In elementary schools, writing instruction often includes a heavy emphasis on penmanship, cleanliness, and mechanics. While the importance of crafting a story and creating meaning are taught, these elements may not be stressed enough to young budding writers. In this article, Auguste suggests that elementary school teachers--especially…

Teacher Geneviève DeBose Akinnagbe discusses her school's--and her own--improvement in the area of writing instruction. While she is a strong believer in teacher-led change, she says the change in this case was mainly the result of the school's becoming more intentional, at an organizational level, about the teaching of writing. The progress truly…

In Prince George's County Public Schools in Maryland, the Our Lives, Our Words program puts digital cameras in the hands of elementary-aged English language learners. Teachers plan lessons that allow students to use photography as way to support and extend their writing.

The acknowledged expert on the 6+1 traits of writing explains what the traits are and what they are not: The traits are not a curriculum; they are part and parcel of the writing process; they are a model, not a program; they are not a prepackaged replacement for teaching writing; and they are the language of the writing workshop. The author…

Encouraging young children to think themselves as writers helps them to achieve more in their life than one have ever imagined. When young students are given an open-ended ongoing invitation to write books, they build identities as writers around their daily work of composing texts and they also gain a sense of ownership and control over literacy.

When literacy specialist Jennifer Allen agreed to meet weekly with five boys who wanted to share their out-of-school writing with her, the weekly all-boys lunch-time writing group was born at Albert S. Hall elementary school in Waterville, Maine. She had intended to run the group as a writers' workshop and teach mini-lessons. But from the…