Writing is a vital skill. Writing not only helps us to organize our thoughts and sharpen our critical thinking skills but also affords an expressive outlet for many students.
When students are given ample time to write and express their thoughts by putting pencil to paper, they are given an authentic and exclusive audience: Themselves. Writing helps us to look inward, to sort out our thoughts and emotions and reflect on them in a safe space. In this way, writing becomes a crucial element to support and build on Social-Emotional initiatives in our schools, as well as content-specific knowledge and skills.
Writing across the curriculum: Writing is the “vehicle,” the content is the “road”
When you embark on a long road trip with your family or friends, the excitement is palpable as everyone piles into the family van or SUV …ready to see new sights, have new adventures, engage with new experiences. Every person takes their common experience — that mode of transportation — and uses it to engage with the road trip in their own personal way. It’s a shared experience that leads to individual discovery and meaning. Writing across the curriculum can be thought of in the same way.
Every child has a pencil, a notebook, their personal thoughts and experiences — and off they go — mind-first into a lifelong learning adventure across math, science, reading, history, and an almost infinite wealth of experiences ready to be interpreted, internalized…and…wait for it…written about.
This lifelong learning adventure cannot be isolated in one subject during one period of instruction within the school day. In order to get the full experience and benefit of writing, it needs to be incorporated into all areas of the curriculum. Students should write, in some form, in math, science, music, gym…any classroom with which they interact during the day. A new or renewed emphasis on writing will help students to grow not only their subject-specific skills, but their written communication as well.
How we are addressing writing in Antietam
This year, the Antietam School District has embarked on a five-year commitment with Kutztown University to rediscover writing in our classrooms. In this age of STEM-focused initiatives, the writing initiative at Antietam may seem a bit misplaced. But here at Antietam, we see the value in student writing and how it can build the foundation for almost every other educational element that students need to acquire during their K-12 careers.
After all, no matter how good you are in your environmental engineering courses in college, if you can’t express your thoughts clearly and concisely in an email or explain to a colleague your ideas for solving a complex problem, how far do you think you’ll get?
How can we afford to support a writing initiative?
Writing doesn’t require a lot of “stuff.” Budget tight this year? Writing is your answer. No fancy gadgets or accessories needed, just a pencil and paper. While the uber-important pedagogy of writing cannot be misconstrued as simplistic by any stretch of the imagination, at least the equipment is. Antietam has made an investment in its teachers to support them with writing-specific professional development that will evolve and broaden over the next five years, and that does come at a cost, but the dividends that we hope to realize in terms of student-success will dwarf this initial investment.
The bottom line
Schools across Berks County continue to be committed to writing initiatives and enhancing programs and practices. Increased time, focus and instruction on writing can benefit students in a myriad of ways in all content areas, and in their social-emotional growth. It’s manageable, it’s effective, and it’s fun. It’s a win-win-win all around.
"write" - Google News
October 28, 2021 at 04:00PM
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