Writing


Writing is a powerful tool for learning and communicating. Students continue to discover how language works when they write frequently and for various purposes (Lee & Rubin, 1979). Students should be encouraged to write daily and to learn the recursive nature of the writing process. They will need to spend time thinking about and exploring ideas, drafting/recording their ideas, and revising them for possible sharing and publication. When practised in the classroom, the writing process has often been referred to as the authoring cycle and is considered best taught when children are engaged in purposefully writing for a familiar audience.

1. Provide many opportunities for students to write daily.

Teachers can find many ways to incorporate daily writing activities into the school day, beginning the first week of school. Teachers need to encourage young children's first attempts at writing by focusing on their intentions and the meaning of their messages. The first step in becoming a writer is perceiving oneself as a writer. Demonstrate one aspect of the writing process at least once a week using a "thinking aloud" strategy as you compose your piece of writing on a chart, chalkboard, or overhead transparency while students watch and make suggestions. Even very young learners can develop their understanding of audience, purpose, style, spelling strategies, and revising if they encounter these concepts regularly within concrete demonstrations.

Give students many opportunities to write in order to express their thoughts, feelings, and insights for a variety of purposes and audiences using a range of forms including: narratives, poems, plays, fantasy, science fiction, historical stories, children's books, songs, notes, messages, letters, logs, journals, diaries (real or imaginary), anecdotes, dialogues, reports, presentations, learning logs, biographical sketches, letters, requests, memos, summaries, reviews, record books, journals, brochures, pamphlets, and others.

Note: Students become more involved in materials and activities important to them and therefore are more likely to write because of their stimulating effect. Provide opportunities for children to choose materials and activities as a means of securing their greater involvement in writing (Lee & Rubin, 1979, p. 190).


2. Give students guidance and explicit instruction that develop effective writing skills and strategies.

Model (demonstrate) a writing process. Teachers demonstrate on the chalkboard or chart paper how they proceed through the steps and process that writers use to write for different purposes in various forms. As the students watch and listen, teachers explain the various decisions they are making and how they attend to the conventions of writing (e.g., starting a sentence, clarifying an idea, choosing the right word).

Graves (1983) notes that three conditions are necessary for students to make progress as writers. They must be allowed and encouraged to write on topics they really care about, they need time and practice to get better at writing, and they need sensitive guidance from teachers. Graves urges teachers to not just talk about the writing process but to model it and to get students involved in tasks that will help students experience the process.

Writing Process

Pre-writing is the getting ready stage (Tompkins, 2000). This is the time for students to decide on a topic, and to gather and organize their ideas. Donald Murray (1982) suggests that 70% or more of the time for writing should be spent in pre-writing activities. For young writers, this phase is often centred upon a picture that students draw before they write. Older and more experienced writers consider and use a variety of prompts and frameworks to generate and organize their ideas. Some students may wish to explore their ideas through drafting, particularly those who are comfortable with writing as an exploratory process.

Drafting is the phase where students actually write and refine their ideas in a composition. Students are "encouraged to get their words and ideas on paper and attempt to spell whatever words they want to use" (Stice, Bertrand, & Bertrand, 1995, p. 216). Students often write on every other line of their papers and conventions such as sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling are not stressed during this phase.

Revising gives students an opportunity to take a second look. It is important that teachers understand the wide range of writing activity that falls within the general topic of revising. In some cases, revising might mean beginning a whole new draft, especially if writing the first draft has led the student in a new direction or given the student a new idea. In other cases, revising can mean refining the content, the organization (cut and paste), word choice, and sentence structure. It is important to teach students how to revise. They also can share their work with others and invite classmates to ask questions about the parts they want to know more about (e.g., What kind of cat was it?).

Students also need guidance for how to proceed when they edit and proofread the "good" copy. When the student has a draft he or she is happy with, editing involves proofreading for the mechanics of writing such as spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. Teachers might give directions such as, "Underline the words for which you are unsure of the spelling". Or, "Find one sentence with a worn out word and rewrite it". Focus on one or two directions initially and gradually build a checklist such as the following. Older and more experienced writers often use more criteria, and can edit and proofread with their peers.

Sample Revision Checklist

__ Is the beginning interesting?
__ Did I include enough supporting details?
__ Is my conclusion logical?
__ Can new ideas be added?
__ Should some ideas be arranged?

