LibGuides: Foundations of Literacy Digital Reference Tool: Writing

Overview of Writing

Writing is a critical form of communication and expression. Through writing, students learn to clarify their thinking, make connections between concepts, and communicate effectively with others.

Components of Skilled Writing:

Critical thinking
- Gathering ideas
- Using the writing process
Syntax
- Grammar
- Sentence elaboration
- Punctuation
Text Structure
- Narrative, informational, opinion
- Paragraph structure
- Passage structure/organization
- Linking/transition words
Writing Craft
- Word choice
- Awareness of audience, task, and purpose
- Literary devices/figurative language
Transcription
- Spelling
- Handwriting/keyboarding

2019 Joan Sedita, Keys to Literacy. Published in The Writing Rope: A Framework for Explicit Writing Instruction in All Subjects (Brookes Publishing Company).

Students should use the writing process for composition. Depending on the purpose for writing, some of the steps may be shortened or omitted, but the overall process should be understood and used as a guide for most formal writing exercises.

Big Ideas About Writing from Research and Theory

Students need high quality instruction to learn how to write well.
Writing instruction is more than just providing time and a purpose for writing.
To write well, students must develop a broad set of skills.
Reading and writing are interrelated. Find ways to connect them.
Reading more strengthens students’ ability to write.

Best Practices for Writing

Best practices include the following:

Provide daily time for students to write.
Teach students to use the writing process for a variety of purposes.
Teach students to become fluent with handwriting, spelling, sentence constructions, typing, and word processing.
Create an engaged community of writers.

Predictable Chart Writing
Predictable chart writing is a modeled writing technique appropriate for all students regardless of their language skills. The teacher provides a model sentence or sentence starter to which the students contribute one or two (or more) words. Each student makes the sentence as complex or as simple as their writing development allows.

1:1 Writing conferences with the teacher
Peer reviews of writing - students paired with classmates to look for and discuss specific elements of writing the class is working on

Meeting the Needs of All Students

Access to Writing - Alternative Pencils
This webpage from Learning for All explains strategies for helping students with significant disabilities develop as writers when they are unable to hold a pencil. "Alternative pencils" includes portable word processors, iPads, tablets, alternative keyboards, onscreen keyboards, word prediction software, or speech recognition. These tools allow students to focus the majority of their cognitive energy on text production.