Writing Instruction and

Intervention Strategies:

Initial Guidance

September, 2014

This document was created by the divisions of Educational

Services and MTSS in response to school-based staff’s need to

assess targeted writing skills and offer intervention due to

parent SLD referral. While schools focus on high quality literacy

practices and getting systems in place to implement a multi-

tiered system of supports, this document is meant to be a

helpful resource for when schools encounter the rare “writing

only” SLD referral.

2

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Tier 1 Instructional Strategies 4 General Instructional Techniques 4 Strategy Instruction 6

Tier 2 and 3

Instruction/Intervention Strategies

7

Sentence Combining 7 Self-Regulated Strategy

Instruction 8

Websites 10

References 11

Writing Instruction and Intervention Strategies:

Initial Guidance

3

Purpose of the Guiding Document

Writing is an essential area of learning for MMSD students. Writing is included as

one skill area of the English Language Arts Common Core State Standards.

Additionally, Written Expression is an Achievement Area for Specific Learning

Disability. As a result, it is important for educators to have effective tools to

support student learning in writing. The purpose of this guiding document is to

describe several evidence-based intervention strategies that educators can use

to help students improve writing skills. This document does not include

information about evidence-based intervention programs that may address

intervention needs in the area of writing (e.g., Rewards Writing). School teams

should consider the academic skill needs of students when determining which

evidence-based program(s) or evidence-based strategy(s) to use.

To use this document: First, a designated person will need to engage in

additional assessment to identify the particular skill(s) that the student needs

additional support with in addition to their core instruction. Typically this involves

reviewing a student’s work sample to see what kind of writing issue(s) the student

may have. An example of a norm-referenced tool is AIMSweb – Written

Expression curriculum-based measure. Next, identify a strategy that might target

one or more writing skill(s) determined to be an area of need for the student. For

guidance on expected performance by grade level, review the Common Core

State Standards for Writing in the English Language Arts domain

(http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/).

Organization of the Guiding Document

This document is divided into two sections: Tier 1 Instructional Strategies; and Tier

2 and Tier 3 Instructional Strategies that can be used for intervention purposes.

Both sections offer examples of evidence-based intervention strategies that can

Introduction

4

be used with students experiencing challenges with written expression and other

writing skills.

For each evidence based strategy, there is a section dedicated to explaining

the purpose of the strategy (i.e., the writing skill that the strategy targets),

materials needed to use the strategy, and steps used to implement the strategy.

Also, a fidelity checklist is included for each strategy so educators can record

the level of implementation for the intervention sessions. These checklists outline

the important steps to maintain the evidence-based nature of the strategies.

However, they can be modified to tailor a strategy to an individual student.

Tier 1 Instructional Strategies:

General Instructional Techniques and Strategy Instruction

Effective Core Instructional Practices: General Instructional Techniques

Tier 1, or core instruction, is the collection of instructional practices used in the

classroom with all students to teach the general education curriculum. Several

instructional strategies have been identified through research as effective

practices for teaching writing skills in the classroom.

Model the target writing skills: Model the specific writing skill that you want

students to learn during writing instruction. Effective modeling involves

modeling the thought processes a writer engages in to use the writing skill,

in addition to the actual production of the writing. The goal is to have

students imitate the important components of the target writing skill.

Provide students with opportunities to write: Consistent, predictable

writing times are important to help students develop writing skills. Activities

during writing time include planning, writing, and revising. A

recommended time is 45 to 60 minutes of writing time daily.

Have students set clear and specific goals for writing assignments:

Students should know the purpose of each writing assignment. State the

writing skill goal for each assignment. Goals can be used at each stage

of the writing process, not just the end goal of the complete written topic.

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Provide opportunities for peer collaboration: Give students time to work

together on the writing process. This strategy works best when peer pairs

have students with different levels of writing ability. Additionally, provide

students with specific instructions and modeling for what they should be

doing with their writing partner.

Provide students with frequent and specific feedback on their writing:

Help students understand the skills they have mastered and the skills they

need to work on in writing. Give feedback on an all writing assignments in

relation to the assignment goals and the target writing skills. Keep

students motivated – make it a balance of positive reinforcement for

writing skills that were demonstrated and constructive feedback on writing

skills that students can continue to improve.