Sample Editing/Proofreading Checklist

__ I correctly spelled all words.
__ I wrote each sentence as a complete thought.
__ I began each sentence with a capital letter.
__ I used capital letters correctly in other places.
__ I indented each paragraph.


Very young students might begin peer editing with one partner only. The two discuss each other's work, while the writer makes comments or changes on his or her own draft. Older students can work in peer editing groups. However, it is important that guidelines for the peer editing sessions be determined with the students. These can be posted on the wall as a reminder, and might include statements such as the following: Guidelines can be revised or new ones added as the need arises. It is essential that the teacher monitor peer groups to make sure they are working positively for the student writers.

Guided, Layered Revision: In guided revision, the teacher guides revision, targeting one skill at a time and giving suggestions for improvement. These revision sessions are conducted in layers or short time periods. The teacher targets one or two specific skills to highlight for revision. Using the chalkboard or overhead, the teacher models the skills and then asks the class to apply them to a piece of writing they are working on (Forney, 1999). Forney cautions teachers to never call a rough draft a "sloppy copy".

To help students with revision, teachers can have students: Language skills are often best taught as part of the revision or editing process, during individual and small group writing conferences, and in whole class mini-lessons. Short and focused revision sessions help students internalize important sentence, punctuation, usage, and word conventions. Instruction is brief and guided by students' needs and interests. Teachers use brief messages, a sentence or two from a story recently read, or a sentence written by a student.

Writing Strategies

Students need different strategies and support in writing depending on their stage of development. Teachers can use a number of strategies, including the following.

Language Experience or Shared Writing: The teacher acts as a scribe while students dictate what they want to say. The teacher helps the students get ready to write by asking them to talk about an idea and then to select the content for the dictation. The teacher says the words as he or she prints them and comments on the conventions that are featured in the writing. Students are invited to participate in the composing process. The teacher then reads back the entire text, pointing briefly to each word and moving a pointer along the lines of text. Students then read the selection aloud at a pace determined by the pointer. They are asked to offer responses and suggest revisions.

Sentence Frames: Writing requires something to say, the words to say it, and the structure with which to write it (forms and spelling) (McCracken & McCracken, 1986). Writing frames can help beginning writers learn to write quickly and acquire writing skills and strategies.

Beginning with a frame sentence, teachers can build on students' ideas. For example, "What do you see?" can become a writing game: "I see (a, an, the) ___." The blank can be filled with a picture response, a single word, or a phrase. Students' responses also can be recorded on individual sentence strips; each student prints his or her own name and records a response with a drawn picture. Sentence strips can be cut into word cards that can be shuffled and rearranged to create the original sentence and different responses.

Over the period of a week, the pattern can be used for additional responses and, over time, to model different frame sentences such as the following:

What can you do?
What do you have?
What do you like to play?
 I can ___________.
I have __________.
I play __________.


Building on students' oral experiences in the classroom, teachers can create sentence and poem frames for common nursery rhymes, poems, and traditional tales (particularly ones with patterned and repeated language). For example,

I like bugs.
Black bugs,
Green bugs,
Bad bugs,
Mean bugs,
Any kind of bugs.
I like bugs.
- Margaret Wise Brown (1938)

Frame stories can be developed by asking questions and recording answers. For example,

What bug do you have?
What colour is it?
What can it do?
How do you feel about your pet?
(McCracken & McCracken, 1986)

The frame answers create a frame story:
I have a ____________.
It is ____________ and ____________.
It can ____________.
It is ____________.

Teachers can also use frame sentences and patterns to teach language conventions (e.g., periods, capitals) and sentence structures (e.g., strong verbs, powerful adjectives, phrases to replace single words).

