9.1W Ability to support and reinforce the instruction of students in writing following written and oral lesson plans developed by licensed teachers.
9.2W Ability to utilize effective developmental, age-appropriate, and culturally sensitive instructional strategies in writing that supports the instruction of licensed teachers.

Introduction to Instructional Writing Skills

When you think about teaching children to write, what do you think of? Book reports? Autobiographies? Research papers? All these are aspects of the writing curriculum, but there is so much more that goes into being a good writer that is less obvious than these specific genres.

As adults, we write for many different reasons. We leave notes on the table so that our families will know where we are. We fill out job applications and send résumés. There are memos, e-mails, thank-you cards, and garage sale signs to be written. Most of these skills were not practiced in school. However, our understanding of what it means to write in a variety of genres, for an intended audience, and with a specific purpose allows us to adapt and expand our writing knowledge to new situations and opportunities.

In this unit, you will learn about scope and sequence of writing skills in the K-12 curriculum to get a better understanding of the skills students bring to the classroom with and what they will need to be equipped. You will also be familiarized with a few of the more common practices in writing instruction, including the writing process and free-writing. Finally, you will explore methods and strategies for helping students improve their writing through a better understanding of the editing and revising process.

Basic Principles of the Instruction of Writing

Children come to school eager to write. Young children, especially, are thrilled to communicate in a new way. A good writing curriculum builds on this excitement —offering meaningful ways for children to communicate through writing while also equipping them with the good habits of the writing process.

Much like learning to read, learning to write is a gradual process, beginning with characteristics of emergent writers in the kindergarten years and graduating high school with the ability to write in a multiple of genres, for an intended audience, with complex grammar conventions, and with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion.

This unit will introduce you to the scope and sequence of the writing curriculum from preschool through high school. In this section, you will also be introduced to some of the more common instructional strategies in writing, specifically the process approach and journal writing.

Objectives

As you read the objectives for this unit, think about and rate your current knowledge using the following scale.

1. I do not understand this.
2. I do understand this.
3. I understand this well enough to use in my work.
4. I could teach others about it and use it in my work.

Upon completion of this unit you will:

• gain an understanding of the components of the writing curriculum from kindergarten through grade 12;
• learn the five steps of the writing process and strategies that support students in their formal writing;
• learn the difference between formal and informal styles of writing, with examples and strategies that support each style;
• Learn how psychological development influences pedagogy in reading education
• understand the relationship between early reading and writing experiences and strategies that support emergent writers;
• learn strategies that help students to become more skilled researchers and self-learners;
• learn about the process of editing and revising and practice strategies for helping students edit and revise their work; and
• have an opportunity to reflect on the content of the unit and apply strategies learned to your own school environment.

The Para eLink is sponsored by the Minnesota Paraprofessional Consortium, in collaboration with the Minnesota Department of Education, located at the Institute on Community Integration in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota.

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