April 29th, 2020

Dear Administration Team,

Since I have begun teaching at Fairview Elementary School, I have been fascinated with

how much my students’ conceptual understanding of content-area material has progressed since

introducing more writing instruction in my lesson designs. I am writing this letter in order to

describe some important reasons why students should be receiving writing instruction in their

content area classes. Along with this, I would like to outline some ways that teachers can address

writing instruction and how this will increase student’s overall engagement in the classroom

during their learning of these specific subject areas. After collaborating with my team members

and other teachers in the building, I do not currently feel that students at Fairview Elementary are

receiving explicit writing instruction in their content area classes. Our students need to be given

multiple opportunities to write and solidify their understanding of content area material.

Effective writing instruction should be included in all subject areas, as it teaches our students

about the world around them. It is my firm belief that “teachers of every discipline share the

responsibility of showing students how to think and write as scientists, historians,

mathematicians, and literacy critics do” (Vacca et. al, 2017, p.241). My hope is that by

explaining why content-area teachers should include writing activities in their instruction that

you will consider providing our staff with more resources and professional development

opportunities to overcome this issue in this upcoming school year.

When addressing the importance of writing instruction in the content areas, we must

remember that writing and reading are a part of a reciprocal process. In the words of authors

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Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz (2017), “ reading and writing help us to understand what we already

know; what we don’t think we know that we actually do know; and what we don’t know until we

have engaged in the process of meaning-making” (p.242). Without reading or writing, students

are unable to connect to their background knowledge, clarify what they may be learning, and

extend their activities based on this knowledge. Therefore, our instruction in the content-areas

must not just include one or the other but an equal combination of the two. When I am teaching a

content-area subject, it is always my personal and professional goal to incorporate both reading

and writing as practices that are intertwined. I find it essential as a classroom teacher to help my

students connect to new information they are learning, and then process this learning through

various forms of writing. Authors Vacca et. al (2017) also outline three specific reasons why

educators should consider using writing in the content areas. “First, writing improves thinking.

Second, it facilitates learning. Third, writing is closely connected to reading” (p.241). I think it

should appear evident after listening to these statements, that our students are in need of writing

instruction that is connected to its reciprocal process of reading. Our teachers and staff would

benefit from professional development opportunities that allow them to plan integrated reading

and writing lesson instruction in the content areas.

In order to help you decide what types of professional development sessions or resources

may be most helpful to our teachers at Fairview, I thought it would be helpful to share some

ways that content area teachers could introduce writing instruction in the classroom. It is also

important to note that introducing writing activities does not have to begin with large essay type

responses, which may at first hinder student engagement and teacher receptiveness. There are

two types of writing that teachers may first become familiar with. These include expressive and

transactional writing (Brittin & colleagues, 1975, as cited in Mckenna & Robinson, 2017, p.30).

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Expressive writing activities are those that could include notes from class, answers to questions,

or personal learning logs. Transactional writing samples may derive from those expressive forms

of writing such as summaries, letters, or more formal essays. The importance of defining these

types of writing is to show teachers that they are both useful to students learning in the content

areas. Teachers may use writing as an activity before, during, or after reading. Some expressive

writing activities that teachers could use to enhance their instruction may include the use of

academic journals, text response task cards, or even exit slips at the end of class. These types of

activities allow students to communicate and explore their ideas in an informal manner. They

help solidify what they are currently learning and organize their thoughts around ideas presented

in the texts. In my classroom, I have seen students thrive with this type of writing. Many of my

students who have not been as willing to write longer writing pieces in our science lessons seem

to be more receptive to these once they’ve had multiple and successful opportunities to

informally write their thoughts to an end of class question I give for an exit slip. When using

academic journals in my core content area subjects, I try to have students use their response

journals 2-3 times per week to write down their thoughts or feelings based on read alouds,

experiments, or historical events. Again, I have seen many students positively respond to these

types of journal responses because it allows them to interact with texts that would otherwise not

be possible. Writing that is transactional, or written in a more discipline-specific nature may

include written lab reports, newspaper articles, or research essays. When teachers are ready to

use this type of academic writing, it is helpful to show students how these types of assignments

are designed. Introducing a writing strategy such as RAFT will help students feel more confident

in approaching this type of writing. Holston & Santa (1985) created this acronym to stand for

role, audience, form, and topic (as cited in Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz, 2017, p.263). Using this type

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of writing strategy will allow students to organize their writing so that it can be taken through a

step by step process that is true to its audience and the text it may be addressing. This is one

writing strategy that I would like to continue to learn about. I think that my students would

benefit from this type of writing outline in many different content areas. Using specific graphic

organizers to use the writing strategy RAFT would help my students generalize their writing

abilities across many core subjects. Writing is a powerful tool that guides students into a deeper

cognitive process. By introducing writing activities that are either expressive or transactional,

students will benefit from being able to synthesize their learning in a way that is best for the task

and purpose in that discipline area.

Finally, I would like to briefly explain why and how writing in the content areas increases

overall student engagement. Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz (2017) argue how “classrooms that integrate

reading and writing lend encouragement to students who are maturing as readers and writers and

provide instructional support so that readers and writers can play with ideas, explore concepts,

clarify meaning, and elaborate on what they are learning” (p.242). From my experience, students

are engaged with their learning when it is presented in a fashion that displays relevancy in their

lives today and in the future. When we integrate reading and writing, students can begin putting

ideas into practice and considering how their background knowledge or personal views are

influenced. Student engagement begins when they see how their knowledge of their world is

transforming, and the process of writing influences this. When I have used academic journals

with students in previous years, for example, I have seen students experience “AHA!” moments

where they see the connection between their writing activities and their real-world application.

These types of journals can be informal and can include notes, pictures, and simple comments.

They can also be turned into teachable moments where students are hooked on learning different

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writing formats and styles. When we help students to write in a specific content discipline, we

further allow them “to step into the shoes of those people actually working and writing in real-

world jobs” (Vacca et. al, 2017, p.254). Student interest and engagement in the content areas can

be achieved once we are able to support our instruction in ways that create writing opportunities

to be reflective and applicable to students’ lives.

In conclusion, I have been able to first hand see the positive learning outcomes from

writing instruction in the content areas. Integrating writing instruction within the content areas

solidifies students’ learning of the material when it is paired with appropriate reading materials

and it increases overall student engagement. There is no right or wrong way to introduce content

area writing instruction as it includes many different formats and styles to fit specific learning

goals. “When reading and writing are taught in concert, the union fosters problem solving and

makes thinking and learning more powerful than if reading or writing is engaged separately”

(Vacca et. al, 2017, p.243). This statement fully supports my position that our students at

Fairview Elementary need to be receiving writing instruction in the content areas. After reading

my personal experiences and researched evidence, I hope you will provide more professional

resources this upcoming school year to support myself and fellow teachers with content area

writing instruction as it strives to support student achievement and success.

Sincerely,

Corrie Dobis

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 References

McKenna, M. C., & Robinson, R. D. (2014). Teaching through text: reading and
writing in the content areas. Boston: Pearson.

Vacca, R. T., Vacca, J. A. L., & Mraz, M. (2017). Content area reading: literacy and
learning across the curriculum (12th ). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.