Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively

Example 3

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. Teacher teams in the same grade collaborating to analyze student work

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Example 3

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. A sample tracking sheet to monitor student progress over time

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Introduction

Introduction to the Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively  

Practice Guide 

I

mproving students’ writing skills helps them succeed inside and outside the classroom.  

Effective writing is a vital component of students’ literacy achievement, and writing is a  

critical communication tool for students to convey thoughts and opinions, describe ideas and 

events, and analyze information. Indeed, writing is a life-long skill that plays a key role in post-

secondary success across academic and vocational disciplines.

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The nature of writing and writing instruction 

is changing. Technology, such as word pro-

cessing and other forms of electronic commu-

nication, plays an increasingly important role 

in how students learn and practice writing in 

and out of the classroom. In addition, best 

practices in writing instruction have shifted to 

include integrated interventions that involve 

many complementary instructional practices.

This practice guide presents three evidence-

based recommendations for helping students 

in grades 6–12 develop effective writing skills. 

Each recommendation provides teachers with 

specific, actionable guidance for implement-

ing practices in their classrooms. The guide 

also provides a description of the evidence 

supporting each recommendation, examples 

to use in class, and the panel’s advice on 

how to overcome potential implementation 

obstacles. This practice guide was developed 

in conjunction with an expert panel, combin-

ing the panel’s expertise with the findings of 

existing rigorous research. Throughout the 

guide, statements supported by evidence are 

denoted with references.

See the Glossary for a full list of key terms 

used in this guide and their definitions. 

These terms are bolded when first intro-

duced in the guide.

Look for this icon for ways to  

incorporate technology during 

writing instruction.