Expression

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Revision as of 02:26, 16 April 2006

Multiple means of expression refers primarily to student activities, though not entirely. The issue is to give the students multiple ways of to express themselves and fulfill course requirements.

Think through this: Use your own situation. What kinds of situations do you have and what kinds of options can you think of to give students multiple means of expression?

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How do teachers get students excited about writing and differentiate to provide the students with multiple ways to express their knowledge? One way is to give them choice. In the Middle explores Nancie Atwell’s success with differentiation in the English classroom. Atwell asked her students for ideas for writing, she and her students “found out that in-school writing could actually be good for something – that it could serve kids as a way to solve problems and see the world”(p.14). So Atwell wrote a book on reading and writing workshops. The theory behind workshops is to give students choice; if they can choose to read or write about things they are interested in, they will be more intrinsically motivated to do their best writing.

I have tried both the reading and writing workshop this year; and have seen tremendous growth in my students’ writing. I still, though, have a burning question: when it is the actual ability to write that is being assessed, how to you give multiple modes of expression? They have to write to be assessed on their writing. According to Colorado Reading and Writing Standard #3, “students write and speak using conventional grammar, usage, sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling”. (http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeassess/standards/read.htm) So how do I assess these skills and give the students multiple ways to express their knowledge?

According to The Access Center (http://www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/writingdifferentation.asp), one way to do this is provide students with tiered assignments. For example, “Students with moderate writing skills are asked to write a four-paragraph persuasive essay in which they provide a thesis statement and use their own ideas to support it. Students with more advanced skills are asked to research the topic in more depth and use substantive arguments from their research to support their thesis”. This is great a great idea, but the expression is still the same: writing.

Any ideas?

Meagan Oberle

Here's a thought: Give them the option to compose a "radio essay." Have the students still do the same amount of research and back-up their arguments, but instead of writing a standard essay, their task is to write a “script” for a “radio news show” that discusses their topics. They could record their broadcasts and submit a tape or audio file (mp3, e.g.) of the "broadcast," along with the script, for a grade.

This will give students another outlet to prove that they have achieved all the objectives of Colorado Reading and Writing Standard #3, and then some. A blogger, known only as "Dr. Write," explains what happened when she gave her students the assignment of writing a two-page narrative about what they did on Spring Break with the requirement that they refer to current events in some way (Dr. Write, April 5, 2005):

"What I learned from this assignment is that requiring students to contextualize
their own experiences and to perform their own work in their own voices had
inspired students in ways that exceeded the usual assignment to write an essay..." 

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