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The use of writing-to-learn strategies in content area reading classes, to both promote learning and as an assessment tool, is discussed.

Overwhelming support exists in the literature for using writing to learn in all content areas, from math to science to social studies. Most of the preservice teachers I work with in a content area reading class equate writing to learn with only one format, journal writing. Most students recall a freewriting that did not target course content. Typically, these writing-to-learn experiences were limited to their English classrooms.

I have long advocated using writing as a tool to promote learning and have employed learning logs as an assessment tool. Learning logs allowed students to become engaged in writing, facilitated their involvement with course content, and served as a powerful model of writing to learn. Unfortunately, my announcement that we would be writing in learning logs was often met with groans of disappointment and protests that "We've been journaled to death!" Perhaps the overuse and sometimes misuse of journal writing, in the name of writing to learn, has caused students to develop negative attitudes toward this format. Based upon their prior experiences with journal writing, students felt that there was no inherent purpose and did not feel that it was time well spent.

I still advocate the use of learning logs, based upon my positive experiences in using them and the tremendous amount of feedback related to the course I received through them. However, I took on the challenge of responding to my students' protests and began to consider how I could use alternative writing-to-learn strategies.

After experimenting, I have come to feel most comfortable with the following writing-to-learn strategies: admit/exit slips, looping, cinquains/ progressive cinquains, and What I Know/ What I Want to Know/What I Learned (K-W-L). Although I still yearn for the familiarity and comfort of learning logs, implementing a variety of strategies has made me a more effective role model and advocate for writing to learn. The likelihood of my students using writing to learn in their own classrooms will be greater.

Admit/exit slips

Admit/exit slips are among the most versatile writing-to-learn strategies. Perhaps the most attractive feature of this strategy is its brevity. This makes it a favorite among my students, and many imagine that they could and will use admit/exit slips in their future classrooms.

Upon arrival to class, students are given an index card and asked to respond to a question, such as "What was the most important aspect of your assigned reading?" or "What questions do you have about the assignment?" or "What aspect of today's lesson are you most interested in discussing?" Students complete their admit slip as a "ticket" into class. Discussion of their responses provides the springboard into the topic area. The slips also provide a nice model of activating students' schema and allow the class to have a voice in the direction of the day's lesson.

Conversely, exit slips provide an effective way to bring closure to a day's lesson. Students are asked to reflect upon the day's lesson and respond on an index card to questions like "What did you learn today?" or "What do you want to learn more about?" or "What is still confusing you?" The information I receive on exit slips can assist in determining what topics need additional time and can provide ideas for extending the learning experience.

Another attractive feature of admit/exit slips is that students are not asked to sign their names; thus, it is a safe place for students to voice their concerns regarding course content. Looping

I also use looping, another writing-tolearn strategy, when we are beginning to explore a new concept or topic area. Students are asked to turn to a clean page in their notebooks and write whatever comes to mind about a particular idea or concept, for a set period of time, usually from 3 to 5 minutes. I ask them to keep writing for the entire, time even if they can only jot down words or phrases, as long as it is related to their understanding of the topic. At the end of the time period, students are asked to stop writing, read what they have written, and summarize it into one succinct sentence.

When they have completed their sentences, students fold their papers so only their sentences are showing. They pass their papers to their neighbors, who are asked to read the sentence written by their classmate and continue writing about the topic area, using their classmate's sentence as a beginning point. Students again write for a set period and repeat the process of freewriting, rereading, and writing one sentence. This process is repeated as many times as needed.

Throughout the process of freewriting and summarizing, students are exploring, in writing, their understanding of the topic area and responding to their classmates' perspectives. At the conclusion of the looping exercise, students return the papers to their originators, and the final sentences are shared and provide the basis for a rich discussion of the topic. typically use this exercise when we first begin discussing the area of metacognition. It has worked well to bring out students' thoughts and ideas.

Cinquains/progressive cinquains

Cinquains and progressive cinquains are another writing-to-learn strategy that I have successfully employed. A cinquain is just one version of patterned poetry writing (you may be familiar with biopoems or story frames). A cinquain is a five-line poem in which each line represents a particular aspect of the topic. The first line is one word, a noun, that could be the topic itself or a word that is synonymous with the topic. The second line is a two-word description of the topic. The third line is made up of three -ing words that convey the action of the topic. The fourth line is a four-word phrase describing the topic and showing feeling. The fifth line is a single synonym that restates the essence of the topic.

When students have created their individual cinquains, they can be shared and displayed, or the activity could continue by employing progressive cinquains. With progressive cinquains, students pair up and create a collaborative cinquain by using bits and pieces of their individual cinquains or together create an entirely new cinquain. Pairs then form quads and the process of negotiating and collaborating to create yet another cinquain is repeated. Groups then share their cinquains by reading them aloud and/or putting them on the board. Groups also explain the process they went through to arrive at their final cinquain.

I have used cinquains after we have studied schema theory. As students collaborate and negotiate word choices, their understanding of schema theory is strengthened, and they agree that this writing-to-learn strategy caused them to think and reflect about their understanding of the topic.

Following are examples of schema cinquains created during a recent semester:

Schema

Background Knowledge

Activating, Anticipating, Analyzing

Linking New to Old

Learning

Schema

Prior Information

Thinking, Organizing, Remembering

Making Connections and Associations

Knowledge

Schema

Personal Understanding

Connecting, Associating, Remembering

Broadening One's Own Understanding

Wisdom

K-W-L

I use K-W-L (What I Know, What I Want to Know, and What I Learned) often and in a variety of ways. K-W-L was originated by Donna Ogle (see "K-W-L: A Teaching Method That Develops Active Reading of Expository Text" in The Reading Teacher, 1986, pp. 564-570). I typically use this strategy early in my course as a way to get students thinking about the major topics we will study throughout the semester. Topics typically include transactional philosophy of teaching and learning, instructional frameworks, the process of learning, schema theory, metacognition, writing to learn, teaching skills in context, alternative and authentic assessment, thematic units, and planning instruction for students with special needs.

K-W-L becomes a writing-to-learn strategy as students circulate around the room, writing what they know and what they want to know on posterboards devoted to different topic areas. As students read one another's contributions, it activates their own schema about topic areas and they are able to add to the K-W-L posters. I have also arranged the desks in a circle and rotated sheets around the circle for students to write on. The size of my class usually dictates which format I use.

As students complete the What I Want to Know portion of the K-W-L posters or sheets, the activity provides me with direction in planning future class meetings. I also refer to the students' contributions upon each new topic area's introduction to the course and often read some aloud as a way to activate students' thinking about a new topic area before they attempt an assigned reading.

At the last class meeting, I bring out the original K-W-L posters or sheets for students to complete the What I Learned portion. This provides students with an effective review as they prepare to write their final essay exam.

Writing to learn provides a format for students to demonstrate their personal understanding of course content. Use of writing-to-learn strategies in our own teaching can encourage preservice teachers to incorporate writing to learn in their future content area classrooms.

Open to Suggestion carries suggestions for classroom teaching and other stimulating short items related to literacy development for adolescents and adults. All items are peer reviewed except for occasional items adapted from the literature.

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