by Earl Mcgill

Created on: July 03, 2009   Last Updated: July 11, 2009

First, a question: Who taught you to write?

Mull it over. Try to remember all of those teachers, friends, or relatives who encouraged you to clearly state, in written form, what you had on your mind so that someday you could enter a Helium contest and maybe win sixty bucks. Are you remembering? Not so many are there? I can think of only one, my college 101 composition teacher, whose name has long been forgotten. She kept me going, but did she actually "teach" me to write? I think not.

Which leads me to the conclusion that the person who taught me to write was me, and the person who taught you to write was probably you. You learned to write by writing, the same way you learned to drive a car.

The first tip for writing across the school curriculum is simply to have students write. Studying grammar, spelling, and filling in blanks is no more beneficial in learning how to write than watching a driver's ed movie is to learning how to drive. Writing an occasional paper in English class is not enough. Each teacher in our secondary schools should require one written paper from each student for each classroom period per week.

"Oh my Lord!" I sense hearing from teachers reading this. "How could I ever do that?" The quick, not-so-simple answer is, "You wouldn't; the students would."

Last year when I scored SAT essays I was appalled by the numbers of content-empty, poorly written papers. Even those who "passed" seemed to do so more as a result of rote than reasoned thinking. Student writing that wasn't so hot when I taught is even worse now. What is more disturbing is the realization that teachers somehow concluded that these students had been prepared to write an SAT essay.

Writing across the curriculum is an idea that has been around for a long time. In the 80s I worked alongside teachers from every grade and subject in the Southern Arizona Writers Project (SAWP). Our goal was to inspire teachers to require written assignments in all classes and at all levels. Unfortunately, the experience demonstrated that few teachers had received adequate training in the art of the written composition.

Tip number two challenges those who establish curricula to begin training all teachers to recognize the elements of effective written communication. While this is going on, pressure should be applied to colleges of education to incorporate the same sort of universal training, and require written competency as a condition for certification.

When I

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>