According to the K-3 Essential Practices, for writing instruction to be aligned with research and standards, the teacher must be providing interactive writing experiences in Kindergarten and 1st grade. The teacher must also provide explicit instruction in letter formation, spelling strategies, capitalization, punctuation, sentence construction, keyboarding, and word processing. Instruction must also be devoted to writing processes and strategies, particularly those involving researching, planning, revising, and editing writing. There must be time devoted in the schedule for children to write with opportunities to study models of and write a variety of texts for a variety of purposes and audiences. These types of text correspond to the Common Core Standards with a focus on opinion texts, informative/explanatory texts, and real and imagined narrative texts.
With such a mammoth undertaking, what does research say about the teaching of writing? Research supports the use of balance. Langer (2002) suggests that the effective teaching of writing involves the following three learning experiences - separated (instruction/introduction), simulated (guided practice), and integrated (purposeful application). The emphasis is on the writer's craft, the use of high-quality writing exemplars, time for classroom writing practice, and thoughtful reflection before, during, and after the writing. Recent research also supports the use of rubrics to guide student's understanding of what is expected.
The recommended practices outlined in the K-3 Essential Instructional Practices are:
The teacher provides:
interactive writing experiences in grades K and 1 daily time for children to write, aligned with instructional practice #1 above
instruction in writing processes and strategies, particularly those involving researching, planning, revising, and editing writing
opportunities to study models of and write a variety of texts for a variety of purposes and audiences, particularly opinion, informative/explanatory, and narrative texts (real and imagined)
explicit instruction in letter formation, spelling strategies, capitalization, punctuation, sentence construction, keyboarding (first expected by the end of grade 3, see the Practice Guide cited immediately above for detail), and word processing
Interactive Writing (Bullet 1)
Strategy Instruction (Bullet 3)
Daily Writing Opportunities (Bullet 2)
Mentor Texts (Bullet 4)
Instruction in Conventions (Bullet 5)
RUBRICS
These rubrics are from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project: Writing Pathways Performance Assessments and Learning Progressions.