Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively

•  Writing occurs in every discipline. 

Writing spans classrooms and discipline 

areas. Writing is a key component of Eng-

lish language arts classrooms, and second-

ary students on average write more for 

their English classes than they do for any 

other class.

3

 However, students write more 

for other disciplines combined than they 

do for English language arts.

4

 

The panel believes these two themes are 

related—critical thinking occurs in every 

discipline and writing leads students to think 

critically about content and ideas presented  

in all classes. These themes underlie the 

recommendations in this practice guide.

"Scientists, artists, mathematicians,