Engaging the Disaffected: Collaborative Writing across the Curriculum Projects

Abstract

to initiate writing projects across the high school curriculum. Integral to our assignments was teaching our students how they could help one another to learn and improve their writing. Over three years of working together, we found that our collaboration brought a deeper appreciation of one another and of the work we each did. Our students also came to appreciate the diverse strengths each of them brought to the writing process. We knew our students were not writing enough, and teachers in every discipline talked about the need for students to improve their writing. An earth science teacher wanted her students to be more specific in writing up lab activities. A chemistry teacher wanted conclusions that logically flowed from data. An English teacher wanted his students to learn that revision meant more than just correcting punctuation. An AP American history teacher wanted his students to realize when they had written an inadequate answer to an exam question, to see when they had not supported generalizations. These teachers worried, too, about students who struggled to learn material, or who seemed bored and disengaged. Many students didn't seem to have strategies for learning and remained silent in class. We all had many questions about how best to incorporate the teaching of writing into classroom activities.