3. Why write in history,
science, math…?
Writing = Communication
Our technological world filled with emails, desktop
publishing, and the Internet begs the
question…“How can we in good conscience distinguish
between ‘writers and non-writers’ in our classes?”
Writing aids retention (aids recall and cements
concepts in the brain), increases depth of knowledge
in a subject, develops critical thinking skills, and
fosters independent thinking
Students must be able to write…communicate
thought/ideas…in every single subject in order to
be fully prepared to succeed in universities and
adult work environments.
4. Why have students write
in your class?
Written output is an exceptional way to measure students’ deeper
understanding and knowledge of content material
Helping students learn to express themselves with confidence in all subject
areas can contribute to improvements in behavior and self-esteem
Writing engages ALL students—not just the ones who always raise their
hands during class discussions
Writing helps teachers see “gaps” in instruction and student understanding
Students who write clearly think clearly, and students who think clearly
have a better chance of navigating their way through adolescent and
adult life.
Writing is power! Writing gives students a voice!
6. A Good Writing Recipe
Establish constructive purposes for
student writing
Find real audiences (beyond the teacher)
Demonstrate the process mature writers
go through
Teach students how to help one another;
organize activities that foster
collaboration
Show students that it is safe to ask for
help
WRITE WITH YOUR STUDENTS
7. When assigning formal pieces of
writing, base the student work
schedule on the 7 steps of writing.
Brainstorming (group work or
class discussion)
Pre-writing (group work or
journal/homework assignment)
Rough Draft
Peer Review (pair & share)
Revising (structure/content)
Editing (proofreading)
Publishing (final draft)
8. MODEL writing
process activities for
your students in each
of the seven stages
Let them SEE how
YOU would handle
a particular task in
the writing process
10. During the peer review/responding stage,
establish the classroom as the primary
audience for student work. Students who
write just for their teachers often write in
a stilted way that hides their true
abilities/thoughts. Widening their audience
= widening their exploration of thoughts :)
11. Make a very big deal out
of the publishing stage.
This helps students “buy into” the
assignment and take more care in their
finished product. It also allows them to
enjoy the fruits of their labors, and
encourages them to reflect on their
work. Look for legitimate publishing
opportunities for your students, both in
school and out. If possible, get
together with other teachers in the
same subject area and/or grade level
to share student work between
different classes in a formal setting.
17. LITERATURE
MATH
SCIENCE
SOCIAL
STUDIES
“The Standards insist that instruction in reading, writing, speaking, lis-
tening, and language be a shared responsibility within the school.” (Key
Design Consideration, CCSS Introduction)
“The traits of writing are the six observable, assessable,
revisable and editable features that characterize all writing.”
(“Traits and the Writing Process,” Rebecca Bowers Sipe, Ed.D.)
Invite students to brainstorm
potential topics in writer’s
notebooks and keep reading
journals to track response
to literature.
Show how numbers communicate
ideas by analyzing data (e.g.,
“percentage of kids who think
school lunch could be improved”).
Help students form scientific
hypotheses, test them through
experimentation and take notes
documenting the results.
Encourage kids to brainstorm
topics for an argumentative
essay by taking a perspective
on history, like the causes of
the Civil War.
Use index cards to sequence
events in literature and
demonstrate how stories
have a beginning, middle
and an end.
Try depicting the same data in
different ways (e.g., bar graph,
pie chart, T-chart) to see which
is the most effective.
Give students a template for
a lab report. Once they’ve
mastered it, encourage them
to experiment organizing their
results in different ways.
Talk about the differences
in organizing a historical
argument versus constructing
a timeline of events.
Introduce tone by giving
students a blank face-shaped
template and having them draw
the appropriate expression for
a given story.
Discuss phrases mathematicians
use to convey their thinking and
how the differences impact tone
(e.g., “estimate” vs. “correct
answer”).
Talk about why scientists
typically use a serious tone
to describe their work. How
would including a joke credit
or discredit their results?
Analyze the voice in various
primary source documents.
How does the tone add to our
knowledge of the time period?
Keep lists of words that are
suited for different types of
writing (e.g., opinion writing,
response to literature,
narrative writing).
When solving a problem,
challenge students to be precise
in explaining their reasoning,
using as few words as possible.
Discuss how some words
have different meanings when
used in a scientific context
(e.g., “theory”).
Talk about how the words we
use to describe historical events
often change over time (e.g., the
differentlabelsassignedto9/11).
Give students a basic sentence
and have them manipulate the
words and meaning, coming
up with as many variations
as they can.
After solving a problem,
challenge students to explain
their reasoning using varied,
interesting sentence structure.
Discuss how fluency lends
credibility to scientific writing
(e.g., it can seem simplistic to
have sentences that all start
or sound the same).
Ask students how “The
Gettsyburg Address” would be
different, for example, if all of the
sentences began or ended the
same way.
Havestudentseditoneanother’s
workforconventions.Provide
a list of grammar, usage,
mechanics rules and editing
marks for students to use.
Compare mathematical
symbols to punctuation. How
does the meaning change, for
example, with an inequality
instead of an equal sign?
Talk about the need for
precision in scientific writing.
Why do conventions such
as units and measurements
matter?
IDEAS ORGANIZATION VOICE WORD CHOICE SENTENCE FLUENCY CONVENTIONS
Try giving students scrambled
historic quotes and challenging
them to rewrite the quotes using
the appropriate conventions.
The Six Traits Across the Curriculum: A Writer’s Roadmap
Did you know? The Common Core State Standards ask EVERY teacher to play a role
in students’ writing development—in Literature, Math, Science and Social Studies.
1 2 3 4 5 6
Want more help writing across the curriculum using the six traits? Check out Strategies for Writers, a new curriculum from Zaner-Bloser!