Content Area Writing Instruction in the 6-12 Classroom

The ability to express thoughts, ideas and understanding through writing is a life skill and a critical component of writing within content-area standards. In all content areas, students are expected to learn to produce clear and coherent writing appropriate to purpose, task and audience. The writing standards address the expectations of content-area writing as students progress through the secondary grades. The research on effective writing instruction stresses the importance of the recursive nature of writing and the interdependence of writing to learn and learning to write.