# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A while back, I wrote about how interactive writing is a power-packed teaching move. Another hands-down favorite (for both reading and writing) is undoubtedly shared reading. Shared reading helps teachers efficiently connect the dots between all aspects of literacy. What follows are different ideas for infusing writing-friendly concepts into existing cycles of shared reading.
First things first: What happens in a cycle of shared reading?
A cycle of shared reading is comprised of a series of short sessions. Across the cycle, the class reads and revisits the same short text/text excerpt. Teachers can plan cycles of shared reading that incorporate different aspects of literacy and match the current goals of classroom learners. While shared reading is often used during reading, it has value all across the day - including writing time. Here's a bit more on the basics of shared reading:

The above chart is adapted from Mentor Texts That Multitask: A Less-Is-More Approach to Integrated Literacy Instruction by Pam Koutrakos (2022).
What kind of texts are featured?
The best shared reading text is any short, high-quality text that you know, have, and believe the students will enjoy. Repurpose a unit mentor text and highlight it in a cycle of shared reading. Also, keep in mind that the text can be formally published, teacher-written, class-composed, or student-written (names removed, permission provided).
What will I emphasize?
The work of readers and writers can't be separated. Here are a few ideas for how to make explicit connections to writing.
Scrutinize Structure
There are many playful ways to dip into structure explorations. Consider posing a mini-inquiry that gets students noticing, thinking, and sharing what they see in a mentor text. Discuss ideas and then list out theories and substantiated findings. A few possible provocations include:

How do authors set up the pages of their informational books?

What do we notice about sequence?

How do authors invite interest?

How do writers make their writing flow?

How do literary essayists organize their ideas?

Charts co-created during these short sessions of shared reading become powerful learning artifacts that can be repeatedly revisited during writing time.
Wonder About Words
In order for word learning to stick, students need to practice using their knowledge in authentic contexts. Shared reading supports students in preparing to apply word wisdom. There are seemingly infinite ideas for a word-themed session of shared reading. Each helps classroom writers gain clarity for what it looks like to ponder word choices and/or apply word knowledge where and when it counts.

Phonological and Phonemic Awareness: Sneak in a bit of extra practice breaking up words by syllable, playing alliteration and rhyming games, or segmenting, blending, and/or changing sounds in words. Consistently practicing these skills builds readiness for getting letters, sounds, and words down onto the page.

Phonics and Spelling: Find, name, and/or discuss specific letters, sounds, patterns, and word parts present in the text. Orthographically map target words. This extra practice boosts understanding and proficiency. It also develops preparedness for applying word smarts during writing time.

Vocabulary: Think about the meaning, connotation, and/or impact of a few specific words that an author chose to use. Find words with known cognates and discuss the benefits for readers and writers. Discuss and/or debate word choices. Consider and try alternatives. The opportunities are limitless.

Figurative Language: Decipher the meaning and discuss the intent behind poetic language found in the featured text. Appreciate the creativity. Ponder possibilities for tinkering with figurative language during independent writing time.

Collaborative word wondering encourages students to embrace the excitement of confidently using acquired knowledge as they write.
Investigate Language Concepts
There never seems to be enough time to give grammar the attention it deserves. By weaving grammar into cycles of shared reading, students see contextualized examples of recently taught (or upcoming) grammar learning. These efforts translate into the more consistent and effective transfer of grammar concepts to writing pieces. During a session of shared reading, you might...

introduce a concept related to capitalization or punctuation

spiral learning around a specific part of speech

study sentence structure

consider the language choices an author made - and the impact it has on the reader

celebrate translanguaging present in a text, and provide reminders that utilizing one's full linguistic repertoire is beneficial and celebration-worthy!

