Writing centers are WAC. Writing across the curriculum, that is. Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) is a growing movement that encourages writing in a variety of subjects, not just literature or composition English courses. Writing is now being acknowledged as important in science classes, history classes, and even math classes. A scientist needs to share his or her ideas with others to be acknowledged and a math whiz needs to be able to communicate what she's doing with the numbers to reach conclusions. Writing isn’t just essential to an English course, but essential to life.
WAC stems from the 1980's when the movement began to make more waves and generate more publicity (Purdue OWL). It began with the importance of writing. Purdue OWL wrote, "When students write reactions to information received in class or in reading, they often comprehend and retain the information better." Writing is not only useful for communication, but it teaches and helps with memory. A student can learn and retain more information about the Crusades, for instance, but that retainment of the information can be solidified by writing notes. A student can further prove his understanding by analyzing and writing more about that. 
I absolutely love the topic you've chosen. Getting to read about how the WC is beneficial to more than just English classes will be a great tool for us, and I look forward to seeing how you present it!
ReplyDeleteI really think this topic is going to be very interesting to read about, because most people don't realize just how much we use writing on a daily basis in every aspect of our lives. I enjoyed how you gave some background to what WAC is, but maybe relate it to the Mattawan Writing Center sooner, so that your audience is clear on what your paper will be discussing.
ReplyDeleteYour introduction is awesome, it definitely pulled me in. You keep a nice balance here between professional and creative, and it really keeps the reader involved and pulls them along. I am really looking forward to reading your paper as this is a topic I have been interested in, especially after our Chemistry paper consultations. So far you are doing a great job of relating it from high school classes up to the professional level of people who write for their jobs. I can't wait to see where you go with this.
ReplyDeleteLoved your introduction. Catches attention right away. I really like your incorporation of voice, I can definitely tell it's you, but you also keep it professional. I was left kind of confused on what group you are going to focus on in the rest of the paper, however. Of course, you mentioned writing centers, but will you be talking about how Mattawan is doing this or high schools in general?
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