What is Interactive Writing?

Interactive writing is an instructional model in which teachers and students "share the pen" to compose a piece of writing. Teachers and students co-develop writing ideas, then work together to utilize what they have learned in phonics and spelling to write words with conventional spelling. Teachers will help students to stretch out each word, think about learned spelling patterns and spell each word correctly. The piece is written on chart paper or the whiteboard, and students might write on whiteboards or use dry erase sleeves to write as well. Depending on the content of the sentence(s), teachers may write spelling patterns that have not yet been learned, so that the piece remains spelling entirely conventionally.

Why Interactive Writing?

Interactive writing is a bridge between explicitly taught phonics and spelling and independent writing. During phonics instruction, students learn to decode and encode words, often in isolation. Interactive writing is a time that students can then apply those skills with the support of the teacher. This becomes a bridge to independent writing, when students must apply learned skills on their own. At the core of our literacy program is the belief that we must always teach toward student independence. Interactive writing is one way to work toward this important goal.