Tag: Writing Instruction

Empowering Writers Through Picture Writing

Motivating students to put words on paper during writing instruction can be challenging. Teaching them prewriting skills and scaffolding the writing exercise can ease the reluctancy to write. One tool or writing method that I use on a regular basis is what I call picture reading and writing. This exercise takes some of the intrinsic and extrinsic pressure off students during the writing process. This exercise allows students to grow their confidence in their writing skills. This exercise assists students in developing the following skills: (a) synthesizing information, (b) observation, (c) listening, (d) inferencing, (e) about adjectives, (f) building and using their lexicon, (g) structured writing routine, (h) grammar usage, (i) collaboration, (j) recalling information, and (k) success in the writing process. This lesson is usually taught in a whole group setting, as this gives opportunity for modeling from students of higher writing skills. This also provides opportunity to provide a variety of scaffolds for struggling writers. This also provides opportunity for students who can orally write solid sentences to mentor and participate.

Before the lesson begins you will need to collect the following items: (a) an interesting or unusual picture about a current topic, (b) a place to write a list of words and a paragraph, (c) student journals or a piece of paper, (d) a way to project the picture, and (e) teacher and student writing utensils.

I begin with showing students an interesting picture and asking them to read the picture. What is the picture about? What can you tell is happening the picture? What might have just happened? What will happen next? Ask students to discuss what is happening or has happened or what this is a picture about. They might discuss the picture whole group or with their elbow partner.

After students have a good grasp of what the picture is about, I ask them to help create a list of adjectives that may help to describe the picture, like a brainstorm. I write their suggestions on anchor paper or the board for all students to see. This is a pre-writing skill that students may use while developing all genres of writing. All good writers take the time to “prepare” to write. Students develop/write the brainstorm in their journal. Students may copy my list and add some of their own words not mentioned yet. Students who are comfortable with the writing process will usually develop their own list. When students become perplexed with coming up with words to describe the picture, ask them questions about the picture that they may have missed. Questions like, what is happening in the background ? or why might she be smiling ? I have also added a word or two that might trigger other related words located in their personal dictionary to surface.

During the third step of picture writing, I/we discuss the features of a paragraph. I will go more in depth with my discussion each time we picture write, until they are more able to develop a paragraph on their own. A good paragraph will begin with a topic sentence. The topic sentence drives the rest of the paragraph. If students say the sky is blue, then the rest of the paragraph should be about the color of the sky. The length of the paragraph is dependent of the skill level of students present. In the primary grades I have students write a topic sentence, followed by three sentences related to the topic sentence, then a conclusion sentence. If students in the group that can handle more “middle” sentences, then I have them write more. For this exercise, I usually ask students to write descriptive sentences about the picture. In the past, I have also used this for creative writing, etc.

Step four is writing the paragraph. The first couple of times I orally demonstrate how students can use the class developed brainstorm list of words to develop a sentence. I lead them the first few times through this exercise, allowing them to take the lead as their confidence grows. Then, I usually give students a few minutes to begin composing sentences, either oral or written. After a few minutes I asked for topic sentence suggestions. Each student may compose a different paragraph or they can copy the class developed paragraph that I have written at the front of the room. I never write a paragraph, I take dictation. This allows all ability levels to participate in the writing process. During the writing phase there is opportunity to discuss punctuation, subject/verb agreement, if the sentence is related to the topic sentence, letter formation, paragraph formatting, etc. I usually use just one sentence from a student during a writing exercise. This allows for more students to participate in the class developed paragraph-sharing their voice. After we have three or four sentences, then I ask for a sentence to conclude the paragraph. You may have to make suggestions at first.

The last step is holding them accountable. I glance or read each paragraph to ensure that they have completed the task. I usually give them a star at the top of their paragraph. This task is about getting words on a paper. Most students should have at least the class developed paragraph. There might be exceptions for various reasons. Some may struggle with copying from the board. Some students may struggle with letter formation. Most students will add their own sentences, as they feel more confident in the writing process. I usually have students complete this task once a week.

