Writing in Gym? Connecticut High School Makes Writing Mandatory in All Classes

A Call for Writing

According to a 2005 survey conducted for the National Writing Project, nearly 70% of Americans at the time believed that writing should be taught across all subjects at every grade level. In addition, 72% felt that all prospective teachers should be trained in teaching writing.

What's more, the survey also showed that only 23% believed their schools were doing a good job when it came to teaching writing.

Quite possibly, James Hillhouse High School in Connecticut had these statistics in mind when in fall 2011 they decided to integrate writing into every subject. This even includes physical education!

The Write Stuff

Hillhouse High is not the first school in the country to make its students write and write and write, but it is the most recent. The program was inspired by a similar literacy initiative begun by Brockton High School in Massachusetts in 1998. That school has seen the percentage of students failing English fall from 44% to five percent over the 12 years students have been writing in every class.

'We realized we have a problem in terms of literacy,' Hillhouse High geometry teacher Fred Redeaux told The Huffington Post in December 2011. And quite a problem it was: only 10% of incoming freshmen were reading at or above grade level.

The solution? Redeaux and other teachers, part of the school's volunteer literacy team, came up with having students write for ten minutes in every class. This would include gym, science and even math.

'If you can't read a word problem, you certainly can't solve it,' Redeaux told The Huffington Post.

'Write What You Think'

What can students write about in gym? Or in math? Actually, it's not as difficult as you might think.

In phys ed, students could write about the rules of a certain sport, or what they like about their favorite physical activities. Math students can write about how they solved a particular problem. The latter is exactly the assignment Redeaux asked his students to complete.

'Write what you think,' the geometry teacher recently told a student who didn't know how to start writing.

Perhaps as they write more and more in each class, that student and others like him will begin to find the act of writing easier. If so, Hillhouse High can deem its new program a complete success.