LitHubAZ
Effective Literacy Practices

Strategies, Practices and Tools

Decades of research provides a clear understanding of how skilled reading develops and how to most effectively support children in learning to read proficiently. Evidence-based, structured literacy instruction develops all the foundational language and literacy skills that must be woven together so that children can make meaning from the words they read.

The information presented here is intended to complement evidence-based core reading curricula and intervention programs already in place and help educators fill in gaps or modify their approaches with effective strategies, instructional practices, and tools and activities to implement them.

Early childhood educators can focus their practices to help children build language and emergent literacy skills. Pre-K and K-3 educators can find evidence-based ways to provide explicit, implicit, and incidental instruction across the essential components of literacy. And English Language Arts teachers across grades 4-12 will find effective practices to help students meet the increasing need for skilled reading.

  • Strategy 1
  • Strategy 2
  • Strategy 3

Instructional Strategy

Explicitly teach appropriate writing strategies using a Model-Practice-Reflect instructional cycle.

The most effective way to teach writing strategies is through explicit and direct instruction and by using a Model-Practice-Reflect instructional cycle. Explicitly teaching students the writing process and different strategies for the components of the writing process allows students to learn how to select, execute, and apply the most appropriate writing strategy. The Model-Practice-Reflect instructional cycle allows students to observe a strategy in use, independently practice the strategy, and then evaluate their own writing and the use of the strategy. It is recommended for teachers to use both approaches in tandem when teaching students to use writing strategies.

Source: Graham et al., 2016


Effective Practices

  • Explicitly teach different strategies for the writing process: planning and goal setting, drafting, evaluating, revising, and editing.
    • Teach students the writing process and how the components of the writing process work together so they can flexibly move between components of the process, returning to earlier components as needed to improve writing.
    • Introduce different strategies for each component of the writing process, so they understand there are multiple ways to approach each writing process component.
    • Teach students the steps of each writing strategy and how to execute the strategy effectively.
  • Instruct students on how to choose and apply writing strategies appropriate for audience and purpose.
    • After students learn different writing strategies, teach students how to choose the most appropriate strategy for the writing purpose and target audience.
      • Provide the students with a list of questions to help select the appropriate strategy, such as:
        • “What goals do I need to set and accomplish to write for this audience or purpose?”
        • “What writing strategies do I know work well when writing for this audience or purpose?”
        • “What do I know about this assignment that would help inform my strategy selection?”
        • “When do I use this strategy? When I am planning? Drafting? Revising?”
    • Teach students how to identify and understand the target audience before starting a new writing assignment.
      • Provide students with a list of questions to help with identification of the target audience such as:
        • “Who is my audience?”
        • “What does my audience already know or understand about this topic?”
        • “What does my audience need to know?”
        • “What type of information or argument would my audience respond to?”
        • “What visual media might help me to persuade my audience?”
        • “Where in my writing might the audience be misled?”
    • Teach students to identify clues in the writing assignment’s prompts or instructions that help identify the purpose of the writing task.
      • Help students identify the purpose of the writing assignment during the planning component.
      • Provide writing examples to illustrate text written for different purposes.
      • Provide students with a list of questions to help with understanding the purpose such as:
        • “What are the aspects of effective writing for this purpose?”
        • “What are my goals for this writing assignment?”
        • “Am I writing to inform or persuade?”
          • If writing to inform: “Is the purpose to reflect, explain, summarize, or analyze?”
          • If writing to persuade: “Through what channel am I to persuade my audience: an editorial, a speech, a blog, an essay or something else?”
    • Teach students how to evaluate and adapt their strategies depending on the target audience and writing purpose.
    • Add a prompt to a writing assignment that requires students to describe the strategy they utilized for the assignment, why they choose to use that strategy, and how the strategy helped or failed to help them with the writing assignment.
    • Have students use writing strategies in different contexts.
      • For example, require students to use a familiar writing strategy for a writing assignment in another discipline.
  • Use a Model-Practice-Reflect instructional cycle to teach writing strategies.
    • The “I Do,” “We do,” “You do” instruction model provides students with opportunities to observe strong writers, attempt to emulate the features of effective writing, and then evaluate their writing compared to those writing components.
    • Model writing strategies for students.
      • Teachers and students should model and describe the use of effective writing strategies during the writing process.
      • In addition to modeling, teachers should post a list of writing strategies and their steps in the classroom.
      • Teachers should adjust the intensity of the modeling to accommodate the specific needs of the students. 
    • Provide students with opportunities to apply and practice modeled strategies.
      • Teachers should provide regular opportunities for students to practice implementing writing strategies into classroom activities. These opportunities should occur across disciplines so that students can practice writing for different topics, audiences, and purposes. 
    • Engage students in evaluating and reflecting upon their own and peers’ writing and use of modeled strategies.
      • Provide opportunities for students to reflect on their use of a writing strategy or discuss with other students how the strategy did or did not work. The goal of reflection activities is to help students improve the quality of their writing.
      • Provide opportunities for students to evaluate their own writing and others’ writing using rubrics.

Source: Graham et al., 2016


Tools and Activities

I Do, We, Do, You Do (Explicit Instruction)

This instructional routine can be used to teach any skill or concept by gradually shifting responsibility from the teacher to the student:

  • I Do: The teacher explains and models the skill or concept.
  • We Do: The teacher provides guided practice with scaffolding (feedback to support learning).
  • You Do: Students engage in independent practice and cumulative review. 

