Writing to Learn

I knew writing was important, but I did not realize how crucial it was for it to be incorporated across the curriculum. However, while I was reading, it became very evident that incorporating writing in content areas can enhance a student's success. The article offers many different ideas and strategies that I believe can be very beneficial in the classroom. By integrating different writing strategies into the curriculum, I believe it will help students have a deeper understanding of the content being taught. Therefore, students will develop better critical thinking skills and a different perspective of the content.

The article and book provided many writing strategies that a teacher could integrate into his/her planning no matter what content was being taught. I found it very fascinating how Mr. Hayden incorporated writing into his geometry class. By Mr. Hayden making his class write out their thoughts, he was able to make them think critically at how they arrived at the answer to the problem. This is a great way to integrate writing into a mathematics lesson that I will use in my classroom. I do think,when a teacher assigns a writing assignment, he/she needs to make sure they give students a rubric or checklist. By providing students with these tools, students will know what is expected from their work.

As a future teacher, I will definitely integrate some type of writing into every content area. However, teachers do need to remember that every student learns differently and what works for one student may not work for another. With that being said, a teacher may have to use many writing strategies in the classroom until he or she finds one that every student could benefit from. After reading the material, I have a better understanding of how important integrating writing across the curriculum is and how I can use it to benefit my students.

Questions:
I truly wonder how many lives could be changed if they were taught how to properly filter information through writing?

How much more information could a child retain by writing to learn versus just the average studying and note taking?