I’ve written about this before, and I’m going to write about it again. I have a problem getting my students to apply the information they know down onto paper. They don’t have a problem visualizing or verbalizing it. They have a problem with the application of the information- the writing. I’ve tried many things. Mathew has given me some great ideas, but I would like more. Do you have any ideas? I ‘d like to know about them if you do?
From Vision To Application!
Special 2 Me 
Is it for a particular concept? Are they having trouble articulating the information? I like RAFT (role, audience, format, topic) because it works well with different scenarios. You could also try entrance/exit cards.
What are entrance/exit cards?
When the students first enter they have to turn in an index card in which they wrote (for example) a quick summary of yesterday’s lesson or it could be a question that you posed before they left to respond to. The exit card works the same way. They can’t exit unless they give you the completed card (easier with the exit as you can’t control if they did the entrance card the night before). You can pretty much cater them to whatever it is you are doing. I like to use them to see if the students have caught on to a particular concept. Here’s some more info:
In Your Toolbox (from The Learning Highway):
Entrance/Exit Cards
A teacher can use entrance/exit cards as
a “low prep” strategy for gathering
information about academic readiness or
the degree of mastery after a learning
experience. Prior to beginning a learning
experience, a teacher may ask students to
complete an “entrance card” on the question
“What is irony? Give me an example.”
Oh, okay, they do something like that in Teach for America. The only thing is that everything takes forever. When we come in in the morning, I have a writing journal question on the board. It’s usually something simple like, “What did you do over the weekend?” Answering that can take between 10-15 minutes. I’ll just have to make extra time for that. I know that it will serve many purposes. I’ll try it and let you know how it goes. Thanks for the idea.
I have found that when you get kids to interact with one another, they bring things out that adults have trouble doing! For example, if you ask the question about .”What did you do over the weekend?,” have another child “pretend” they are interviewing them…with a fake mic, and all…..and the kids being interviewed will come up with ALL kids of things! Sometimes kids do better with ” creating a story” because they think their real one will be boring! Good Luck!
I can see that. I’ll try it and let you know how it goes. Thanks