WRT333

Writing Across the Curriculum

There is one final consideration that I would like students of writing to make: Should you teach writing?

The argument is old. I won't repeat it here, because its history and the philosophical wranglings that have marked a fierce debate have been best expressed already. So I'll refer you to David Russell's fine survey, "Writing Across the Curriculum in Historical Perspective: Toward a Social Interpretation," (here, pdf) and leave it to those of you who are interested to pursue it further.

The academy continues to wrestle with the fundamental problem of writing, namely the two core questions of who should teach writing, and how should writing be taught. I think that the best answers have come from Toby Fulwiler, whose book Teaching with Writing (used for $.01 from Amazon) is a short and useful set of suggestions. You should start there.

I will only add that this becomes a personal decision. If you know your discipline well, and you feel you like to write and that you write well, consider teaching. You may do this in any academic setting, but you may also elect to take on the problem of teaching writing from almost any supervisory setting. Work with the people around you, conveying the message that writing well is important.

Who does this? In my university, sadly the answer is that too few do. There are many academic disincentives to taking on this task, and few rewards. Hardly any of my colleagues outside of the writing program take the time to teach writing, let alone to do a good job of providing feedback on written assignments from their students. It takes time, and you have to take time to learn how to do this well.

I can only say that to teach writing was a decision I made many years ago. And for me, it has always been a good and rewarding part of what I have chosen to do.