Wednesday, February 17, 1999
Teacher directs 7th-graders to link science and writing
BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
TAYLOR MILL — Students in Sue Ward's seventh-grade general science classes at Woodland Middle School spend most of their time on lab projects and chemistry lessons. Writing rarely fits into the picture.
But Miss Ward, who has degrees in science and English, wants students to understand how all subjects are intertwined.
She directed her class to choose animals and write articles about them as if they were for a newspaper.
Then she made the students mail their work to one of the Tristate's papers, asking editors to print their pieces. A bundle of 28 articles and cover letters came to The Kentucky Enquirer.
During a reporter's visit to Miss Ward's class on Tuesday, students said they worked a little differently knowing the public might read their work.
“I retyped mine because I knew if I left it handwritten someone would know it was from a kid and not take it seriously,” said Erin Justice, who researched the Tasmanian devil.
Derek Kentrup spent time considering the audience for his piece on the squirrel monkey.
“I thought I needed to aim it to an adult and make it more intelligent,” he said.
The extra care and time spent on the articles is exactly what Miss Ward wanted. She knows her students will need good writing skills to perform well on the science portions of the state's assessment tests. The exam includes open-ended science questions, where the required response is often a short essay.
After teaching seventh-grade science for five years, Miss Ward simply wanted a way to spice up her lessons. Students researched their favorite animals on the Internet and created brochures about them. Then they wrote their articles. Part of their grade included sending their pieces to a newspaper.
“This helps them become excited about writing for some one other than me,” Miss Ward said.
Ivan Smith really got into researching scorpions. He rattled off information about their habitats, what they eat and how they reproduce.
And he even knows scorpion trivia: A mutated, two-headed scorpion born in 1993 is now on display at a science center.
Brittany Starnes, who wrote about chameleons, took the assignment to heart.
“I did it differently, spent more time on it,” Brittany said, “because I'm not used to having professionals read my work.”
EXCERPTS
These are excerpts from some of the 28 articles mailed to The Kentucky Enquirer by students in Sue Ward's seventh-grade science class at Woodland Middle School in Taylor Mill.
The Fascinating Tasmanian Devil by Erin Justice
Tasmanian Devils are quite the carnivores. Their diet contains rotting meat and young animals. It's main foods are snakes, rodents, birds, and baby wallabies. The male uses it's powerful jaws to kill these animals. Its only rule is, it doesn't eat anything bigger than itself.
The Bald Eagle by Tim Sievers
Since ancient times, the eagle has been known as a symbol of courage and power because of the altitude in which he flies and its large size. The eagle became the national emblem in 1782 when the seal of the United States was adopted. The eagle today is still used on the seals of many of our states, our coins, and is used often for decorative patriotic purposes.
Chameleons by Brittany Starnes
When I say the word Chameleon probably the first thing that comes to your mind is that they change colors. Most people believe Chameleons change colors to blend in with their surroundings. Well, sometimes they do, but usually the colors come out due to hormones. The Chameleon changes its colors to impress a female, and to get her to mate with him.
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