SUPPORT FOR

READING ABILITY
THROUGH
WRITING
INSTRUCTION

Erin Lawson
Department of Education & Counseling, Longwood University
READ 650 Evaluation of Literacy Research
Dr. Angelica D. Blanchette
 Agenda

1 2 3 4 5
Writing
How are strategies and
Difficulties Sample Additional
reading and recommend-
with writing Interactive writing
writing ations proven
instruction Writing lesson resources
related? to be
successful
1

HOW ARE READING

AND WRITING
RELATED?
 Shared Skills of Reading & Writing
Phonological
processes

Orthographic Morphological
processes processes

Reading
&
Writing
Background
Syntactical-
knowledge &
grammatical
working
knowledge
memory

Executive
functions
Scarborough’s reading rope (2001, p.98)
Sedita’s writing rope (2019)
Scarborough’s
reading rope
(2001, p.98)
Sedita’s writing
rope (2019)
Why does this matter?
37% of 4th grade students
perform at a level below
basic in reading.(NAEP, 2022)

Weakness in one area of the reading rope or writing rope (shared

foundational literacy skills are found in both) would result in overall
weakness or failure in reading comprehension or written expression.
(Childress, 2011; Kilpatrick, 2015)

Writing is very much neglected in

the classroom; there is a disconnect
between research and practice.
2

DIFFICULTIES
WITH WRITING
INSTRUCTION
STOP AND THINK…
In your experience, how
much time do you or
have you spent on
writing instruction per
day in your classroom?
 What the Research Says
How much time How much time
should be is actually
spent on writing being spent on
instruction writing
instruction
Kindergarten:
at least 15-20 minutes
30 minutes/day across all grade
levels
1st grade & up:
at least
1 hour/day
(Graham, 2018; Institute of Educational Sciences, 2012) (Cutler & Graham, 2008)
STOP AND THINK…
How comfortable do you feel
teaching writing? How much
training do you remember
having in college specifically
in writing instruction? What
about PD opportunities?
What the Research Says
Many teachers report
feeling unprepared by their
teacher prep programs in
college to effectively teach
writing
(Cutler & Graham, 2008)
39% of educators would
like more PD on writing
instruction
This was among the
top 3 topics in which
teachers were
seeking more
guidance
(International Literacy Association, 2020)
3

WRITING
STRATEGIES AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
PROVEN TO BE
SUCCESSFUL
Writing Strategies Proven to be Successful
Increased
time spent
writing

Interactive Writing about

Writing a text

Writing
Workshop
 Writing & writing instruction
should not substitute reading
For most students, at least an
instruction, but increased
hour a day should be
time spent writing makes a
dedicated to writing
“notable positive impact” on
reading
Increased Time
Spent Writing

(Graham & Hebert, 2011; Gillespie et al., 2012; Graham, 2018)

 When students write about
a text they’ve read, it
Writing about a connected Reading what has been
improves comprehension
text is part of the IW written is an important
and allows for deeper
strategy part of the WW strategy
understanding of the
material

Writing About a
Text
(Graham & Hebert, 2011; Graham, 2018)
STOP AND THINK…

Brainstorm some ways you

can add more time spent
writing into your classroom,
and how you can include
writing about a text.
 Daily mini writing lessons
Writing Successful in Kindergarten

Workshop
classrooms; made positive impacts
on student reading performance
Independent student writing time
with support

Components include:

Individual conferencing with

teacher

Sharing the written text with peers

and the teacher

(Jones & Reutzel, 2015)

 Interactive Heavy emphasis on
phoneme-grapheme Shared reading of a text
Writing relationships

Shared pen to write about

Components include:
the text

Scaffold to individual
writing

(Craig, 2006; Jones & Reutzel, 2015)

4

SAMPLE
INTERACTIVE
WRITING LESSON
Materials
Shared reading
Shared Pen
Independent Practice
Closure
5

ADDITIONAL
WRITING
RESOURCES
 Want to add more writing
to your science, social
studies, or math
classroom? Check out
IW Lesson Plan IW Lesson Plan
these simple resources:
Example Template

Examples

Templates

(Lisa Meyers, 2023)

References
Childress, A. (2011). Understanding writing problems in young children: Contributions of cognitive skills to
the development of written expression (950538639) [Doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill]. WorldCat.
Craig, S. A. (2006). The effects of an adapted interactive writing intervention on kindergarten children’s
phonological awareness, spelling, and early reading development: A contextualized approach to instruction.
Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 714–731. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.98.4.714
Cutler, L. & Graham, S. (2008). Primary grade writing instruction: A national survey. Journal of Educational
Psychology, 100(4), 907-919. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0012656
Gillespie, A., Graham, S., & McKeown, D. (2012). Writing: Importance, development, and instruction. Reading
and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 26(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-012-9395-2
Graham, S. (2018). Q&A with Dr. Steve Graham. Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/article/qa-
dr-steve-graham
References
Graham, S. & Hebert, M. (2011). Writing to read: A meta-analysis of the impact of writing and writing instruction
on reading. Harvard Educational Review, 81(4), 710-744.
https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.81.4.t2k0m13756113566
Institute of Educational Sciences. (2012). Teaching elementary school students to be effective writers. U.S.
Department of Education.
https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/WWC_Elem_Writing_PG_Dec182018.pdf
International Literacy Association. (2020). Top takeaways from the 2020 what’s hot in literacy report.
Literacy Worldwide. https://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/defaultsource/resource-
documents/whatshottoptakeaways_2020_final.pdf
Jones, C. D. & Reutzel, R. (2015). Write to read: Investigating the reading-writing relationship of code-level early
literacy skills. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 31(4), 297-315. https://doi.org/10.1080/10573569.2013.8504
Kilpatrick, D. (2015). Essentials of assessing, preventing, and overcoming reading difficulties. New Jersey:
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
References
Meyers, L. (2023). Writing is thinking.
National Assessment of Educational Progress. (2022). The nation’s report card. The Institute of
Educational Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.
https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/mathematics/supportive_files/2022_rm_infographic.pdf
Scarborough, H.S. (2001). Connecting early language and literacy to later reading (dis)abilities:
Evidence, theory, and practice. In D.K. Dickenson & S.B. Neuman (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy
research, (pp. 95-156). Guilford Publications.
Sedita, J. (2019). The writing rope: The strands that are woven into skilled writing. Keys to Literacy.
https://keystoliteracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Article-The-StrandsThat-Are-Woven-Into-
Skilled-Writing.pdf