If you have kids in school or if you have ever taught, you know that kids (and adults!) need to see RELEVANCE in what they do. Treating any subject or skill in a vacuum isolates it from it’s context and squelches motivation. Additionally, from an instructional viewpoint, it creates another ‘block’ for your classroom schedule, which is already probably too full.

For example, teachers can devote a 45 minute block of time to teaching about adjectives, or they can integrate that teaching into a unit on reading and writing fantasy stories (and how those stories are enriched with the use of language – and adjectives). Similarly, writing can be taught (and practiced) in the context of any other subject. This not only provides students with the ability to expand upon their learning in the content area, but also to expand their writing skills.

I read an interesting article that illustrates this point. From Teacher Magazine, Anthony Cody writes about best practices in writing and talks about how he can enrich his science classroom with creative writing. His students were asked to “write science fiction stories describing travel to another planet in our solar system.”

This is an excellent way to reinforce science skills as well as writing skills. In order to do this well, however, it is important that students are given a rubric that includes specific expectations both for the scientific content and for the writing. For parents, if your children are coming home with project assignments without rubrics (specific outlines of the teacher’s expectations for each level of points that can be earned), ask the teacher if she/he can provide a rubric. We all need to know what is expected of us whether it be in an academic environment, in our home lives, or in our profession. Children are no different.

In the above-mentioned article, Mr. Cody gives some excellent suggestions for other writing projects that integrate writing across content areas. I have included a few here, along with some of my own. Whether you are a parent or a classroom teacher, you can use these with children to enhance their learning, and their writing.

• A first-person diary describing a day in the life of your favorite animal – including information about habitat, predator-prey interactions, and survival strategies. (Anthony Cody, Teacher Magazine (website), May 7, 2008)
• A “what if” story describing what life in America would be like if we had never made the Lousiana Purchase. (Heather Widener, Roots of Learning)
• A story describing the journey of a bite of food from the mouth on downward, with details showing all the steps along the way. (Anthony Cody, Teacher Magazine (website), May 7, 2008)
• A rhyming ABC book about people, places, and events of the American Civil War. (Heather Widener, Roots of Learning)
• An editorial article on the pros and cons of revolution in America (written from the viewpoints of various individuals in the colonies, circa 1773-4). A nice touch with this and other historical-based writing is to integrate the learning with a lesson on feather pens or calligraphy, and to ‘age’ the final draft by writing it on paper that looks historic. This can be done by wrinkling and dampening a piece of paper with a tea bag to discolor it, then lightly burning (adult) or tearing (child) around the edges of the paper to make it look worn and old.

These are just a few examples, obviously. Think about what your child is learning at school and create your own, or better yet – brainstorm with your child some creative ways to express his/her learning in writing!

Happy Learning and Writing,

Heather