Learning to Write With Interactive Writing Instruction

Understanding the Orthography
Becoming a good writer also meant learning a host 
of principles underlying the written system. In ev-
ery lesson, Diane taught specific characteristics 
of English orthography. Early on, she focused on 
concepts about print (e.g., spacing, left- to- right di-

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rection). Across the year, she taught 15 vowels, 28 
consonants (see Table 1), and four inflectional end-
ings (
-ing
, 
-ed
, 
-s
, and 
-es
). She frequently talked 
about “tricky” letters, explaining that some words 
have “silent letters you can’t hear” or letters that can 
represent more than one sound, “like the tricky 
y
in 
candy
.” She illustrated how “some rhyming words 
have the same letters” (e.g., 
train, rain
), but others do 
not (e.g., 
cane
). Diane said, “Some words are so tricky, 
you just have to know them. Like the word 
are
, it’s a 
word you just have to know.” She used literate terms 
(e.g., 
vowel
, 
proper noun
, 
verb
) to give students a vo-
cabulary for talking about written language. All of 
Diane’s orthographic instruction applied directly 
to the text the group was writing, which provided 
a meaningful context for teaching fundamental 
Vowels taught
Number
observed
Consonants taught
Number
observed
[a] /
ə
/ vs. /ā/
1
[b] 
bump
1
[a] 
a
, 
about
, 
water
, 
another
, 
around
, 
was
7
[c] 
practice
, 
cousin
, 
candy
6
[ā] 
play
, 
game
2
[c] 
special
1
[a] 
practice
1
[c] 
decided
1
[e] 
went
, 
them
, 
children
, 
peck
4
[k] 
kiss
, 
think
, 
chunk
4
[i] 
fish
, 
animals
2
[c, k] can make the same sound
1
[o] 
mostly
, 
told
, 
old
4
[l] 
school
1
[u] 
mud
, 
us
, 
chunk
4
[s] 
was
, 
things
2
[y] 
candy
, 
happy
2
[t] 
water
1
[ee] 
see
, 
street
, 
tree
3
[w] 
wall
1
[ea] 
eagle
, 
teacher
2
[r] 
around
1
[ie] 
pie
1
[s] 
sound
1
[ou] 
out
, 
sound
, 
around
, 
cloud
, 
house
15
[dr] 
dragon
1
[ou] 
cousin
1
[gr] 
grump
1
[oo] 
two
1
[sc] 
school
1
[y] 
they
1
[ch] 
children
, 
chunk
, 
catch
7
[ck] 
kick
1
[sh] 
fish
, 
wish
2
[th] 
think
, 
thumb
, 
Thanksgiving
3
[th] 
this
, 
together
, 
another
3
[wh] 
when
1
[eer] 
deer
1
[er] 
water
, 
deliver
, 
another
, 
together
5
[ir] 
air
, 
birthday
2
[eir] 
their
1
[or] 
for
, 
popcorn
2
[st] 
stop
1
[pr] 
practice
1
[ph] 
telephone
, 
homophone
2
Note
. Indicated are the phoneme taught, the words written, and the number of times observed.
Table 1 
Vowels and Consonants Taught During Interactive Writing Lessons

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concepts that are essential to learning to write (Clay, 
2001).
Word Solving
Diane took a problem- solving approach to spelling, 
and she created a practice part on the large writ-
ing tablet to make this cognitive work explicit. At 
the start of each lesson, she drew a line across the 
large writing tablet, about nine inches from the top. 
Pointing to the area she had just created, she ex-
plained, “This will be the practice part, and the bot-
tom part will be where we write.” Diane handed the 
pen to a student and said, “Try it on the practice 
part.” Then, she scaffolded the student’s attempts 
to spell the word, as illustrated in the following data 
excerpt (see Figure 1):
Diane: 
[rereading] “They”— What’s the next word 
in our sentence?
Students: 
Got
.
Diane: 
Let’s stretch it out: /g/ /o˘/ /t/. [Students 
segment the phonemes with her. Diane 
draws three Elkonin boxes on the practice 
part and then hands the pen to Kyle.] I 
hear three sounds. What’s the first sound?
Students: /g/ or 
g
. [Kyle writes a 
g
in the first box and 
an 
i
and 
t
in the remaining boxes.]
Diane: 
Kyle is close! [Diane draws another set of 
Elkonin boxes beneath Kyle’s attempt and 
writes the 
g
and 
t
, leaving the middle box 
empty.] /g/ /o˘/ /t/. What do we hear in the 
middle? /g/ /o˘/ /t/.
Students: 
O
. [Kyle adds the 
o
and then writes 
got
in 
the group text.]
As Diane scaffolded the students’ work on the 
practice part, she explicitly taught 10 word- solving 
strategies:
1. Try it on the practice part.
2. Clap the syllables you hear.
3. Say the word before you write it.
4. Say the word slowly and listen for the sounds 
you hear; stretch it out.
5. Say the word slowly and listen for parts you 
know (e.g., 
or
in 
story
).
6. Use a word you know (e.g., “If you know the 
word 
all
, you can spell 
tall
”).
7. Use what you know about one another’s 
names.
8. Use a word that rhymes with the word you 
want to spell.
9. Check the word to see if it looks right.
10. Use a resource (e.g., dictionary, word wall).
Diane explained that “a strategy is something 
you do to help yourself,” and she privileged “try-
ing” words on the practice part above all other 
strategies. She said, “When you are writing, you 
should try it first on your practice part. Think about 
the sounds you hear, then check in a book or look 
around the room.” When a student suggested that 
asking for help was a good strategy, Diane replied, 
“After you’ve tried it on the practice part and used 
your strategies, then you can ask for help.”
Diane repeatedly prompted students to use those 
strategies as they tried words on the practice part, 
as illustrated in this conversation:
Diane: 
What’s the next word in our sentence?
Students: 
Turkey
.
Diane: 
Let’s clap it. [This prompts “Clap the syl-
lables you hear.” Diane and the students 
say 
tur-key
and clap once for each sylla-
ble.] Yes, two syllables. Andrew, will you 
try 
turkey
for us? [This prompts “Try it on 
the practice part.”]