SCCTE 2008: Teaching and Creating South Carolina Writers
Program Proposal for Teachers
DUE October 1, 2007
Name of Lead Presenter Robbin Surfus

Teachers are you always looking for more time to teach? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to
integrate social studies and science with writing? This is a cross-curricular activity that
can be used in science, social studies, literature, poetry, and creative writing. My students
were asked to write from the perspective of an animal describing itself, its adaptations,
and/or its habitat. This demo will guide you with an interactive pre-writing activity that will help you integrate writing into your content areas. By helping your student’s write about expository content within a narrative structure, they can delve into subject matter in
unusual ways and thereby enhance both content knowledge and writing skills. When teachers incorporate writing across the curriculum, student’s benefit in three ways: they have a
resource for better understanding content; they practice a technique which aids retention;
and they begin to write better. Participants will learn how to take students on a writing
journey that allows them to use their newfound knowledge, and personification to write from a different point of view. Students will create non-fiction writing and/or poetry that is filled with voice and creativity.