Issues and Trends Presentation

Writing Across Curriculum

Haley Wood

Contents

• 3-6 Introduction to the issue and topic.

• 7-12 How to write across the curriculum.

• 13 Benefits of the method.

• 14-16 Making the initial implementation easier.

• 17- References

ELA knows best!

ELA teachers understand how important it is that our students have a plethora of writing experience.

Burnout

However, teaching and building these diverse writing skills are often vested to ELA teachers.

Poll

Have you ever suffered from burnout due to similar reasons?

• Yes! I feel alone in the writing struggle.

• No! I have always had a team that consistently had authentic writing as a focus of their lessons!

Writing Across the Curriculum

• This concept focuses on expanding student writing beyond the ELA classroom.

• This includes other core subjects, electives, and the home setting.

• Each focuses on the writing demands of their respective field.

• Childs, K. (2020). Write away: Writing across the curriculum and beyond. Texas Association of Literacy Education, 7.

Writing and Math

• Have students write their own word problems using the terms and formulas currently being used in class.

• Nobody knows how to make a word problem authentic and interesting for a student than the students themselves.

• Childs, K. (2020). Write away: Writing across the curriculum and beyond. Texas Association of Literacy Education, 7.

Writing and Science

• Students can formulate their own scientific questions.

• Students are able to write an authentic lab report on a research question that is more focused on their individual interests.

• Childs, K. (2020). Write away: Writing across the curriculum and beyond. Texas Association of Literacy Education, 7.

Writing and Social Studies

• These teachers can focus on geographical standards to create an authentic writing activity for students.

• Students can make a list of places that they would like to visit and research about those places to create reasons why others should visit there as well.

• They can integrate these reasons into a brochure.

• Childs, K. (2020). Write away: Writing across the curriculum and beyond. Texas Association of Literacy Education, 7.

Writing and Electives

• Students can write about their favorite athlete, sport, or activity for PE.

• Students in the arts can research musical/artistic time periods and create their own pieces based off of their research.

• Childs, K. (2020). Write away: Writing across the curriculum and beyond. Texas Association of Literacy Education, 7.

Poll

What department do you think would be the most hesitant to use this method?

• Social Studies

• Electives

• Science

• Math

• All

We’re All in This Together

• Teacher collaboration can make the transition to writing across the curriculum smoother for all teachers.

• Senn et al. (2018) suggest that teachers choose at least two major standards from different content areas for the team to focus their units on.

• Senn, G., McMurtrie, D., & Coleman, B. (2019). Collaboration in the middle: Teachers in interdisciplinary planning. Current Issues in Middle Level Education, 24(1).

Cont.

• The teachers go on to work as a team to create lessons and writing activities for each class that focus on those standards and standards specific to that content area.

• Having a central focus throughout their content classes makes writing across curriculum more efficient for students because they are writing on similar topics using diverse writing demands and styles.

• Senn, G., McMurtrie, D., & Coleman, B. (2019). Collaboration in the middle: Teachers in interdisciplinary planning. Current Issues in Middle Level Education, 24(1).

Reflections

• Reflections are a simple way for all content areas to test the waters of writing across the curriculum.

• Frazier (2018) found that reflections also helped teachers in all content areas to reflect on their own curriculum when grading these writings.

• This type of writing may help reluctant teachers take the first steps into writing across the curriculum.

• Fraizer, D. (2018). Towards a model of building writing transfer awareness across the curriculum. Composition Forum, 38.

Benefits of this method.

• Students create a deeper understanding of the respective content.

• Students participate in diverse authentic writing activities.

• Teachers can collaborate to identify specific writing needs across the different styles of writing.

• Childs, K. (2020). Write away: Writing across the curriculum and beyond. Texas Association of Literacy Education, 7.

Food for Thought

"Writing is a skill needed for communication throughout life, and providing students with quality writing instruction involves working as a team across subjects" (Childs 2020)

Childs, K. (2020). Write away: Writing across the curriculum and beyond. Texas Association of Literacy Education, 7.

Open Ended

What are any lingering hesitations you have about writing across the curriculum?

References

Childs, K. (2020). Write away: Writing across the curriculum and beyond. Texas Association of Literacy Education, 7.

Fraizer, D. (2018). Towards a model of building writing transfer awareness across the curriculum. Composition Forum, 38.

Senn, G., McMurtrie, D., & Coleman, B. (2019). Collaboration in the middle: Teachers in interdisciplinary planning. Current Issues in Middle Level Education, 24(1).