I use this writing exercise for a variety of outcomes. One being just writing words and sentences on paper. The exercise helps them to build brain connections for writing words on paper. This exercise helps build brain connections for putting their thoughts on paper. This exercise helps to build brain connections for synthesizing pieces of information. The brain is a muscle that needs to be developed, strengthened, and used for writing on a regular basis. Like other muscles in the body the signals become stronger or weaker depending on the usage.

Picture writing allows all students to participate in the writing process.

 

Composing Written Words

Writing is an exercise that requires higher cognitive processing abilities. These skills take time to develop, as children need to first build the foundations or connections necessary to speak words and sentences. This skill begins to appear around age two when children are beginning to build their own oral sentences. Some children will begin earlier; some children will begin later. Student brain connections begin developing under the direction of their genetics gained at conception. They are listening and observing others to learn how different sounds convey meaning. The brain continues to build roads, highways, and by-ways according to their genetics and their environment. They will build the necessary connections to survive in their immediate environment under the direction of their genetics. This means making the connections to coordinate information between the necessary parts of the brain for speaking and writing language. This means developing connections to synthesize stored and new information. A child’s immediate environment will either increase or hinder their oral language growth. A child’s oral language ability usually dictates their reading and writing ability. There will be exceptions, like students with dyslexia.

Brain development occurs in a systematic or ordered fashion, like a flower growing from a seed. The flower grows systematically in stages. We can observe some stages of the flower’s development, while other stages are invisible or internal. Some flowers take longer to mature; other flowers are slower to mature. Writing skills are developed in a similar fashion. There are five stages that students move through while learning how to write (Voyager Sopris Learning, 2025). The first stage is pre-phonemic – scribbling/drawing, usually not legible. The second stage is early phonemic – begins to recognize and emulate letter shapes. The third stage is strings of random letters – able to write letters, writing nonsense words. The fourth stage invented/transitional spelling – encoding words, putting phonemes together based on the sounds of a word. The fifth stage is conventional writing and spelling – able to write coherent sentences and passages, often relying on their phonics knowledge. The growth is both seen and unseen.

Often student brain connections or routes have not developed enough for them to transfer their oral language to paper. Vygotsky (1934/2002) theorized that children first process and compose their verbal language aloud through others in their environment. At this stage of development individuals in the student’s environment are more likely to hear unfiltered verbiage, like he stinks or their shirt is dirty. At this stage their brain is relying on just one route of thought called interpsychological. Around ages 7-9 the student brain will begin using a second thought processing route that Vygotsky (1934/2002) referred to as intrapsychological or inner speech. Students compose their own thoughts without filtering them through their environment. They begin to individualize their thoughts relying more heavily own data bank of information instead of those in their environment. Students begin refraining from sharing their exact thoughts.

In the formal classroom, students are often shut down or not allowed to talk while independent writing is taking place. Most students in the primary grades need to express themselves orally before putting words on paper. Their brains have not moved from one processing route or verbally thinking to having two routes to process their thinking. Creating a writing environment that gives opportunity for a variety of different volume levels allows students to orally express and discuss composing their writing, and it gives an opportunity to focus on putting their oral composition onto to paper.

A student who seems to be lazy or unengaged is typically struggling to write words on paper. These students are still gaining the foundational writing skills in stages 1-3. They are building the necessary connections to write words on paper. These students are usually frustrated and feel degraded. They begin to navigate ways around the task.

If a student is struggling to verbally express a coherent sentence, then direct, explicit instruction in a small group needs to take place. You become their co-author. You become their sounding board. You become their scribe. The student should write the scribed sentence in their own handwriting. This helps students to build their handwriting connections to put words on paper. Small group instruction allows the instructor to work with students more at their zone of proximal development. When students are ready for this instruction with the assistance of someone of higher cognitive processing. They will likely be stuck for some time without your assistance. This is also a form of scaffolding.

References

Voyager Sopris Learning (2025). What are the stages of writing development? Voyager Sopris Learning. https://www.voyagersopris.com/vs/blog/stages-of-writing-development.

Vygotsky, L. (1934/2002). Thought and Language. MIT Press.

