CHAPTER

Supporting Students to Write

LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon completion of this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Describe modeled writing; 2. Account for shared writing; 3. Describe interactive writing; and 4. Illustrate independent writing.

SUPPORTING STUDENTS TO WRITE CHAPTER 9

INTRODUCTION
Emergent readers and writers are successful when they practice language and literacy-related skills in a playful and motivating setting (Cicalese, 2003:6). Teachers must be able to provide the best environment for cognitive, social and language development and use students writing to analyze phonemic awareness and inform instruction accordingly (ibid.). Teacher attitude toward assessing student needs and planning teacher moves influences how students respond to errors (Henry and Wiley, 1999). Analyzing literacy development and assessing performance provide the instructor with the responsibility to make decisions to meet the individual needs of the students (Cicalese, 2003:6). Teachers should rely on their observations of students to make teaching decisions and adopt the best approach that will be a powerful instructional prompt to help children understand the writing process (ibid.).

9.1

MODELED WRITING

The greatest level of support is when teachers demonstrate or model how competent writers write while students observe. Teachers usually decide what they will write and create the text themselves, although they do accept suggestions from students. Then teachers either write on the white board or use an overhead projector so that all students can see what is being written. Teachers use modeled writing to demonstrate writing workshop procedures, such as how to make small books and how to do new writing forms and formats. Often teachers talk aloud or reflect on their writing processes as they write to show students how competent writers think as they are writing and the types of decisions they make and strategies they use.

9.2

SHARED WRITING

In shared writing, the student and teacher work together to compose a text. As they write, teachers demonstrate how competent writers write while the students observe. They also teach the conventions of written language. Also, teachers write the texts on the whiteboard so that students can observe what is being written. Likewise, teacher instructs individual students to write small parts of the text to be compiled into a class book. The three purposes for shared writing are as follows:

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To demonstrate writing through thinking aloud

To generate students ideas

To create written text for students who could not write independently

One noticeable feature that differentiates shared writing from modeled writing is that the teacher writes the text input from the students. However, in modeled writing, the teacher does everything. Teachers can utilize shared writing in a variety of ways. Primary teachers often write students dictation on paintings and brainstorms lists of words on the whiteboard, while secondary students may take students dictation when they make charts, draw maps and clusters, and write class collaboration poems. The language experience approach (LEA) is one type of shared writing. It is based on students language and experiences (Ashton-Warner, 1965; Stauffer, 1970). Students dictate words and sentences about their experiences, and the teacher writes the dictation. As they write, teachers model how written language works. The text which the class develops becomes the reading material because it has been written with conventional English spelling. Since the students formulate the language and the content is based on their experiences, they are usually able to comprehend the text easily.

9.3

WHAT IS INTERACTIVE WRITING?

Interactive writing is a cooperative event in which according to Pinnel & Fountas (1998; cited in Cicalese, 2003:25) as teacher and students jointly "share the pen" to compose and write text. The purpose of interactive writing is to teach students proper writing conventions, beyond their own approximations. Not only do they share the decision about what they are going to write, they also share the duties of scribe. Students pay more attention to the writing when they are an integral part of the writing process. When the students are actively engaged in their writing, their perspectives on writing are more positive (Cicalese, 2003:9). The teacher uses the interactive writing session to model reading and writing strategies as he or she engages students in creating

