Supporting Writing

Supporting Writing

1. How do children learn to write? Stages:

   • 1. Emerging: writes in scribbles and makes unidentifiable markings
   • 2. Pictorial: draws semi-recognizable pictures and tells about pictures when asked
   • 3. Precommunicative: writes to communicate ideas and begins to use random letters
   • 4. Semiphonetic: relies on beginning sounds in words to match letters and writes in left to right format
   • 5. Phonetic: includes beginning and ending sounds in words and begins to use sight words
   • 6. Transitional: spells many sight words correctly, uses vowel sounds, and includes punctuation
   • Conventional: uses larger vocabulary and includes capitalization, punctuation, and spacing
   • 7. Advanced: organizes writing into paragraphs, uses advanced punctuation and grammar, and incorporates elements of genre.

2. What does instruction look like?

   • Modeled Writing: the teacher models writing in front of the class
   • Interactive Writing: the teacher models writing and shares the pen with students for certain parts of the writing activity
   • Kid Writing: beginning writers use invented spelling to sound out words
   • Writing Workshop: students work independently on a piece of writing and they go through the steps of writing- prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and publishing.
   • Genre Writing: students read different examples of a target genre and write their own example of the genre.
   • Writing in Context: students work independently or in small groups to write meaningful contexts
   • Technology Integration: Various websites and apps can target writing
   • Connecting with Families: parents reinforce writing at home

3. Assessing Writing

   • Writing Rubrics: a tool that clearly defines expectations and it is organized on a point level scale
   • Writing Conferences: During writing workshop time, this is an ideal time to provide students with individualized writing instruction
   • Peer Editing: partners or small groups work together to help each other improve, edit, or revise their writing. Use glows and grows and have students provide some corrections when doing peer editing.
   • Student Self-Assessment: self reflection is an important part of writing. A checklist can help keep students focused on their self-assessment. This is a student friendly version of the grading rubric.