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Writing is one of three main components of the literacy block. As such, it receives dedicated time, but should be considered intertwined with reading and language development. Writing instruction should be systematic, explicit, and include active practice through both guided and independent writing opportunities. Writing is a higher order thinking task that requires explicit instruction, abundant practice, and individualized feedback on sentence structure and conventions, the craft of writing, and the writing process.

To provide coherent instruction in writing, and to meet the unique needs of all students, teachers must have access to high-quality curriculum materials from which to plan. The CURATE project provides information about published curricular materials and resources for high-quality curricular materials.

Connections Between Writing and Other Strands of Literacy

The development of writing is closely linked to the development of the reading, language, speaking and listening strands of literacy. In the Massachusetts 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Framework , Guiding Principle 6 states "Students should have frequent opportunities for discussing and writing about their readings in order to develop critical thinking skills and to demonstrate understanding." Specifically, Writing standards 1, 2, 3, and 7 and Reading standard 1 require students to write using evidence from what they have read. In addition, active engagement in speaking and listening promotes language development and links to stronger writing.

Sentence Structure and Conventions

Sentence structure includes simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentence types. Conventions refer to the "widely accepted practices of English punctuation, grammar, and usage that are taught in schools" ( Massachusetts 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Framework , page 184).

Why it Matters

Students need explicit instruction and practice in writing grammatically correct complete sentences in Grades K-3 in order to become proficient writers. "When basic writing skills become relatively effortless for students, they can focus less on these basic writing skills and more on developing and communicating their ideas. However, younger writers must typically devote considerable attention to acquiring and polishing these skills before they become proficient. Problems with basic writing skills have an impact on the quality of a person's writing" ( Graham et al., 2018).

Teaching Sentence Structure and Conventions

"Teachers should focus sentence-level instruction on sentence construction, encouraging students to consider the meaning and syntax of the sentences they develop. Teachers also should explicitly demonstrate how sentence construction and sentence mechanics, such as punctuation and capitalization, interact to form strong sentences" ( Graham et al., 2018).

While these topics require explicit instruction and practice, they should be integrated into students' own writing. Rather than thinking about sentence structure and conventions as a separate "grammar block," teach these skills in connection with meaningful writing tasks and help students transfer these developing skills into their authentic written work.

In the Massachusetts 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Framework , standards for sentence structure and conventions are included in the Language strand (see L1 and L2 for each grade level).

Resources for Teaching Sentence Structure and Conventions

Considerations for Students Learning English

English learners should have equal opportunity to meaningfully participate in all writing instruction. The WIDA Can Do Descriptors highlight what language learners can do at various stages of language development.
Taking Bilingualism into Account

Particular aspects of English syntax may be unfamiliar to English learners and can be integrated into writing instruction (for instance, explicitly teaching past verb tense while students work on writing personal narratives). Sentence reducing (breaking complex sentences into a series of simple sentences) and sentence combining (combining simple sentences into complex ones) are effective practices for instruction on syntax (Saddler, Behforooz, & Asaro, 2008).
Supports for English Learners:

Provide support with word lists, word banks, sentence frames, and similar supports, if students need them, when asking students to focus on building sentences.

Design guided writing practice activities to focus on grammatical features that need attention

Provide language models, guided practice, clear explanations, and explicit corrective feedback on sentence structure (Kim et al., 2011).

Culturally Responsive Practice

Peer-assisted learning opportunities are supportive for learning in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms. Many children benefit from the opportunity to learn with their peers rather than working independently - this can include talking together while completing tasks side-by-side; working actively together on a task, as in a center activity; or being paired up to help each other with a new task. In her Cult of Pedagogy blog post, Zaretta Hammond (2015) describes three strategies to increase cultural responsiveness, including "making it social."

