Writing Units
Explicit Research and Text-Based Disciplinary Writing
Explicit instruction of the purpose, structure and language features of a specific genre/discipline with opportunities to construct texts that are authentic to the discipline. Research shows that multilingual learners benefit from a structured approach to writing instruction that includes modeling, deconstruction of mentor texts, co-construction, and independent writing (Shin, 2016; Brisk, 2014).
Soil, water, plants, animals, and airplay critical roles in quality of life, and many people believe that our environment is merely a force of nature that cannot affect or disadvantage different populations. However, borne out of inequities uncovered during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, the concept of environmental justice began to expose the many ways that access to safe living conditions, clean air, and water, healthy food, and land, is oftentimes inequitable.
In these writing instructional units, students will have the opportunity to build background knowledge in environmental justice and concurrently develop explicit writing skills that explain and describe how and why it occurs, and ultimately, why it matters.
