Why write?
Why should we learn to write when we live in an age where Artificial Intelligence can do it for us?
Writing is all about the communication of our ideas and thoughts. It provides the evidence of our thinking, often called by educators as our “critical thinking skills.” These critical thinking skills are what allow us to understand what we are reading, and thus writing becomes a way to provide evidence of our reading comprehension. Writing also allows us to be creative. It is being an artist with words. It is a way for us to share our voice and our imagination.
If we let AI do our writing for us, the voice and thoughts being communicated are not our own. Thus, we are neither learning “how to think” nor “how to write.”
How does writing connect to reading and thinking?
There are many types of writing. Some types, such as writing a fiction story or a personal narrative, are the sharing of original thought or experience. As such, they show evidence of our thinking skills, our imagination, our creativity, and our artistry with words. They share our voice. Other types of writing show evidence of our reading comprehension, and that depends on our critical thinking skills. Before writing persuasively about an opinion, or informatively about a topic pertaining to some aspect of life (science, history, etc.), it is likely important to do some research. Research allows us to learn about a topic by reading and thinking critically about non-fiction text. Before writing analytically, such as writing a literary analysis of a story, we have to read the story and be able to think critically about it.
Much of the writing that we do in school is analytical writing, persuasive (or argumentative) writing, and informative writing (reports). Often, these types of writing are done in the format of the “five-paragraph essay.” The five-paragraph essay follows a very simple recipe that we will learn this year. However, before we can write a five-paragraph essay, we need to master a single paragraph, and so that is where we will begin.
The Graphic Organizer
Before putting pencil to paper, a writer needs to have a plan. It is very difficult to start writing if we do not know what point we want to make, or how we want to end. This is where the graphic organizer comes in. It is a way of planning out everything we want to say, and getting it organized in boxes so that our brain has a good visual of the plan. We will primarily be using two standard graphic organizers this year known as the Story Map and the 4-Square.
Graphic Organizer 1: The Story Map and “Story Map Writing”
If writing a literary analysis, or even if creating one’s own fictitious story, the graphic organizer called the Story Map is very useful. It allows the reader to think through the who, when, where, what, how, and why of the story. In doing so, the reader identifies the Characters and Setting, and then journeys through the story from beginning to end with a specific purpose in mind. Three examples of a specific purpose include:
- Writing a summary of the story (often this focuses on a problem and solution)
- Writing about cause and effect in the story, and
- Writing a character analysis.
Completing the graphic organizer requires critical thinking skills and demonstrates reading comprehension. How so? By developing and using critical thinking skills when reading, the reader gains a deeper understanding of the text, and evidence of this is shown in how the reader’s thoughts are organized on the graphic organizer. Writing the paragraph can be as simple as taking the sentences off of the graphic organizer and putting them in a certain order. The steps are:
□ Deciding on an Introductory Sentence.
□ Putting the sentences from the Graphic Organizer in a certain order.
□ Adding some Transition Words.
□ Adding a Concluding Sentence.
The Story Map is also useful for the writer to use when planning out a story that he/she wants to write him/herself, and we look at that in Quarter 4 (Q4).
Because a completed Story Map can serve as the “map” for the student’s writing, we call this method “Story Map Writing.”
Graphic Organizer 2: The 4-Square and “4-Square Writing”
The 4-Square is a very simple design. Imagine folding a piece of paper lengthwise and widthwise so that there are 4 quadrants, and then place a box in the center. The 4-Square provides an excellent visual of how to organize a single paragraph, or a five-paragraph essay. It ensures that the writer has a clear main idea, three supporting details or categories of information, a concise conclusion, and effective transitions. Beginning in Quarter 2 (Q2), we will first create a simple but well-structured paragraph that has a main idea and three supporting details. Next, we will expand the topic into a five-paragraph essay.
Whether writing persuasively about one’s opinion, or writing a literary analysis (of a character, or of a theme…), the five-paragraph essay’s organization generally follows the acronym of CER: Claim, Evidence, Reasoning.
- Claim: In our introductory paragraph, we will make a claim. This is our main idea, our opinion, or the statement that our whole essay will be about explaining and defending.
- Evidence: Each of our body paragraphs (paragraphs 2, 3, and 4) will focus on one of three categories of information which support our claim or main idea. Within each category, we will give (usually) 3 details, examples, or reasons why and how that information is evidence which connects to, supports, and/or defends our claim or main idea.
- Reasoning: Explaining why and how the evidence supports the claim or main idea (showing the connection) utilizes logical reasoning.
