THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT PRESENTS

1. THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT PRESENTS

2. WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM Or Let’s Write Right! Umm, correctly. Let’s write correctly.

3. ASFA’S ENGLISH FOLKS:WHO AND WHAT? • Who are the English teachers? • Who teaches which grades? • What is included in an English class?

4. The English Department • Vicky Abernathy, Chair, M.A.Ed., B.A. • Brad Hill, M.A.Ed., B.A. • Elisabeth Rohlfs-Hill, M.A.Ed., B.A. • Amy Tew, M.A.Ed., B.A. • Together we have over 45 years of experience teaching English.

5. Who Teaches Whom? • 7th: World Literature/Composition (Rohlfs-Hill) • 8th: World Literature/Composition (Hill, Tew) • 9th: World Literature/Composition (Tew) • 10th: American Literature to 1900/Composition (Hill)

6. 11th: American Literature, 20th Century/Composition (Rohlfs-Hill) • 12th: British Literature/Composition (Abernathy) • Optional: 12th: A.P. English (Abernathy) 11th/12th: The Art of Film (Abernathy) 11th/12th: Philosophy (Hill)

7. What Do English Teachers Teach? • Reading Skills • Grammar • Vocabulary • Spelling • Composition • Literature (poetry, novels, drama, short stories, essays, speeches) • Public Speaking • Critical Thinking

8. ASFA ENGLISH TEACHERS WE LOVE OUR SUBJECT! =

9. AND OUR CHALLENGES… • Our students may not love our subject. They are here for their specialty. • English teachers teach EVERY STUDENT IN THE BUILDING. (History teachers do, too.) • English teachers have classes most often chosen to be interrupted for school business

10. ENOUGH ABOUT US • We’re here to talk about Writing Across the Curriculum • Questions and Answers • Problems and Solutions

11. FIRST OF ALL… • Why should non-English teachers bother with writing? • Isn’t that what English teachers get paid for?

12. WHY WRITE? • Life Skill • Communication • Organization • Critical Thinking • Analysis • Application

13. Writing Across the Curriculum Challenges • Do the students write differently for non-English classes? • How much writing should non-English teachers require of students? • How should non-English teachers assess student writing? • How do I know what they should know? What have the English teachers taught my students?

14. Do Students Write Differently (not as well) for non-English Classes? • Yes, if we let them. • Grade-driven students are aware of individual teachers’ expectations. • Students rise to the level of expectation we set. • If we want them to write well, we must hold them accountable. • If we all hold students to a high standard, the students will benefit.

15. How Much Writing Should non-English Teachers Require? • The choice is yours. HOWEVER, if you assign, please assess well. • Low expectations undermine English teachers and confuse students. • If you want your students to write but you don’t want to assess all that writing (welcome to our world), consider daily journals, in class quick writes or portfolios.

16. I’D LIKE TO BUT… • I’m sold on the importance of writing but I’m not trained to teach or assess writing. • How do I handle writing assessment in my classroom? • Where do I begin?

17. IMPROVING ASSESSMENT • That’s why we’re here. The English Department wants to help you help your students become better writers.

18. The Gospel According to Strunk & White Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline but that every word tell.