Opinion Blog

Classroom Q&A

With Larry Ferlazzo

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to lferlazzo@epe.org. Read more from this blog.

Education Opinion

Q&A Collections: Writing Instruction

By Larry Ferlazzo — August 14, 2019 4 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

During the summer, I will be sharing thematic posts bringing together responses on similar topics from the past eight years. You can see all those collections from the first seven years here.

Here are the ones I’ve posted so far:

This Year’s Most Popular Q&A Posts

Race & Gender Challenges

Classroom-Management Advice

Best Ways to Begin the School Year

Best Ways to End the School Year

Implementing the Common Core

Student Motivation & Social-Emotional Learning

Teaching Social Studies

Cooperative & Collaborative Learning

Using Tech in the Classroom

Parent Engagement in Schools

Teaching English Language Learners

Reading Instruction

Today’s theme is on Writing Instruction. You can see the list following this excerpt from one of them:

* ‘We Should Embrace Writing in Social Studies’

Martha Sevetson Rush, Andrew Miller, Melissa Miles, Donna L. Shrum, and Richard Byrne contribute their thoughts on writing in social studies classes.

* Ways to Integrate Writing in Social Studies Classes

Stan Pesick, Ben Alvord, Dawn Mitchell, Rachel Johnson, and Rebecca Testa-Ryan share their suggestions on integrating writing into social studies classes.

* ‘Not All Feedback Is Created Equal’

The final post in this series on student-writing feedback includes answers from Stacey Shubitz, Carol Pelletier Radford, Melanie Ward, Tasha Thomas, Dawn Mitchell, Jen Schwanke, and Donna L. Shrum. I also share comments from readers.

* ‘Sometimes the Best Student-Writing Feedback Is Encouragement to Keep Going’

Regie Routman, Paul Solarz, David Hochheiser, Kathy T. Glass, Catherine Beck, and Keith McCarroll offer their wisdom on giving feedback to student writers.

* Ways to Give Effective Feedback on Student Writing

Susan M. Brookhart, Ph.D, Cheryl Mizerny, Amy Benjamin, Kate Wolfe Maxlow, Karen Sanzo, Andrew Miller, David Campos, and Kathleen Fad share their commentaries on the best way to provide feedback on student writing.

*Provide Feedback on Writing That ‘Helps Students Tell Their Story’

Anabel Gonzalez, Sarah Woodard, Kim Jaxon, Ralph Fletcher, Mary Beth Nicklaus, and Leah Wilson begin a four-part series on providing feedback on student writing.

* ‘Writing Frames Help Students Organize Their Thinking’

Matthew Perini, David Campos, Kathleen Fad, Jocelyn A. Chadwick, and Diane Mora finish up a three-part series on writing frames.

* ‘Writing Frames Are the Recipes of Writing’

Patty McGee, Jules Csillag, Sara Holbrook, Michael Salinger, and Kathy Glass share their ideas on instructional strategies for teaching writing.

* Strategies for Using Writing ‘Frames’ and ‘Structures’

Beth Rimer, Linda Denstaedt, Gretchen Bernabei, Nancy Boyles, Mary Shea, Nancy Roberts, and Eileen Depka contribute ideas on how to use writing frames and writing structures in the classroom.

* How to ‘Weave Writing Throughout Science Lessons’

Anne Vilen, Sheila Waggoner, ReLeah Cossett Lent, Jason Wirtz, Amy Benjamin, Jennifer L. Altieri, and Fred Ende contribute their suggestions on incorporating writing into science classes.

* Ways to Integrate Writing Into Science Classes

Mary K. Tedrow, Amy Roediger, Dr. Maria Grant,Diane Lapp,Ed.D., Mandi White, Tara Dale, and Becky Bone share their suggestions for how to integrate writing into science classes.

* Mistakes Made in Writing Instruction & What to Do Instead

Lisa Eickholdt, Kathleen Neagle Sokolowski, Mary Ann Zehr, Nancy Frey, and Valentina Gonzalez share their commentaries on writing instruction.

* Avoiding ‘Missed Opportunities’ in Writing Instruction

Eugenia Mora-Flores, Julia G. Thompson, Karen Sher, Bret Gosselin, Dr. Vicky Giouroukakis, and Emily Geltz contribute their suggestions about writing instruction.

* ‘Do Not Grade Every Piece of Writing a Student Creates’

Tan Huynh, Dr. Lynell Powell, Dr. Rebecca Alber, Cheryl Mizerny, Mitchell Nobis, and Kai Marks write about mistakes made in writing instruction.

* We Need to ‘Slow Down’ When Teaching Writing

We finish up this series on teaching writing with responses from Alan Sitomer, Sean Ruday, Jen Schwanke, Heather Wolpert-Gawron, Kathy Glass, Meghan Everette, and Brian Kissel.

* ‘Writing in Math Class Is a Win-Win for Students & Teachers’

Dr. Linda Dacey, Sandy Atkins, Andrea Clark, Mike Flynn, ReLeah Cossett Lent, and Shannon Jones share their ideas on how to incorporate writing into math instruction.

* Writing Instruction & the Common Core—Part Three

This piece features commentaries from Amy Benjamin, Alice Mercer, and from many readers.

* Preparing Students to Write Is ‘About Our Own Collaboration’

Heather Wolpert-Gawron, Kathy Glass, and Carol Jago share their ideas.

* Developing Student Writers by Letting Them Talk...

This post shares commentaries from educators Mary Tedrow, Ray Salazar, and Tanya Baker.

* Many Ways English Teachers Can Improve Their Craft

Author/educators Penny Kittle and Carol Jago contribute their responses.

* Ten Elements of Effective Instruction’

This post includes pieces from Jim Burke and David B. Cohen, as well as comments from readers.

* Many Ways to Help Students Develop Academic Vocabulary

Several educator/authors—Marilee Sprenger; Jane Hill and Kirsten Miller; and Maria Gonzalez—provide guest responses.

* Celebrating Our Students’ Good Writing

This post shares guest responses from three educators: Mary Tedrow, Doug Fisher, and Nancy Frey.

* Helping Our Students Become Better Writers, Part Two

Three educators—Aimee Buckner, Carolyn Coman, and Tanya Baker—contribute their ideas here.

* Helping Boys Become Stronger Writers

Educator and author Ralph Fletcher shares his ideas on how we can specifically help boys become stronger writers.

* A ‘Napkin Curriculum for Writing’

Author and teacher Barry Lane provides his perspective in this post.

* Teaching Writing by Respecting Student Ideas

Teachers Renee Moore and Ray Salazar share their contributions, and I add in my suggestions.

The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.