SUPPORTING STUDENTS TO WRITE CHAPTER 9

text. Teachers create a text and share the pen to write the text on chart paper (Button, Johnson, & Furgeson, 1996). Interactive writing can be used to demonstrate concepts about print, develop strategies, and learn how words work. It provides students with opportunities to hear sounds in words and connect those sounds with corresponding letters. The text is composed by the group, and the teacher guides the students as they write the text word-by-word (Cicalese, 2003:6). In other words, interactive writing can be taught in a whole class or small group instruction (Patsalides, 2009). It can be used for students learning and practicing writing skills where students take turns writing known letters and familiar words, adding punctuation marks, and making spaces between words. The teacher assists students to spell the words correctly and use written language conventions so that the text can be easily read. All students participate in creating and writing the text. After writing, students read and reread the text using shared and independent reading. They are engaged in the encoding process of writing and the decoding process of reading, all within the same piece of text (ibid.). Interactive writing is a unique opportunity to help students see the relationship between reading and writing. During the interactive writing process, teachers provide instruction and assistance to students as they write. They talk about what they are going to write. The teacher serves as the facilitator of the discussionguiding, modeling, adding, summarizing, confirming, combining, and synthesizing the students ideas. As the actual writing begins, many opportunities for specific teaching are available. The goal is to get the students thoughts on paper, discussing the topic and the process of writing, dealing with the conventions of print, and working on grammar, spelling, punctuation, letter formation, phonics, and voice. It is quite similar to shared writing except that the students are doing much of the actual writing. As students become more proficient writers, lessons can focus on style and writing for different purposes. The finished writing is displayed in a way that allows for continued use as a text for shared reading or independent reading. The work is not as neat as teacher writing or commercial posters, but children are more likely to use it as a source of information because of the ownership that comes with their involvement in the writing process. The goal of interactive writing is that the skills learned will transfer to students independent writing and support the development of reading skills as well. Using the interactive writing process in the classroom will help students to advance in their own writing through the demonstration that the teacher provides, serving as the guide. There is no one right way to do interactive writing. Interactive writing involves teacher choices based on observation of student needs, and uses the grade level curriculum and district and state standards. Teachers can begin with basic procedures and use interactive writing for more advanced purposes as they become more familiar with the procedures.

See Interactive writing and interactive editing at: http://www.stanswartz.com/IAW%20excerpt.pdf

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9.3.1

PURPOSES AND VALUES OF INTERACTIVE WRITING

There are four purposes of interactive writing areas which are as follows:

To demonstrate how to write words and sentences

To teach how to use capital letters and punctuation marks

To demonstrate how to use phonics and spelling patterns to spell words

To create written texts for students who could not write independently

When students do more of interactive writing, they gain valuable experience applying the phonics skills and writing the high-frequency words they are learning. The values of interactive writing include the following: Demonstrates concepts about print, early strategies, and how words work. Provides opportunities to hear sounds in words and connect sounds with letters. Helps children understand the decoding and encoding process in reading and writing. Increases spelling knowledge.

9.3.2

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES FOR INTERACTIVE WRITING

The following lists some suggested activities for the interactive writing classroom:
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Write predictions before reading. Write responses after reading. Write letters and other messages. Make lists. Write daily news. Rewrite a familiar story. Write information of facts. Write recipes. Make charts, maps, clusters, data charts, and other diagrams. Create innovations or new versions of a familiar text. Write class poems. Write on a word wall. Make posters.

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Interactive writing includes many features of Language Experience Approach (LEA), but in interactive writing, students do much of the writing themselves.

9.4

INDEPENDENT WRITING

Students write with the teachers and their classmates help. These experiences lead to independent writing, the goal of all writing instruction. Pinnell and Fountas (1998:30) in Words Matter state:

We find that when children are given a chance to write on their own, they use the skills and strategies that they have been taught in interactive writing During independent writing, children construct words, hear and record sounds, use known words to get to words they dont know and notice parts of words. You can support childrens word solving by planning for these instructional experiences

Independent writing allows the students to work alone using their prior knowledge and experiential background to compose and construct the text (Cicalese, 2003). The student chooses his own topic and works with limited support. However, several studies indicate that independent writing experiences may also contribute to generating negative attitudes toward writing. Kear, Coffman, McKenna and Ambrosio (2000) found that there are long range effects stemming from independent journal writing trends. For example, students may have experienced lack of choice, negative feedback and tedious assignments. The six purposes for independent writing are: To provide an authentic context for writing practice. To give students opportunities to choose writing topics and forms. To gain writing fluency and stamina. As a tool for learning, such as when students write in reading logs and other types of journals. To make and publish books. To document learning in literature focus units and thematic units.

Students often write independently, whether they are writing in reading logs, making projects, or writing books during writing workshops.