ABSTRACT
When the Common Core State Standards came out in 2010, they made the bold move of including literacy standards for history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. It was the writing standards that grabbed attention. Writing in all content areas has to be more than essays and reports. It needs to include daily, short strategies that get students thinking about content through writing. Teachers may argue that good oral discussion is deep thinking but it never reaches the depth that writing does. As students are working to understand how writing works in all disciplines, some medium of choice can help them feel ownership of the writing process. Allowing students to explore what they want to write about (within a topic or unit) can help open up students to the kind of writing that is important in each content area. With planning, writing can become an authentic and integral part of every classroom.
