[ Curriculum Statements ]

WRITING STATEMENT
CROSSROADS ACADEMY
October, 2001 

Philosophy
Writing education at Crossroads Academy will engage all students in a developmentally appropriate program that enables them to learn to communicate effectively through a variety of writing forms.

Guiding Principles
Writing is a cumulative academic area. Students must continuously integrate new and more sophisticated skills and concepts into their writing. At Crossroads, the writing process is consistently used as the structure for student writing at each grade level. This multi-step procedure takes students from organizing the ideas for a piece of writing through producing a finished product, including editing for correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. This process is used and modified for writing in a variety of genres at each grade level. Expository writing, involving the presentation of information and the discussion of ideas, is emphasized in language arts and in the content areas. The expository genre requires that students have unified focus, coherent structure, and supporting evidence in their writing. Students should also develop the ability to use appropriate tone and diction, and to produce finished work that is free of errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar. These standards for writing apply across the disciplines, in content areas as well as in English/language arts. In addition, writing in other genres, including narrative and descriptive forms, encourages students to be imaginative and to use rich imagery and figurative language. Writing poetry, stories, and personal essays helps students develop a personal style in the communication of ideas. Students with these complementary abilities will be well prepared to communicate in a variety of genres and writing occasions.