Content-Area Writing: Every Teacher's Guide

by Steven Zemelman, Steven Zemelman, Nancy Steineke

There are three truths about teaching writing, one thats widely known, one that isnt, and one that will change your teaching forever: No matter what subject you teach, Content-Area Writing is for you, especially if youre juggling broad curriculum mandates, thick textbooks, and severe time constraints. It not only shows that incorporating carefully structured writing activities into your lessons actually increases understanding and achievement, but also proves how writing can save, not consume, valuable instructional time. Following up on Subjects Matter the book that changed how tens of thousands of language arts, math, science, and social studies teachers use reading in their classroomsHarvey Daniels, Steven Zemelman, and Nancy Steineke now present the most thorough and practical exploration available of writing in the subject areas. Content-Area Writing guides you strategically through the two major types of writing that every student must know: With their contagious combination of humor, irreverence, and classroom smarts, Daniels, Zemelman, and Steineke give you dozens of valuable lessons for encouraging growth in both types of writing with subject-specific ideas for planning, organizing, and teaching, as well as samples of student work and guidelines for evaluation and assessment. They also include detailed information on how their strategies fit into the writing process, how they can be used in writing workshops across the curriculum, and how they prepare students for testing and other on-demand writing situations. With writing, you can help students learn better, retain more, meet content- and skills-based standards, and tackle any test with confidence. No matter what you teach, read Content-Area Writing and discover for yourself that classroom time spent writing is classroom time well spent.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Writing, Professional Development, School

288 pages, Paperback

First published February 5, 2007

Reviews

[Brandon Haskey-Valerius · Rating 4 out of 5]

The audience for this book is ultimately narrow- no teacher of any one individual content subject would find all they wanted or were looking for from this text. However, if you are someone who mentors, coaches, or teachers other teachers, this is an excellent guide for making certain writing is utilized and utilized effectively in all classrooms regardless of subject. I'd argue a seasoned English teacher would maybe find some of the activities either basic or common sense, but for a new teacher especially and any teacher of other content areas, there are many good ideas. Many of the ideas need adapting and maneuvering, and some of the writing's pop culture references are a little cringeworthy today, but underneath it all, good things are there.

[Trish Renfro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teaching through content is so powerful. The book has great examples of how to incorporate more writing into all levels of classes.

[Jen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book claims to be based in research and study. It does indeed footnote those two things, but the bulk of its content is just rewritten from other education books that proffer reworded ideas as if they were new philosophy. It is rife with sweeping, unfounded statements like saying that when a teacher does extensive editing of student writing, it "doesn't work and … never has worked" because kids ignore the notes. Naturally, it won't work if you allow them to do that. It also drips with the silly adage that teachers enforce total silence and control over student behavior. To be sure, kids and immature adults (who look back at their early years still using the lens of a child) believe this to be true. However, for at least 50 years, teachers have been encouraging discussions in the classroom. We struggle to keep these discussions at a reasonable volume and on-topic, but we do it because it is worth the struggle. People who say otherwise are just trying to sell something. It's also written very colloquially and unprofessionally. I'm sure the authors were aiming to make it a more engaging read this way, but when they make such ridiculous, rehashed statements, it's hard to take them seriously. In general, the book seems to assume the very worst in both teachers and students, such as when it discredits note-taking because it assumes most students will just copy the notes anyway. Clearly, the authors are familiar with copying others' ideas, but not everyone does that.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot wait to use, abuse, and modify every single activity in this accessible, no-nonsense, and student-positive book.

Harvey Daniels, Steven Zemelman, and Nancy Steineke can see the importance of writing, be it formal or informal, public or private, in every school subject. Not only that, but they know when to use it, how to use it so that it doesn't become a plagiarism dumping ground, and why using it can encourage critical thinking, boost standardized test scores, and engage students in meaningful, authentic assessments.

Furthermore, I believe this book aligns perfectly with my developing pedagogy: Daniels et al. don't intend to beat students over the head with writing tasks that antagonize them for the mistakes they make and only require careful regurgitation of didactic classrooms. Instead, the authors intend for students to find their passions in content-area classes, and pursue them in expertly-scaffolded, thoughtfully-designed writing tasks.

I couldn't ask for more.

Buy this title from Powell's Books.

[NICOLE · Rating 4 out of 5]

People write for all purposes. This text allows teachers to learn ways to integrate writing into their content area. Every teacher is a "teacher of writing". In every subject, you write. There are many lessons that are provided in this text to help pull writing instruction into your content area classroom so it can help save instructional time. Writing is everywhere and this text allows content area teachers to try out new strategies in their classrooms to maximize instruction.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book at the Red River Valley Writing Project Summer Institute. The institute itself was amazing but this book was too. It reminded me of Kelly Gallagher's book "Deeper Reading" because of its practicality. The treasure-trove of twenty-five engaging writing activities are presented in a way that makes sense.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a great review of "writing to learn" strategies but I really enjoyed the chapters offering ideas on formal writing assignments. I'm brainstorming lots of new ideas for next year already!

[Stacey Graham]

A great book for teaching in the 21 century. It has lots of ideas to reach all students.

[Bill Gaskins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completely changed my ideas about teaching writing. Good ideas for lessons and projects.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent resource for teachers of all grades, especially with CCSS expectations changing the way we do things.

[Lindsey Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple and practical. Anything by Daniels and Steineke will be worthwhile!