Jennifer's+Page

TEACHING NON-FICTION WRITING IN A SECONDARY SCHOOL SETTING



In the secondary school setting, non-fiction writing should be integrated across the curriculum. " Evidence suggests that a high quality, common curriculum--including purposeful reading, writing and discussion- is the most powerful factor that affects learning" (Schmoker, 2007,p.65). Alternative forms of media including photo, film, and hip hop should also be considered to motivate students to write, especially those from urban areas. Another key point in motivating urban students to write papers is to be more accepting of their culture, vernacular, and home life.

 RESEARCH

 __Reading, Writing, and Thinking for All__ by Mike Schmoker

Regardless of whether a student is college or non-college bound, there are certain higher level thinking skills that should be taught to all students. According to Harvard preisdent Derek Bok,there is a great value in liberal arts education. "Bok extolled such an education not only for its contribution to intellectual and personal growth, but because a liberal arts education is "what employers are really asking for." (Schmoker, 2007, p.63) A liberal arts education empowers students and helps them develop judgement and actively and intelligently participate in our society.

Tempe Preparatory Academy in Phoenix, Arizona has created a curriculum that emphasizes argumentatize literacy. This type of literacy involves reading, writing, debating and discussing high level texts across the English and Social Studies curriculum. This school was one of the two schools that initially passed the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standard with 100 percent. The interesting aspect of this school is that it is an open-enrollment charter school with a population that is middle to lower middle class and with 15 percent of the students being non-white and 5 percent with special needs. (Schmoker, 2007, p. 64)

The curriculum at Tempe Preparatory includes a two hour Human Letters Block, which includes English and Social Studies. The readings are classic works like __Walden__, __Othello__, __Pride and Prejudice__, and __Don Quixote__. Students spend the majority of in-class time reading, writing, or discussing the issues found in their readings. "By graduation, students have spent 1400 hours in these college-style seminars and have read and discussed thousands of pages of high-quality text." (Schmoker, 2007, p.64)

The other component to this successful school is that they do not use worksheets and answering questions about the content of the text. Students write nine argumentative or thesis driven essays and revise them using 6 +1 traits every year. They also write a 20 page thesis and present it to a committee in their senior year. The skills of reading, thinking, debating and writing are key elements to success in college. " For Christopher Lasch, learning to argue is the essence of education, which not only prepares us for every aspect of life and employment, but also strengthens civil society." (Schmoker, 2007, p. 64) Another high school in Los Angeles California is also using the argumentative literacy approach. View Park School is made up of 98 percent African American students, with half of the population receiving a reduced or free lunch. The English curriculum focuses on reading, arguement, and persuasive writing. "Students learn to use Stephen Toulmin's (1958)Model of Argumentation- which recognizes the four key elements of argument as claim, clarification, evidence and warrant- to produce college-level written arguments." (Schomoker, 2007, p. 65)

The author believes that there are two obstacles that hinder the implementation of argumentative literacy in schools. The first obstacle is curricular chaos. This means that the curriculum is not updated, modified or changed to fit the needs of the students. Worksheets, movies and busy work are filling up valuable classroom instructional time. Teachers and administrators must be held to higher standards and it is their job to monitor the progress of the students. The second obstacle is the belief held by many teachers that the students will not be able to handle this type of curriculum. Appropriate texts, insightful questions and an appropriate and thoughtful way for students to respond to the questions is necessary. Teachers must work together to come up with thought provoking questions, interesting novels and articles and the motivation to set up a learning environment that challenges students and makes them think (Schmoker, 2007, p. 66).

CLASSROOM APPLICATIONS

USING DOCUMENTARIES TO TEACH NON-FICTION TEACHING PHOTOVOICE TO URBAN YOUTH USING HIP HOP TO WRITE PERSONAL NARRATIVES

REFERENCES

Barry, B. (2009). The Real Stuff: USING DOCUMENTARIES TO TEACH NON-FICTION WRITING. //Screen Education//, (53), 76-82. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database. Pride, F. (2007). School of Hip-Hop. //Black Issues Book Review//, //9//(3), 24-25. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.//.// Root Jr., R. (2004). Variations on a Theme of Putting Nonfiction in Its Place. //Pedagogy//, //4//(2), 289-299. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database. Schmoker, M. (2007). Reading, Writing, and Thinking for All. //Educational Leadership//, //64//(7), 63-66. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database. Zenkov, K., & Harmon, J. (2009). Picturing a Writing Process: Photovoice and Teaching Writing to Urban Youth. //Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy//, //52//(7), 575-584. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier databas e.