12:2 Checklist

When and where did I find the word:  Checklist was a term found in this week's assigned reading.  It was found in the following article:

Knipper, K.J., & Duggan, T.J. (2006).  Writing to learn across the curriculum:  Tools for comprehension in content area classes.  The Reading Teacher, 59(5), 462-470.

What it means: According to Knipper & Duggan (2006), a checklist is a tool used in the strategy of writing to learn and is a set of concrete, observable behaviors that are organized in a sequence that is logical.

Level of Familiarity: Even thought I was not familiar with the idea of writing to learn, I am familiar with the idea of creating a checklist in this context.

Do I want to know this word well and tell why?  I think that writing to learn is an important strategy that can be used to create interest in a content for students.  Using checklists is one method of assessing one's progress in writing to learn.  As such, I think the checklists in this context are important as they combine the idea of writing to learn with concrete, observable behaviors.

Do I think others should know this word well....if so who and why?  If someone is going to use the strategy of writing to learn, the idea of using checklists would be important to him/her as it is a good way to measure progress on writing to learn.  Checklists, when provided to the student, gives students goals for writing as well as demonstrate a good finished product.  In essence, a checklist can also be used as a rubric for the finished product.