Shared Writing and Authentic Experiences

Another great essay from Choice Literacy.  It is an excerpt from Rethinking Intervention- Supporting Struggling Readers and Writers in Grades 3-6 Classrooms by Shari Frost.  This essay describes a 4th grade teacher's work with her class using shared writing.  They create a letter to the school board about the recent decision to ban Halloween parties.  This essay also explains how to do a shared writing and the benefit it has for all students, especially struggling writers and the power of authentic writing experiences.

Using Shared Writing to Build Argument Skills

Shari Frost

• Pr

Belinda was feeling rather discouraged. She had just finished reading drafts of her students’ argumentative writing. After several minilessons and conferences, most of her fourth graders were still not supporting their position statements, especially the struggling learners. Perhaps the problem was the topics. Only a few of the students had generated their own topics. The rest had relied on the cliché topics that Belinda had provided as examples, such as school uniforms, no homework, and later bedtimes -- nothing that they were strongly passionate about. Feeling resigned, Belinda planned the minilesson for tomorrow’s writing workshop based on what she had noticed in the latest drafts. Click to Read More