Chapter 9: Writing Across The Curriculum

In the 2011 article “Helping Students Meet the Challenges of Academic Writing”, educators Linda Fernsten and Mary Reda offer innovative self-reflective writing exercises that post-secondary instructors can employ to help students improve writer self-image and academic writing. The authors’ rationale for reflective and practical writing strategies were developed from direct classroom experience, and are based on four (4) assumptions. Their claim that self-reflective writing can aid student writers in overcoming conflict (due to dominant culture, upbringing, former writing experiences, gender, and other marginalizing factors) to improve writer self-identity is plausible. However, their argument that cross-curriculum academic writing can be improved through self-directed, self-reflective writing requires further investigation.

The disciplinary perspective Lamott is catering to most is creative writing and writings that have strict time limits. The authors discipline is creative writing when it comes to food reviews for her magazine company. Lamott believes that her situation can be used with all forms of disciplines. In addition to Lamott’s discipline, Baker’s writing perspective comes from a teaching or informative discipline. Baker is trying to help teachers learn effective teaching skills when it comes to writing. However, Johnsons discipline is strictly for psychology disciplines and how they can improve papers and grades all together. On the other hand, Makenzie’s discipline is in the study of biology and wants to explain why writing is important in that field of study.

The six course goals of this English 109W course are to Engage in writing as a process that includes planning, revision, and editing based on feedback from peers and instructors; Critically read and analyze academic texts; Understand, identify, and analyze the rhetorical situations of academic texts, including their contexts, audiences, purposes and personas; Understand, identify, and analyze the rhetorical situations of academic texts, which may include genre, format, evidence, citation, style and organization; Develop an awareness of and preparedness for the writing they will do through their majors through research, exploration, and or practice of the discourse community’s conventions; and Engage in formal and informal writing that analyzes and critically reflects on their major’s writing conventions and their own writing practices and choices. I perceive that I have achieved all the goals for this course through the various drafts I composed, polished papers I produced, and the supplemental work that I have selected to include enclosed within my portfolio.

In this journal, written by Elizabeth Wardle, she discusses the bridge between high school level writing and collegiate writing. Although some students come to college well prepared in their writing ability, others fall short of the expectation and often focus too much on the structural nature of writing, rather than the writing itself. Wardle elaborates on the ideas that high school educators typically desire for the students to focus on the information in said paper, in lieu of discovering a wider variety of techniques and genres. A high school student writes a paper to put his/her thoughts onto one cohesive document. It is a rarity to find one student who writes for the art of writing. Wardle does an excellent job

Isolated and other journal or magazines, Scholarly journals' scholars are educators, graduate understudies, or powers who have had a not too dreadful measure of direct relationship in making academic journals. While the subject may have all the earmarks of being stupefied, they use their vocabulary and their industry understanding how to sufficiently differentiate and unmistakable get-togethers of spectators. Their inclination makes insightful journals a remarkable resource for understudies and diverse experts

Writing can be a daunting task for students in any grade. Teachers have to implement new basic components for those struggling to write. Finding new methods and being able to execute them requires teachers to design lesson plans that help

Michael’s understanding of this genre is very clear. He wires his statements in complete sentences and with a variety of words. He uses evidence from the text to support his claims.

Writing is a practice that most of us were taught when we were young. We were taught the basics of grammar, how to form a sentence, conjunction words, how to write paragraphs and more. Although we have learned this skill while growing up and have used the skill every year after entering kindergarten, this does not mean our writing process will ensure the best work. The authors that I chose each encourage their audience to excel in the art of writing in their own way to help with the writing process.

An article published by the International Literacy Association, “Implementing the Writing Process” gives a strategy guide for K-5 graders explains the writing process and offers practical methods that can be applied to students to help them become proficient writers. This article shows some similarity to the Bromley chapters. The article shows from research that students who learn the writing process score better on state tests compared to those who receive instructions in the skills assessed on the test. These students become writers who can apply their skill to all subjects. The writing process takes students’attitude, motivation, and engagement into account, as it allows them to plan their writing and come up with a final publishable draft they can be proud of. The writing process involves teaching students to write in a variety of genres that apply to different

The framework for success is intended to serve as a foundation for college- level credit- bearing courses emphasizing habits of mind and experiences with writing, reading, and critical analysis. The ability to write well is basic to student success in college and beyond. Teaching writing and learning are central to education and to the development of a literate citizenry. Writing development takes place over time as students encounter different contexts, tasks, audiences, and purposes. To know more about these habits and experiences, let’s talk about how they acquire these tactics to teach and learn.

Reflecting at my own writing process and using my experiences as a way to shape my future practice as an English teacher, has brought light to the concepts of style, providing opportunities for multiple forms of writing, creating low-stakes writing opportunities, addressing authentic audiences, and establishing non-judgmental/safe space classrooms. Based on the theory that Milner et al. outline in the "Process Model," (2012, p.339) I would almost explicitly follow this pedagogy as a way to help students explore writing. For example, I would focus on the steps relating to revision (step 2), teaching multiple forms of writing (step 3), creating opportunities for teacher conferences (Step 4), and providing students with authentic, and divers audiences

The concept of writing across the curriculum (WAC) is a contemporary movement founded on the belief that writing in all content areas improves not only writing skills, but also increases content knowledge. In recent years, pressure from increased rigor on standardized tests and the push toward Common Core has created a shift in education. The days of memorizing and “drill and kill” are over, evolving into an environment where higher order thinking and making connections are standard practice.

A learner’s ability to communicate effectively through writing to his/her target audiences is a major prerequisite for academic success. It is also a major pillar of success in one’s career across all areas of practice. Even though, writing clearly is critical to one’s academic and career success, I have not always loved writing. In fact, for a long time I despised writing. At one point, I had a feeling that my writings skills were bound to remain stagnated throughout my life. However, time has proven that I was wrong. My attitude and outlook towards virtually all genres of writing has changed positively. The various helpful methods I have been exposed to by my English teachers through different grades have helped me

This semester I was surprised by how much I actually learned and developed my writing skills. I was given the opportunity to learn the many steps that it is required to become a good writer. Writing requires a lot of work. It consists of various steps; prewriting, drafting, rewriting, proofreading and publishing. . All of these components are extremely important, and necessary, and will need to be follow to improve student’s writing.

Following the exploration and reflection phases of this action research, some key challenges became clear regarding English language writing instruction. In the following reflection, I divide these challenges by themes that arose from the data. The first is the role of the teacher in writing class, the concept of fairness among teachers, teachers’ perspectives on collaborative learning in writing classes, teachers’ beliefs about students’ writing objectives, students’ fears of making mistakes, and the impact of the context.