Importance of Writing
Why is writing important? Students who are frequently expected to write increase their learning and achievement significantly. When students are asked to communicate their thinking through a cohesive writing product, it requires them to revisit their notes, synthesize information, organize their thoughts, and make their ideas clear to others. It is nearly impossible to write about something and think about something else. Writing deepens students’ understanding of the content, promotes deeper comprehension, and supports retention.
As a literacy coach, I typically get asked by 4th and 5th-grade teachers how to teach students to summarize. When this happens, I refer teachers to the ELA Standard 2 spiral progression. We discuss the verbs used in grades K-3 and the student’s ability to retell and recount. Our discussion concludes that retelling and recounting…
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Why is RAFT writing one of the most effective writing strategies, particularly across all content areas and subjects? Before we share how it enables fluency and purpose, incorporates the elements of effective writing, provides students with a choice that is on grade level, and engages students to explain what they know and elaborate, let’s first…
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The topic of Mindset, either growth or fixed, is one of the most discussed topics in classrooms, PLCs, and meetings over the last few years. The phrase “I can’t yet” is synonymous with our goal to improve students’ outlook of themselves and their learning. Before we go any further, I believe that conversations on and…
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Cracking the Writing Development Code: Teaching Writing to Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd Grade Students
Early literacy starts when students begin to scribble lines and shapes on their paper. This early form of writing is based on a student’s personal code, or their ideas about how to represent their ideas. To encourage a love for writing in young learners, we move through the following writing development phases: We begin with…
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Why is writing such an important part of instruction? The Common Core Standards set the expectation that students will be adequately prepared for a 21st century economy and the demands of college and careers. In regards to writing, standards require students to “produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are…
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How can students write to learn? As students learn new knowledge and skills, and then complete tasks to show mastery, they do two types of writing: writing to learn (during the lesson) and writing to inform (after the lesson, in the assignment). Robert Marzano wrote an interesting article in the February issue of Educational Leadership…
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How is writing used in your school to raise achievement? How do you continue to show growth with your state assessments? We asked teachers in our turnaround schools that very thing, and we were not at all surprised to hear that the number one thing they all did was to go from only having students…
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