Provide students with the opportunities to revise their writing: Make time

for students to revise their writing assignment. Feedback will have a

greater impact on learning if students have the chance to revise their

writing based on feedback from teachers

The core Tier 1 instructional strategies can be delivered to students that need

intervention in addition to the core level (i.e., Tier 2 and Tier 3) at a more

intensive level. For example, the same core instructional strategies can be used

in a writing intervention with modification that include smaller teacher to student

Integrity Observation Checklist: Core Instruction Practices

Strategy Yes No

Modeled the target

writing skill(s)

Provided students

opportunity to write

Set clear and specific

goals for writing

assignment

Provided opportunities

for peer collaboration

Provided students with

feedback on writing

Provided opportunities

for revision of writing

6

ratios, more frequent times during the week, longer instructional sessions, and

more explicit instruction, including grammar instruction, and modeling.

Effective Core Practices: Strategy Instruction

Explicit instruction in the strategies needed to be a successful writer is

critical to effective writing instruction for all students. Be systematic about

teaching new writing skills: introduce and explicitly model the writing

strategy with a metacognitive demonstration, engaged in guided

practice, facilitate independent practice, and provide specific feedback.

Create a step-by-step plan that will guide students through the

completion of the writing task.

Incorporate gradual release into strategy instruction. First, introduce the

strategy and its purpose in the writing process. Describe each step that is

involved in using the strategy. Third, model the writing strategy. Share

with students exactly how you are completing the writing task by thinking

aloud. Next, provide students with a way to remember the writing

strategy, such as a mnemonic device. For example, if you are teaching

students the structure of a paragraph – topic sentence, details,

conclusion, you may have them remember the letters “TDC.” Then, have

students practice the writing strategy in an assignment or activity. Finally,

provide feedback on how well students used the strategy with the writing

assignment.

Writing skills that translate to strategy instruction include brainstorming,

organizing ides, planning, revising, editing, summarizing reading materials,

and combining sentences.

Integrity Observation Checklist: Strategy Instruction

Step Yes No

Introduced the strategy

Described the steps of

the strategy

Modeled the strategy

Identified a way to

remember the strategy

Provided an opportunity

to practice the strategy

Provided specific and

clear feedback on

strategy use

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Tier 2 and Tier 3 Instructional/Intervention Strategies: Sentence

Combining and Self-Regulated Strategy Instruction

Sentence Combining

The purpose of Sentence Combining is to provide students with the

opportunities to manipulate and rewrite basic sentences into more complex

sentences, with greater syntactical complexity.

Basic Format: Present to the student a base sentence and a modifying

sentence. Ask the student to combine the sentences into one sentence.

Steps:

o Introduce the Sentence Combining activity and purpose

o Describe the process of Sentence Combining

o Model the process.

o Provide guided practice with feedback.

o Provide independent practice with feedback.

Forms:

o Sentence Combining can be used in one of two forms – cued and

open.

o Cued: a word is provided to prompt the student to produce a certain

sentence combination

EX:

Base: The cake was delicious

Modifying: The cake was chocolate.

EX:

Base: The boy fell over the desk.

Modifying: He lost his balance. (because)

o Open: new clue is given to the student and many sentence

combinations are possible.

Integrity Observation Checklist: Sentence Combining

Step Yes No

Introduced activity

Described steps of

Sentence Combining

Modeled the Sentence

Combining steps

Guided practice:

Presented a base

sentence and modifying

sentence

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Provided feedback on

guided practice

Independent practice:

Presented a base

sentence and modifying

sentence

Provided feedback on

independent practice

Provided opportunities

for revision of writing

Self-Regulated Strategy Instruction

Self-Regulated Strategy Instruction is a framework of teaching stages for

writing skills and self-regulation strategies to help students learn about the

writing process.

Self-Regulation Strategies include: Goal setting, planning, self-monitoring,

self-assessment, self-instruction, and self-reinforcement. The purpose of

these strategies is to motivate and empower students to become good

writers. Where can students use a self-regulation strategy with the target

writing strategy? Explain and model how to use the self-regulation

strategy when modeling the writing strategy.

