“Which came first is not as important as the

fact that without one the other cannot exist.”Joelle Brummitt-Yale

Reading is important to writing because…

reading instruction is most effective when intertwined with writing instruction and vice versa. when children read extensively, they become better writers. reading a variety of genre helps children learn text structures and language they can transfer into their own writing. reading provides young children prior knowledge they can use in their stories. we read to learn and must have information to share to write about it.

Writing is important to reading because…

Younger children: develop phonemic awareness as they read and write new words. reinforce phonics skills or the ability to link sounds and letters to construct words when they read and write the same words.

Older children: practice in the process of writing their own texts helps them analyze the pieces they read. apply knowledge about the ways they choose to use a particular language, text, structure, or content to better understand an author’s construction of his or her text.

Writing Workshop Reading WorkshopChildren decide upon various topics to write about and jot entries in writer’s notebook.

Children listen and read in ways that allow for retelling, responding, sharing, and conversation.

Children reread entries, find one on which to begin the writing process.

Children select a comment and have a discussion about it.

Children listen to each other in order to bring significance to ideas about writing.

Children listen to each other in order to bring significance to ideas about books.

Teachers equip students with strategies for thinking and writing more as they elaborate and develop ideas: Reread what is written. Ask marginal questions. Find details that relate to the first. Ask, “What is surprising me here?”

Children develop a hunch, and as they continue reading, they find new evidence which informs their developing theory. They gather and chart evidence that adds to, complicates, or challenges their initial idea and ask themselves:

How does this connect with my theory? What’s surprising me here? How does this section relate to the big idea?

If students are taught in reading workshop what they need to know as readers and in writing workshop what they need to know as writers, they will begin to put the two together (Calkins, 2002).

Shared reading is a way to provide examples and nonexamples of effective craft. Students are usually able to draw patterns from the samples (Allen, 2002).

Organizational Design of a Craft Lesson:

Introduce the concept with a shared text. Provide opportunities to discover patterns of the craft. Synthesize the discoveries into transferable information. Apply the craft to an individual’s writing. Provide support to internalize the craft so that the revision becomes part of the writing repertoire.

The writing you get out of your students can only be as good as the classroom literature that surrounds

and sustains it (Fletcher & Portalupi, 1998).

The books children themselves plan, write, and illustrate become classroom favorites, and the shared

writing experience stays with them as a powerful model for independent writing (Parkes, 2000).

It puts the pen in the reader’s hand. It demonstrates the reading-writing connection. It engages children in thinking like an author. It sets a purpose for reading, comprehending, and composing. It establishes a scaffold for sustained writing. It supplies wonderful classroom resources for shared reading. It builds oral language. It focuses children’s thinking on meaning, structure, layout, print, pictures, and other visual supports such as diagrams and maps. It creates authentic purposes for phonemic awareness, phonics, and spelling.

When reading and writing are linked, students have an opportunity to learn and understand content, language, and text features as they explore those forms in their writing (Hoyt, Mooney, & Parkes, 2003).

Sample Lesson: What’s Living at Your Place? by Bruce Chapman

Reading Focus: Diagrams in Informational Text

Writing Focus: Diagrams in Informational Text

Attend to the wide array of diagrams the author uses to communicate information about animals and insects that make their homes in our homes and yards. Engage students in a discussion about the role of diagrams. How did the diagrams help them better understand the animals and insects in the book? Did the diagrams cause them to notice parts on the bodies of the insects they might not have noticed in an unlabeled photograph?

Focus students on using diagrams as tools in their writing. Using the content from the reading selection, writers could consider which type of diagram would best suit the writing they are planning. In a supported setting, they could consider their purpose and audience and plan how their message could be communicated through text and a diagram. The goal would be to help writers assimilate diagrams into their writers toolbox.

SAMPLE GENRES AND PURPOSES FOR READING AND WRITING THEM

Genre Purpose for Reading Purpose for Writing

Informational Text

Gain info about the natural or social world

Provide info about the natural or social world to someone who needs it

Procedural Text

Make/Do something according to procedures

Guide the making/doing of something for someone who wants or needs it

Fictional Narrative

Text

Relax, for entertainment, to discuss

Provide relaxation, to entertain, to foster discussion

Personal Letter

Maintain a relationship or share emotions

Maintain a relationship or express emotions

Biography Learn about a person’s life Convey information about a person’s life

Book Review

Learn about a book and someone’s opinion of it

Convey information about a book and one’s opinion of it

Teachers who included more authentic literacy activities more of the time had students who showed higher growth in both

comprehension and writing (Duke, Purcell-Gates, Hall, & Tower, 2007).

http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/2352

http://www.media.alabama.gov/AgencyTemplates/education/alsde_pr.aspx?id=2989

Click the links below to access academic progress in reading and writing.

Allen, J. (2002). On the same page: Shared reading beyond the primary grades. Portland: Stenhouse.

Brummit-Yale, J. (2008-2010). The relationship between reading and writing. Retrieved April 6, 2010, from http:/www.k12reader.com/the-relationship-between- reading-and-writing/

Calkins, L.M. (2001). The art of teaching reading. New York: Longman.

Duke, N.K., Purcell-Gates, V., Hall, L.A., & Tower, C. (2007). Authentic literacy activities for developing comprehension and writing. The Reading Teacher, 60(4), 344-355.

Fletcher, R. & Portalupi, J. (1998). Craft lessons: Teaching writing k-8. Portland: Stenhouse.

Hoyt, L., Mooney, M. & Parkes, B. (Eds.). (2003). Exploring informational texts: From theory to practice. Portsmouth: Heinemann.

Parkes, B. (2000). Read it again!: Revisiting shared reading. Portland: Stenhouse.

1. Do you agree reading and writing should be taught simultaneously? What information from the presentation helped you come to this conclusion?

2. How does the table regarding writing workshop and reading workshop compare/contrast to your current practices? If you are not currently teaching, how do you plan to use this information?

3. What solutions regarding teaching reading and writing would you give to teachers who have difficulty with time management during the school day?

4. What is one idea you can add to extend reading and writing across content areas?

5. In your opinion, what is the most important reason for teaching reading and writing together?