“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” - Margaret Mead
The professional development that A.L.L. provides focuses on the process that has students define the elements of a genre that guides their drafting, revising, editing and publishing, not the product however it is important that the product reflect the process. These student samples illustrate the process, as well as the product.
Keenan’s Heartbeat
Students in the exploration center were asked to write what they learned about the human body that included graphical writing prompts in the upper-right and lower-left corners of the page: a picture of a girl using a stethoscope to listen to a boy's heart beat and a picture showing an x-ray of a boy's bones.
Cloning - Good or Bad
Students wrote daily entries on a variety of topics in their writer's notebooks. "Cloning" was written in response to a newspaper article.
Grouchy Ladybug
Students were asked to retell, in writing and through the use of illustrations, The Grouchy Ladybug, by Eric Carle.
What Do You Think?
Students were engaged in a feature article genre unit of study. They selected a topic of their choice and then wrote their own feature article.