Writing Across the Writing Across the CurriculumCurriculum

Dinner & DialogueSeptember, 22, 2011

Agenda

Welcome and Introductions

Opener/ Community Building & Discussion

Writing Across the Curriculum Overview

Introduction to Moodle

Dinner

Using the Discussion Forum

Course Expectations

Writing Across the Curriculum

How can you help your students get off the escalator?

How can we get off the escalator?

Writing Across the Curriculum

Writing Across the Curriculum

Writing within a variety of classrooms and disciplines

Learning content using a diversity of writing strategies

Practicing writing in a variety of contexts

Writing Across the Curriculum

Promotes learning the content of the writing

Encourages student participation

Supports a diversity of student voices

Provides tools to support critical thinking and higher-order thinking skills

Produces resources for learning

Develops better writers

Writing Across the Curriculum

WAC Helps Students:

Activate prior knowledge

Learn new content

Build a deep foundation of knowledge

Understand new information within a context

Organize knowledge for retrieval and application

Reflect on their thinking and learning process

Writing Across the Curriculum

WAC Helps Teachers:

Plan instruction Initiate discussion and introduce new content Develop the use of higher-level thinking skills Support differentiated learning efforts Reinforce content Conduct formative and summative assessment Reflect on professional practice to improve

instruction

Writing Across the Curriculum

Writing across the curriculum has two components:

Writing-To-Learn

Writing-To-Demonstrate-Knowledge

Writing-To-Learn

A Writing-to-Learn strategy is one that teachers employ throughout and/or at the end of a lesson to engage students and develop big ideas and concepts.

Requires higher-level thinking skills.

Focuses on ideas rather than correctness of details.

Writing-To-Learn

There is a strong connection between Writing-to-Learn strategies and

Assessment FOR Learning.

Writing-To-Demonstrate-Knowledge

A Writing-to-Demonstrate-Knowledge strategy is one that allows students to show what they have learned by synthesizing information and explaining or applying their understanding of concepts and ideas.

Students write for an audience with a specific purpose. Products may apply knowledge in new ways or use academic structures for research and/or formal writing.

Writing-To-Demonstrate-Knowledge

A Writing-to-Demonstrate-Knowledge assignment:

Requires a report, essay, project or other more formal paper.

Is a “finished product” which adheres to format and style guidelines or standards.

May require a period of weeks of work including revising and editing.

Writing-To-Demonstrate-Knowledge

There is a strong connection between Writing-to-Demonstrate-Knowledge

strategies and Assessment OF Learning.