A Strategy for Integrating Writing Skills and Science Content in a Differentiated Classroom

by Melissa Tucker and Lyndsey Manzo, Westerville North High School, Westerville, Ohio

We would like to preface our article with a short disclaimer. Research shows that writing (written reflections) about learning is known to increase comprehension and retention. Knowing this, we are simply two teachers who have continually worked to refine a writing strategy to meet our needs and the needs of our students. As classroom teachers, we know that just because an educational strategy works in one classroom, that does not guarantee its success in another room. We feel our success is due, in part, to our unique situation, but we hope this technique might be beneficial and useful for others to apply in their classrooms.

Let us tell you about our setting. We teach in Westerville, Ohio, which is a large, suburban public school system on the northeast side of Columbus. This is our second year team-teaching a sophomore biology class of twenty students. Fifteen students have individualized educational plans (IEPs), and five students were handpicked by their previous science teachers as students who would benefit from additional intervention. Although our students receive various modifications and accommodations to meet their learning needs, they still follow the same course of study and are required to pass the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT) along with the rest of their sophomore class.

Over the past two years, we have implemented, revised, and modified various organizational, pedagogical, and curricular strategies to help our students succeed on the OGT. Because we know that short-answer, extended-response, and essay questions are in all portions of the OGT, one practice we have put a heavy emphasis on is integrating writing skills with biological content. As a result, journals have become an integral part of our biology class. The journals allow students to develop strong writing skills and the ability to clearly communicate their comprehension of the content. As teachers, we use the journals as formative assessment.

So what are "journals" and how do they work? A journal is a single sheet of paper with a template on it (see Figure 1). In the box at the top is a (usually) three- to five-sentence prompt. The bottom half of the page has lines for students' answers. We simply handwrite the prompts in the box as we develop them and then photocopy the page for our class. The prompts are usually generated from our district's learning targets (sometimes called "I can" statements) for each grade-level indicator (GLI) in Ohio's Science Academic Content Standards. We only use journals as the situation presents itself (usually twice a week) to demonstrate higher levels of content understanding or prior knowledge of a subject.

Students typically pick up their journal page from a table as they walk into the room; differentiation begins at this point. Students who feel comfortable reading the prompt for themselves begin working independently. After the bell rings, we read it orally for those who need assistance. We also clarify and restate any unknown words or concepts the students may not understand. For those who are still struggling to write, we create sentence starters. Sometimes we provide them to the whole class via the overhead projector; in other cases we write sentence starters directly on an individual student's paper.

Students generally write for five to eight minutes. During that time they can ask one of us (or each other) for help with spelling, grammar, or punctuation with no penalty. Students can choose to use various visual support strategies around the room if they need additional assistance. We have a word wall with pictures, as well as posters showing common transition words and the steps to form a cohesive paragraph. To help students understand what the questions are specifically asking them to do, we have also posted the question verbs and their meanings around the room (e.g., "evaluate― tell what is good or bad or could change"; see Figure 2). Students also have copies of all these aids in their notebooks.

When students feel their answers are complete, we encourage them to share their answers for peer editing prior to having one of us assess the answers. We check for content accuracy, as well as good writing skills. Students receive a check (") or a check-plus ("+) if there are errors, and we discuss the necessary corrections with them. In the first quarter, student answers that are flawless with no spelling, punctuation, grammar, or content errors receive a stamp. After students earn five stamps, they get to choose a candy bar of their choice. More candy bars can be earned after receiving seven and then ten stamps.

The expectations change each quarter. In the second quarter, students are required to write a five-sentence paragraph (a topic sentence, three supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence) in addition to having grammatically correct answers. During the third quarter, we concentrate on expanding students' writing skills. Students will be required to write a grammatically correct, five-sentence paragraph that includes at least one transitional word or phrase (e.g., however or therefore) and the use of more advanced adjectives (e.g., increased instead of got bigger). Students can always refer to the posters on the walls and the reference lists in their notebooks for assistance. By the last quarter, we expect students to compose their answers without the aid of sentence starters, visual cues, or our additional help. Presenting journaling in this repetitive, step-by-step manner allows students to build a scaffolding of writing skills that can be used in all content areas.

As students complete their journals, they put them in chronological order into their three-ring binders that stay in our room. We do not collect papers or carry home a pile of spiral notebooks to review in the evening. Having this collection of writings has been beneficial in many situations. We use students' responses as feedback for our instruction, and we also use them as a tool for the students to develop metacognition (a skill to reflect on their own learning). As well, we can continuously track strengths and weaknesses in students' writing; we share these data at IEP meetings and with case managers or counselors collecting evidence for multifaceted evaluations.

Although we have the luxury of two teachers to help students through the journal process, time is the one obstacle that we have yet to overcome. We are still fine-tuning how to prevent students from having idle time while we read and critique twenty papers during class. This dilemma has made a bit more preparation work for us, as we try to creatively plan activities to maximize our time. We can justify this shortcoming both because the time devoted to journals serves multiple purposes and because the skills the students have acquired benefit them in all content areas.

We would like to think we are becoming somewhat successful because our students actually enjoy writing journals. They are taking pride in their work and want to accurately and fluently demonstrate their understanding. Their collections of journals are showing evidence of improved writing techniques and more comprehensive responses. Nonetheless, our process of integrating writing skills with teaching science is still evolving. Implementing journals certainly did not happen in a quick and straightforward manner; however, we feel confident that content teachers could progressively introduce aspects of this strategy into their courses and achieve similar results.

We began this article with a short disclaimer: that just because an educational strategy works in one classroom, that does not guarantee its success in another room. We would like to conclude this article with a few examples of what success looks like for our students.

Life Science Standard
GLI 3. Explain the characteristics of life as indicated by cellular processes including
      a. homeostasis
      b. energy transfers and transformation
      c. transportation of molecules
      d. disposal of wastes
      e. synthesis of new molecules

I can

• describe the structure and function of cell membranes and their components (phospholipids, proteins, cholesterol, glycoproteins)

Analyze the cell membrane.

I can

• predict what will happen to plant and animal cells when they are placed in isotonic, hypotonic, and hypertonic solutions

An animal cell is in a beaker with 100% pure water. Animal cells are not 100% pure water. Predict the direction the water will move, and predict the new shape of the cell. (Will it shrink or get bigger?)

Would the same thing happen to a plant cell?

Life Science Standard
GLI 10. Describe how cells and organisms acquire and release energy (photosynthesis, chemosynthesis, cellular respiration and fermentation).

I can

• analyze data to see if a plant is doing photosynthesis or not
• explain what makes the colors in leaves

What do you think would happen if you did the chromatography lab with YELLOW leaves? What would be your results? What would your data tell you about the amount of photosynthesis being done by the plant? (3-4 sentences)

Scientific Inquiry Standard
GLI 2. Present scientific findings using clear language, accurate data, appropriate graphs, tables, maps and available technology.

I can

• construct data tables and graphs from lab data knowing when to make a line, bar, or other graph

Evaluate the graph at the bottom of this page. (3-4 sentences)

Evaluate tell what is good or bad about the graph.

Melissa Tucker is an intervention specialist at Westerville North High School.

Lyndsey Manzo is a science teacher at Westerville North High School.

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