April 2018 | Volume 75 | Number 7

Learning to Write, Writing to Learn

A Mom's Writing Lessons

Tara Laskowski

Part of a theme issue on "Learning to Write, Writing to Learn."

Table of Contents

Giving Students the Right Kind of Writing Practice

Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle

High school teachers Gallagher and Kittle describe a 9-week unit on writing a narrative they created (and taught at their respective schools) that gave students many chances to practice different elements of writing a story. Their unit "spiraled" students back to key skills at each step, giving extended writing practice often lacking in teaching K–12 learners to write.

Table of Contents

Demystifying Writing, Transforming Education

Mike Schmoker

Schmoker argues that having students write regularly across the disciplines, connecting written work to content in the discipline to facilitate student understanding about content, would boost most students' academic achievement. We must "demystify" writing instruction, distilling it to key skills that any teacher can guide students to sharpen, using simple prompts and questions students write responses to. Schmoker provides examples of such prompts in all areas.

Table of Contents

Bringing Cohesiveness to Writing Classes

Geneviève DeBose Akinnagbe

Teacher Geneviève DeBose Akinnagbe discusses her school's—and her own—improvement in the area of writing instruction. While she is a strong believer in teacher-led change, she says the change in this case was mainly the result of the school's becoming more intentional, at an organizational level, about the teaching of writing. The progress truly began when our school's administration established a solid infrastructure to bring cohesiveness to teachers and students experiences of teaching and learning writing.

Table of Contents

Making Student Writing Matter

Yekaterina McKenney

Yekaterina McKenney offers a plea to writing teachers: Don't emphasize the conventions of writing, the regurgitation of facts, and correct spelling and grammar over the generation of ideas and the creativity of storytelling. She offers up fresh ideas and suggestions about how to make writing meaningful and personal for student writers—from personalizing the subjects they write about to asking them to explore their journey in understanding a short story or essay they've read.

Table of Contents

Let Them Write Plays!

Mike Miller

The traditional academic research paper isn't always the best form in which to judge student writing. When students are given a choice in form and genre, their true talents and creativity can be unleashed. Miller offers up classroom examples and ideas on how to let students express their creativity in writing literary papers, research papers, and responses to standardized tests without sacrificing the learning of research techniques, primary source citation, and thinking analytically.

Table of Contents

Creating the Right Conditions for Multilingual Writers

Tasha Tropp Laman and Amy Seely Flint

Multilingual students can thrive as multilingual writers when teachers create rich, meaningful contexts. The authors argue that teachers should use Brian Cambourne's seven conditions for learning as a guide: immersion, demonstration, approximation, engagement, expectation, responsibility, employment (use), and response.

Table of Contents

Capturing the Flash of Writing

Laurah Jurca

In Prince George's County Public Schools in Maryland, the Our Lives, Our Words program puts digital cameras in the hands of elementary-aged English language learners. Teachers plan lessons that allow students to use photography as way to support and extend their writing.

Table of Contents

The Writing-Centered Classroom

Pam Spycher, Kim Austin and Thea Fabian

The authors discuss how Rowell Elementary School in California transformed instruction putting writing at the center of student learning. This shift involved helping students demystify how language works in different genres and creating authentic, meaningful writing opportunities for students, often involving cross-curriculum projects. Through professional development and displays of student work, the school also worked to build a shared culture of practice around writing.

Table of Contents

The Balancing Act of Kindergarten Writing Instruction

Elizabeth Auguste

In elementary schools, writing instruction often includes a heavy emphasis on penmanship, cleanliness, and mechanics. While the importance of crafting a story and creating meaning are taught, these elements may not be stressed enough to young budding writers. In this article, Auguste suggests that elementary school teachers—especially kindergarten teachers—should be very careful to strike the right balance of teaching both mechanics and meaning, so that student writers can develop their identities as authors.

Table of Contents

A Common Language and Criteria to Boost Students' Writing

Sherry Seale Swain and Linda Friedrich

The authors describe the Analytic Writing Continuum, a scoring system developed by writing assessment experts and the National Writing Project that provides a powerful way for teachers to assess students' writing and see good next steps for writing instruction. They give examples of educators using the AWC both to help students self-evaluate their writing and to help writing teachers further their professional learning.

Table of Contents

Creating a Mindset for Writing

Zachary F. Wright

English language arts teacher Zachary Wright describes how he uses "Mad-Lib"-like templates to help his unconfident writers (which is most of his students) see precisely how to do things like write a thesis statement, extract examples from the text, and structure a coherent essay.

Table of Contents

Advisory

Part of a theme issue on "Learning to Write, Writing to Learn."

Table of Contents

The Magic of Writing Stuff Down

Bryan Goodwin

Part of a theme issue on "Learning to Write, Writing to Learn."

Table of Contents

Write from the Start

Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey

Part of a theme issue on "Learning to Write, Writing to Learn."

Table of Contents

Prioritizing In-Class Writing

Catlin Tucker

Part of a theme issue on "Learning to Write, Writing to Learn."

Table of Contents

Building Empathy in Schools

Thomas R. Hoerr

Part of a theme issue on "Learning to Write, Writing to Learn."

Table of Contents

Writing for Freedom

H. Richard Milner IV

Part of a theme issue on "Learning to Write, Writing to Learn."

Table of Contents

Writing with 'Babbling Exuberance'

Carol Ann Tomlinson

Part of a theme issue on "Learning to Write, Writing to Learn."

Table of Contents

An Author You'd Most Love to Visit Your School, and Why He or She Would Inspire Your Students

Part of a theme issue on "Learning to Write, Writing to Learn."

Table of Contents

ASCD Community in Action

Part of a theme issue on "Learning to Write, Writing to Learn."

Table of Contents

Writing Wisdom

Part of a theme issue on "Learning to Write, Writing to Learn."

Table of Contents

Index to Advertisers

Table of Contents

Six Roadblocks to Writing Instruction—and How to Find Alternative Routes

Brian Kissel

Writing instruction in schools is often pushed aside to prioritize subjects that are more heavily tested. In this article, Brian Kissel tries to highlight some of the challenges to teaching effective writing in schools—and ways to overcome the obstacles. He argues teachers need to put writing first, to give students the freedom to write about topics they are passionate about, and to let them find their own writing style. By giving students choices, teachers will create not only effective classroom writers—but effective writers for life.

Table of Contents

Micro-Writing for English Learners

Larry Ferlazzo

Larry Ferlazzo, a teacher of English language learners, describes how he uses "micro-writing" (a short writing task combined with a sharing activity) to bolster his students' writing skills. He describes several ways to include micro-writing into lessons by activating background knowledge, reflecting on and transferring knowledge, encouraging self-explanation, incorporating creativity and creative thinking, drawing on images, and using writing frames and structures.

Table of Contents

Copyright © 2012 by ASCD