Guess what?  With Common Core Standards rolling out, all teachers  are going to be held accountable for implementing writing-across-the-curriculum. Whew! That is really something to think about.  We have talked about it all these years and many systems have begun, but to say that the entire country will have all teachers responsible for some aspect of writing has been a long time coming. Since writing and reading are skills to help us reach success in all subjects, it only makes sense that we all take some responsibility. With that said, I do want to discuss what I see as the language arts teacher’s role in the big picture because that sits in contast to the role of other teachers. Once we understand the language arts role, I will attempt to outline some ideas for other curriculum areas as we begin this new journey together. I especially want to look at persuasive writing, a huge part of the Common Core Standards.

Language arts teachers will still carry the burden (or the blessing , depending on your paradigm) of teaching the parts of an essay: thesis, evidence, and the commentary.  They will also need to work with students on organization, style/word choice, how to write a hook and a conclusion, and what transitions are and how to use them.  With that behind them, students should be held accountable in ALL classes to a high standard of persuasive writing.

All teachers, and I mean ALL,  should look for and expect a thesis in any persuasive papers students are assigned and they should look for hard evidence( statisitics, quotes, etc.) to support the argument.

The main change we should see in  writing is the distribution of  it throughout all classes.  Language arts teachers need to provide professional learning in persuasive writing  to other teachers so that they are comfortable in holding all students accountable in all classes.  This will take support and planning from administrators, but it can be done.  We really have no choice any longer.