Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute

Write On! Express and Enjoy Yourself, by Ruth M. Wilson

Guide Entry to 86.04.15:

Write On! Express and Enjoy Yourself is a unit developed for a Remedial Reading Course. It is to be used preferably with seventh graders but can be modified for use in sixth through eighth grade. This unit addresses a problem common to Black and Hispanic Remedial Students which is “writing phobia”; both groups of remedial students have problems expressing their thoughts in written form. They can read but they can’t express themselves in writing. They know what they want to say but to get it down on paper is the problem’ This unit tries to address that problem.

Write On! Express and Enjoy Yourself consists of three parts: 1) expository journal writing with the introduction of clustering. The journal writing is to be used for the students’ free expression and for continuing lessons in the unit; 2) understanding, enjoying, and responding to poems by two minority women, Maya Angelou and Julia Alvarez. The selected poems are ones that the students can relate to and understand when reading; 3) lastly, writing character sketches of people. This lesson entails students viewing a few posted pictures and then responding to questions which lead to writing character sketches of people in the pictures. Also, there is a short vignette for reading which the students will discuss (this lesson includes vocabulary, and using the new vocabulary of the story they have read). Paraphrasing will be introduced and used in the reading and writing section of this unit.

The poems, pictures, and short vignette are on file in the Institute library, 53 Wall Street.

(Recommended for Remedial Reading classes, grades 7 and 8)

Key Words

Basic Skills Writing Instruction Reading Poetry

To Curriculum Unit

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