http://www.weareteachers.com/docs/promotions/the-six-traits-across-the-curriculum-a-writer's-roadmap-pdf-.pdf?sfvrsn=0
Teaching Writing
Teaching writing can be daunting, Letters, commas, and colons haunting. You just can’t see The writers your class can be. The benefits are endless. Don’t assume it’ll be a mess. Writing across the curriculum is the best choice, To give your students their own voice. It can really improve their memory, So don’t let it be an enemy. It may cause you some stress, But continue to try your best. Use think-pair-share, So they can express their words with care. Students learn best through writing, So it’s worth all the fighting. Free verse poem -Social Studies
I was inspired to write this poem after finding Chatton’s book about poetry across all content areas. Poetry is often a forgotten genre of writing because it is not used on standardized tests or many forms of assessment. I believe that poetry is an amazing outlet for students to use for self-expression. I also realized as I was reading that Social Studies is often a forgotten subject, especially in primary grades. In this artifact, I wanted to bring together two things easily forgotten. Many teachers do not realize how well poetry and Social Studies align. WAC strategies: go-to guide The Knipper and Duggan journal was packed with information about writing across the curriculum. They highlighted three main things that writing helps student do: prepare for reading assignments and class lectures, review and summarize key ideas, and think critically and creatively (Knipper & Duggan, 2011). They also discuss a large number of strategies that teachers can use to help students reach these three goals. I wanted to bring all of the writing strategies onto one comprehensive document that could be used at quick-glance to make a lesson plan or come up with a writing activity. These strategies can be used in any content area. Haiku-poster for teacher’s lounge I used Pathways to the Common Core to create this artifact. I wrote a haiku poem about the new standards having higher expectations for students. I decided to make the last line “write in all subjects” because Common Core places a great emphasis on writing in all disciplines as a means to improve overall student success. I took my haiku and made it into a poster that can be displayed in a teachers’ lounge or resource room. The poster is a reminder to teachers that writing matters and should be implemented in their classrooms, no matter what subject they teach. Acrostic poem- Benefits of Peer Evaluation For this artifact, I wanted to focus specifically on an element that is present when implementing writing across the curriculum. While reading the writings of Johannessen and Kahn, I was reminded of the importance of peer evaluation. Having peer support and feedback is beneficial for students, no matter what subject they are writing in. It should not be a practice that is limited to English Language Arts. Johannessen and Kahn provided five specific benefits of peer evaluation. I decided to reword those five benefits to create an acrostic poem for the word ‘PEERS’. Info graphic on starting your WAC program In the book Writing Across the Curriculum, Susan McLeod and Margot Soven discuss how to start a WAC program in your school. They outline who and what is necessary to get the ball rolling. As I was reading, I began to think of ways to make this information more user friendly. There was a very clear progression that I thought would be perfect for an info graphic. The info graphic has a chart that shows the order in which things should happen and then corresponding bubbles that further explain each person, group, or event. It all begins with an initiator who proposes implementing a WAC program within the school. They are responsible for getting the initial planning committee together and providing them with the necessary resources. The initial planning committee then explores campus needs and plans the first workshop. The first workshop is held for select committed faculty and is often presented by an outside facilitator that has significant experience with WAC. The faculty members who attended the workshop then become the WAC Executive Committee and help the school implement the program. (McLeod & Soven, 1992, p. 16-22) Principal’s letter to faculty about implementing WAC This persuasive letter is based off of the same Peterson article that I used for the teacher journal entries. After writing the teacher journal entries, I got the idea to create a letter from the teacher’s principal. I wanted the letter from the principal to be the reason behind the teacher’s journal entries. The teacher became interested in implementing WAC and using discovery writing in her science classroom after the principal expressed his desire to implement it on a school-wide scale. The principal’s letter introduced discovery writing and informed teachers of the benefits of using it along with WAC. Teacher journal entries I was inspired to write these teacher journal entries after reading a journal article about a specific kind of writing across the curriculum that is being used in middle schools around the nation. “Discovery writing” is writing that can occur across all disciplines and gives students the control to decide the format, topic, purpose, and audience of their writing (Peterson, 2007). The article discussed this writing and how you can make it work in your content-area classrooms. I chose to do two journal entries so that I could show the teacher’s reluctance in the beginning of the