In this article, we describe the process of revising our writing program's teaching observation forms and processes over the last several years, drawing from descriptions of best practices in conducting teaching observations in writing programs (Comer; Jackson). We analyze the teaching observation form as it functions in a structurational nexus to…

This mixed-methods study sought to extend what is known about preservice teachers' (PSTs') preparation for teaching writing by examining their responding to individual children's narrative, informative, and persuasive writing at the start and end of a writing methods course. Participants were 115 elementary PSTs. Their selections of teaching foci…

Educators play an important role in ensuring that students attain the necessary strategic actions to become skilled writers. Studies have indicated that teachers need to consistently embed a larger range of evidence-based writing practices in their instruction to help their students improve the overall quantity and quality of their writing. The…

Little is known about students' engagement in school writing tasks and the methods that should be used by the researchers to assess this engagement. This exploratory study examines the relationship between the engagement reported by elementary school students (N = 136) in a handwriting and keyboarding activity (Likert scale questionnaire) and…

Learning to write is a complex process and children have to orchestrate a range of processes and skills in order to produce written messages. Young children are facing increasing demands in terms of the expected complexity of their written messages in education settings across the world. Teachers, in turn, are challenged to support children and…

The purpose of this paper is to review the utility of think alouds in writing instruction and highlight the function of think-aloud modeling in the development of cognitive and metacognitive strategies that support learners' independence. For these purposes, modeling with coping is also explained. Coping models, in which teachers encounter…

This study examines how instructional conversations revealed the ways two teachers' argumentative epistemologies (ideational and social process) shaped literacy events focused on the warranting of evidence. A microethnographic study of the literacy events within each teacher's respective instructional unit revealed that each teacher's epistemology…

Although writing is a critical foundational skill and teachers' approaches to writing is connected to development, writing instruction in preschool is often limited, infrequent, and narrow. While research has investigated literacy environments of preschool classrooms, often with a focus on reading, less is known about writing environments. Thus,…

Phenomenography is internationally well-known for its use in studying learning and teaching in educational settings. This paper begins with the discussion of two approaches reported in the literature to study classroom teaching in the phenomenography tradition. The paper goes on to put forward a third approach that is in essence to return to the…

This paper maps a teacher's pedagogic practices when teaching young children to produce texts using digital technologies during a literacy lesson for 7-8 year-old children. Pedagogies are broadly understood as what the teacher does in a classroom to facilitate learning in a twenty-first century classroom. The paper argues that the very notion of…

Previous research has demonstrated that writing instruction can support reading achievement (Graham & Hebert, 2011); however much of this work involved carefully designed interventions. In this study, we evaluated a conceptual framework of the direct and indirect effects of typical writing instruction and student writing practice on reading…

Previous research has demonstrated that writing instruction can support reading achievement (Graham & Hebert, 2011); however much of this work involved carefully designed interventions. In this study, we evaluated a conceptual framework of the direct and indirect effects of typical writing instruction and student writing practice on reading…

Very few empirical studies have investigated programmes in which doctoral students act as peer facilitators in faculty writing groups. We report on the development of a centrally delivered doctoral student writing programme in which twenty student participants were mentored and provided with the resources to initiate their own faculty-based…

Purpose: In this chapter we describe how a rubric-style observation instrument for observing classroom writing instruction was used to focus and optimize collaborative video analysis sessions among teachers and researchers spread across six states. As part of a 3-year Institute of Education Sciences (IES) development grant, we used videos of…

Focusing on writing instruction within an era of international curricular reform, this study analysed classroom observations, educator interviews, and documents related to Japanese elementary writing instruction. A deductive approach using discourses of writing framework and an inductive approach to Japanese cultural practices uncovered beliefs…