Wikipedia:School and university projects/Kentucky portfolio transactive with analytical or technical focus writing

Introduction

The analytical/technical transactive portfolio piece is a required portfolio genre and the newest type of portfolio piece included in the twelfth grade portfolio. The analytical transactive piece was added to encourage real-world writing across content area curriculum and to create a niche for the writing to demonstrate learning that is so often completed in classrooms but not considered “publishable.” The analytical transactive piece encourages critical thinking and development of communication skills. Analytical transactive pieces often reference outside sources but also include student idea development and must evidence critical and analytical thinking about a subject. The required fourth and seventh grade writing portfolios do NOT include an analytical transactive piece because skillful analysis is not necessarily a skill honed by the seventh grade.³

How this piece fits into the portfolio

Like all the portfolio pieces, the analytical piece must be written with a real purpose in mind, with an audience beyond the teacher, and in a realistic form. In contrast to the other portfolio pieces, the analytical piece is likely indicative of work students will do in the future—whether a literary analysis for a college literature class or in a technical report for work. The analytical/technical piece also lends itself to various core content areas other than English. Although literary analysis papers also qualify for the analytical piece, it is just as easy for a controversial position paper in science or a process paper in a vocational class to qualify for this category. ³

Purposes for writing analytical piece

• • Helps students develop critical thinking skills
  • Incorporates problem-solving into writing and vice versa
  • Extends understanding of a subject or content area
  • Initiates changes to make a better society

Examples of analytical writing within content areas

• • Arts and Humanities- Analyze a piece of artwork or music or dance and cite secondary sources.
  • Business- Analyze business models. Create economic plans with outside sources.
  • English- Analyze a piece of literature. Describe a process.
  • Health- Analyze a disease or health issue and complete a report with outside sources.
  • Mathematics- Describe a mathematical process. Make a claim about a certain mathematician or equation.
  • Science- Analyze a scientific claim with secondary sources.
  • Social Studies- Write a historical perspective piece.

Examples of Student Analytical Writing

• • Kentucky student writing[1]

Links

Wikipedia:School and university projects/Kentucky Writing Portfolio

• • Real Student writing[2]
  • Literary analysis guide [3]
  • Scientific writing guide [4]

References

Kentucky Department of Education. (2007). Analytical writing. Retrieved December 1, 2007, from

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