Turn to any page of a chosen text and imagine how you can capitalize on the conventions present.
Cultivate Curiosity Around Craft
One additional benefit of using shared reading as a writing tool is that it shows students how to read and revisit a text with a writer's eyes. Yes, classes might investigate "crafty decisions" in sessions devoted to structure, words, and language. However, there is always room for more practice! Collaboratively appreciating and discussing the craft employed by authors, illustrators, and creators is always a worthy pursuit! A couple of my favorite resources for doing this work with intention and joy are written by Two Writing Teachers co-writers. Craft Moves by Stacey Shubitz and Every Child Can Write by Melanie Meehan are jam-packed with brilliant, practical, and transferable ideas. If you already own either of these gems, grab them off your shelf and get inspired. If you do not yet own these titles, I highly recommend them.

(Not enough) time is a constant classroom challenge. Cycles of shared reading represent one way to thoughtfully reimagine how to make the most of each minute. This wonderful component connects the work of readers, writers, word explorers, and language lovers. Teachers can bend, mold, and shape cycles of shared reading with current goals in mind. When we thoughtfully (and playfully) integrate literacy, everyone wins!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Shared reading as a writing tool? Go for it!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teachers always seem to be searching for extra minutes. Cycles of shared reading represent one way to thoughtfully reimagine how to make the most of each minute. When we thoughtfully (and playfully) integrate literacy, everyone wins!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What is Shared Reading in Being a Reader 03/21/17  (Part 1 of 2)

# data[].attributes.body
The Quickwrite Handbook: Linda Rief (author): 9780325098128: Books - Amazon.ca

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Quickwrite Handbook: Linda Rief (author): 9780325098128: Books - Amazon.ca

# data[].attributes.body
The Writing Thief: Using Mentor Texts to Teach the Craft of Writing: Amazon.ca: Ruth Culham: Books

# data[].attributes.body
Deep Reading: Teaching Reading in the Writing Classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Deep Reading: Teaching Reading in the Writing Classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this collection, editors Patrick Sullivan, Howard Tinberg, and Sheridan Blau and their contributors argue that college-level reading must be theorized as foundationally linked to any understanding of college-level writing.

# data[].attributes.body
Poetry 180: 10 New Poems to Celebrate! | From the Catbird Seat: Poetry 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The SAG-AFTRA Foundation's Daytime Emmy-nominated, Storyline Online, features celebrated actors reading children's books to inspire a love of reading in millions of children worldwide.

# data[].attributes.headline
Gradual Release of Responsibility for Writing

# data[].attributes.subject
Gradual Release of Responsibility for Writing

# data[].attributes.headline
Gradual Release of Responsibility for Reading

# data[].attributes.subject
Gradual Release of Responsibility for Reading

# data[].attributes.body
speaking and listening FA

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
After teaching a new concept, assess students' overall understanding and comprehension. When instruction includes new vocabulary, a cloze strategy works well.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Written by Olivia Wahl
What Is Shared Reading?
I will never forget when I first fell in love with shared reading. I was teaching in San Diego and had the privilege of attending a professional development session with Brenda Parkes, the author of Read It Again! Revisiting Shared Reading (2000). As she stood on a stage rapping (yes . . . literally beatboxing) one of her big books, The Wolf's Story, I was mesmerized. I could not wait to return to my classroom and apply her methods and thinking around shared reading with my first graders.

That year, all my children were English language learners with a range of seven native languages being spoken in my classroom. My school had an incredible leader who believed in a balanced approach to teaching literacy, and she partnered with a school in New York City, P.S. 116, as a mentor/model for our staff to emulate and learn from. We studied shared reading as an approach to teaching our children how to read literature and informational texts at benchmark levels together as a class based on the grade level and time of year. Children could access and understand the texts because we revisited each one over a series of days (four/five-day cycles) where each day children's understanding grew richer and more in-depth.
How Can Shared Reading Be Used with Small Groups to Support Struggling Readers?
Shared reading is a bridge between reading aloud to children and/or working with readers in guided reading groups. Readers work to fluently read, reread, and understand benchmark (grade-level) texts during whole-class shared reading cycles. In guided reading small-group sessions, readers navigate texts at their instructional level (just above what they can read by themselves), highlighting the structures and qualities of texts they will soon be ready to read independently.

