The written word is a powerful means of expression, and an excellent tool for learning, relevant to any topic under the sun. How ironic, then, that writing was traditionally confined to only one subject area in school - English. The relatively recent push for "writing across the curriculum" seeks to remedy this situation, but implementation is often a challenge for teachers who were trained to teach their subjects by traditional means. Bringing writing into the classroom alone is a marvelous step, but even better is the opportunity to connect multiple disciplines through a writing activity.
An early question that will often arise when trying to build writing into the curriculum is: "What kind of writing should I use?" For the inexperienced, it isn't unusual to consider old traditional stand-bys like book reports and outlines. Taking it to an extreme, there is also the much-feared research paper. Granted, all are forms of writing, but so much more is available, with the promise of creative outlets and intellectual stimulation. Consider journals, magazine-style articles, play/movie-scripts, opinion and evaluation essays, short stories, poems, grant proposals, advertisements, and most anything else that the imagination produces. Used properly, each one can develop thinking, evaluative, and creative skills - skills useful not only to the particular subject addressed, but throughout life as well.
The second and often more challenging question is: "How do I bridge this assignment to include other disciplines?" Many teachers are experts in their own subject area, but not so knowledgeable in other fields. One easy way to get started is by communicating with teachers in other departments. Some schools do this regularly (and bravo for doing so), but in other districts the idea of a math teacher trading ideas with the history teacher is ludicrous. This is unfortunate, since mathematical concepts did evolve along with historical patterns, even defining segments of society (as in Greek culture). Many historical battles relied heavily on mathematical principles as well. Consider projectiles (like cannon) and firing angles, for instance. Then too, regard the math required in the architecture of great historical wonders, from pyramids to cathedrals. Combining forces, these teachers could create their own wonders in written assignments.
Other sources of interdisciplinary material are readily available, even when fellow teachers aren't handy. Current events and everyday life are often a great place to look. Current situations and debates can be analyzed in the context of the classroom. How meaningful and accurate are a particular set of statistics? What are the potential economic impacts of a proposed piece of legislation? What is the history behind an ongoing issue? Is "good science" being employed in an argument, or is it simply a fear-tactic for the ignorant? How many different ways did the student use math outside of school on Wednesday? What aspects of the food-chain can be observed in the local park? Most of what we teach and learn does have real-world application, but if the link is not made obvious through exercises such as these, the lessons remain abstract, and are soon forgotten.
Grading a written assignment is often a daunting task. Before the assignment begins, be sure to create a rubric, and to make the students clearly aware of the expectations upon which they will be graded. As a suggestion only, save a few points (15%, perhaps) for discretionary use, that you may reward creative efforts and highly developed presentations, without unfairly taking points away from those students who only meet the minimum requirements. Do make sure that the students understand that effort will be a part of the final grade, lest they claim that it is "unfair" when you reveal this to them after the fact. (If you do not allow yourself discretionary points, beware that the writers of exceptional papers may also cry "unfair" when they get the same grade as the writer of a mediocre paper who simply met the criteria laid out in the rubric.)
Having dealt with the basic rationale and approach to writing across the curriculum, all that remains is to provide a few examples of how different writing exercises can be used.
Journals are a popular tool. By definition, they are personal and fairly free-form. Make no mistake though, to be effective, a teacher still has to monitor the assignment. Journal topics should be assigned, relevant to some aspect of the lessons. One highly useful topic area is reactions to a passage read - be they questions, commentaries, disagreements, links to other concepts. The value lies in encouraging the students to think about what they've read, thereby making it more meaningful to them and promoting retention and future discussion. When reviewing the journals, this also offers the teacher an opportunity to provide feedback without the student having had to raise her hand and ask a potentially silly question.
Articles are a fun approach to writing on a topic. Less formal than essays, they still have a specific purpose (which the teacher assigns) while allowing for more creative flexibility on the part of the student. Articles can be informative - "How the water cycle works", speculative - "What would happen if the water cycle was disrupted?", evaluative - "What are the scientific flaws in Dr. B.G. Harvischend's paper about the water cycle and global warming?", or opinion-based - "Supporting/Disagreeing with Dr. B.G. Harvischend's conclusions about global warming". (B.G. Harvischend is a fictional name - don't go looking for this paper, please.) Articles have the added bonus that they can have diagrams or illustrations, allowing for more creativity.
Anything that can be portrayed in traditional formats can also be presented by actors - enter the scriptwriting assignment. Whether the scripts are enacted or not, the opportunity to develop characters along with meaningful content offers a great deal of fun and a change of pace for students. The need to maintain a coherent sequence of events promotes ordering a set of concepts that might previously have been jumbled in the student's mind. Indeed, any process or series of events that a lesson demands can easily be transformed into a plot. Depending on the student's creativity, this can bring whole new dimensions to a lesson. Imagine - the tragedy of a photon's sacrifice as it gives itself to sustain the plant it loves, only for that plant to be eaten soon after by a voracious rabbit with an evil, quivering nose.
Essays are a more traditional format, which typically restricts how much can be written. This can be an invaluable tool, as it forces the student to consider what the most important points are, and to focus on developing those, rather than expanding on every detail they may find in an internet search. Like articles, essays can be written for a variety of exact purposes, so it is the job of the teacher to define this purpose well. Good essay-writing skills are developed only with practice, so it is wise to provide a good amount of guidance (and leniency in rewrites) on early essays.
Fiction, like scripts, requires a blending of subject matter with a fresh invention of characters and ideas. Let a new understanding of geometry or physics serve as the basis for a murder mystery. Put genetics into a tale of fantasy or science fiction. Create an alternative history based on a small change in the events just studied. (What if Japan had invented the nuclear bomb? What if Kennedy had lost the election? What if slavery had been outlawed in the original Constitution? What if Custer had called in sick?) The blending of fact and fiction requires a great deal of higher-level thinking, with the added benefit that it's virtually impossible to plagiarize, because every story will be a new creation - unless you assign something that's been done before (like giving AK-47's to General Lee's army).
Poetry is difficult to categorize as styles vary so widely. So long as it captures the essence of the lesson, it really can't be wrong.
"Writing across the curriculum -
it wasn't here before,
but with the swing of the pendulum
districts all clamor for more."
Grant proposals are highly relevant to business, research, and even scholarship applications. Following a lesson, the grant proposal is a tool for developing further lines of thought. Given what the student knows now, how would they work to develop that knowledge further, either to expand understanding or to create an application using that basic premise. The student is then responsible for determining the resources they would need to conduct their research/development, requiring an exercise in planning as well as a deeper analysis of the subject matter. Be watchful - it's always possible that a student may have an original idea that should actually be submitted. (Sorry, you don't get to take the credit for it.)
Lastly, advertisements round out the list by forcing students to identify pros (or cons) of a product or concept, and then design an approach by which to promote (or campaign against) the item. There is less writing involved in such a project usually, which is why it comes last, but the identification of key points is still beneficial, much as it is in the essay. Students will enjoy the creative opportunity an advertisement presents, so it can provide a less-intensive project when students need a break from the lengthier assignments.