In most areas of the curriculum the basic content to be taught is carefully outlined. The skills, content, knowledge, and application opportunities are clear. Teachers are provided with detailed curriculum, resource materials, and a scope and sequence for instruction. Additionally, states often provide standards for each grade level that drive instruction.

One curriculum area that is typically less well defined is the instruction of writing. Even when looking at state or district standards in writing, there is often little in terms of specific resources, methodology of instruction, and basic assured experiences by grade level designed to help teachers successfully implement instruction.

Because of this, the instruction that takes place classroom to classroom, grade to grade is usually inconsistent at best. Teachers interpret writing as a process differently, and often, because of the demands of testing in reading and math, writing is seen as less critical. It is not unusual for children in the same school, same grade, but different classrooms to receive vastly different levels of instruction and opportunities for writing. When these same children are promoted to the next grade, and assigned to several other classrooms, their new teachers have no idea where to begin due to the fact that children come to them with a very wide range of needs. In these cases the teacher makes no assumptions, and begins to “recreate the wheel” so as to insure some level of shared experience. Valuable instructional time is lost.

This inconsistency is often most apparent when the testing of writing begins. Because teachers of lower grades often do not feel the pressure of having their students’ writing formally assessed by the state, and because there are no clear guidelines for instruction at their grade level, they spend little time teaching specific writing skills. They do not feel a great responsibility to teach specific writing skills, as these skills may not be tested at their grade level. As their students move up (usually into 3rd or 4th grade where writing is tested for the first time) the pressure on the upper grade teachers exponentially increases. These 3rd and 4th graders are suddenly expected to “get to goal” in a hurry. This is unrealistic and not the best way to nurture young writers or to maximize the efforts of teachers. In fact, in talking with a number of teachers in one state, where students were tested in writing in grade 4, there were actually shortages of 4th grade teachers – the pressure to deliver four or five years of writing instruction in one year was overwhelming.

The Value of Basic Assured Experiences

Wouldn’t it make better sense to establish some minimum basic, foundational experiences at each grade level so that teachers across grades clearly share responsibility for the instruction of writing?
Wouldn’t it benefit students to have their writing experiences scaffolded in logical, sequential ways across grade levels? In this scenario teachers would build on the instruction of those in previous grades and would maximize instructional time. In addition, this kind of careful planning would fill in gaps in instruction that invariably occur without such a plan, and would build on common vocabulary and consistent expectations.

Another benefit of basic assured experiences is this: building writing experiences around basic, solid skill work allows students greater creative freedom in their writing. While some may suppose that “skill work” compromises creativity, the reality is that students who have assimilated writing skills across the years are much freer to express themselves. Unencumbered by issues around genre, craft, organization, elaboration, word choice, and fluency, they can focus on what’s most important – the representation of what they hold important via the written word. (See article on “Skills and Formulaic Writing” for more on this.)

How to Establish Basic Assured Experiences?

Certainly, children across all grade levels need experiences with a variety of genres of writing. They gain this experience through reading, discussing, practicing skills related to the characteristics of the particular genre, and applying these skills. In many ways “the tail wags the dog” in regard to testing. Each state tells teachers what to teach based on test content at each grade level. In most states narrative writing is tested in grades 3 - 4, expository writing in grades 5 -6, and persuasive/argumentative writing in grades 7 - 8. There is a solid rationale for this focus in terms of genre and the rationale grows out of the way children learn, read, and grow. Consider the following:

Of course, the focus in kindergarten and grade 1 writing is the sound-symbol connection, print conventions, and the concept that the written word can be used to represent thoughts, feelings, observations, memories, intentions, hopes, and dreams on paper. Our K-1 model takes a parallel route, supporting this core knowledge while building critical awareness and foundation skills that can be identified in literature, and, when developmentally ready, applied to writing.

Since narrative stories are what young children are exposed to with the greatest frequency, and because they are entertaining by design, they are the perfect vehicle for building interest and motivation in learning to read. Therefore, in order to build a reading writing connection, it makes sense to have children in grades 2 - 4 begin to imitate and aspire to good writing in the same genre. (narrative writing)

When students make the transition from learning to read, to a stance of reading to learn (around 4th grade, typically when textbooks are introduced) they (grades 4 - 6) learn expository reading strategies to better access information and learn expository writing in order to review, sort, prioritize, explore and expand upon information.

As students mature (grades 7 - 8) it becomes important for them to understand that information can be used in various ways to shape opinion. Writing in the persuasive (argumentative/critical stance) genre requires that students explore an issue, using information to effectively support their position, and ultimately to convince others to adopt the same view.

This movement supports the Empowering Writers sequence of the narrative - expos - persuasive writing from grades 2 - 8. With this continuum in mind, the following scope and sequence for instruction and list of basic assured experiences at each grade level was developed.

Please Note: In K and 1 teachers should expose children to “side by side” reading selections around related themes in narrative writing and expository writing on a regular basis. The summarizing frameworks should be used and a brief conversation around genre and author’s purpose is critically important.

Ex. If you are reading “Tough Boris” by Mem Fox (an entertaining narrative story), team it up with “Pirates” by Gail Gibbons (expository writing) in order to point out the differences in purpose and style.  

The Empowering Writers Scope and Sequence of Basic Assured Writing Experiences

With all this in mind Empowering Writers has developed a list of cross-genre Basic Assured Experiences for instruction in grades Kindergarten - 8. All of the lessons are found in our respective resource books (Getting Ready to Write for K-1, The Comprehensive Narrative Writing Guide for grades 2 – 4, The Comprehensive Expository Writing Guide for grades 5 – 6, and Persuasive Writing for grades 7 – 8), and are laid out month by month. These lessons will provide a solid foundation on which to base instruction.

Click here for Scope and Sequence Documents

Of course, this is not to suggest that the activities in the scope and sequence alone make up a complete curriculum. Instead, we are suggesting that these suggested lessons provide a consistent, minimal assured learning experience at each grade level, allowing teachers to build on what has been previously taught. It also can provide the explicit skill work often lacking in the writer’s workshop approach. After teaching these basic skills teachers will find that their favorite writing themes, units, and creative activities will be better received and more thoughtfully and expertly carried out.

Using Data to Drive Instruction and the Need for Consistency

Nowadays most schools use some kind of hard data (test scores, grades, etc) to track student growth over time. However, looking at test scores in writing year to year, by grade level, is pointless without consistency in instruction. If each classroom is approaching the instruction of writing differently, what are we really measuring? In order to better assess the effectiveness of instruction and the resulting student growth, there needs to be consistent instruction. Having each grade level, minimally, follow the suggested basic assured experiences allows you to use data more effectively.

Whether you use the Empowering Writers model or not, it is obvious that consistency is key. In working to establish basic assured experiences across your school or district, we encourage you to carefully look through Empowering Writers resources as powerful tools in this regard.

Barbara Mariconda is the author of over 20 children’s books and numerous professional books for teachers. Her middle grade novel, “Turn the Cup Around” published by Delacorte Press was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award by the Mystery Writers of America for best children’s mystery. Her latest, a picture book titled “Sort it Out,” was published by Sylvan Dell Publishing in the fall of 2008. She has presented programs on writing to thousands of teachers at workshops and conferences across North America.