"When children, particularly those who are not reading at grade level, receive little to no shared reading practice, moving up to the next reading level is often too big a leap for them to make because they have no exposure to the texts they are growing into next. This can cause guided reading groups to plateau as students get stuck in a level." (Jan Burkins and Kim Yaris, Who's Doing the Work? How to Say Less So Readers Can Do More [2016], pages 57 and 58.)

While I believe shared reading should be a ten- to fifteen-minute aspect of daily whole-class reading instruction, it can be tremendously effective with small groups to support children who are not yet reading at the grade-level benchmark. Teachers can alternate a week of children reading independently and being met with in guided reading and/or strategy groups (at their instructional level or based on need in independent level texts) with a week of children reading independently and being met with in shared reading cycle groups (with a text that is between the benchmark and their instructional level).

When children are struggling with dimensions of fluency and reading significantly below the benchmark for the time of year, often the gap between their instructional levels and the grade-level benchmarks cannot be closed by only using traditional guided reading and strategy lesson small-group approaches alone.

I support many teachers who feel concerned about children that seem "stuck" in their growth as readers even though they are working with them through guided reading and one-on-one conferring using highly engaging texts. We had to try something different and think outside the box. We realized that for these children, more guided reading was not the answer.

Over the last year, teachers and I found hope and almost immediate growth after using shared reading cycles with small groups of these readers. Jack is a little boy who sticks out in my mind who struggled with fluency (phrasing) and deeper interpretive and analytic understanding of his texts. Over each shared reading cycle, through rereading and deepening levels of thinking each day, he became more fluent and aware of how the texts worked that he was growing into, and his confidence grew too.

Within weeks, Jack became more fluent with his phrasing and began to grow, moving from "struggling" as a novice reader for his grade level to closing the gap between his instructional and the benchmark reading expectation. Most importantly, Jack loved to revisit the shared reading texts from small-group work as "warm-up rereading" before diving into his independent reading each day. By doing this, he naturally transferred what he was able to do in small-group shared reading cycles to his independent reading.

Teachers and I have implemented shared reading cycles in small groups based on the model created by Sarah Daunis and Maria Cassiani Iams in Text Savvy: Using a Shared Reading Framework to Build Comprehension. Each small-group session lasts between ten and fifteen minutes, and at the end of five-day cycles, children receive copies of the text to reread independently.

The graphic below (Figure 1) represents an adapted shared reading cycle based on the model created by Sarah and Maria.

Depending on the grade level and time of year, see the two tables below (Figures 2 and 3) for what this may look like with alternating weeks of shared and guided reading (does not include strategy groups instruction):

With my research and collaborative study over the last year, readers that have plateaued when only being met with in guided reading groups have made significant growth by teachers alternating weeks between small-group shared and guided reading. Readers have also shown a revitalized excitement for rereading texts they initially read during shared and guided reading sessions.

I became smitten with shared reading almost twenty years ago when I lived the pure joy it brought around reading into my first-grade classroom. Now, the love affair continues as I see children across the country finding renewed joy in successfully reading texts through shared reading cycles.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Shared Reading in Small Groups: Supporting Struggling Readers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What Is Shared Reading? I will never forget when I first fell in love with shared reading. I was teaching in San Diego and had the privilege of attending a professional development session with Brenda Parkes, the author of Read It Again! Revisiting Shared Reading (2000).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Close reading: what it looks like in K-5

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
ASCD Webinar - Close Reading: Teaching the Comprehension Skills of Text Analysis and Evaluation

# data[].attributes.headline
Best Practices with Close Reading (HS Social Studies)

# data[].attributes.subject
Best Practices with Close Reading (HS Social Studies)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
DIT Labs - Fairfax County Public Schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Best Practices: High School Reading Strategies

# data[].attributes.body
Kelly Gallagher

# data[].attributes.body
Cayman Islands Department of Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Rationale

The kindergarten teacher begins interactive writing in her class by writing "Today is ..." on a piece of chart paper. She asks for a volunteer to take the pen and write the day, which she has written on a sentence strip and clipped to the top of the chart. Michael raises his hand and the teacher offers him the pen. He comes forward proudly to take it and carefully starts to write "M" for Monday.

