Writing Across the CurriculumWriting Across the Curriculum

presentation by Annabel Desira

Look at the following slides …

�Keep in mind that these will be used as a writing prompt.

Let me think …

Sometimes I feel that I miss a piece or two …

I feel frustrated when I cannot see a clear link.

I feel the need to keep digging for an answer …

an answer that might help me understand.

an answer that might feed this hunger, this thirst, this craving for knowledge.

I look into the darkness and suddenly I am no longer afraid.

I think about my joyful childhood. And I cannot stop

from thinking about my grandparents. They were my

teachers too.

I remember my grandpa cutting out large pictures from

magazines, gluing them to cardboard and cutting them into

different jigsaw shapes.

I remember I would play for ages just by knowing that I have a

special jigsaw puzzle made with love by my grandpa.

And I cannot help but think about my schooling days. There I had different jigsaw puzzles too.

Most of them were educational. Sometimes, I was learning numbers.At other times, I was learning colours.

Well, I was also learning how to share, how to wait for my turn and much more.

And I also started to realise that sometimes I just couldn’t find the missing piece.

But what an immense joy when I did find that missing piece!

Sometimes, some naughty boys hid the pieces on purpose.

Other times, some pieces would have been lost.

Sometimes you could still assume what the picture was going to be like but that missing piece just doesn’t let you finish the task.

Missing pieces as the name suggests are simply “missing” and I recall feeling sad … and wondering where these pieces might have gone!

From fairytales to realities!

Schooling days are now just a mere memory but loaded with so many emotions.

I find I still love puzzles up to this very day.

I see puzzles everyday in every shape or form.

Some pictures I have completed.Others are still in the making.

Are there any puzzles that you would like to talk a bout?Are there any puzzles that you would like to talk a bout?

There are no rules for this journal writing There are no rules for this journal writing ……

Sharing TimeSharing Time

A kind of writing that inspires us to go beyond

the books we love to read.

Writing activities that are inculcated in the hidden and

non hidden areas of the curriculum.

A writing that links us to the

world we live in.

Because all teachers teach WRITING!Because all teachers teach WRITING!

"When we integrate writing into content areas there are two main goals. First, integration

helps to reinforce the concepts , and, second, it helps improve students' writing abilities ."

(Shelley Peterson, Writing Across the Curriculum: Because All Teachers Teach Writing. Portage &

Main, 2005)

Because teachers want Because teachers want ““ cross cross boundaries learningboundaries learning ”” to happen!to happen!

"WAC pedagogies allow students to cross boundaries between textbook learning and practical application,

between content mastery and disciplinary discourse, and between rhetorics of action and life experiences.

Research shows that WAC pedagogies and the writing asssignments they generate increase student

engagement with the thought patterns and practices of a discipline."

(Joyce Magnotto Neff and Carl Whithaus, Writing Across Distances & Disciplines: Research and Pedagogy in

Distributed Learning. Taylor & Francis, 2008)

Questions to ponder about …

�Do we teach this particular part of the syllabus and we are fine with that?

� Is there the need to see the bigger picture? Why?

�Why is linking with the outside world essential especially for children?

�Do you envisage any overlaps in the syllabus/curriculum as it is?

Think of a particular lessonThink of a particular lessonthat youthat you ’’ve already delivered!ve already delivered!

�What was it about?�Were you teaching any other concepts in

the process?�Was there any occurred learning that

might not have been “planned”?�Are we allowing space for “what may

come”? �Any advantages/disadvantages about this

pedagogical method?

Teaching is finding links to make jigsaw puzzles complete …

�How can we incorporate the teaching of writing in Mathematics, in Science etc.?

�Are there any topics that we might team teach?

Puzzled about Teaching and Learning?Puzzled about Teaching and Learning?

� Teaching is finding links to make jigsaw puzzles complete …

� Successful Teaching empowers learners to find new puzzles to complete …

If you need to contact me …

Annabel DesiraParental Empowerment Programmes’ Co-ordinator at FES(Foundation for Educational Services)

Email Addresses :annabel.desira@gov.mtannabeldesira@gmail.comTel : 21455600/7 ext. 115Mob : 79 38 42 42

I might help you find a missing piece or two!