After having taught students for over 40 years, I know writing instruction is not easy. It is downright hard even for those of us who are comfortable with teaching it. I have seen so many teaching “fads” come and go over the years, but one thing has remained constant: literacy is the backbone of all of education. If one can’t read and write, one is doomed to struggle.
Strategies may change, but basic writing instruction does not. Those who know me or have followed me for any length of time know that I am not a fan of canned writing programs, but I also am not totally opposed to using a program if it is paired with teacher instruction and much feedback. That is only possible if data is compiled from the program and analyzed regularly. We cannot take out the human aspect of teaching and really educate our students. Perhaps they will perform on a standardized test, but I don’t think from my own experience with teaching that they will fare well in the real world as they must be prepared to adequately use their writing skills.
That being said, what I am offering here and in other posts can be applied immediately as part of an already established writing plan, or it can be used to assist in creating a writing plan for homeschooling parents or for school districts across the country. (I can be contacted at slpholbert@gmail.com for more information about your writing plans.)
What does writing instruction look like at your school? Is it planned or an afterthought? Is it relevant or just a ritual that all children go through occasionally? Is it just one more thing on your plate of leftover strategies or is it a buffet of deliciousness ready to feed hungry students? Take some time and really think about it. Be honest with yourself. Is writing time appealing to students? Do teachers look forward to it or is it dreaded? Regardless, please keep reading with an open mind.
Just remember to maintain a balance between time actively writing and time teaching students the strategies and skills needed. More time is needed for the application of skills. Integrating skills into the writing is the answer to getting it done.
Recommendation 1:
Dedicate time to the students and to the teachers who need support and training. Students will NOT make much progress if they are NOT given enough time and opportunities to develop as writers. They need frequent and sustained writing. At least 45-60 minutes daily in the process of writing is recommended. Students also need writing for multiple purposes across all content areas.
What are multiple purposes? Letters, notecards, emails, reports, how-to’s, summarizing, persuasion/ argumentative, logs, journals, stories/narratives, plays, poems, autobiographies, book evaluations , tests involving writing, and so forth…
Remember as William Hazzlitt, a 19th century novelist, said, ” The more a man writes, the more he can write.”
Recommendation 2:
Increase students’ knowledge about writing. How is that done, you might be wondering.
- Start with discussing with the students the characteristics of good writing. What does it look like in action?
- Have them read well-crafted literature.
- Talk about the different purposes and forms of writing.
- Ask what authors are trying to achieve and have students apply these procedures to their own writing.
- Provide models/exemplars of specific types of writing.
Recommendation 3::
Search for opportunities to motivate students to write. Most students begin their school experience wanting to learn to write and read. Are we the reason some of them lose this desire? I pray not.
- Create an environment where students flourish.
- Have a supportive and pleasant classroom environment.
- Let students collaborate in a structured way.
- Make assignments real and meaningful.
- Accept and encourage writing efforts.
- Be enthusiastic about writing yourself…even if you have to fake this excitement.
- Share your own writing.
- Celebrate success.
- Set high, but realistic, expectations.
- Provide enough support so students progress, but encourage them to do as much as they can on their own.
Recommendation 4:
Help students become strategic writers. Most of what happens during writing happens inside the writer’s head.
- Set up a predictable writing routine.
- Expect students to plan, draft, revise, edit, and share. Remember this is a fluid process.
- Give direct assistance to application processes.
- Use think sheets and graphic organizers.
- Teach them simple strategies that they can use independently like brainstorming, semantic webbing, etc.
- Use the following process for teaching writing strategies. (Graham, Perin, Rogers, 2007-08) 1. Describe the strategy and the purpose for learning it. 2. Make it clear when they should use the strategy. 3. Show students how to use it. Model. 4. Provide practice and give assistance as needed. 5. Continue instruction until students can use strategy independently. 6. Encourage students to apply the strategy. 7. Let students give feedback about how this strategy improved their writing.
Recommendation 5:
Teach basic writing skills to mastery. This is a great place for mini-lessons and the application of skills.
- Handwriting, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, word processing, etc. are included in basic skills.
- Until mastered, these require a lot of the writer’s mental energy.
- Basic skills need to be taught explicitly and directly and then applied.
- Students must receive explanations, modeling, and guided practice.
- Sentence-combining needs to be taught so that students know an effective way to form more complex sentences.
- Model and model again.
- Have students practice and apply it in their writing.
- Additional instruction for those students having trouble can have a positive impact on their writing.
Recommendation 6:
Take advantage of technological writing tools.
- These support developing writers, especially struggling writers.
- Word processing helps make revisions easier, allows for professional-looking formats, and helps students who have fine motor difficulties produce text in an easier manner.
- Speech synthesis programs and word prediction programs are also available.
- Outlining and semantic mapping software is helpful.
- Collaboration can be achieved through the use of computer networks and internet.
- Google has many helpful resources.
Recommendation 7:
*Use assessment to gauge students’ progress and needs. We need to ask if the writing instruction is working, if it needs adjustment , and who needs extra help.
- Are ideas clear and fully-developed?
- Is the text logically organized?
- Are words used effectively and precisely?
- Are sentences varied?
- Is the tone or mood appropriate to the genre?
- Are there spelling, usage, and grammar errors?
- Is the finished product legible and attractive?
- Some tools to assess writing are rubrics, student logs, journals, and conferences. Logs can be used to record what they did while writing, and journals can be for explaining how they felt before, during, and after.
- An important part of assessment is identifying students who need extra help and then giving them the help.
STRUGGLING WRITERS:
- Provide extra instruction in the writing process and sentence-combining.
- Reteach.
- Develop small-group and individual mini-lessons.
- Modify writing assignments.
- Allow extra time.
- Praise performance AND effort.
- Increase frequency of conferences.
- Establish procedures for peer help.
Where do you start?
- Write every single day.
- Use the writing process.
- Know the genres and teach them
- Support and engage ALL students.
- Have students write for a variety of audiences and purposes.
- Have students share their writing or parts of it.
Recommendation 8: Teach vocabulary.
Effective Writing Instruction for All Students by Steve Graham is a great resource.