The teacher shares the writing experience with young students on chart paper or a whiteboard that is large enough for the whole class to see. Students participate by giving the teacher ideas and also by "taking the pen" and writing words, phrases, or sentences with the teacher's guidance. Older students can participate in shared and collaborative writing as well (Button, Johnson, & Fergerson, 1996; McCarrier, Pinnell, & Fountas, 2000).

Reading literature is an excellent way to initiate interactive writing in the class, and the teacher can continue using literature as the class does interactive writing with any new book that is read throughout the year. The teacher can begin with what is happening that day in class, or a holiday, or a special event in the school. Topics could also be any idea of interest to the students or any interesting event that has occurred: a new class pet, a special activity, a guest speaker that visited the class, a field trip the class went on, a change in the weather (e.g., it rained, snowed, or it was sunny for a change), or something special happened to a child (e.g., they took a trip, have a family visitor, or participated in an after school activity).

This strategy could be modeled on the first day of school, and it could continue to be used throughout the school year daily or several times a day, with other books read aloud during the week or other topics of interest to the students. Mini-lessons can be used to teach writing conventions in the authentic writing context of interactive writing.

Strategy

Read literature that introduces a topic for discussion and interactive writing and do mini-lessons on the conventions of writing as the need for them occurs during interactive writing. For example, for kindergarten, model how to (1) capitalize the first letter or the first word in a sentence and (2) indent the first sentence of a paragraph using the title as the first sentence.
The first day of school is ...
Ask students for ideas to complete the sentence. Remind them of the ideas they shared in response to the reader response questions and prompts. When the class agrees on how to complete the sentence, ask for a volunteer to come to the chart and take the pen to complete the sentence. If a child volunteers and is not yet writing, take dictation for them and write the words as they speak them. If a child is not yet writing but knows the alphabet, spell the words letter-by-letter as they write or write the words in pencil and have the child trace over them with a marking pen. Continue writing the story this way. Ask the students for ideas and for volunteers to take the pen.

Other mini-lessons on the conventions of writing can be modeled during interactive writing as they occur in context.

Older students can practice interactive writing by sharing the pen and collaborating with each other on letters, memos, invitations, or any kind of narrative story, as well as on reports in the content areas.

Grade-level modifications

K-2nd Grade

Read aloud a book about school. Off to Kindergarten by Tony Johnson can be used for a kindergarten class. In this rhyming text, a little boy names all of the things he wants to bring to school on the first day of kindergarten, from a sandbox to a chair for his stuffed bear, until his mother assures him that his teacher will have everything he needs. For first or second grade students, use Hamsters, Shells, and Spelling Bees: School Poems in a collection edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins (2008) in his I Can Read poetry anthology series. Lead a discussion using aesthetic reader response questions and prompts: How do you feel about the first day of school? How do you feel about school? What do you wish will happen in school this year?

Tell students they will all share their ideas about school through interactive writing. Students can sit on the rug and form a semicircle facing an easel with a piece of paper on it. Ask students for title suggestions for the piece of interactive writing (e.g., "Today at School," "School," "The First Day of School," or another title that emerges from the discussion of the book). Discuss the title choice with the students and either write the title at the top of the chart paper or whitcboard or ask for a child to volunteer to take the pen (marking pen) and write the title. Provide scaffolding to support the student writer with spelling, capitalization, punctuation, or other writing conventions.

For days other than the first day of school, here arc some topics and sentence starters:

"Today is Monday" (or any other day of the week)

"Today is President's Day" (or any other holiday)

"It's a Rainy Day" (or any other weather)

"We're Going to the Zoo" (or any other field trip)

Plus Technology

Through the use of a Smart Board, take dictation and project students' interactive writing on a screen. Revisions can be made to the writing as students watch the changes made on the screen, and mini-lessons may be modeled as well. The interactive writing can also be in the form of an e-mail message that can be sent anywhere-to another teacher's classroom, other school personnel (e.g., the principal or the librarian), or to family members with e-mail access.

