Teachers of young writers often feel pressure to focus on narrow, tested conventions, forms and processes of writing. These pressures can contribute to instruction that does not consider students' interests, experiences, language or cultures, but rather can further deficit views of students whose backgrounds do not closely align with those making…

Third- to fifth-grade teachers are struggling to teach writing, and research had not addressed how their training to teach writing or their confidence in their ability to use effective strategies to teach writing influences their teaching. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore third- to fifth-grade teachers' training in…

While scholars across a range of disciplines challenge the idea that bi/multilinguals have separate linguistic repertoires, monolingual expectations are common in bilingual education. Using elements of case study design and discourse analysis, I explore translanguaging as both a dynamic linguistic practice and a linguistically sustaining pedagogy…

National standardized test scores indicate West Virginia students perform below the national average in writing achievement, yet little research has been conducted to investigate how writing is being taught. Gaining understanding of the instructional strategies West Virginia teachers use to teach writing may provide insight for educational leaders…

This study explored the conceptual and practical tools 4th grade teachers use to teach writing in an online classroom. Considering the importance of writing proficiency, the continuous growth in online teaching, and the lack of research in the teaching of elementary writing in an online classroom, this study was both timely and necessary.…

Writing teachers play an extraordinarily important role in their students' writing development. Teachers' motivational beliefs, such as attitudes toward writing, perceptions of their efficacy to teach writing, or preparation to use evidence-based instructional practices, impact their writing instruction, which directly affects the advancement of…

This article, based on a 2-year study of working strategically with Years 5 to 8 priority learners, concludes that what is effective writing instruction for all students is particularly effective for priority learners. It also suggests, however, that knowing your students well and making adaptations to some dimensions of effective writing…

Over the last decade, most states have adopted new college- and career-readiness standards in math and English language arts (ELA), standards that call for the mastery of ambitious content and raise expectations for student success and classroom instruction. To support teachers in the implementation of these new, challenging standards, the Center…

Many students struggle with writing; however, curriculum-based measures (CBM) of writing often use assessment criteria that focus primarily on mechanics. When academic development is assessed in this way, more complex aspects of a student's writing, such as the expression and development of ideas, may be neglected. The current study was a…

The Common Core State Standards emphasize students writing analytically in response to texts. Questions remain about the nature of instruction that develops students' text-based writing skills. In the present study, we examined the role that writing task quality plays in students' mastery of analytic text-based writing. Text-based writing tasks…

This study documented the writing practices of students in a Mexican elementary school and identified participants' attitudes toward different forms of writing. Data included observations in two classrooms as well as interviews with six case-study children and their parents. Results revealed copious writing in the school including dictations,…