Matthew S.

Smith
6426 Loring Drive; Columbia, MD 21045
443-319-5558; matthewssmith17@gmail.com

English Educational Goal #1:

Teaching students how to use writing as a tool for discovery, learning, and
expression (Writing to Learn)

Writing is a powerful tool for exploring yourself and the world around you, and it is
important that students get regular, quality time to discover and organize their thoughts in writing.
This may take the form of personal journal entries, personal responses to texts we go over in
class, writing about past experiences, trying out different forms of fiction and poetry, jotting
down lists and other random thoughts, freewriting, reflecting on past work and learning, and
many, many other activities. Although writing to learn permeates much of what I do in class
nearly every day, the following are a handful of activities, assignments, or projects that show the
variety of ways I have taught students to use writing as a tool for discovery, learning, and
expression:

(Samples in folder) Daily Writing

(Freewriting, responses to quotes/poems, personal stories,
connections, etc.)

Dialogue Journals
(Writing back and forth between students and teachers and
students with each other about their reading)

(Samples in folder) Vignette Project

(Students studying and writing vignettes zeroing in on events
in their lives)

(Samples in folder) Reflection

(Journal entries reflection on and evaluating past learning in
class and planning future actions)

Poetry Writing
(Writing poetry in a variety of forms and to a variety of
audiences and based on previous writing, teacher prompts,
pictures, videos, etc.)

Drafting/Playing With Language and Ideas

(Initial brainstorming and freewriting for projects, possible
stories, essays, etc.)
 Daily Writing
The following samples illustrate student responses to daily writing prompts usually
used to begin class. These prompts usually include quotes or short poems, but they also
sometimes ask for responses to recent reading or request descriptions of life experiences or
other stories. These writings are later sometimes shared with the class or used as inspiration
for future writing. At times throughout the year I ask students to read back through their
writing to evaluate what they have focused on, how it has gone, and what stories/ideas they
would like to continue to develop into future pieces.
Daily Writing: writing territories created for use in future brainstorming
Daily Writing: short life experience from prompt about a challenge you have faced
Daily Writing: quote response
Daily Writing: poem response
 Vignette Project
The following sample illustrates one students final draft of a vignette about a single
moment in her life. As part of the short project, the class read and listened to examples of
vignettes (including The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros). We also discussed how
vignettes (as opposed to other forms of narrative writing that are more like movies) are like
photographs that attempt to zoom in and capture all the telling detail about a single moment
or feeling from your past (even looking at and discussing photos of the same types of
objects/scenes both zoomed way out and zoomed way in to see what kinds of
information/details are present in each).Students spent a little less than two weeks
brainstorming, drafting, and revising their vignettes, with emphasis placed on single-moment
details and feelings.
Vignette Project: assignment sheet
Vignette Project: final draft (first page)
 Reflection
The following samples illustrate a couple of the types of written reflection I have
students do throughout the units we cover. Often, the focus is on evaluating work on an
ongoing project, planning future action, predicting how a unit or project will go, or looking
back over past work to discuss how they think they have been performing.
Reflection: reflection on ongoing inquiry (research) project (page 1)
Reflection: reflection on ongoing poetry Website project