Are you tired of writing in the margin “give more detail”, “please expand”, “elaborate on this idea” or “not enough detail”? How many times have you taken off points on an assignment because a student did not give enough detail?
Getting Students to add strong supporting details in their explanations and in their writing can feel like pulling teeth.
The Problem With Details
When I taught junior high, whether it was writing or social studies, many times students had difficulty taking an idea and elaborating on it with strong details. Often they would either give non-descript details or they would repeat the same detail more than once just by changing the wording. This was not only mind-numbingly boring to read, but also it was frustrating for me as a teacher!
Reading students’ writing took a lot of my time and I found that I was writing the comments I mentioned above over and over again on students’ papers. There had to be a better way.
A Strategy That Works
Whether we are teaching students to use elaborate details to help paint a picture in the mind of the reader, support their opinions with strong evidence, or use persuasive details to support their thesis statement, we can provide a structure that students can use with each other that will help them elaborate on the ideas they have and generate stronger supporting details.
Many times we assume that students know how to do what we ask them to do. If you are not getting what you want from your students, instead of getting frustrated, get creative. Give them a structure or strategy to help them accomplish what you are asking of them.
Use this powerful but simple strategy to save time (for yourself) and help students elaborate on their ideas, no matter what subject it is. This strategy works with any kind of writing.
Strategy: A Questioning Audience
Step 1: Break students into groups of 3-4.
Step 2: The first student, Student A, reads her paragraph, essay, or paper out loud to the rest of her group. The students in her group, Students B, C, and D, are listening and cannot make any comments during or after the reading.
Step 3: When Student A is finished reading, Student B writes 3 questions on a piece of paper that the writer did not answer in her writing or that the listener wants to know more about related to what he heard. Student C and Student D also write 3 questions on a piece of paper for the reader. This will provide Student A with a total of 9 questions, 3 from each listener.
One caveat—make sure you teach students what good questions sound like in the context of whatever kind of writing you are having them do.
Step 4: Students B, C, and D hand the papers with the questions to the reader. Make sure you tell students to wait to read the questions until everyone is finished reading their writing and all have received their questions so each student can give their full attention to the student who is currently reading.
Step 5: Student B then reads his paragraph, essay, or paper out loud to the rest of his group and the process continues for each student in the group until all students have read their writing and have received 3 papers with 3 questions from the other students in their group.
Step 6: All students go back to their seats and use the questions they received in their groups to help them think about how to add details in their writing.
Not only does this strategy provide an opportunity for all students to get specific feedback on their writing in a relatively short amount of time, but also it does not matter whether or not the student giving the feedback is a good writer. The feedback comes in the form of questions.
This Powerful Strategy in Action
Student A reads a short narrative about her summer vacation on the east coast to a group of three other students. Students B, C, and D listen and do not comment during or after Student A reads.
When she is finished, students B, C, and D individually write down 3 questions about Student A’s narrative that the writer did not answer in her writing and the listeners wanted to know more about.
Student B writes: What did the beach house look like? What was the weather like? and How did her family get to the east coast?
Student C writes: What kind of food did you eat? What places did you visit? and Will you ever go back?
Student D writes: What did you do when you went to the beach? Did you go alone or with other people? Was the ocean cold?
After everyone has read their writing and received papers with 3 questions, Student A then reads all 9 questions and decides which answers to those questions will help make her narrative stronger. She then incorporates the answers to the questions she selected into her narrative of her summer vacation. Student B, C, and D all do the same with their own set of questions and their own writing.
Notice the listening students make no comments to the reader at any time. No judgment of good or bad is given. They simply ask questions in writing. This process gives students a direction to go in the revision process. In addition, you are modeling for students to ask themselves questions to make their writing better.
The next time you ask your students to write a lengthy answer to a question, a paragraph, a story, an essay, or a paper, use this simple but powerful strategy to help students develop strong supporting details in their writing. With good models, clear directions, and a solid structure you shouldn’t have to write “add more details” on student papers any more.
How did this strategy work for you? Leave comment a below.