Recommended children's books

3rd Grade-5th Grade

Students can write interactively in response to a read aloud book such as Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (Blume, 1972). Letters can be written interactively by the whole class to someone who visited the class as a guest speaker, to the author of a book they enjoyed, to another class to join them for an activity, to the principal or other school staff in appreciation for something, to a student who is at home for medical reasons, or to the editor of a newspaper on an issue of concern to students. Students can also form groups and write stories, narratives, or short reports in the content areas interactively.

Students can form more than one group but agree to write on the same topic. For example, in response to a chapter book like Ramona the Pest (Cleary, 1968), more advanced primary students could plan to write their own memoir of school patterned after the book. They could identify a main character together but write separate chapters on different topics such as friends, recess, favorite school subjects, least favorite school subjects, or most embarrassing moments. The groups could meet periodically as a whole and discuss the continuity among the chapters and revise accordingly.

Writing conventions appropriate for Grades 3 through 5, or as needed, can be taught in mini-lessons during interactive writing.

Indenting paragraphs

Punctuation: Hyphens, colons, parentheses, or commas in a series of adjectives

Strong verbs, specific nouns, and colorful adjectives and adverbs

Complete and incomplete sentences

Contractions

Pluralization rules

Plural possessives

Quotation marks and underlining in published titles

Homonyms

Onomatopoeia

Recommended children's books

Differentiated instruction

English language learners

Interactive writing makes the writing process visual to the whole class, and English learners who are not yet writing can contribute by illustrating the interactive writing. Interactive writing is context-embedded instruction that taps the prior knowledge of students. It also involves social interaction and cooperation among students. If an English learner is not yet writing, they could "hold the space" between words as another student or the teacher writes the words.

English learners see writing modeled and can copy sentences into their own writing in journals or stories. Use the interactive writing strategy with small groups of English learners, using primary language support as well.

Needs-based groups can be formed and can write interactively in a variety of ways (e.g., responding to a book read aloud or any previously read text, or writing conventions specifically needed by the group).

Struggling students

Students participate by verbally sharing ideas for interactive writing. Take dictation for students, either by writing their ideas for them or by writing them in pencil first and having the student write over them with a marking pen.

Do interactive writing in a small group of three to five struggling readers and writers while other students write in journals or write stories. The same procedure would be used, but each child would have more opportunity to participate and there would be more time to assess and differentiate instruction for each one.

Assessment

Initialing Interactive Writing: Show each child how to initial their writing on the chart. This provides a record of their progress in writing and a means to identify strengths and needs of each child over time. In small groups or writing conferences, provide mini-lessons for each child's assessed needs.

Interactive Writing Record: Use a loose-leaf notebook to keep a record of each child's writing during interactive writing. Word process and print out a facsimile of the form that follows, 3-hole punch it, and include it in the notebook. Use alphabet tabs for last names, and put each child's record under the letter of their last name. Periodically, go through the interactive writing pieces and note the following for each child on their sheet of paper:

Resources

McCarrier, A., Pinnell, G. S., and Fountas, I. C. (2000). Interactive writing: How language and literacy come together. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The kindergarten teacher begins interactive writing in her class by writing "Today is ..." on a piece of chart paper. She asks for a volunteer to take the pen and write the day, which she has written on a sentence strip and clipped to the top of the chart.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Have you ever tasted an Arab taco?

When was the Arab taco invented?

What is shawarma?

Find it out

How are currency exchange rates determined?

What was the gold standard?

Which type of currency exchange rate system does the U.S. use?

Find it out
Which of the following is usually NOT a factor in determining currency exchange rates?

Test your knowledge

How can I use Wonderopolis?

What are the parts of a Wonder?

