Writing Across the Curriculum

One way to facilitate critical thinking

What is it? Movement to broaden the scope of

student writing beyond the confines of the English Department

Based on the notion that writing increases subject area knowledge

Based on the notion that the subject area provides a necessary context for writing instruction

Major writing projects Long papers typically require

students to use skills such as: interpretation, analysis, evaluation, explanation, self-regulation

Students need guidance in order to use these skills

One way to do this: provide a rubric

Assessing writing (you) Take one minute to think of 3-5

criteria that could be used to evaluate writing in a variety of disciplines

Turn to a neighbor or two and compare lists. Make a group list

Share with the big group (This was an example of “Think-

Pair-Share”)

Assessing writing (me) Washington Senior-Level Writing

Study developed a rubric This rubric used in a variety of

disciplines including business, chemistry, education, history

I have used this in Issues in Science and Religion

Insight Assessment has writing rubrics as well

Small writing projects Not all writing across the discipline

assignments need to be major Short , informal exploratory

assignment help instructors with formative evaluation and help students learn course material

One good example of a short writing project: one minute paper

One minute paper Summarize what you know about the

senior-level writing rubric I just shared. You have 1 min.

Read your paper to your neighbor Helps students organize thoughts Immediate feedback for the instructor Grade on participation only OR make

it a small part of the course grade

Important Links Statewide Senior-Level Discipline-

Based Writing Rubric http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/cii/resources/writing/writing_rubric.html

Insight Assessment Rubrics http://www.insightassessment.com/writing_rubs.html

One-Minute Papers http://www.flaguide.org/cat/minutepapers/minutepapers1.htm