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​** Writing Across the Curriculum ** Just like reading, writing is vitally important in all areas of curriculum. Students need to be involved in a variety of writing in subjects like math, science, and social studies in addition to writing that normally only occurs in reading and writer’s workshop. Students can increase their understanding and add to their knowledge of a topic through practical applications in writing. Possibly most important, students are able to increase and develop their metacognitive thinking skills helping them to reflect on what they have learned. From journals to poems to making word problems, there are a number of creative ways to incorporate writing in all subjects. For this part of the Wiki, I have focused on math, science, and social studies writing in the middle school grades.

**__Research__ ** Click on the links below to access research on incorporating writing into Math, Science, and Social Studies.
 * Math Research
 * Science Research ​
 * Social Studies Research
 * Resources

**__Classroom Applications__** **Journal Writing** (__All__ Subject Areas)

Using a journal, **__students__** can:
 * reflect on classroom experiences and questions they may have
 * keep K-W-L charts on various concepts KWL Resources
 * give their opinions on topics being studied
 * answer specific questions asked by the teacher
 * use drawings, diagrams, and symbols to express understanding
 * explain their thought processes
 * keep anecdotal/observational notes on inquiry-based activities
 * write and solve word problems in mathematics
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">develop an interest/liking for the given subject area

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14pt;">By having students keep journals, **__teachers__** can:
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14pt;">gain a better understanding of student content knowledge
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14pt;">see errors in concept understanding
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14pt;">evaluate students' application of skills
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14pt;">assign specific tasks to guage students' understanding
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14pt;">increase students' metacognition and critical thinking skills
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14pt;">improve writing skills and techniques
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14pt;">increase student awareness of the importance of writing in all content areas
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14pt;">foster an interest/enjoyment of content area subjects as well as an interest/enjoyment of writing

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 18pt; text-align: center;">** Math Can Challenge ** <span style="color: #ff00ff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">Word problems are a common element of mathematics on all levels. Students need to interpret and think critically in order to solve these problems.The authors of //Thinking, Writing, and Math// suggest using the //Math Can Challenge// as a way of allowing students to write their own word problems for their peers to solve.

In keeping with the elements of the writing process, students first write drafts of word problems and put them in the Math Can. The problems will be read to the class, and are then revised. After revisions are made, students will then rate the problems based upon originality, complexity, and logical information. The selected problems are then solved by the entire class at the end of the week.

<span style="color: #ff6300; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 18pt; text-align: center;">**Word Problems with Character **<span style="color: #ff6300; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">For this activity, students use their knowledge of literary characters to create word problems. The authors claim that students find these problems more enticing because of the relatable characters. Students given the opportunity to solve and write these types of character word problems seemed to enjoy word problems much more than when word problems were in traditional form. This idea also came from the //Thinking, Writing, and Math// article

<span style="color: #008080; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 18pt; text-align: center;">**Math Tricks Through Limericks** <span style="color: #008080; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">Limericks are a short, simple form of poetry that students can incorporate into math to write and solve problems. Students can work in pairs to create a limerick about a provided math fact. Limericks can be shared with the class using an overhead creating the opportunity for group editing. This activity is a great use of the writing process because all steps from brainstorming to drafts to revising/editing to publishing are incorporated with the math skill being studied. This idea came from the //Thinking, Writing, and Math// article.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14pt;">** Technical Writing ** The authors of //Thinking, Writing, and Math// also believe that students should engage in technical writing. This involves students being a part of creating a “How Math Works” book in which they explain various math concepts. Students should write multi-step directions. This forces them to slow their thinking process and analyze exactly what happens at each step in solving a particular type of problem. This allows teachers to assess students’ understanding of a variety of math concepts such as division, subtraction with regrouping, etc.

<span style="color: #ca4444; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 18pt; text-align: center;">**Class Books Incorporating Fact and Fiction** <span style="color: #ca4444; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">Students can work together with their teacher to create class books that incorporate both narrative writing and facts learned from science. The teacher guides the instruction as far as when science will be incorporated into the class's narrative. Students can work individually or in small groups to write portions of the story. Classes should brainstorm ideas together and take class votes on specific elements of the stories (ex. characters, problems, etc.) In the example in the Science Research section, a fourth grade class wrote a chapter book about an ocean adventure. The students employed their knowledge of narrative writing as well as the content learned in their ocean unit. Students will benefit from writing collaboratively as well as putting their science knowledge to use in a creative activity.

<span style="color: #783b76; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">Additional Weblinks

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">[|How to Incorporate Math Journals into Your Classroom]

[|Various Types of Instructional Journals]

[|How to get started with Science Journals]