How do writers make a Wonder?

Find it out
Based on information from the Wonder, what was Lou Castro known for when he was alive?

Test your knowledge

What is an okapi?

Where do okapis live?

What do okapis eat?

Find it out

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Where the Wonders of Learning Never Cease | Wonderopolis

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Where the Wonders of Learning Never Cease

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If you teach writing workshop, then chances are you value student independence. You encourage kids to solve problems on their own, do their very best work, choose their own topics to write about, and to work at their own pace.

For the most part, kids will improve as writers by practicing writing themselves. However, there are times when kids might need a little extra scaffolding. Shared writing can support their work in a variety of ways.
What is shared writing?
Simply put, shared writing is when the kids come up with the ideas as a group, and the teacher does all or most of the actual physical writing on the page. Most often, shared writing happens on chart paper or on a SmartBoard, so that the whole class can work together on a story (or essay, song, poem, or any kind of writing). But shared writing can also happen in small groups, or even one-one with a student on smaller paper.

Shared writing is not the same as independent writing, and it doesn't take the place of it. But it can be a helpful method to use a certain points in a unit, and with small groups of students.
How does shared writing go?
There are many ways that shared writing might go, but after lots and lots of practice, I have found myself following a pattern.

Here's what I usually do:

1. We meet in the class meeting area so that all the kids are close to me and the easel I'm using for writing (this is across the grades K-8).

2. I invite the kids to come up with ideas for a piece of writing. I usually steer them toward the genre that we'll be studying in writing workshop. I might say, "Soon you'll all be writing your own personal narratives. Today we're going to write one together. First, let's come up with an idea for a story. It should be something that all of us experienced together so that we can all remember how the story goes. What should our story be about?"

3. Kids turn and talk to a partner about their ideas. I move around the meeting area, listening in on kids and gathering ideas.

4. As I move around, I briefly coach kids to be active listeners, and to lift the level of their storytelling.

5. I select one of the ideas I heard (sometimes restating or embellishing it a bit, perhaps making it easier for the rest of the class to understand), and convene the class. "One of you had a great idea that I think all of us could work on together..."

6. I point to the page that I'll be writing on, and say something like, "What should we write here? How should our story begin? Turn and tell your partner what I should write here?"

7. Again, kids turn and talk. I listen in and coach again. Again I gather ideas by listening in.

8. I convene the class. I share what I plan to write. "I heard one of you say..." and then I write it as quickly as I can.

9. I move on to the next sentence or the next page in the same way. I ask kids for ideas, they turn and talk, I coach, and I write what they said.

This pattern works for any genre or type of writing, I just change my prompts accordingly.

What I don't usually do:

1. Shared writing doesn't take the place of the usual writing workshop-it's in addition to it.

2. I don't usually call on one kid at a time (I use turn and talk instead).

3. I try not to spend an inordinate time with just one partnership-I try to move around.

4. I don't try to make their storytelling perfect. I coach briefly, and then accept their approximations.

5. I don't spend a long time on only a tiny bit of writing.

6. During shared writing I don't usually focus on spelling or mechanics. I just write it. (However, interactive writing is another story, for another post someday.)

Some tips to keep in mind for shared writing:

I use large paper that looks just like the paper the children use during writing workshop. I write on chart paper or perhaps a SmartBoard so the whole group can easily read it.

The children are engaged and involved in telling the story (or essay, song, poem, or other kind of text).

I restate/scaffold children's language by modeling rich language and coach them when they storytell.

Over time, children see each step of the writing process modeled:

Coming up with ideas

Planning across the pages, rehearsing how the text will go

Drafting words and sentences

Revising

Editing

Publishing

Over time, children see qualities of good writing modeled:

This kindergarten teacher created this information book with her students by asking them to decide what she should write on each page. They were also working on writing pattern books, so you'll see that she's coached them to use the same pattern across the pages. When students in this classroom went to write their own information books, they knew just what to do to get started, because they had already written several as a class.

