Teaching Children to Write Well, with Joan Sedita, M.Ed.

Main ideas and lessons conveyed

• Teaching writing is essential and difficult—but improves with explicit, evidence-based instruction.

  • Writing proficiency is closely tied to learning (like reading), and many students struggle beginning in elementary grades (e.g., difficulty organizing writing or writing solid sentences).
  • Because students need writing opportunities across the school day and all subjects, all teachers share responsibility for building writing skills.

• Use the “Writing Rope” framework (five integrated strands).

  • Writing proficiency requires multiple skills woven together (not taught in isolation).
  • Metaphor: like learning soccer—students must learn individual skills (dribbling/passing/etc.) and then integrate them to “play the game.”

The Writing Rope: five major components (strands)

1. Transcription (getting words down)

Skills:

• Spelling
• Handwriting or keyboarding

Key point:

• Students must become automatic/fluent with transcription; otherwise, it distracts from the composing part of writing.

2. Writing Craft (writer’s decisions to make writing effective)

Core elements:

• Vocabulary / word choice
  • Vocabulary supports both comprehension (reading) and composition (writing).
• Task, audience, and purpose
  • Proficient writers adjust structure, tone, etc. based on who they’re writing for and why.
  • Students often write the same way regardless of audience unless explicitly taught.
  • Authentic audience increases engagement (contrasted with generic teacher prompts).
• Writer’s moves
  • Purposeful strategies to shape tone, voice, word choice, and organization.

Examples of craft elements:

• Personal style/emotion (“writing from the heart” through descriptive language and dialogue)
• Precise words and descriptive/colorful language
• Literary devices, including:
  • Dialogue (including young students using “word bubbles”)
  • More advanced devices (e.g., flashback, hyperbole, illusion)
  • Figurative language appropriate for elementary levels
    • e.g., “the lawnmower sounded like a buzzing bee”

Teaching technique:

• Mentor models
  • Show students examples from published texts
  • Analyze with students, then students imitate/apply in their own writing

3. Text Structure (how different kinds of writing are built)

Main point:

• Students often can’t write like finished models; teachers should frame writing as building step-by-step.

Three primary text types and their structures:

1. Narrative

   • Tells a story (real or imagined)
   • Organized as an order of events (e.g., before/during/after)
   • Includes literary elements: setting, characters, problem/solution

2. Informational

   • Shares/examines information
   • Organized by topics and subtopics
   • Often structured like chapters → sections → subsections
   • Headings are crucial

3. Opinion/Argument (simplified for younger students)

   • For younger learners (through about grade 5), focus on:
     • Claim/position
     • Reasons
     • Evidence supporting reasons
   • More advanced argument may include:
     • Counterclaim and rebuttal

Paragraphs as a special structural concept:

• Paragraphs are a text structure not found in spoken language
• Students may not understand where to “pause” or how paragraphs reflect main idea + supporting details
• Instruction should help students:
  • Identify a paragraph’s main idea (gist) and supporting details
  • Use this understanding for both reading comprehension and note-taking

Paragraph instruction specifics:

• Topic sentence
  • A strong writer signals the paragraph’s main idea at the start.

Patterns of organization (five major ones) + typical transitions:

1. Description/Explanation

   • Purpose: state a main idea and explain/describe it
   • Transitions: also, in addition, another…

2. Sequence/Chronology

   • Present events in order
   • Transitions: first, next, third, last, finally…

3. Cause and Effect

   • Something happens → causes something else
   • (Often signaled by connector words like “so”)

4. Comparing and Contrasting

   • Show similarities and differences
   • Transitions: similarly, on the other hand, in contrast…

5. Problem and Solution

   • Something goes wrong → how to fix it
   • Often overlaps with narrative (problem-solving plot)

Classroom supports:

• Bulletin boards, graphic organizers, anchor charts listing the five patterns and connected transitions

4. Transitions (linking ideas for coherence)

Definition:

• Transition words/phrases (“linking words”) help writing flow and improve comprehension.

Instructional emphasis:

• Some students naturally use transitions; others need explicit teaching.
• Transitions are often added in revision, not just drafting.

Reading comprehension purpose:

• Transitions act like signals that help readers anticipate shifts
  • e.g., “about to change directions”

Writing purpose:

• Students should pause after a sentence/couple sentences or after paragraphs to insert transitions that:
  • Connect ideas, or
  • Signal the pattern of organization

Scaffolds/tools for students:

• Categorized lists of transition words by organization pattern
• Posters, student lists/notebooks to reference while writing

5. Syntax (sentence structure and composing longer sentences)

Definition:

• Syntax = how words/phrases/clauses are arranged to form sentences.

Syntactic awareness:

• Recognizing when sentence parts are out of order or don’t follow sentence rules.

Development:

• Builds early through listening, read-alouds, and noticing sentence cadence.

