I have begun to read up on my topic of cross-content writing. The amount of information on the subject of writing is immeasurable really. I started my search at the library and at first I seemed to find a lot of great articles. After printing them out and preparing to read I realized they were mostly research articles. They detailed data from other research studies. Unfortunately none of those had the name Kyla A. Cornier across the top. I read over the data even though I thought it would be a waste of time. To my pleasant surprise many of the articles were still informative.
The first was by Mustafa Ulusoy from Gazi University. It was entitles Content Area Reading and Writing: Practices and Beliefs. It was published in the Australian Journal of Teacher Education. This article looked at the results of several studies that surveyed teachers. One study found that teachers who used effective reading and writing strategies said they learned them, not in education classes but instead, in their own college reading and language courses (Ulusoy, 3). One study also noted that "teachers felt betrayed because they did not receive formal knowledge of reading in their teacher education training"( 3). After reading that article I felt like I was already getting an idea about what it must be like to be a teacher of a content other than ELA and being asked to teach reading and writing. "Frustrated" was one word used and "lost" came to mind, as well.
The next articles had more up beat tones. The first was written by an ELA teacher who took the initiative, "brainstormed and coached content teachers in developing expository writing assignments and reviewed preliminary assessments"(Merten, 16). The name of the article was Reading and Writing Alignment Across Content Areas. In this article Mertel outlines the strategies her team used to work together on implementing the CCCS into all of their contents. They focused primarily on expository writing to help students in all content areas. They did not share any real opinions on the subject of cross-content writing. This article had a more "how-to" feel about it. The second article of this kind was entitled: The Value of Writing "How-to" Books in High School World History and Geography Class. As you can probably tell by the title it also had a "How-to" feel about it. This particular teacher however, did state her opinion. After detailing the project, she then states seven ways this project will benefit student learning. Clearly, she is in favor of cross-content writing.
After reading all of these articles I was excited to begin teaching but no closer to getting any real knowledge on the subject of cross-content writing, where it came from and why or why not it should be done. I was missing a seminal text. I suddenly realized that should be the first thing I read if I'm going to call this research. So I started to look at influential writers on the subject of writing. I found Elbow, Graves and Emig and I read some overviews of their work. I wanted to read them all but I realized they were not who I was looking for. I started to panic a bit. I wondered how am I going to find something really relevant. I suddenly remembered that I had JUST sat in the library for close to three hours being instructed on "How-to" use the library database!
What I found next was exciting, a free book! It's called "How Writing Shapes Thinking" by Judith A. Langer and Arthur N. Applebee. In this study they look at writing and it's use in "fostering learning and integrating new information with prior knowledge and experience"(3). In this text I read something that really opened my eyes. It said that writing in the classroom only takes place when the "teachers believe that the students have relevant prior knowledge to draw upon in their writing"(42). Otherwise, they noted that teachers use lectures or demonstration. Getting teachers to use writing means getting them to actually believe in their students and see them as knowledgeable! The implications of that are huge and I'm starting to see one of those "big ideas" formulating within the concept of cross-content writing.
I have a lot more to read and research but so far I'm excited to see where my research takes me! I haven't finished the book by Langer and Applebee but that is my first order of business. They have a lot of wisdom to share and gems for my Writing Kyleidoscope! ;)
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