You can see in the above example that all of the writing was done by the teacher (you can tell by the handwriting that the kindergarteners did not write the words). The kids did help with the pictures in this case, but that might not be the case in every piece of shared writing. With older students, there might not be pictures at all-the shared writing should mirror what the kids will be doing on their own.
How long does shared writing take?
One session of shared writing usually takes me about ten minutes, fifteen tops. I find that engagement is highest when ideas are fresh and the pace is moving along. It's easy to get sucked in and wind up spending half an hour-time that I just can't afford when I think about all the other things I would like to do in a day. I also find that splitting shared writing into smaller chunks and revisiting it daily gives kids time to think about our piece across days, rather than all in one-shot.

Writing in front of the kids can take a while, especially if you're working with older kids and you want to model writing with lots of detail and elaboration. Occasionally I might say to the kids, "Is it okay with you if I take this home and finish up this part using the great ideas you gave me? I'll share it with you tomorrow so you can make changes to it." This speeds up the process a bit so that we can have a complete piece of writing in a matter of days, rather than weeks, while still ensuring that the kids feel ownership over the text. It's their story after all, not mine.
What's the difference between "shared writing" and "interactive writing?
My colleagues and I at TCRWP refer to shared writing when we are talking about creating a text together with the class (or small group), and the focus is on the kids coming up with the ideas and language. The teacher does the physical writing. Shared writing takes kids through the entire writing process together through oral storytelling: from gathering ideas, to drafting and revising a complete piece. By rehearsing ideas aloud, kids are getting lots of practice with language-they are able to rehearse an idea multiple times in a relatively small amount of time when compared to the time it may take to write. For some kids, oral language/rehearsal is their preferred mode or learning style while others struggle with sharing their thoughts verbally. Shared writing helps you reach those verbal kids who need to and like to talk in order to think and understand, while at the same time supporting the kids who are less comfortable and need extra practice in the speaking and listening department.

On the other hand, we refer to interactive writing when the kids come up to the chart paper and actually do some of the physical writing on the page. Some call this "sharing the pen" or "guided writing." In interactive writing, the goal is to coach the kids to write a conventionally sound text-spelling, grammar, and mechanics are front and center. These pieces of writing tend to be shorter so that each spelling pattern or grammatical feature can be discussed along the way. In grades K-2 an interactive writing text might only be a one-word label, or a sentence that states the classroom news of the day. In grades 3-5 an interactive writing text might be a bit more than that, but still pretty short. I highly recommend the book Interactive Writing by Andrea McCarrier, Irene Fountas, and Gay Su Pinnell if you're interested in learning more.

An example of interactive writing:

You can see that the teacher wrote most of the words, but students wrote the initial consonants, G, T, F, and T. In the process of creating this text, the teacher discussed capitals/lower cases, apostrophes, spaces, listening for the first sound in each word, and end punctuation.

Of course, sometimes I might add a sentence or two to a pre-existing shared writing text, using interactive writing-but that's getting fancy.
What is shared writing good for?
Shared writing provides kids with a mentor text that they had a hand in creating, so that their understanding of the meaning of text, as well as the craft and structure is very strong. For example, if you're about to begin a unit of study on realistic fiction, you might write a realistic fiction piece together with your class before the unit even begins, giving students the big picture of how the unit is going to go. Then as the actual unit progresses, you'll find yourself referring back to the shared class story often, saying "Remember when we wrote our class story? Well today I'm going to teach you that you can do the same thing in your own stories..."

Additionally, early stage English Language Learners especially benefit from the shared experience of creating a story together before being expected to go off and come up with the language to write a story from scratch. In a unit of study on personal narrative, for example, your class story should be about something that the whole class experienced together so that they can all contribute something to it. Then, when it is time for kids to write their own stories, there may be a few individual students who decide to write the same story that was told as a class. For students who are just learning English, using the class story idea and then putting it into their own words is a nice scaffold-one that they will grow out of as they learn more and more vocabulary.

