This article underscores the intimate connection between reading and writing as communication skills that share a common linguistic and orthographic foundation, and which combine in complex ways to support practical literacy tasks. Developing higher order literacy skills requires teachers to develop metacognitive skills and self-regulation, both…

Students who are engaged writers are likely to produce better writing and to enjoy writing more than students who are disengaged writers. Yet, we are unaware of any existing tool that validly and reliably measures writing engagement. In this article, we describe what writing engagement is and why it is important. Then, we present the Writing…

This article provides early educators with guidance for promoting early writing development by integrating writing opportunities throughout the school day.

Seven children ages five through nine engaged with two graduate student teachers after school in a university-based literacy lab. Based on a home interest survey, the essential question, "What is movement?" was explored. The children generated further questions, read a variety of texts, and wrote about their experiences. The teachers…

Emergent bilingual children express their ideas in written language through meaningful marks on a page by leveraging their oral language and print focused skills from home and school languages. Because writing is a complex task, particularly for children learning more than one language, teachers must make decisions about how they guide children…

Reading and writing are essential components of literacy. Children's initial preschool experiences with literacy set important foundations for later school success. Instruction that can create a bridge between reading and writing to support children's developing understandings in both these areas of literacy has powerful implications for their…

In early childhood classrooms, little time is spent writing (Gerde et al., "Early Childhood Research Quarterly," 31, 34, 2015), and students receive limited supports to enhance their writing skills (Bingham et al., "Early Childhood Research Quarterly," 39, 35, 2017). In early childhood, when students experience rich writing…

If children are to receive the writing instruction they need and deserve, it is essential that teachers develop a coherent and well-constructed vision for teaching writing. This article provides an example of how such a vision can be created. It is based on three assumptions. One, developing a vision for teaching writing should be guided by…

Given the importance of early writing experiences, a key question is how educators can increase the amount and quality of writing in early childhood settings. Expert early writing teachers were observed to identify the types of activities and interactions they used to engage 4- and 5-year-olds as writers. Writing instruction occurred as part of…

The purpose of this paper is to explain how teachers can build on children's oral language resources to support writing. Thus, we offer recommendations and specific examples for classroom applications that connect oral language with written expression. Specifically, we provide examples on the transition from phonemic awareness to phonics to word…

Many students struggle to acquire adequate reading comprehension and writing skills. Although word recognition and spelling are needed to fully actualize these skills, the oral language aspects of reading and writing can be taught and practiced without text. Oral storytelling is good for all students, but it may be essential for students with…

In this teaching tip, we--a literacy professor and two K-12 teachers--encourage a rethinking of the baseline writing assessment by sharing our experiences with "The Paper Selfie," an activity that juxtaposes the arts and young people's personal writing. By centering students' identities, their hopes, beliefs, dreams, and realities,…

The article presents a classroom-based study that engaged linguistically diverse preschool and early school-age children in illustrating books, jointly composing written narratives to accompany their illustrations, and enacting these child-authored books through shared sociodramatic play. Findings from story retell tasks show significant…

With increasing expectations on students regarding written communication, the promotion of student agency in writing is more important now than ever. Teachers must find ways to engage and empower all learners throughout the writing process so they can produce authentic and meaningful writing independently. To promote such agency, educators must…

Translanguaging pedagogies support student writers in expressing themselves using their full language repertoires, writing for authentic audiences, and connecting to their identities. However, many teachers, particularly those who identify as "monolingual" and teach in English-medium classrooms, may not know how to introduce…