Madison Park Technical Vocational HS Adopts The Collins Writing Program

The Collins Writing Program was designed to simultaneously improve students' thinking and writing skills. The unique program develops thinking skills through five types of writing assignments and can be easily used in any content area. Collins Writing is based on two essential principles: 1) thinking and writing skills develop with experience and practice, and 2) it is almost impossible to be both a creative thinker (generating new ideas) and a critical thinker (evaluating existing ideas) at the same time.

Our goal is to give teachers, schools, and districts a unified program that can be used in all classrooms and in all subject areas from grades K-12. To achieve this goal, the program provides techniques that require the student to be the intellectual worker in the room. Collins Writing Program is a challenging, demanding program for students — not for teachers.

PROGRAM RATIONALE

Writing is the most difficult activity we ask students to do and the stakes for improving writing skills continue to escalate. State and national performance assessments increasingly require written responses from students that explain thinking processes — in all content areas. The Collins Writing Program will enable students to become comfortable thinking and writing,  to develop the essential writing skills they need for future academic success, and to perform well on state and national assessments.

THE COLLINS MODEL

The Collins Writing Program presents a model for writing-across-the-curriculum. At its very core is the belief that writing enhances the learning process of any subject at any level. To help teachers encourage students to think and write, we have developed a proprietary model for a writing-to-learn, writing-across-the-curriculum program that defines and utilizes five types of writing assignments and the outcomes expected for each.

These five types of writing provide the overall framework for the program. For each writing type the program establishes clear expectations and outcomes and provides extensive, practical strategies for students to employ. The Cumulative Writing Folder keeps track of the proficiencies each student demonstrates for each type of writing.