Lastly, for very reluctant writers-I mean, EXTREMELY reluctant writers-the kid who will literally sit for the entire writing workshop day after day without writing anything. Sitting down one-one and starting a shared piece of writing together isn't a terrible idea. The student comes up with the words, you write it down. Don't kid yourself into thinking that this counts as independent writing-it does not. But it is better than nothing and it might help a student get over the toughest part-taking a risk and getting started. It also might help forge a more positive relationship between you and the student, and more confidence about writing in general if the student likes what she/he sees once the words are recorded on the page. Perhaps you start out by writing down the first page or two (depending on the age and needs of the student), and then they finish it. Then the next time you only write a few paragraphs. Then finally you only write a sentence or two. In this way you can gradually release responsibility to the learner, and give them a little boost to get over whatever hang-up is keeping them from getting going.
In Conclusion...
While shared writing can never take the place of giving kids time and space to practice their own writing, you might find that it can play an important role along side your minilessons, conferences, small group work, and all the other important methods you have in your teaching repertoire.

My questions for you:

1. What do you think? Does this match what you thought shared writing was? Or is this different than what you had heard in the past?

2. Do you use use shared writing in your classroom? When do you use it? When do you not use it?

Please share your thoughts and comments below. Let's have a conversation!

Literacy Coach, Consultant, Author, Graduate Course Instructor, and Mom. Passionate about fostering a love of reading and writing in learners of all ages. View all posts by BethMooreSchool

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Shared Writing 101: A Crash Course in Writing Together

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A quick, down and dirty, overview of shared writing and how it might support your students.

# data[].attributes.body
Cayman Islands Department of Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Heinemann is a publisher of professional resources and a provider of educational services for teachers, kindergarten through college.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.

World-class content

Access thousands of reading lessons and our comprehensive ELA curriculum, CommonLit 360.

Accessible for all learners

Tailor instruction to students' needs with text-to-speech, translation, and digital note-taking.

Actionable data

Track students' reading performance, set goals, and plan instructional next steps.

CommonLit
Digital Library

Discover thousands of free, supplemental lessons and quizzes in English and Spanish - all featuring great authors.

CommonLit
Assessment Series

Measure growth in reading comprehension with three benchmark assessments when you unlock our premium packages.

CommonLit 360 &
Professional Development

Support a successful rollout of our research-backed ELA curriculum with personalized webinars and on-demand trainings.

"

CommonLit has made a tremendously positive impact on my teaching practice. I'm very proud to teach CommonLit!

Jennifer Lane ELA Teacher

"

CommonLit definitely keeps me organized. It's easy for me to grade and it's easy for me to see students' reading growth increase throughout the year.

"

The CommonLit assessment questions are aligned to our ELA standards, which is extremely helpful when prepping for the state exam.

Teachers trust CommonLit to foster students' reading comprehension

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CommonLit | Free Online Reading Passages and Literacy Resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
CommonLit is a comprehensive literacy program with thousands of reading lessons, full-year ELA curriculum, benchmark assessments, and standards-based data for teachers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Short lesson plans based on Times content

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Graphs, maps and charts from The Times — and an invitation to students to discuss them live.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Intriguing Times images stripped of their captions — and an invitation to students to discuss them live.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Poetry and lessons for children of all ages by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater for classrooms or homeschools to teach literacy and writing workshop instruction

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Poems, readings, poetry news and the entire 110-year archive of POETRY magazine.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It's time to improve literacy skills during social studies instruction and ensure that readers of all abilities have what they need to access grade-level social studies concepts.

Join us on Thursday, December 7 for a look at scaffolded materials that provide extra literacy support while building key social studies concepts and skills.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Newsela | Content and assessment platform

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Content Aligned To National & State Standard, Flexible To Support Relevant Curriculum. Find the Perfect Piece Of Content For Lessons. Go beyond the book.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
CBC Kids News is real news for real kids. Your trusted daily source for the news, pop culture and sports stories that Canadian kids want to know!