Composing Coherent Sentences

Many young writers may get “stuck” or have writer’s block when it comes to putting words on paper. Some of the block comes from their ability to organize verbal words and thoughts into coherent sentences that convey the exact meaning that they are wanting you to understand. Another block maybe that some students can verbalize a complete sentence, but struggle to write the same sentence on paper. Some student block comes from wanting the sentence to be perfect the first time, as many students do not care for the process of editing their writing. In my 20 plus years in education I have yet to met a student who didn’t want to be able write, many need to learn tools to ease the process. This can be a hard and daunting process for many students.

Syntax* is the study of sentence structure. There can be different variations of a sentence. Some sentences may have more or less words than the sentence before or after it. Words in the sentence can be shuffled around and placed in a different order. Some sentences provide more detail. Reading passages with complete sentences may help the writer to better understand how to put sentences together. Reading passages of different writing styles may also increase student writing ability. The writer may also see how word order may change the meaning of the sentence. Learning to write is similar to learning how to speak, as the writer is mimicking the writing of others.

Instruction of writing sentences should begin simple, for example a sentence must have a noun and a verb to be a complete sentence. This usually begins in Pre-K or Kindergarten. The complexity of the sentence should grow with student ability and grade level. Some students will learn through their natural environment how to increase the complexity of a sentence. Most will need to be explicitly taught appropriate grade level techniques and rules of generating a complete sentence.

There are different instructional approaches that can be used to teach students sentence structure. Some are noted below.
1. Use sentence starters. I like ____________. I can ____________.
2. Cut up a sentence into individual words and have students put them in the correct order. Or have students develop sentences using a “word bank” (like flashcards) of many individual words. Then have students write those sentences on paper or whiteboards.
3. Students write a simple sentence, like The boy ran. Then students may add different types of words or detail to make the sentence more complex and interesting, such as adding an adjective about the boy’s age or their hair color.
4. White boards. I often have students generate sentences on whiteboards, while I am modeling a sentence. This helps to keep them engaged. And I can observe student ability and comprehension of the current lesson.
5. Sentence study. Use mentor text that features the style or sentence complexity that you are encouraging students to use in their writing. Discuss the different features of the mentor text. Students can find different parts of a sentence. Students can also diagram sentences.
6. Develop a word list. This can be a simple column of words that help to describe the subject. I like to develop word webs that help to describe the topic. Students can also develop a list of nouns and verbs about the subject. Students use the word lists to generate sentences.
7. Students analyze their writing, editing. Are there capital letters at the beginning of the sentence? Does the sentence end with an appropriate punctuation? Is there a noun and a verb? Could I add a describing word, adverb or adjective? How many nouns does the sentence have? How many verbs does the sentence have?
8. Student sharing. This allows students to use their writing as a model for other students. This may also give other students incentive to begin. In addition, classmates can point out the positive points of their writing.
9. Give students a diagram or word order to use during an exercise. There are many different variations to a sentence, remember start simple then build the complexity of the sentence(s). Here are a few examples that were described by Dr. Laud (2018) in a webinar titled, Vocabulary, sentence, and micro-discourse strategies for writing! Noun + verb; noun + verb + where phrase; noun + adverb + verb + when phrase; adjective + noun + verb + where + but + noun + verb.
10. Teacher modeling, teacher modeling, teacher modeling-use all subject matters to model complete sentences.
11. During collaboration with a student about their writing, I often find a sentence that may need some more detail and ask the student to add a word(s). Not all students are ready for this type of feedback or challenge. In some cases, you may have to assist them or model how you might increase the complexity of the sentence before sending them away to work independently. Other students can also assist students or give them ideas of how they might include other details in their sentence(s) to make the sentence more interesting. This grows student writing ability
12. I often tell students that I want to feel like I am there. This helps to drive the complexity and detail of the sentence. What does it feel like? What does it smell like when I take a breath? What does it look like? What am I hearing? Have them verbal discuss the detail with you or another student. This helps them organize their thoughts and put them on paper. This can be a very hard task for writers!
Learning how to write can be hard, but teaching others how to write may be even harder.

*Pillar 5 of structured literacy instruction is syntax or the study of sentence structure. The principles that dictate the sequence and function of words in a sentence. These principles are also referred to as the mechanics, grammar, and variation of a sentence.

References
Haynes, C. and Laud, L. (2018). Vocabulary, sentence, and micro-discourse strategies for writing! International Dyslexia Association conference webinar.

