The school year is officially underway, students are settling in, the culture and climate of your classroom is beginning to take hold, and you’re ready to tackle the rigorous standards for this year’s grade level.
One of the most joyful yet stressful aspects of the school day can be establishing meaningful writing time for students while keeping those important standards in mind. As teachers, we know the experience of writing instruction in a classroom can take many forms and structures. More importantly, this time of day provides unique opportunities to individualize instruction and assist students in fulfilling their own goals.
While we are always ascertaining exactly how to foster students’ personal growth needs, we are also attempting to balance grade-level writing initiatives. Along with creating an environment that feels welcoming and conducive to writing, this can be quite challenging. In a nutshell, writing instruction is complex.
Now that you have acknowledged the intricacies and challenges of writing instruction, take a deep breath and take solace in one important note: students love to write! This is often the one time of day when student autonomy blossoms and creativity flourishes. Why? Because students can demonstrate their voice, defend their position, and give others insight into their beliefs and feelings.
But How Do I Meet Students’ Needs and Create a Joyful Writing Experience?
This is often the greatest challenge teachers face. Students enter classrooms with various needs, talents, and interests, and you want to hone their skills to create clear, cohesive, and succinct writing products. So where do you begin?
“[Writing time] is often the one time of day when student autonomy blossoms and creativity flourishes. Why? Because they can demonstrate their voice, defend their position, and give others insight into their beliefs and feelings.”
— Jennifer McPartland, ERB Writing Consultant
Here are some important questions to ponder regarding writing instruction:
- How do I build student independence?
- What do I want my classroom environment to look like?
- How do I convey the importance of successful written communication?
- Who can I lean on to demonstrate successful writing?
- Which resources support my planning?
Creating Joyful Writing Environments
Consider a time when you walked into a situation and immediately felt peaceful. Perhaps it was a day at the spa, a favorite bookstore, or a corner café. Regardless of the location, a sense of calm fell over you instantaneously.
This is the optimal setting for daily writing instruction. Students respond to tranquil environments where they can concentrate and where their creative juices flow. What does this look like? Having multiple writing locations for students, developing serene musical playlists, configuring a robust classroom library, and fostering student discussions of the type of environment where they feel comfortable and successful is just the starting point.
Classroom structures and routines are another important element for setting students up for success. Establishing clear routines for the day, providing tools to support growth, and developing peer-support systems fosters independence. Equally important is working alongside students to pinpoint specific daily writing goals and then communicating timelines for goals to be accomplished. All of these practices set the tone for a stress-free writing period.
Initiating writing tools helps eliminate the barriers of independent practice so students can hone their craft and refine their work. The writing notebook is a key component to understanding the writing process—especially when drafting work. Mimicking accomplished authors’ use of this tool establishes a vision for the writing process. Exemplar writing work, vocabulary and editing resources, and goal-setting tools also aid students in polishing their writing without a teacher at their side throughout the entire process.
Why Are Writing Skills Important? How Do I Convey This to Students?
A key element of any learning experience or goal-setting discussion is the WHY. When your boss asks you to complete a task, you’re not likely to do so willingly until you know why it is important for an established goal.
By fostering an understanding of why writing skills are important, a teacher sets the tone for the year. Conveying a clear message, defending one’s point of view, and presenting new ideas in a creative form are all key aspects of developing your voice as a writer. These skills, when mastered, exist long after a student’s school years. Communicating effectively for the purpose of applying for admission to schools, interacting with future employers, defending your position during a public speaking engagement, and reflecting on meaningful life experiences are critical lifelong skills.
These are only a handful of messages to convey to students to give them purpose as they begin writing.
Teaching Writing: Resources and Tools
Using Published Works for Student Inspiration
Accomplished authors can be a guiding light for young writers. Aspects of writing style as well as understanding skills for grammar, conventions, and structure can be demonstrated through analysis of various authors across every writing genre.
Picture books, newspaper and magazine articles, blog posts, letters to the editor, and informational advertisements can also serve as important resources to bring to light an author’s process and pathway to a completed writing product.
Assessment and Planning
One of the most effective ways to begin writing instruction is through assessment. Your school may participate in the Writing Assessment Program (WrAP) offered by ERB, which assesses writing principles and standards through a six-point, six-trait rubric to further understand a student’s knowledge and mastery of skills.
Upon completion of this assessment, teachers gain insight into specific areas of growth needed and can develop a plan.
ERB’s Writing Resources for Insight, Interpretation, and Teaching (WRIIT) Library is a comprehensive resource to take the guesswork out of planning. With multiple tools accessible to initiate writing experiences, teachers at ERB member schools can begin their planning process with confidence. If your school is not using WrAP, you can still access sample prompts through WRIIT to create a structured writing assessment experience.
Building Agency
Giving students agency for writing through goal-setting is an element of instruction that yields exciting results and lays the foundation for joyful writing experiences.
Through the WRIIT Library’s Learning Progressions, a student can examine exemplary writing pieces and establish goals for their own works. As writing pieces are extended and successes are realized, students are given the confidence to celebrate their accomplishments with teachers, peers, and family members.
A Successful Year Ahead
Creating meaningful and joyful writing experiences may have initially felt like an unattainable goal. But with an understanding of the structures, tools, experts, and environment needed to begin your journey, the year ahead is certain to be one of tremendous success.
Explore ERB’s suite of writing programs, including writing assessments, writing practice, and vocabulary-building tools.
About the Author
Jen McPartland is a retired Assistant Superintendent and holds degrees and certifications as a principal, director, supervisor, reading specialist, and elementary school teacher. She has spent her career coaching administrators, instructional coaches, and teachers to develop sound pedagogical approaches. She has also trained school leaders to use data to engage in powerful PLC discussions to enhance curriculum and instruction.
