Learning to Write With Interactive Writing Instruction

Figure 1 
Word Solving on the Practice Part of the Interactive 
Writing Tablet
Note. 
The color figure can be viewed in the online version of this article 
at http://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com.

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FEATURE ARTICLE
The Reading Teacher Vol. 71 No. 5 March/April 2018 literacyworldwide.org
Classmate: Look around the room, Andrew. [This 
prompts “Use a resource.” Andrew 
doesn’t look for the word; he segments 
the phonemes and writes “trky” on the 
practice part.]
Diane: 
Andrew, I like the way you stretched it 
out! And you put a 
y
on the end, like in 
Barry’s and Wiley’s names! [This affirms 
Andrew’s use of two strategies: “Say the 
word slowly and listen for the sounds 
you hear,” and “Use what you know 
about one another’s names.”] Should we 
check our book to see if it’s right? [This 
prompts “Use a resource.”]
Students: 
Yes. [Diane flips through pages of the Big 
Book that she had read earlier.]
Diane: 
[point ing ] Here’s t he word 
turkey
. 
Andrew left out two vowels, a 
u
and an 
e
, but you really can’t hear those sounds. 
[This demonstrates “Use a resource.” 
Andrew writes “turkey” in the group 
text.]
There were 298 instances of Diane prompt-
ing students to use a word- solving strategy. She 
also prompted students to use the letter sounds 
and writing conventions that she had taught. 
Frequent prompting and guided practice supported 
the students’ appropriation of these cognitive tools 
(Dennen, 2004; Rogoff, 1990).
Diane encouraged the use of word solving and 
invented spelling during journal writing: “If you use 
your strategies and try your best, I will be able to 
read it.” However, she expected students to correctly 
spell their weekly spelling words, which were posted 
on the word wall. Anytime a student asked for help 
in writing a spelling word, Diane responded, “That’s 
a spelling word. You know how to spell it.” She knew 
that mastery of these high- frequency words would 
allow students to attend more to the composing pro-
cess (Graham & Harris, 2016).