What is Guided Writing?
I used to think that guided writing occurred when I gave students a writing assignment and directed them to use a particular format, genre or topic. When I asked them to write in a learning log about a science experiment, write a reflection on a treasured story, or develop an innovation on a favorite predictable book, I was providing guidance but I was mostly giving assignments.
I realize now that these "assignments" had value for deepening knowledge of content and text structure but there was little "guiding" about the craft of being a writer.
I now see guided writing as a highly focused small group writing experience. As in guided reading, this is a time when the teacher is focused tightly on a small group of learners. During this small group time, the teacher can provide link ups to minilessons shared with the whole class and give an opportunity for the writers to engage with the minilesson concepts while the teacher is close by to guide and support. This small group time might be an opportunity to stretch and expand the writing skills of gifted students, to reteach key writing skills for struggling students, or to demonstrate an informational text feature a group of students would find helpful in their content writing. As in guided reading, this time is built upon learner needs. Groups are small, flexible and short term.
Parallels to Guided Reading
I see many parallels between guided reading and guided writing. Both are conducted in a small group setting and emphasize strategies. Both emphasize explicit teaching followed by students independently applying and reflecting upon the strategies which were taught.I really appreciate the role guided writing plays in a balanced literacy
curriculum as it is flexible, fits into any management system and supports all curricular areas.Guided Writing as an Extension of Guided Reading
I often slip into guided writing as an extension of a guided reading lesson, taking students into the world of the writer in response to their reading. In this case, I would ask the students to revisit their guided reading selection to think with the eyes of an informational author. What do we notice about this author’s word choice, use of bullets in a list, use of captions, or conventions such as bold face headings. How did these help us as readers? How might we use those tools in our own informational writing?The next step would be to get out writing folders and have the students
examine a piece of informational text to consider adding text features which would strengthen their message and offer better support to their readers.In this scenario, guided writing would be slipped into the time allocated for guided reading with students shifting between guided reading and guided writing. This requires no adjustments in daily schedules as guided writing occurs during an already scheduled time block.
Guided Writing Within Writers Workshop
Guided writing can offer instructional power during writers workshop. If you look at your writers workshop schedule, you might be able to allocate ten minutes of each workshop for a guided reading group to meet. This could be regularly scheduled where students know they have guided writing with you every Monday or … It could also be much more flexible in that you could use that allocated guided writing time to gather students in flexible needs groups to do some explicit linking up to a whole class minilesson or to teach an advanced lesson on voice in informational text.Guided Writing in Content Area Studies
Math, science, social studies and health all offer rich opportunities to
gather small guided writing groups for explicit instruction and support on writing in the content areas. Even a brief session can heighten learner awareness and bring increased skill to their written communications.
