Discuss the most difficult homework problem. Interviewing involves the communication skills of writing, speaking, and listening. Pre-writing questions, then organizing the interviewee's responses in an organized manner is another effective writing technique. Letter exchanges with resource people within the community or students in the same classroom or school increases writing skills. Writing to pen pals in other communities or countries accomplish the same skills.
Autobiographies can take a twist in the content area classroom.
Rather than writing their 'life story', ask students to write about their experiences learning math, etc. This encourages metacognitive thinking. Word problems in the math classroom are sometimes viewed negatively by students, usually due to the time it takes to 'think the problem through'. A good exercise for students is to construct word problems from regular number problems and exchange with another student to solve. Non-fiction writing is a way to share writing experiences with another class or small groups of students.