Chapter 5

Chapter 5 discusses the importance and value of shared writing. Shared writing provides opportunities for students to feel enjoyment and comfort when it comes to writing. The students who have the greatest benefit from shared writing are English Language Learners, Special Education students, and Low-Income students. As I was reading about Shared Writing, I kept asking myself, “Why don’t I do this?” It seems that we spent so much time learning how to teach reading in college, that we didn’t get many opportunities to focus on the teaching of writing. I’m very familiar with shared reading and do this daily. However, I do not do shared writing.

As I read about shared writing, I was generating some ideas of when I could use this in class. The first idea I had was to use it when teaching students about the RAFT projects we do so often. I give the students an audience, format, reason, and strong verb along with a prompt that they must respond to. What a great way to teach students this process through shared writing! Another time I can use shared writing is when we get ready to write our Secret Knowledge of Grown-ups class book that focuses on the trait of ideas. Each student is given a page and they must create a rule and explain the “true” meaning of the rule. I can also use shared writing to teach persuasive writing. The final project in this unit is to have students select a ridiculously expensive product that they are in charge of writing a persuasive ad for. However, I love the idea of introducing students to the project by having each class write a persuasive ad together through shared writing. The picture below shows a page out of this year's "Secret Knowledge of Grown-ups" class book.