Interactive Writing: Interactive writing is a bridge to independent writing. The teacher "shares a pen" with a small group of students or the whole class as they collaboratively create and construct a written message. The teacher draws from students' personal knowledge as well as shared experiences. Students decide, with the teacher, what a text is to say. Students and teachers collaboratively write the text, reread, revise, and proofread it. Throughout, the teacher "thinks aloud" to demonstrate the process to students. As students develop as writers, the teacher can emphasize different points. For example, McCarrier, Pinnell, and Fountas (1999) suggest the following focuses:

Emerging Phase Early Developing Phase Developing Phase Fluent Developing Phase Guided Writing: Teachers can provide support and encouragement as students work through the process of developing a piece of writing. By providing a structure for the phases and activities associated with each, as well as encouragement and purposeful feedback, the teacher guides the writing experience. Smith and Bean (1980) recommend the following:
  1. The teacher brainstorms with the class or group what they already know about the topic. This can be recorded on the board or overhead, and ideas can be categorized and lists of details to support each can be written.
  2. The teacher works with the students to prepare a map or web to show what ideas could be used for this composition.
  3. The students then attempt a first draft and the teacher puts several of these on the overhead for class or group discussion (names are not used). Examples from previous classes can be used also.
  4. Drafts can be modified or expanded according to content and then revised using several criteria (e.g., story plot has a clear beginning, middle, and end in narratives; main ideas and sufficient details are found in expository writing). Conventions such as sentences (e.g., well formed with complete thought), punctuation, capitalization, and spelling can also be examined.
  5. Students can evaluate their own or a partner's paper before they rewrite their final copies.
Independent Writing: Students write their own compositions using the knowledge and skills gained during modeled, shared, and guided writing sessions. The teacher provides support during the writing process and at writing conferences.

Teachers can also make overhead transparencies of samples of students' writing from the previous year and use them to prompt writing. The student writers' permissions should be acquired. This provides an opportunity to talk about copyright.

Collaborative/Co-authored Writing: Students can work together as co-authors. They can, for example, develop a group paragraph or poem by building on a main idea sentence or opening line provided by the teacher or created by the group. Using one piece of paper and one pencil, students, in turn, compose sentences or lines to build the paragraph or poem. After each student in the group has contributed a sentence or line, the group reads the composition and adds ideas or rearranges ideas to complete the composition (Whisler & Williams, 1990). This collaboration can be used with a number of genres and forms if students understand the specific characteristics and techniques of each genre and form being used.

Writing Workshops: Workshops are a useful context for combining lessons in composing and writing conventions. Lessons give students occasions to learn about aspects of the authoring cycle, including choosing their writing topics and forms (Atwell, 1998), proceeding through the writing process, assuming responsibility for the direction of their writing project (Calkins, 1994), and choosing stories to publish (Harste, Short, & Burke, 1988). Writer's workshop is scheduled time for writing each day. During this time, students are involved in three activities: Teachers can often address writing procedures, writer's craft, and writing skills through short five minute mini-lessons as the needs of the group arise (Atwell, 1987; Calkins, 1986). Procedural lessons teach students how they might organize their writing folders, conference without disturbing others, or write on every other line. Writer's craft lessons might model such aspects as: Skills mini-lessons can address paragraphing, sentences, punctuation, and usage.

Note: A well-stocked writing centre would contain many of the following items and materials:
  • variety of materials to write on and with which to write
  • variety of papers for making book covers
  • art materials for illustrations
  • pictionaries and dictionaries
  • staplers and hole punches
  • twine, ribbon, and string
  • letter templates for tracing
  • computer and appropriate software.


Writing/Writers' Circles: Students gather together to discuss their writing and receive feedback concerning their works-in-progress. Students gather encouraging feedback and suggestions from their teacher and classmates. Students should have opportunities to engage in a variety of writing roles - idea generator ("We could write about …"), knowledge provider ("You need a question mark …"), questioner (How do you …?"). With younger students, some teachers like to use "two good things and one wish". Students offer feedback by stating two positive things and one suggestion for improving the writing.

Writing Conferences: The teacher holds short, informal conferences, to talk with students about their writing or to help them solve a problem related to their writing (Tompkins, 2000). These conferences can help students with generating and focusing ideas, or with stages of their writing (e.g., revising). They can also take the form of individual or small group mini-lessons or assessment conferences.

Types of conferences include: Sample conference questions include: Story Starters: In addition to brainstorming writing ideas and talking about them, teachers can keep a list of possible topics that can act as starting points for students' writing (e.g., The funniest thing that ever happened to me …, When I grow up, I want to be …, My favourite pet is …). A story starter box might include a set of story openers written on index cards.

Writing Organizers and Maps: There are many ways that students can organize their writing. They can follow conventional structures, or they can create their own mind maps or concept webs. Some examples follow.

