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Writing across the curriculum has been a trend in the last decade in education. There is a greater push for communication curriculum to be incorporated in all levels and areas of subject matter. Gone are the days when the English teacher was the only one that worked on writing with students. In classrooms today, students write in all curriculum areas.

Often times teachers in curriculum areas outside of English think that they are taking away from their student's learning in their subject matter by taking class time for writing. If incorporated correctly, writing across the curriculum can be seen as an asset to the classroom instead of something uncomfortable or a burden. These are some simple techniques that teachers can used to incorporate writing in a variety of curriculum areas.

Sentence Writing

Many teachers think that to emphasize writing it means writing long formal pieces of writing. A simple way to incorporate writing is to have students write a one sentence definition of a term that is being studied in the classroom. Reinforce that the sentence has the basic parts of the structure such as correct capitalization, punctuation, and spelling, as well as content. This can be an ice breaker at the beginning of class or an exit slip out of class.

Note card Journal

Another way to incorporate writing in other curriculum areas is the note card journal. What makes the note card journal successful is that it is a small piece of writing. Often times, students write between 35-50 words on the card, which makes it less daunting to read for the teacher and less daunting for the student who doesn't want to write for other classes. Often text books have writing prompts at the end of lessons or chapters. These can be used as journal topics. Students can write reactions to what is being studied in class or can reflect on what they learned in a lesson. It can also be a place where students can ask the teacher questions about what they didn't understand. It can be a great way to communicate with the teacher, which is what writing should be about.

Power Points

A fantastic way to incorporate writing is to have students prepare power points about particular topics related to the curriculum. By writing the slides the students are reinforcing their writing and communication skills. Students usually need to incorporate the skills of organization and outlining when they create power points.

Poetry

One may think of poetry as writing that would strictly be for

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