Don Graves died Tuesday, September 28, 2010. In the early 1980s, Don blew open the door to teaching children to write. His qualitative research and subsequent 26 books transformed the teaching of writing in elementary schools. He showed how much could be learned by the simple, powerful strategy of sitting beside children and asking them about…

Donald Graves's early professional books inspired Koshewa to look more deeply into student writing during the 1980s, and to value all phases of the writing process. Graves's perspective on uncovering and celebrating voice elevated Koshewa's writing instruction to a new plane. In this article, he writes about the impact that Donald Graves's work…

Standards can aid educators as they work to produce strong student writers who can create meaningful and skillfully crafted authentic pieces of writing. This once-a-month, yearlong professional development program, conducted during the school day, shifted a district's kindergarten writing program to a writing workshop model that enabled the…

Describes the use of think-aloud protocols to reflect writing processes and to examine the dynamics of group writing conferences in a writing group consisting of five undergraduate, preservice elementary teachers and their professor. (SR)

Profiles two children's authors, Marion Dane Bauer and Katherine Paterson, examining the social interactions that have influenced their writing. Looks at the social context of their lives as influences on their writing, including family, friends and acquaintances, literature, research for a novel, editors, the marketplace, and readers. Suggests…

Discusses the collaboration of two first grade girls as they wrote three stories on a newly installed classroom computer. Finds that children bring a great deal of knowledge about the processes and conventions of writing and story construction into their composition. Notes that a single microcomputer can be put to valuable use without complicated…

Looks at the importance of valuing children's play for its contributions to writing skills. Shares the insights a teacher derives from observing children in situations where they seem to be "only playing." Reminds readers of the crucial connection between assessment and teaching that should be maintained. (MG)

Third grade students were asked to create symbolic representations of themselves as readers and writers using the engagement of sketch to stretch.

This fourth article in a series on the writing process describes one child's writing process and draws implications for teaching first grade writing. (DD)

Describes an award-winning program that integrates art throughout every stage of the writing process. Suggests that the program provides an alternative pathway into writing for children with diverse learning styles. Discusses research supporting the effectiveness of the program. (RS)

Describes how students parallel the process of author Megan McDonald in conducting research and collecting information to provide ideas for the form and content of their writing. Notes that guiding students to record and organize information in a graphic format helps them to transfer those interesting details to new types of writing. (SG)

Discusses how a professional writer and teacher of writing helps children write better by incorporating specific images taken from their "screens"--the places where they see things in their heads. Presents numerous examples of students' poems. Notes the "screens" can also be used in writing stories or essays. (RS)

Describes a language arts program in a Brooklyn, New York, public school in which children are questioned about their writing and their interests and allowed the freedom to put any interest on paper. Discusses the problems children encounter with such writing freedom, as well as the program's effectiveness. (HTH)

Describes a writing course developed at Rutgers University (New Jersey) for increasing enrollment of elementary school teachers. Participants spend the bulk of their time in each course writing, discussing the writing in small groups and the processes and problems of the writing. (HTH)

Describes an informal classroom study in which students tape recorded their thoughts as they read, wrote, and "conferenced" with classmates, and how they discovered the organizational benefits of using the recorder. Also describes the writing conferences and workshops that took place in the classroom. (HTH)