The Importance Of Interactive Writing

Learning to write is like learning to read (Spivey, 2006). Both follow a sequential process. Writing combines more basic skills than any other subject. It is important that we define what is meant when we say writing. “Writing is the activity of expressing ideas, opinions, and views in print: writing for communication or composing.” (Binghan, Gerde, Wasik, 2012). Educators have to take into account the developmental stages and build on a child’s learning experiences. Educators have found that by focusing on the steps of the process of writing, almost everyone learns to write successfully. Many early childhood teachers struggle to find the best approach to teach writing in their classrooms. In order to have successful writing in your classroom, teachers need to model writing for their students (Behymer, 2003).

Interactive writing is a great tool for modeling writing. When interactive writing occurs the children are supported during this process and are able to write things that they normally could not write on their own (Behymer, 2003). “Interactive writing provides powerful demonstrations that help young children make progress in their own writing” (McCarrier, Pinnell, &

This is where your pencil meets the paper. This is when you want your students to be focused on writing all their ideals and thoughts as fast as they can, but do not worry about spelling or grammar. Remember that your students need to be concentrating on the message of the story and reading the story to make sure that it makes sense. The purpose of the rough draft is for students to focus on their ideals and get them on the paper without the fear of making mistakes in grammar, capitalization, punctuation, or paragraph structure (Spivey, 2006). In this stage teachers can have students get in pairs that choose to write about the same topic to work together on a story. When each group is finished, they can share their rough drafts with the other