Stories. Beginning story writers can follow a traditional fairy tale structure that includes a setting (once upon a time …), characters, a problem or event, actions and consequences in response to the problem or event, and a closing (e.g., … and they lived happily ever after.). Students can also create their own story structures by exploring possibilities with a web or other type of story map. Remind students that stories are based on actions and consequences, and that there are many different ways of telling a story (points of view, tenses, styles, story orders). The best way to illustrate the variety is to provide students with many examples from literature, being sure to point out and discuss the differences.

Narrative Paragraphs. Students can "tell what happened" by introducing the situation (who, where, and when); relaying events in a logical order (firstly, after that, next, etc.); and concluding by giving the last important event (e.g., at last …).

Poetry Maps. There are many set structures with which beginning poetry writers can experiment. Teachers can refer to a variety of books on writing poetry with students. The following example describes the cinquain structure:
Line 1 - one word (noun) giving the poem's subject.
Line 2 - two words (adjectives) describing the subject.
Line 3 - three words (verbs) describing actions associated with the subject.
Line 4 - four words expressing feelings or thoughts about the subject.
Line 5 - one word (noun) giving a synonym for the subject.

How-to Maps. Students can create paragraphs or expository writing based on the steps required to accomplish something (e.g., how to make a sandwich, how to ride a bicycle, etc.). News Stories. The following is a basic structure for a news story (although students should be reminded that even news stories can be presented in a variety of ways).
Lead - the most important facts or details of the story.
Body - 5 Ws plus H (who, what, where, when, why, how).
Ending - what the writer wants the reader to remember.
Headline - a phrase that will attract the readers' attention.

Note: The more students read, the more they will acquire understanding of the variety of structures available to them in all forms of writing. Writing and reading are inextricably linked.



Writer's Notebook: Writing notebooks can be designed and kept by students to preserve ideas that occur to them throughout the day. They can be used to note (list) possible ideas for writing topics, initial thoughts about an event or an observation, a sketch of a scene or person, a process or procedure that they have learned, or a quote from something they heard or read. These jottings could form the starting points for their next compositions.

Inquiry and Research Writing

Resource-based learning encourages students to develop research and study skills in order to find and use information from a variety of sources. Students learn how to find, access, and organize information when the activities are integrated into meaningful contexts, such as particular assignments, tasks, or units. Teachers can assist students to develop these lifelong learning skills and strategies by giving students opportunities to learn and apply the critical concepts and processes described in this section.

Students need many opportunities to use language, not only in an English language arts context but also in other subject areas. Teachers of grades 1-5 can enhance their ELA programs by giving students many opportunities to use language to learn, and to manage ideas and information as they learn.

Through the inquiry or research process, students satisfy their natural curiosity and develop skills and strategies for lifelong learning. Students learn to activate prior knowledge, ask questions, define steps or tasks for inquiry, gather and evaluate information for specific purposes, use their new learning, and develop new questions. They also learn to manage time, meet deadlines, and discover additional areas for investigation.

Students enhance their ability to manage ideas and information by encouraging, supporting, and working with others. Teachers can help students learn about and use multiple strategies, technologies, and other resources to solve problems and complete projects independently and co-operatively. When students are given time to share their concerns and successes during research, they clarify thinking, gain assistance from others, and learn that others share their worries or feelings of success. "What students are able to do in collaboration today they will be able to do independently tomorrow" (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 211).

Inquiry and Research Approach:

  1. Plan, Focus, and Locate Resources
    • define the information problem
    • activate prior knowledge
    • explore and clarify topic (including wonder, listen, observe, interview, talk in small groups, share personal ideas and questions)
    • set purpose (using a purpose question and sub-questions)
    • identify the information needed in order to complete the task or solve the problem
    • determine the range of possible sources
    • determine best sources and seek out those resources
    • determine key words for use in searching in table of contents, indexes, and Internet sites.
  2. Access, Process, and Assess Information
  3. access information (locate)
  4. make sense of and assess information (reading/viewing/listening carefully, discussing ideas, judging information).
  5. Record, Organize, and Prepare Findings
    • extract and record relevant information from each source (making jot notes, recording bibliographic information)
    • connect, synthesize, and organize information
    • prepare a presentation of synthesized information in a format appropriate to audience and purpose.
  6. Present and Exchange Information
    • present the information
    • judge the effectiveness of the presentation and its processes
    • reflect and determine new insights and questions, and plan for improving further research.
It is important that students have opportunities to find out and write about the world around them and how things work. Writing an extended text helps students develop their critical thinking and reasoning abilities (Leu & Kinzer, 1999). A process such as I-search and frames such as KWL and research grids help students with their inquiries and provide a way to organize and clarify thoughts for writing.