Instructional Writing Strategies

 

 

Writing is hard work! What should I write? What is the topic? Who is my audience? Which words should I use? Should it be first, second, or third person? How long should it be? What is the point or goal of this writing? What is the format? How many sentences does it have to be? What is a paragraph? Students like to know what directions they should head towards and some idea of what the outcome should look like. Each writing assignment or practice may be a different form of writing that has distinct rules for format and language. Most students like their writing to be perfect the first time, as the innate sense to be the best lives within us all. All questions related to writing lend an opportunity to stretch student writing abilities.

When students are learning to write, I like to give them strategies or scaffolds to begin the process. There are many strategies that can be used to teach writing. These strategies should be adjusted as students grow in their writing abilities. Many of the introduced strategies become part of student’s natural writing process. I described several writing strategies in my last blog post. I discuss more below.

1. Read, read, and read some more. Reading different genres or formats of writing. Ideally, this strategy should begin at birth. Students gain vocabulary and background knowledge that helps them to better explain or argue a point. This also allows the reader learn or become familiar with different forms of writing. I haven’t met a student that didn’t enjoy a teacher reading a novel to them.

2. Analyze, examine, consider, and ponder “mentor” or written passages. Ask some of the following questions. What are they trying to say? Why did they use this word? What does this word mean? Does the sentence have to be written this way to provide the author’s anticipated meaning? Why did they introduce all the characters in beginning of the story? Could they have introduced them at a different part in the story? Why did the author write this particular piece of writing in this order? Would a different format of writing convey a better story or message? Can I use their format to improve my writing? If so, steal the format to improve your writing (Culham, 2014).

3. Start simple and expand. Writing begins by handwriting a letter on a paper or other item used to record written language. Stringing individual letters together makes parts of words and words that convey meaning or semantics. Words are joined together to form a sentence that conveys meaning. The “rules” of sentence formation is syntax*, like there has to be a noun and a verb in each sentence. Sentences become passages of writing to convey a larger meaning or point to a subject(s).

4. Use charts, diagrams. These are often used to teach prewriting strategies that can ease the process of learning how to write. I like to use the development of spiderweb or word-web diagrams that look different for each topic, for students beginning to learn the process of writing. You can also develop a list of words related to a topic. I usually model how to use the words of the web or list to develop sentences related to the topic. In a webinar that I just viewed about writing, Dr. Laud (2018) suggested taking the generated words and separating them into nouns and verbs to ease the process of developing sentences. The type and amount that each diagram is used will depend on the level of writing and the students being taught. Students will continue to use diagrams or charts of some sort to develop different types of writing. Most professional writers begin with some type of diagram.

5. Take time to research or better understand the focus of the writing—background knowledge. It is harder to write about something that you know very little about.

6. Ask students questions about their writing. Their answers can initiate their want to make corrections. Their answers can also become sentences in their writing.

7. Collaboration. This can be tough to implement, as most students also need “quiet time” to focus on their writing or the words will never appear on the page. I usually give students the opportunity to collaborate or discuss their writing with a neighbor to encourage the flow of ideas for five minutes or so and then silence. This can be repeated a few times as students are writing. This will depend on the group of students.

8. Time and freedom to practice. Initial drafts are often the hardest part of the writing process. I suggest for reluctant writers that the focus be on getting words on the paper. Strategy 6 may help in getting words on the paper. Then the words and mechanics of the sentence can be massage by the student to convey deeper meaning and reading fluency.

*Pillar 5 of structured literacy instruction is syntax or the study of sentence structure. The principles that dictate the sequence and function of words in a sentence. These principles are also referred to as the mechanics, grammar, and variation of a sentence.

References
Culham, R. (2014). The writing thief: using mentor texts to teach the craft of writing. Newark, DE: International Literacy Association
Haynes, C. and Laud, L. (2018). Vocabulary, sentence, and micro-discourse strategies for writing! International Dyslexia Association conference webinar.

Engaging the Learner to Write

The next few blogs will be about writing.  This first blog will resonate more with online or at-home learning, as we as nation contend with COVID-19. 

