Purpose
During shared writing, the teacher elicits student ideas and does all or most of the writing (or keyboarding) to help emergent or early writers co-construct meaningful texts. Shared and interactive writing help students learn about the writing process, make connections between spoken and written language, and participate actively in constructing texts for authentic purposes. Participation in shared writing can also strengthen students' growing knowledge of the reading process, as well as phonics, spelling and high frequency words.
Goals of shared writing include:
Examples of Shared Writing Routines for Emergent/Early Writers (older or younger)
1. Chart student responses to or extensions of texts
2. Take home journal entry. You may choose to use a familiar template for this routine for some students. For example: Today is Wednesday. I had a ____ day. I __________. (Describe event/ activity such as “I ate lunch with Samantha and Emily.) You may choose to present 2-3 photos or graphics to help the student choose one thing to write about (e.g., a boardmaker symbol for lunch and a picture of a friend; symbol for gym and photo of teacher).
3. Create a graphic organizer before reading to support attentionand comprehension.
Example Shared writing: Response to Teacher Read Aloud
Today I will read you a story about elephants. What do you know about elephants? The teacher writes student ideas on chart paper. Students read each together with teacher (shared reading).
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ELEPHANTS Elephants are big. Elephants have trunks. Elephants can live in a zoo. |
As I read this story, I want you to listen and think about these things: what elephants EAT, where elephants LIVE and how elephants USE their TRUNKS (Teacher writes each key word on chart for graphic organizer) [INSERT GRAPHIC ORGANIZER EXAMPLE HERE]
4. After reading, the teacher could ask students to tell something they learned-or engage the students in completing a graphic organizer together (teacher writes) from before reading. The teacher might re-read one or two key sentences from the text for each part.
Elephants
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EAT |
WHERE THEY LIVE |
USE TRUNKS |
|
grass
leaves
plants
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Africa
India
zoo |
Morning message:
A primary class might have a standard format to co-construct a morning message during opening circle and calendar time each day. The teacher might write the complete sentence, key words or "share the pen" to allow a student to write or trace key letters or words. (All students re-read each line together as message is constructed-shared reading.)
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Today is ___________, ______________________ __, 2008. The weather is _____________. Our special is ______________.
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Individual or class "books."
These can be experience stories based on familiar experiences or special events. Books can include photos or graphics whether created in print or electronic form (e.g., Powerpoint). Teachers might provide a model and sentence starters or patterns. Teachers can also chart ideas in a list or graphic organizer before students compose a page or book with graphics and print.
Example Pre-Writing Chart for Book
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What We Like Josh likes soccer. Molly likes books. Jen likes music. Tom likes pizza |
Sample book pages from above:
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[soccer photo]
Josh likes soccer. |
[book photo]
Molly likes books. |
Books and charts constructed during shared writing can remain in the classroom library, on class computers, or posted in the classroom for re-reading during group times or independent reading.