year and the progress she made by the end of the year. I also wanted to be able to highlight the benefits of implementing discovery writing as a WAC strategy. I chose to keep the journal entries informal to make them realistic, personal entries. How-to: Build a Foundation for College and Career Readiness Pathways to the Common Core discusses the emphasis that the Common Core State Standards place on writing across all disciplines. With the new standards, writing is the job of all teachers, not just English Language Arts teachers. They all play a role in preparing students for their future. Being a proficient writer is an extremely important part of being college or career ready. When I read the specific passage on page 110, I immediately thought of a how-to guide because of the way the information way presented. The passage presented multiple things that students needed to be proficient at in order to be college/career ready writers. By placing these things in a how-to guide, teachers can easily see what their writing instruction and activities should be focused on in order for students to reach these goals. Teaching Writing Poem I was inspired to write this poem after exploring the We Are Teachers website. I came across an article titled “Writing Across the Curriculum: What, How, and Why”. The article discussed what writing across the curriculum is, how it should be implemented, and why it is important. Although basic, it was extremely informative and made me think of writing across the curriculum as a broad instructional approach to improve writing. I wanted my poem to be an introduction to my project, touching on the basics of writing across the curriculum. I wanted to get the point across that writing truly is the best way for students to learn because the article discussed that extensively (Dalporto, 2013). Magazine page of teacher interview I interviewed a current second grade teacher on Writing Across the Curriculum after observing WAC within her classroom. I wanted to learn about the practicality of implement WAC and the difficulty that comes with it. I know what research says about WAC but I wanted to hear a personal perspective from a teacher who actually implements it. I decided to turn the most informative parts of my interview into a page from a magazine. This allowed me to keep the authenticity of the interview while making it more creative and appealing to the reader. Calkins, L., & Ehrenworth, M. (2012). Overview of the Writing Standards: What Do They Say and What Does This Mean for Us?. Pathways to the common core: accelerating achievement (pp. 102-113). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
The section “The Standard’s Emphasis on Writing Across All Disciplines and for Real Purposes” discusses why the Common Core State Standards place so much emphasis on writing and why all teachers need to make an effort to develop proficient writers. The Common Core focuses on college and career readiness. Chatton, B. (1993). Using Poetry Across the Curriculum: A Whole Language Approach. Phoenix, Arizona : The Oryx Press. This book specifically discusses how poetry can be used in all content areas across the curriculum. It includes information on how to integrate poetry into each area and provides examples of poems. Dalporto, D. (n.d.). We Are Teachers. Writing Across the Curriculum- What- How and Why. Retrieved March 2, 2014, from http://www.weareteachers.com/hot-topics/special-reports/writing-across-the-curriculum-what-how-and-why This webpage gave an overview of Writing Across the Curriculum. It discusses what WAC is, how you can implement it, and why you should implement it. It included bulleted lists of the benefits of WAC for both teachers and students. It also provided ideas for getting started with WAC in your classroom. Diehl, J. (2014, March 11). Writing Across the Curriculum Interview This interview was conducted face-to-face to discuss Writing Across the Curriculum. We discussed the benefits of WAC, the struggles with implementation, and advice for other teachers during the 10-minute interview. Johannessen, L., & Kahn, E. (1991). Writing Across the Curriculum. Summit, IL: Teacher's Institute. Johannessen and Kahn present different methods and activities for improving students’ complex thinking skills involved in writing across the curriculum. They also present other important elements involved in WAC. Knipper, K., & Duggan, T. (2011). Writing to Learn Across the Curriculum: Tools for Comprehension in Content Area Classes. The Reading Teacher, 59(5), 462-470. Retrieved March 25, 2014, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1598/RT.59.5.5/abstract This journal covers many different aspects of Writing Across the Curriculum, including its benefits and a range of writing strategies that can be used to help students better understand or comprehend content area texts. McLeod, S., & Soven, M. (1992). Getting Started. Writing Across the Curriculum (pp. 12-32). Newbury Park, California: Sage Publications. This book is a guide to developing WAC programs. I used the “Getting Started” chapter that outlined who and what is necessary to implement a WAC program within your school. Peterson, S. (2007). Teaching Content with the Help of Writing Across the Curriculum. Middle School Journal, 39(2), 26-33. This journal article discusses using “discovery writing” as a specific strategy for writing across the curriculum in middle schools. This involves giving students control to choose the format, topic, purpose, and audience of their writing in all different subject areas. |