The process of deconstructing text examples and then co-constructing new texts together is supportive for all students and particularly for students learning English (Brisk, 2015; Spycher, 2017). Sentence structure and conventions, like many aspects of literacy, is an area in which young children need explicit instruction and repeated practice. However, independent practice tasks like worksheets are not necessary. Collaborative practice opportunities could include:

Assigning a shared task to a group of students, encouraging and teaching students how to help each other.

Supporting students in collaborative groups to construct new text modeled after an example.

Creating peer feedback structures so that students can provide each other feedback on their own authentic writing.

Sources of Information for Educators: Sentence Structure and Conventions

The Strands That Are Woven into Skilled Writing, from Keys to Literacy

Graham, S., Bollinger, A., Booth Olson, C., D'Aoust, C., MacArthur, C., McCutchen, D., & Olinghouse, N. Teaching elementary school students to be effective writers: A practice guide , from the Institute of Education Sciences (2018).

Overview on Teaching Foundational Skills to Help Students Become Effective Writers, from Institute of Education Sciences (Video)

References

Brisk, M. E. (2015). Engaging Students in Academic Literacies: Genre-based Pedagogy for K-5 Classrooms. New York: Taylor & Francis.

Hammond, Z. (2015, April 1). Three tips to make any lesson more culturally responsive [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/culturally-responsive-teaching-strategies/

Kim, J., Olson, C. B., Scarcella, R., Kramer, J., Pearson, M., van Dyk, D., ... Land, R. (2011). A randomized experiment of a cognitive strategies approach to text-based analytical writing for mainstreamed Latino English language learners in grades 6 to 12. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 4(3), 231-263. doi:10.1080/19345747.20 10.523513

Saddler, B., Behforooz, B., & Asaro, K. (2008). The effects of sentence-combining instruction on the writing of fourthgrade students with writing diffculties. The Journal of Special Education, 42(2), 79-90.

Spycher, P. (2017). Scaffolding writing through the "teaching and learning cycle." San Francisco, CA: WestEd.
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massachusetts department of elementary and secondary education

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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

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The goal of the Massachusetts public K-12 education system is to prepare all students for success after high school. Massachusetts public school students are leading the nation in reading and math and are at the top internationally in reading, science, and math according to the national NAEP and international PISA assessments.

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EL Education - Teaching Writing across the Disciplines

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Teachers in all subject areas and grade levels provide many opportunities for students to write for multiple purposes. Students write to learn. They also learn to write, revise, and polish authentic pieces in varied genres for audiences beyond the teacher. Teachers develop and teach a common language for the process of writing and the elements of good writing.

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Our library provides effective, research-based classroom strategies to help strengthen your students' skills in phonological awareness, decoding, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing.

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A tool to help you meet students where they are in their language development

The Can Do Descriptors highlight what language learners can do at various stages of language development as they engage in the following contexts:

Bilingual and English-immersion early care and education programs

Bilingual, Spanish-immersion and English-immersion K-12 language programs

Bilingual, Spanish-immersion and English-immersion K-12 content-area classrooms

Similar to the WIDA English Language Development Standards Statements, the Can Do Descriptors describe what learners can do with language across different content areas. Although the Can Do Descriptors relate to the ELD Standards Statements, they don't replace them but are used to supplement the standards statements during instruction.

Educators and early childhood practitioners can use the Can Do Descriptors to

Better understand what students at different levels of language proficiency can do with language

Expand their understanding of what the process of language development can look like

Collaborate around scaffolding that students need to engage in content-area learning and develop language at the same time

Differentiate instruction and classroom assessment for language

Interpret ACCESS for ELLs test scores

The Can Do Descriptors have not yet been updated to reflect the 2020 Edition; however, they remain available as a valuable tool for communicating with stakeholders about what students can do at each language proficiency level. WIDA is monitoring educator use to help inform the timing for updating the materials.

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A tool to help you meet students where they are in their language developmentThe Can Do Descriptors highlight what language learners can do at various stages of language development as they engage in the following contexts: