Writing Instruction in Content Areas
I want to teach writing but when? There is just no time!
I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I have said that over the years. I know writing is important. I know my students need explicit instruction in writing. But with everything else I am expected to do in the day, when am I’m going to put the time needed into an aready packed schedule?
One of the principles of The Writing Revolution just might help with this problem.
Principle 3: When Embeded in the Content of the Curriculum, Writing Instruction Is a Powerful Teaching Tool
In The Writing Revolution, Hochman and Wexler sugges embedding writing instruction into content areas as soon as possible. They remind us that “…having students write about topics unrelated to content represents a huge wasted opportunity too boost their learning.” Although I do know that I will use other topics at times besides content areas in my writing instruction, by not using content areas as a way to teach writing is missing a huge opportunity to provide my students even more time to practice and improve their writing skills.
"Writing isn't merely a skill; it's also a powerful teaching tool."
Within The Writing Revolution there are lots of simple strategies for teaching writing in the classroom. The good thing is these strategies can be used for different grade levels and content areas because of Principle 4.
Principle 4: The Content of the Curriculum Drives the Rigor of the Writing Activities
Once again I see the Because, But, So strategy as a powerful strategy to use when teaching sentence writing in content areas. It could be used in every content areas to assess students understanding. This could be used to see if students truly understand a science concept of a new vocabulary word. By providing sentence stems for students to complete, students will have to think even more deeply to find the answers. I know that I will be putting this one to use a lot this year.
I have found some other resources about teaching writing through content you may want to check out.
- Writing to Learn: Short Writing in Content Areas with Anita L. Archer, PhD.– This is a video from the Pattan 2022 Literary Symposium in which Dr. Archer shares they why and how and embedding writing instruction in content areas.
- The Literacy Loft: How to Integrate Writing Across Content Areas– This is a great blog post with some ideas of integrating content writing.
- Reading Rockets: A Range of Writing Across Content Areas- Another great read with ideas for teaching writing across content areas.
If you are interested in an anchor chart to help students with the understanding of the conjunctions “because, but, so” then check out this free resource from Miss 2nd Grade on Teacher’s Pay Teachers.
Basic Conjunctions Posters & Writing Template
Next time we will dive a little deeper into some of the activities for writing sentences suggested in The Writing Revolution.
Until then…
