with the letter
X.
Arrogant, awkward, assumption New York
Bay Orchestra
Class, cheating Pessimist
Daisy, depressed Quarrel
East Egg Rich, racist, romance, reputation
Fitzgerald Seductive
Gatsby, guilty Tom, truth
House party Uninvited
Innocent, independent Violent
Jealousy War
Killer Oxford, EXtravagance
Laughter, love Young, Yale
Mindless, mistress Zelda
Next, the teacher asked the students to select no more than 10 “most important words” on their lists.
This student selected the following:
Class
Cheating
Gatsby
Jealousy
Romance
Reputation
Extravagance

7. Here is another student’s list, after the pair-share. Notice that this student’s list contains fewer words
and more concrete words than the student above. This particular student has included many character
names, for example.
Awkward Nick
Buchanan Obnoxious drunks
Cheerful Parties
Daisy Q
Excitement R
Fancy Social class
Gossip Tom
Harsh Unfaithful
Intoxicate V
Jordan Baker Wealth
K X
Lies Y
Myrtle Zelda
This student selected the following “most important words”:
Awkward
Gossip
Lies
Myrtle
Nick
Parties
Social class
Tom
Wealth