Writing Across The Curriculum
(WAC)
Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) is a writing initiative which involves
college faculty, students, writing fellows, and program personnel in collaborative "writing
to learn" experiences. The WAC program at Hostos Community College includes
six writing fellows, led by their coordinator, and various faculty members
in diverse disciplines and departments. The WAC program strives to provide
students with writing instruction and support regardless of academic level.
Fellows and faculty work closely together to design effective writing assignments
geared toward the improvement of both the personal expression and the critical
skills of their students. WAC credo asserts that writing, in all disciplines,
is a fundamental tool for the learning process because it allows students
to practice both.
Curricular change is one of the aims of WAC. Oftentimes faculty members will
find themselves effecting changes in their course structure or syllabus as
a result of working with writing fellows. Students generally notice that their
writing and their critical skills improve and become clearer in all subject
areas. Writing fellows, in their turn, often become better students and instructors
as a result of collaborating with students and faculty. Everyone can benefit
from WAC.
WAC proponents believe that, like learning, writing involves a process. This
makes writing valuable to learning because it is when people put their thoughts
down on paper, where they can view them, that they can more easily manipulate
and modify them. As we interact with our thoughts in the process of writing,
they can be clarified, focused, refined and strengthened. We compose our thoughts
as we compose the written product. This is why proponents of WAC view writing
as a means to process and understand information.
So jump on board and benefit from WAC! We are all here to learn and change
(or write!) for the better.
WAC's Website: www.hostos.cuny.edu/wac/
