How to Teach Writing, According to Research
Best Practices for K-12 Writing Instruction
Learning to write is an empowering gift for any learner. The ability to persuade, to communicate their ideas to others, and to apply their knowledge from various subjects is an invaluable skill both in and out of the classroom. Time spent writing collaboratively and engaging in peer reviews can also be a powerful outlet to build community, foster empathy, and promote self-expression.
But of course, there are only so many hours in a school day and endless competing priorities. Educators need writing practices that work and that make every instructional moment count. Fortunately, existing research has identified several practices to provide your students with the skills they need to become expressive, persuasive, and confident writers! We’ve gathered a few of the most critical practices below, ranging from early learners to high school, to inspire your lesson planning:
Write every day
This practice, along with a few others in this list, is recommended by the What Works Clearinghouse in their Educator’s Practice Guide, Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers. We encourage you to dive into this seminal resource if you haven’t already. It’s intuitive, of course, that to become proficient writers, students need to practice writing. But research shows that classroom time dedicated to writing is often limited, particularly in early grades.
The researchers behind the What Works Clearing House guide recommend thirty minutes to an hour of writing instruction per day in elementary school. They clarify that the designated time alone isn’t sufficient — that time needs to be spent explicitly teaching writing strategies, techniques, and skills, followed by an opportunity for students to apply what they learned in their writing. Writing time can also be embedded or integrated into other instructional areas, such as science, to maximize limited instructional time (Graham, et al., 2012).
Form a community of writers
Creating a classroom environment where students are acknowledged, encouraged, and inspired can have a considerable impact on young writers. In writing communities, teachers write alongside their students and conference with them regularly. They demonstrate the value of writing and elevate student voice and choice. When provided the opportunity to learn and practice collaboratively, the tools to provide and receive productive feedback with peers, and the creative space to make choices about their writing, writing communities have the potential to boost student engagement and motivation (Graham et al., 2012). Studies have even shown that collaborative writing opportunities boost autonomous motivation — in other words, writing for pleasure (de Smedt et al., 2019)!
Provide explicit writing instruction
Researchers recommend that instruction follow a gradual release of responsibility model, where teachers provide explicit instruction, model strategies, then guide students to practice applying those strategies first collaboratively and ultimately independently (Graham, et al., 2012).
Model writing
The research is also clear that the best writing teachers are writers themselves! Modeling the writing process — and, importantly, the vulnerability that accompanies writing — is critical. Teachers should share their writing with students, including modeling revisions and edits, to demonstrate the perseverance required to complete a piece of writing, and the satisfaction gained from becoming a writer (Graham et al., 2012).
In this blog post, history teacher David Cutler assigned his students a short answer question about their summer reading. But first, he spent twenty minutes writing (and revising) his answer while his work was projected on the screen. Of course, that exercise demanded a great deal of vulnerability and transparency from Mr. Cutler — but that’s exactly what makes it powerful for students. By watching their teachers model the writing process, students learn how to plan, organize, and revise their own writing.
Teach foundational skills
Much like reading, students need to master fundamental skills to become fluent writers. Sentence construction, spelling, handwriting, and typing are essential skills that enable students to communicate their thoughts and ideas (Graham et al., 2012; Graham et al., 2015). Students need explicit instruction in these foundational skills. As learners develop a degree of automaticity, they can devote their writing focus to conveying their ideas. From holding a pencil and writing letters in early grades, to properly constructing sentences and writing a clear, meaningful paragraph, the research is clear that we cannot expect students to simply “pick up” foundational skills. Time must be devoted to explicit instruction.
Teach the writing process
Writing can be overwhelming for learners, because — as most writers know — it’s often messy! Students need strategies to help them navigate the creative, iterative, and fluid process of composition. Research indicates that students benefit from explicit instruction in the writing process (planning, drafting, sharing, revising, editing, etc.) and practice using strategies for each component of the writing process, such as setting writing goals and using graphic organizers. This instruction should begin in early grades, as even first graders can take on simple planning and revising tasks.
Teach how to write for a variety of audiences and purposes
Not every piece of writing serves the same purpose, and to achieve varying purposes for writing requires different writing techniques. Students need opportunities to analyze narrative, informational, and argumentative writing models, identifying the form and features of each genre. In studying how the purpose of writing influences the form, they can practice writing in the genre. They should be able to apply that knowledge by selecting a genre for a writing task that best suits their objective. Practice writing in different genres should include a combination of explicit instruction and opportunities to write for authentic audiences (besides the teacher!) and authentic writing tasks (Graham et al., 2012;Purcell-Gates et al., 2007).
In elementary school, authentic writing tasks might include journaling, letters to friends, or, as suggested in this fun list from Reading Rockets, restaurant reviews.
For middle and high school, Language Arts Teacher Samantha Shane suggests blogs, community newsletters, or public contests in her article for Edutopia. Educator and guest blogger Shelby Denhof even held an event at her local coffee shop for her students to read their work aloud to a live audience.
The possibilities are endless!
Use assessment to inform and differentiate instruction
Finally, differentiation is key in writing instruction. Researchers recommend using formative assessment to understand students’ skills and needs, make decisions about instruction, and provide feedback to learners (Graham et al, 2016). The data gleaned from formative assessments can support a variety of important differentiation strategies — from small group instruction to conversations in student-teacher conferences. Additionally, as with all instruction, students’ learning differences, backgrounds, and other contextual factors influence their needs as growing writers, making personalization critical.
This list is of course not comprehensive, and ongoing research continues to provide valuable insights into effective practices. For stories directly from writing teachers, check out:
For free writing activities to use in the classroom, visit:
References
de Smedt, F., Graham, S. & Van Keer, H. (2019) The bright and dark side of writing motivation: Effects of explicit instruction and peer assistance. The Journal of Educational Research, 112(2), 152–167, DOI: 10.1080/00220671.2018.1461598
Graham, S., Bollinger, A., Booth Olson, C., D’Aoust, C., MacArthur, C., McCutchen, D., & Olinghouse, N (2012). Teaching elementary school students to be effective writers: A practice guide (NCEE 2012- 4058). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/ wwc/publications_reviews.aspx#pubsearch.
Graham, S., Bruch, J., Fitzgerald, J., Friedrich, L., Furgeson, J., Greene, K., Kim, J., Lyskawa, J., Olson, C.B., & Smither Wulsin, C. (2016). Teaching secondary students to write effectively (NCEE 2017–4002). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from the NCEE website: http://whatworks.ed.gov.
Graham, S., Harris, K. R., & Santangelo, T. (2015). Research-Based Writing Practices and the Common
Core: Meta-analysis and Meta-synthesis. The Elementary School Journal, 115(4), 498–522.
Purcell-Gates, V., Duke, N. K., & Martineau, J. A. (2007). Learning to read and write genre-specific experience and explicit teaching. Reading Research Quarterly, 42(4), 8–45.
