Writing Assignments

One of the things that we have been talking about in our class, as well as at my school, is the low literacy scores. One of the things that we have been doing in our school is the A+ Lab that has lessons designed on the computer for students to improve their reading comprehension. Also, during their homeroom, we have what is called Excel, where the students are to do nothing but reading for the 30 minutes.... Realistically, that is not happening because it is right before or right after lunch, and you and I both know that those kids may have the book on their desks, but they are not reading them. In our content area, we are suppose to have writing incorporated into our curriculum. I have definitely incorporated that into my Honors Geometry class because I had them do a research project and write and paper between 3 and 5 pages long. I just took them up Monday, and I have already got the chance to read some of them and I'm pretty impressed so far. They also have to do an oral report of their paper and have atleast one visual aid whether that be a PowerPoint presentation or a poster or something else. Sometimes it is difficult to incorporate writing into my regular classes though, especially when it is hard enough to get them to just turn in their homework!!! I'm still learning though, and we are able to atleast incorporate some writing into the curriculum by using open response questions on our tests.