ARTS EDUCATION TEACHER HANDBOOK

WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM

Introduction to
K-12 Writing Across the Curriculum

What is Writing Across the Curriculum?

Writing across the curriculum (WAC) refers to incorporating writing in all content areas or courses, rather than isolating writing in the English Language Arts (ELA) class. While the ELA teacher continues to emphasize the development of writing skills, teachers of other disciplines include writing as a tool for both learning and assessment. Students benefit from WAC because they are writing more frequently and often for greater variety of purposes, audiences, and contexts. Additionally, students learn the content and the styles of discourse for other disciplines as they write for each course or area. Teachers can use writing to help assess student knowledge and understanding of the discipline's content, as well as to encourage the development of communication skills essential to success in school and beyond.
Why should I implement writing in arts education classes?

Arts Education teachers are already implementing components of writing within their classrooms. In addition to assignments that require standard English writing, students studying the arts are required to go through processes which are often a part of writing whenever they are asked to choreograph a dance, compose a piece of music, write a dramatic work, or create a visual art work (see Connections: Literacy and the Arts section of this Handbook). As stated in the English Language Arts Standard Course of Study, "while no one writing process is used by every writer in every piece of writing, students need to understand how to write purposefully and strategically. They need to learn how to generate ideas; to organize and prioritize; to rethink and revise language and ideas; and to edit their own work." These processes can be and are used in arts education classrooms in writing and other forms of communication.

Where is writing supported by the NCSCS for Arts Education?

At the elementary level, students are learning and applying strategies and skills to read and write. Many concepts and skills that are being explored in arts education classrooms directly contribute to concepts and skills needed to be able to read and write. Some examples include, but are not limited to: understanding of beginning, middle, and end; left to right sweep; organization of sounds and symbols; expressing ideas; brainstorming; publishing/performing, and the list could go on and on. More resources for elementary connections with writing as well as other writing resources may be added to this handbook at a future date.

The matrices following this article illustrate where writing is supported (6-8 and 9-12) by the Arts Education Standard Course of Study and Grade Level Competencies, K-12. Many of the skills and concepts taught in arts education classes are an inherent part of writing; therefore, arts educators should not view the support of writing in their classes as an "add-on" to what they are already doing. Many times, it may be possible for arts educators to help their students make connections with writing within the art form being studied.

Overview of Alignment Matrices, 6-12

The 6-8 alignment matrix, found on the next several pages of this handbook, demonstrates the curricular connections between music at grades 6, 7, and 8 and the writing environments of critical, expressive, argumentative, and informational writing. Specific objectives at each grade level are identified, and one example of an activity that would lend itself to each of these environments is described.

The Correlation Matrix: Grade 10 Writing Assessment relates directly to the new 10th grade writing assessment. The Objectives in this matrix support:

• writing features (main idea, support and elaboration, organization, conventions, and synthesis)
• specific types of writing assessed (definition, cause-effect, and problem-solution)

Additionally, examples of cause-effect, problem-solution, or definition writing activities are described. While specific objectives that most directly relate to writing are identified in this matrix, it should be noted that many objectives not listed here could be aligned with writing, according to the focus and intent of the lesson.

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