Eisenberg and Berkowitz (1990, 1995) note three key phases in the inquiry/research process:

Step 1: Beginning (think about what I am supposed to do). When young students get an assignment or task, they should begin by asking themselves: What am I supposed to do? What will it look like if I do a really good job? What do I need to find out to do the job? Can I ask for help?

Step 2: Middle. Students do the task.

Step 3: End (think about what I did). Before students turn in an assignment, they should ask themselves: Is this done? Did I do what I was supposed to do? Do I feel okay about this? Should I do something else before I turn it in?

As students get older, they can refine their approach using a six-step approach (Eisenberg & Berkowitz, 1990, 1995):

Step 1: Define Task. What am I supposed to do? What information do I already have related to my task? What information do I need?

Step 2: Information-seeking Strategies. What are the possible sources to find this information? Which ones are best for me to use? Who can help me decide what I need?

Step 3: Location and Access. Where will I find these sources? Where is the information in the resources?

Step 4: Use of Information. How will I record the information that I find (e.g., take notes using cards, computer, notebook, or talk into a tape recorder)?

Step 5: Synthesis. How does it all fit together or finish the assignment? What will I do or make or write to show what I have learned? How will I give credit to my sources in my final product or performance?

Step 6: Evaluation. How will I know that I have done my best?

Sample questions for assessing gaps in information include: Sample questions for assessing information for purpose, audience, and form include: I-search Process: Macrorie (1985) and Zorfass and Copel (1995) describe the I-search process. As a student-centred inquiry process, I-search asks students to plan and carry out research. They work together to pose questions that they want answered and then make a plan to find out their answers to their questions using a variety of sources (e.g., encyclopedias, databanks, Internet sites, library resources, newspaper archives, interviews, letters). Students then decide what and how they will share what they have learned. Tiedt (1983) recommends the following steps.

Step 1: Identifying the Problem. You are going to investigate something that you would really like to know about. First, you need to decide what you want to know.

Step 2: Locating Information. Think about how you can find information. Then begin the search for information and write notes about what you find. Go to the library and look for atlases, encyclopedias, books about your subject, and Internet sites. Interview people or write to different agencies and people.

Step 3: Prepare a Report. Include four parts:
(1) what you decided to investigate (your problem), (2) how you went about your search (your procedures), (3) what you found out (your findings), and (4) what you will do with the information you discovered (your conclusions).

Step 4: Share the Information. Present your I-search paper to the class. Share the information you discovered. Show the group or class objects or materials you may have collected. Be prepared to answer any questions.

Note: Students may record important information and supporting details, facts, etc. in a learning log or inquiry notebook.


Sharing Writing

When the time comes for sharing, presenting, and "publishing" their writing, students have many choices.

Classroom activities include peer and small-group exchanges; dramatic readings with sound effects; reader's theatre or performance; displays of writing in classroom or school; portfolios; individual, group, or class booklets; individual, group, or class news sheets or newspapers; class or subject area projects. Specific activities are described below.

Personal Communication: Students might write letters, invitations, and notes to peers, teacher, penpals, school staff, parents, etc.

Bookmaking: This is a popular and effective way of sharing students' writing. Simple booklets can be made by folding a sheet of paper into quarters, stapling the sheets together, and adding a construction paper cover. The front can be the title page while the three remaining sides can be used for writing. Different types of books can be created by students. A grade 1 student might create an accordion book "All About Me", while a grade 5 student might create a chapter book about a region of Canada. Students can begin to explore formatting and presentation by using word processing or desktop publishing software.

Student Magazines and School or Community Newspapers: Many students enjoy seeing their writing in a published format. They take pride in sharing their polished products with their peers and others.

Web Site Publishing: Students can present their work on the school's web site. They might establish an electronic partnership with another school to share writing.