Components of the Writing Process

Effective writers use strategies during all components of the writing process.

Learn More from What Works Clearinghouse

Sample Writing Strategies

Teaching students to use various writing strategies helps to develop their strategic thinking skills and write more effectively.

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Adapting Strategies When Writing for Different Purposes

Writing activities can challenge students to adapt their strategies depending on the audience and purpose.

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Modeling Statements

Teachers can describe and demonstrate the thought process behind selecting and applying different writing strategies to be more effective.

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Reflection and Evaluation Activities

Model-Practice-Reflect, color-coding, and rubrics are ways to teach students to evaluate and better understand their writing effectiveness.

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Instructional Strategy

Integrate writing and reading to emphasize key writing features.

When teachers combine reading and writing together in a classroom assignment or activity, students learn about important text features. Incorporating the reading and reflecting on exemplar texts as part of classroom assignments allows students to be exposed to examples of texts that clearly illustrate important features of writing, which can strengthen students’ writing skills.

Source: Graham et al., 2016


Effective Practices

  • Teach students to understand that both writers and readers use similar strategies, knowledge, and skills to create meaning).
    • Teachers should explicitly identify the connections between reading and writing.
      • For example, teach students how to identify text structures when reading and teach students how to apply what they learned about text structures in reading to strengthen their own writing.
    • Teach students how to provide annotations in texts to highlight how writers engage readers through the use of concrete words and the use of sensory language to create pictures of characters, events, and conclusions that resolves problems.
    • Teach how to use cognitive strategies to guide students’ thinking and writing.
      • For example, after reading a text, have students complete the phrase “At first, I thought…but now, I think… in writing.
    • Use specific activities that integrate reading and writing across disciplines.
  • Use a variety of written exemplars to highlight key features of texts
    • Utilize exemplar texts to illustrate specific features of effective writing, such as organization and structure, ideation, grammar, punctuation, voice, style, and word choice.

Source: Graham et al., 2016


Tools and Activities

Cognitive Strategy Sentence Starters

These tools help students structure their thinking and writing, and focus on key features.

Learn More from What Works Clearinghouse

Using Exemplars

Exemplar texts can clearly illustrate specific features of effective writing.

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Instructional Strategy

Use assessments of student writing to inform instruction and feedback.

The formative assessment cycle is a process in which teachers regularly assess students’ skills, adapt instruction based on assessment data, provide targeted feedback, and reassess students’ skill level. Assessments should be performed throughout the writing process on a regular basis, not just through students’ final written products. Monitoring students’ writing performance throughout the writing process provides teachers a better understanding of students’ progress and allows teachers to adjust instruction to meet the needs of the students.

Source: Graham et al., 2016


Effective Practices

  • Assess students strengths and areas for improvement before teaching a new strategy or skill.
    • Utilize regular assessments to determine students’ strengths and areas for improvement before beginning a new lesson.
      • Assessments can occur through classroom work, written assignments, on-demand writing prompts, or graphic organizers. On-demand writing assignments are short writing assignments designed to assess students’ skills.  
    • Teacher teams can collaborate to design common prompts and analyze common data.  
  • Analyze student writing to tailor instruction and target feedback.
    • Utilize assessment data to tailor instruction to the students’ needs and skill level.  
    • Customize writing lessons and assignments for different instructional groups, including individual students, small groups, classroom, and grade level.  
    • Teachers can consider working with teams of teachers to tailor writing instruction across disciplines or grades.  
    • Provide targeted feedback to students after identifying their specific instructional needs. Feedback can come from teachers, peers, or self-assessments.
      • Consider having students work in pairs to brainstorm ways to improve their writing based on feedback received from the teacher.  
    • Provide positive feedback using approaches such as “Glow and Grow,” noting areas where students’ strengths “glowed” and where improvement is needed for growth, or “Praise-Question-Polish,” identifying something positive about the student’s writing (praise), something that was unclear (question), and a way that writing could be improved (polish).
    • Consider having students maintain portfolios with samples of their writings.
      • Teachers and students should review the students’ portfolios for growth and to identify challenges.  
  • Monitor students’ progress while teaching writing strategies and skills.
    • Monitor students’ progress at regular intervals in order to adequately track students’ progress and adjust instruction as needed.
      • Collect multiple data points from different writing skills and writing assignments to gain a better understanding of students’ writing abilities.
        • For example, administering daily exit tickets can provide an immediate and simple way of verifying students’ mastery of skill and allows teachers to adjust instruction if needed.  
      • The frequency of monitoring students depends on their progress and learning goals.
      • Use tracking tools to provide a visual representation of student growth and areas for improvement.

Source: Graham et al., 2016


Tools and Activities

On-Demand Prompts for Different Subjects

Before beginning a new lesson, ask students to write in response to on-demand prompts to help determine their strengths and needs.

Learn More from What Works Clearinghouse

Exit Slips and Error Analysis

These formative assessment tools allow teachers to regularly monitor student progress.

Learn More from What Works Clearinghouse

Related

Developmental benchmarks and literacy behaviors that most children display at a particular age/grade.

Evidence-based reading interventions support students who are identified as struggling with specific foundational literacy skills.

Evidence-based core curricula, interventions, and supplemental programs play a critical role in supporting students’ reading success.

While seemingly effortless, good reading is made up of a set of complex skills and strategies.