          Writing is not a natural skill; it is a learned skill.  Writing is hard work, as students are developing the brain processing connections that allow them to put coherent words on a page.  Students should write every day to develop those brain connections.  I like to disguise the practice of writing into assignments or tasks that seem relevant and fun.  I often use science as a means to get students engaged in the task of writing.  The following are ideas that can be used to get students writing every day.

  1. Read a book about an animal or other topic that they may enjoy.  When I was with a group of Grade 1 students, we had about 10 minutes of “extra time” before we needed to be at the cafeteria for lunch.  So, I took a short book about worms of the classroom library shelf, read the book to them and conducted a short whole classroom discussion about student experiences with worms.  Students then wrote a couple of sentences about their experiences with worms.  Some students had the time to begin drawing pictures to increase the comprehension of their written words.  While they were writing I was able to remind students how to form a complete sentence.   
  2. Conduct an experiment.  Write observational notes in complete sentences.  Students also like to draw pictures to enhance their written description.  I like to have students conduct experiments that may last a week or so, as this gives more opportunity to write about their observations.  Students usually love to make things in the kitchen, which can provide a natural setting for collaboration, observation of changes, and why those changes may be taking place.  Students also enjoy gardening or germinating plants.
  3. Go on a bird walk.   Students can write notes about bird habitats, the colors of the birds, the sounds they may make, etc. 
  4. Go on a hunt or walk looking for wild flowers.  Students can write descriptive sentences about the flowers.  Students can also add a sketch to increase their retention of the flower features.
  5. Take a virtual tour of a museum about a topic that is of interest to the student(s).  Students can take notes about specified information.  Students can take notes about their observations.  Observations are usually different, unique to the students and can increase student participation in classroom discussions about the tour.
  6. Go on a bug hunt. Write notes about the bugs that you see along the way. Draw sketches of the bugs.
  7.  Analyzing pictures or art.  (a) Have students analyze a picture and write complete sentences about things they noticed or questions that they have about the picture.  (b) The picture can be used as a starting point for a story related to about the picture.
  8. Write a summary of a written passage.  This past school year I was with a group of Grade 4 students that struggled with the idea of summarizing a two-page story.  So, you may have to break the passage into paragraphs and have students write a sentence about each paragraph.  Once they have a sentence of each paragraph, students can put them into a paragraph format by adding a topic sentence and conclusion sentence.  Ideally the instruction should go back to modeling how to interpret sentences within each paragraph to inform the summary sentence.  The instruction may also need to include word meanings or other background knowledge about the topic.
  9. Sharing student writing. I have not met a group of students that do not enjoy the act of sharing their masterpieces.  The act of sharing is good for student self-esteem and for modeling possible sentences and format for their peers.  Some classrooms use this time for student acclamations of correct usage of verbiage, punctuation, etc.  I would greatly discourage negative comments by the teacher or their peers. 
  10. Take notes during a video.  I usually specify the expectations of the notes, like notes must be written in complete sentences and you must have at least 10 sentences related to the video.  I usually will ask a few students to read one of their sentences at the conclusion of the video.  This can begin a video discussion and give struggling students the opportunity to write another sentence. 
  11. Keep a journal of what they are reading.  Students can write a journal entry for each time they read.  This helps the reader to better comprehend the passage read. Younger readers may need assistance in processing the read information into a summary.  This also helps them to better retain the information read.
  12. Writing in a journal.  Students could also write a journal entry about specific topic.  I used this for students in classroom that had a very diverse student ability.  At times I would have them write their interpretation of a sentence, a poem, or even just a word.  The journal itself was not graded on their mechanics or grammar, but on their ability to form complete paragraph(s).  This freed the writer to focus on just putting words/sentences on the paper.  On some days, I would have students read a sentence or paragraph aloud to the class for those students who were struggling with forming a sentence.  At times I would write a sentence or two or a whole paragraph on the board to remind, reteach students how to form a paragraph.  I like to have students help me form the sentences of the paragraph to increase the “buy in” or engagement of students.
  13. Quick write.  The student writes as much information about a specified topic as they can in a designated timeframe, usually 5 minutes.  This may not be an exercise for all students, as some may shut down the process of writing altogether.  I encourage using incentives or individual goals to increase the buy-in of this exercise.   Again, the goal is put as many words on the page about the subject in complete sentences, not about mechanical or grammar.

Happy Writing!

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