The Bedford Bibliography for Teachers of Writing

Asking questions, predicting, and arguing a point of view - all ways to participate in class and all ways students verbalize that they are engaged in what is being taught. I believe I would be on the side that argues knowledge is actually created by words [Jarratt(105) and Swearingen (138)]. The more one involves themselves in the learning process the more one will learn. Sit in class and remain silent and where are the connections, discussions, verifications, and questions? Where is the learning and the creation of knowledge?

It appears that the beginnings of the PSSA writing rubric was in its infancy even in the 1800's when Channing derived the rules for correct grammar, style, and organization. Not much has changed since then in the way writing is perceived. Even the reasons writing was taught hold true in today's society. Two questions proposed to me this week by my students were "why is writing important?" and "why do I have to write?" My response depending on my mood would be anything from "Because I said so" to "To prepare you for the PSSA's" to "Because the more you write the better writer you will become." All answers accepted by my students, but the number one reason I try to instill in their heads from the first day of school is "You need to write because writing is everywhere. It's something you will do for the rest of your life. It can be as simple as writing a check or sending an email to filling out a college application or resume." I think most teachers try and make that real world connection of why writing is important and this was the way writing was taught in the late 1800's. I was impressed that even then they took into account the large number of immigrants and were aware that in order to be more easily integrated into society writing could be taught with a meaningful purpose to solve a social problem. One would hope that since the issue of diverse cultural backgrounds was addressed over 100 years ago that now certain issues would be resolved. This, however, is not the case because as a teacher in an urban school district I deal with this dilemma every year in regard to our state's testing system. In the artical a reference to Mina Shaughnessy's work, Errors and Expectations (1977) is sited. She describes the imporance of knowing the students home language because it transfers to their writing. In addition, the culture a student lives in can determine the value placed on writing and writing assignments.

"Writing across the curriculum" was another familiar term I came across while reading the artical. Surprisingly it is not a new term coined by my school district, in fact the term has been around since 1974 when James Britton used it to describe the interdisciplinary teaching of writing. I have just one question then. If the concept of teaching writing in all subject areas has been around for 33 years, why is my school district acting like it is the latest and greatest idea? It seems like common sense to me. Any ideas?