Take a look at this link to the Introduction (page 3) of ELA Common Core Standards. At the heart of this initiative is writing across the curriculum (WAC), which "Teaching Science Writing..." immediately brought to mind. "The Standards set requirements not only for English language arts (ELA) but also for literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects...Literacy standards for grade 6 and above are predicated on teachers of ELA, history/social studies, science, and technical subjects using their content area expertise to help students meet particular challenges of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language in their respective fields." It's worthwhile to consider how WAC will impact curriculum planning--interdisciplinary planning seems a prerequisite--and how teachers of the other content areas will handle this movement. From my limited experience in the field, I've witnessed teachers of social studies/science complaining that ELA teachers are not doing their job because students can't write. Has anyone else experienced that tension among content areas with regard to student writing? What do we think about WAC?
I definitely think there is a tension there among disciplines, but I'm cautiously optimistic that WAC could potentially help ease those tensions rather than making them worse. I think if the focus is on genre conventions rather than grammar (which I am sure will remain the ELA teacher's hands) science/social studies teachers will be able to handle and perhaps even embrace the task. One of the things I really liked about the "Teaching Science Writing" article was how the teacher's goals were so clearly tied to the conventions of science writing rather than any notions of "correctness". I think one of the benefits and challenges of WAC is that it will force teachers in all content areas to precisely define their goals for writing instruction in their classroom.
ReplyDelete