WRITING ACROSS THE
CURRICULUM
Writing in the Content Areas
Bill Rodawalt 10/28/2010
ASSUME NOTHING ABOUT THE STUDENTS’
ABILITIES TO WRITE
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If we simply give students topics or prompts
without taking the time to teach them the
writing process, the lesson will fail.
Most students in our district do not regularly
write papers for their classes.
They need help in organizing their thoughts.
BAD WRITING PROMPTS
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Write a 3 page paper about ________.
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Write about your favorite color?
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Write about your favorite hobby.
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Write about what you want to do after you finish
school.
TYPICAL WRITING MISTAKES
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Topic becomes repetitive
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My favorite animal is my dog because he is fluffy.
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Boring
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Your dog is BORING!!
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How much more interesting if you just tell me about
your pet alpaca because he is fluffy.
Even better. My favorite animal is my pet alpaca
because he supports my family with his wool.
WRITING PROMPTS
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Should be relevant to the kids. Follow student
interests.
Should be focused enough to be dealt with in the
format of the assignment
Should be a topic that students can readily
research given the constraints of the school
WRITING GOOD PROMPTS
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Start with the kids’ interests and move them to your
topic.
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What is their favorite activity? (World of Warcraft)
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Find a painting they like. (Starry Night by Van Gogh)
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Ask them about a product they use regularly. (Suave
Skin Therapy)
A career they are interested in. (Carpentry)
ASK QUESTIONS TO GET THEM IN YOUR
REALM
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BIOLOGY or PHYSICAL EDUCATION: What
muscles do you use playing World of Warcraft? the
abductor pollicis brevia
ART or CHEMISTRY: What is your favorite part of
the painting and what color is it? the moon, icterine
CHEMISTRY: Look on the label for a chemical in
Suave Skin Therapy. magnesium aluminum silicate
SHOP or CAREERS: Find a class at the university
that could help you in carpentry. home
weatherization
DEVELOPING THE TOPIC
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The most common complaint from students is
that they do not know what to write about.
Notice that we came up with answers that we a
bit unusual. We could have just as easily picked
yellow for the color, but that is not as interesting
as icterine.
The Guthridge Writing System teaches them how
to systematically develop their subject, by giving
them a formula for a topic.
ELEMENTS OF THE GUTHRIDGE SYSTEM
New and Interesting ideas: i.e. icterine instead of yellow
Enthymeme: A structured topic sentence which gives students a
starting point for their papers. And structure for sections of their
papers.
Organic Outline: Also sometimes referred to as a “shopping list of
ideas
Implied Questions: Those questions that the reader is expecting
you to answer, given your topic.
ENTHYMEME
The classic enthymeme takes the form of:
I like X because Y
My favorite X is _________ because Y
I learned about X by doing Y
The most important X is _________ because Y
SAMPLE TOPICS
My most important muscle is my abductor
pollicis breavia because it allows me to win duels
in World of Warcraft.
 My favorite color is icterine because Van Gogh
uses it in his painting Starry Night.
 My favorite chemical is magnesium aluminum
silicate because it keeps my hands supple for
playing the clarinet.
 I am applying for a grant to take a class in home
weatherization because I am interested in
becoming a carpenter.
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ORGANIC OUTLINE
My favorite
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My name is Bill
My mom was a nurse
My dad was a
preacher and
contractor
I have always been
interested in art
I went to college in
Toledo
I got my masters
degree at Indiana
University
I have two cats named
Roscoe and Splat!
I like to sing
Color is Icterine
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Sort of a
jaundiced color
Word comes from
the Greek ikteros
which means
jaundiced
The color is often
used as a
descriptor for
birds such as the
Icterine Warbler
and the Icterine
Greenbul
RGB color
252/247/94
Starry Night
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By a Dutch post
impressionist
painter
Oil on Canvas
Depicts the stars
and moon and
aurora
Hangs in the
Museum of Modern
Art in New York
Main field of dark
blue with swirls
around the stars
and moon
City and trees in
the foreground
IMPLIED QUESTIONS
My favorite
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My name is Bill
I was born in Ohio
I have 3 sisters and 1
brother
My mom was a nurse
My dad was a preacher
and contractor
I have always been
interested in art
I went to college in
Toledo
I got my masters degree
at Indiana University
I have two cats named
Roscoe and Splat!
I am 48 years old
I like to sing
Color is Icterine
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Icterine is a shade
of yellow
Sort of a jaundiced
color
Word comes from the
Greek ikteros which
means jaundiced
The color is often
used as a descriptor
for birds such as the
Icterine Warbler and
the Icterine Greenbul
Sort of a greenish
yellow
RGB color
252/247/94
Starry Night
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Painting by
Vincent Van Gogh
By a Dutch post
impressionist painter
Painted in 1889
Oil on Canvas
Depicts the stars and
moon and aurora
Hangs in the
Museum of Modern
Art in New York
Main field of dark
blue with swirls
around the stars and
moon
City and trees in the
foreground
A NOTE ON IMPLIED QUESTIONS
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Sometimes a paper will be so complex, that the
student will not know the implied questions.
EXAMPLE: Describe the importance of a particular
Supreme Court case.
SOLUTION: Supply the implied questions.
What was the original case about? What did each side
say should happen? What did the Original court
decide? Was there an intermediate court decision?
When did the case occur? When did it get to the
Supreme Court?
For this particular assignment I supply the kids with
25 or more implied questions.
EACH SECTION OF THE OUTLINE IS A
SECTION OF THE PAPER
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Each Column represents a separate topic
Anything mentioned in one paragraph should not
be repeated in the next paragraph
This segregates the ideas and sets up a structure
to the writing.
WRAP UP
Start with Student Interest
 Move the topic towards your topic of interest
 Put the topic in the form of an enthymeme
 Break the enthymeme into an organic outline
 Research the topic and answer the implied
questions
 Organize the information sequentially, from
general to specific etc.
 Work on transition sentences
 Write from the outline
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