Interactive Writing Across Grades: A Small Practice with Big Results

When done on a regular basis, interactive writing has the potential to improve independent writing. Authors Kate Roth and Joan Dabrowski detail how this systemic approach can be applied in Interactive Writing Across Grades: A Small Practice with Big Results, PreK-5.

The story of the book Interactive Writing Across the Grades: A Small Practice with Big Results, PreK-5 begins over twenty years ago when Kate was a new teacher. She was trying different methods of instruction to help her first graders learn to read and write. At that time, Irene Fountas was the literacy coordinator in her school. She was advocating that teachers incorporate a relatively new method called interactive writing. Together Irene and Kate taught interactive writing lessons in Kate's classroom, and Kate was hooked from the beginning. "I loved the energy of the lessons, the way I was pulling together my entire literacy curriculum in every interactive writing session, the opportunity to reach so many students at different levels while creating a community of writers, and the rich and authentic products we created."

Throughout the next several years, Kate implemented interactive writing on a daily basis with her primary grade students in both urban and suburban classrooms. It became one of the core teaching practices in her class. During this time she also trained as a Reading Recovery teacher. "The more I learned about students' literacy development and how assessment informs good instruction, the more I was convinced of the power of this practice to help improve students' independent writing."

When Kate pursued her Doctorate in Language and Literacy at Harvard University, her research focused on interactive writing in the primary grades. She was thrilled, although not surprised, that her research findings confirmed her classroom experience: interactive writing is a powerful method for improving children's independent writing.

These results fueled Kate's decision to refine and expand her understanding of interactive writing through additional action-research and coaching both in the United States and China, where she lived for over five years with her family. During this time she wrote articles for professional journals, presented on interactive writing at conferences, and published twenty books for children on how to write as part of the Language Arts Explorer Junior series. Her passion, however, was and continues to be supporting teachers in all elementary grades as they take on this practice in their own classrooms.

Kate now lives in Connecticut with her husband and three children.

Joan's 25-year career in education has afforded her the opportunity to spend time in many interesting places and to work with countless thoughtful colleagues. Currently, she is the Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning in Wellesley, MA. Prior to this, she held a wide range of positions including: K-12 teacher, literacy coach, adjunct professor, national consultant, curriculum writer, and district administrator. She has taught, consulted, or conducted research in schools and districts across the country including Baltimore, Boston, Cambridge, Detroit, Hawaii, Houston, Louisville and Montgomery County. She spent ten years as a classroom teacher (grades K-2 and 4-5) before becoming a school-based literacy coach. She went on to be a district coach and the Director of Literacy in the Boston Public Schools. In each of these roles, Joan has embraced the chance to collaborate with others who share her commitment to positively impact the lives of children through literacy.

Joan's interest in writing instruction - specifically interactive writing - initially stems from her own struggles as a grade 4-5 classroom teacher. During writers' workshop, she did what she knew: modeled her own writing, scribed for her students, and read-aloud many mentor texts written by award-winning authors. She also dabbled in the six traits and frequently analyzed her students' writing seeking answers for where to go next. While much of this helped her students, she sensed they needed more explicit guidance. This feeling grew as she visited many classrooms as a district coach and then a national consultant. She also recognized a common challenge: writing instruction was not given the time nor the attention it needed. Moreover, the teachers she met were looking for ways to develop their student writers and were eager for concrete guidance on how to do so efficiently and effectively. When her co-author, Kate Roth, approached her to write about interactive writing, it was an easy sell!

Since 2007, Joan has been a national literacy consultant, presenter and curriculum writer. Her literacy and leadership consulting work has focused mainly in urban school districts where low-income students and students of color may struggle to meet the ever-demanding reading and writing standards. She also serves as a literacy advisor to The Education Trust, a nonprofit organization that advocates for high academic achievement for all students. With Ed Trust, she co-authored, Checking In: Do Classroom Assignments Reflect Today's Higher Standards?, a national report that summarized an analysis of over 1800 middle school literacy assignments in English language arts, history and science. Joan is most passionate about supporting school-based efforts to improve and refine literacy practices through a wide range of adult learning experiences.

Joan began her career in Teach for America and earned a master's degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She went on to earn her Doctorate of Education in K-12 School Leadership at Vanderbilt University, Peabody College. She is lives in Massachusetts with her husband (a long time school principal) and their two teenaged children.