Teaching sentence structure:

• Ensure students know what a complete sentence includes:
  • a who (subject) + does what (action/predicate)
• Progress from short sentences to longer, complex sentences:
  • Combine independent + dependent clauses
  • Add phrases

Sentence elaboration strategies:

• Use the “W words” scaffold: who, what, when, where, why, how
  • When students get a basic sentence, ask one or two W questions to add detail.
  • Example: expand “The pilgrims arrived” by adding where/when/why.
• Sentence expansion lesson example (younger learners):
  • Start with simple sentences lacking details
  • Model adding details using because (to answer why)
  • Students practice with turn-and-talk and guided elaboration
• Upper-level extension example:
  • Students gradually expand a sentence by answering structured questions (e.g., about the U.S. Constitution)

Sentence combining (explicitly supported by research):

• Give students two or more short sentences and ask them to combine.
• Benefits:
  • Practice manipulating/rearranging words
  • Build syntactic awareness and grammar understanding
  • More effective than traditional “labeling parts of speech” because it’s tied to writing
• Practical approach:
  • Can be done across subjects as “bell work”
  • Short frequent bursts (e.g., twice a week) outperform occasional long sessions
• Example combining:
  • Join meaning using connectors (e.g., “so,” conjunctions) and integrate major ideas in the final sentence

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Critical thinking strand: the writing process (think → plan → write → revise)

Four stages of writing (memory framework: think, plan, write, revise)

1. Think

   • Identify audience and purpose
   • Brainstorm topic
     • If creating a story: characters, setting, events
   • Gather information from sources when writing to learn/reading responses
   • Take notes to support later writing

2. Plan

   • Decide organization/structure and order of information
   • Use a planning tool: graphic organizers, outlines, or other planning guides
   • Decide:
     • introduction content
     • conclusion/closure
     • body organization by text type:
       • informational: topics/subtopics
       • narrative: beginning/middle/end, sequence of events
       • opinion/argument: claim → reasons → evidence (and possibly counterclaim/rebuttal)

3. Write

   • Turn planned ideas into sentences and organize into paragraphs
   • Apply skills from other strands: sentence writing, paragraph structure, transitions

4. Revise

   • Revise on two levels:
     1. Content revision - Did they include what they wanted? - Is it organized well?
     2. Proofreading/mechanics - spelling, punctuation, capitalization

Additional revision guidance:

• Students often skip early stages (think/plan); instruction should emphasize that planning improves draft quality.
• Teachers should grade not only the final product but also prewriting/planning tools (outlines, notes, planning guides).

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Evidence-based writing-to-read / writing-to-learn (how writing supports comprehension and thinking)

• A research guide (Graham & Hebert, 2010) recommends writing activities that strengthen comprehension and learning, especially:
  1. Writing responses to text
     • personal reactions (e.g., how story events made them feel)
     • more analytical tasks (e.g., interpret/compare texts)
  2. Writing summaries
     • supports comprehension and long-term improvements in writing
  3. Writing notes
     • helps unpack understanding, then store in long-term memory
  4. Generating questions in writing
     • students create questions about what they read (not just answer teacher questions)

Why it works:

• Writing = thinking
• Helps organize learning, clarify it, connect it to previous learning, and build coherence

Quick writes:

• Short (less than ~5–10 minutes) tasks across subjects
• Done frequently (1–2 per week per major subject) to build regular writing and processing
• Examples: sentence completion, labeling in drawings, short responses

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Key takeaways (explicit instruction and equity in skill-building)

• Writing matters for communication and success in school/work/everyday life.
• Students can learn to write with the right instruction, even if writing is challenging for them (and for adults).
• Writing instruction must address multiple components (the whole writing rope), but students must ultimately integrate them.
• All teachers play a role; writing cannot be left only to one ELA class/period because too many students remain below proficiency.
• Explicit, systematic instruction is essential:
  • Gradual release of responsibility (teacher introduces + explains + models/think-aloud + guided practice + independent application)
• Avoid assumptions:
  • Teachers should not presume older students have foundational skills (spelling, sentence writing, etc.).
  • Instruction/intervention should be tailored to each student’s strengths and weaknesses across all strands.

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Speakers / sources featured

• Joan Sedita, M.Ed. (primary presenter/speaker)
• Maria Bailey (credited as a literacy support teacher featured in a classroom example)
• Heather Adams (teacher featured in a classroom example with third graders)
• Graham and Hebert (2010) (authors of the “Writing to Read” research guide)
• Reading Universe (organization context; sponsor/service)
• Jim and Donna Barksdale (supporters)
• Hastings Quillin Fund (supporter)
• Silicon Valley Community Foundation (supporter)
• AFT (supporter)
• Emily Hall Tmain Foundation (supporter)
• Anonymous donors (supporters)
• Weta Washington DC, Barksdale Reading Institute, First Book (service/production affiliations mentioned)