There are 6 stages to teaching a writing skill:

o Introduce the Strategy: State the strategy that will be the focus of

the lesson. Explain the purpose of the strategy in the writing

process.

o Development of Background Knowledge: This step is a warm up

activity to get students familiar with the elements of the writing

strategy. Use an activity that will transition them from a previously

discussed strategy to the current strategy.

o Discussion of a Strategy: Explain the steps to use the strategy.

What’s the step-by-step process for using the strategy?

o Modeling of Strategy/Self-Instructions: Model the strategy, including

self-instructions for completing each step (i.e., think-aloud).

o Memorization of a Strategy: Provide students with a way to

memorize the strategy so they can recall it independently, such as

a mnemonic device.

o Supportive/Collaborative Practice: Have students work with

partners on a writing assignment to practice the writing and self-

regulation strategies.

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o Independent Practice of a Strategy: Provide students with

opportunities to practice the writing and self-regulation strategies

on their own. Give specific and clear feedback on assignments.

Following independent practice and feedback, give students the

opportunity to revise and improve their writing.

Suggested writing skills include planning, semantic webbing, production

monitoring, peer response to revising, and revise.

Integrity Observation Checklist: Self-Regulated Strategy Instruction

Step Yes No

Introduced the strategy

Developed background knowledge

Presented and discussed the steps of

the strategy

Modeled the strategy with self-

instructions (think-aloud)

Identified a way to remember the

strategy

Provided opportunity for guided or

collaborative practice

Provided opportunity for independent

practice

Incorporated a self-

regulation strategy

into the session

Introduced the

strategy

Described the

steps of the

strategy

Modeled the

strategy

Provided an

opportunity to

practice the

strategy in the

writing process

Provided specific

and clear

feedback on

strategy use

Provided specific and clear feedback

on use of strategy

Provided opportunities for revision of

writing

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Reading Recovery/Literacy Lessons Writing Component

Reading Recovery/Literacy Lessons Writing component is a framework of

teaching strategies to help students learn how to compose and transcribe

a message.

The writing used in this intervention is somewhat different in nature than

writing instruction in a regular language arts program. In a regular

language arts program, the primary emphasis is upon communication,

expression, and organization of ideas. In first drafts, children are

encouraged to use "temporary" (also called "invented") spellings in order

to move on with their ideas, and then, as they move through process

writing, to revise and edit their writing. In this intervention, communication

remains a purpose, and the writing is always meaningful, often based, for

example, on something of interest to children or on a book just read;

however, the writing is also more specifically used to draw students'

attention to the details of printed words in order to reinforce and extend a

student's growing word identification skills.

Procedures in Implementation:

o Teacher and student share a discussion.

o Student to think about the spelling of each word and to write as

much of the word as he or she can.

o Teacher support is offered only as needed in order to ensure that

the students write the word accurately either elkonin boxes,

repeated writing, and/or analogies. For example, for children who

are having difficulty with phonemic awareness (the conscious

awareness that spoken words are composed of units called sounds

and the ability to manipulate those sounds), the teacher draws a

box for each of the sounds in the word. The children are guided to

think about the number of sounds in a word and the letters that

represent those sounds. For example, the teacher would draw three

boxes for the word teach, grouping the ea and ch in separate

boxes since in that word ea and ch represent single sounds.

o Teacher supports with letter formation and other conventions as

needed

11

Integrity Checklist: RR/LL Writing Component

Step Yes No

The conversation is carefully crafted to help expand topics,

language, comprehension, and vocabulary and the teacher

makes deliberate teaching decisions that increase the

complexity of the writing.

The teacher uses a variety of writing prompts to help the child

write new words and takes the child to new learning by asking

the child to ‘think of a way’ to write a new word.

Constant use of the work page for letter work, word learning,

generating words, etc. This use will fade as the end of lessons

nears and the child grows in competence

The teacher anticipates quickly which words will be analyzed

in boxes, which will be analyzed with analogy, and which

should be written quickly and independently by the child

The child independently articulates sounds, pushes counters,

and records what is known. The teacher helps only for the

hardest to hear sounds for any particular child. The teacher

encourages the child to enter even silent letters by asking

“What letter do you expect to see?”

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Assisted Writing: Interactive Writing

Interactive Writing is a framework of teaching strategies to help students

learn how to compose simple messages, acquire foundational concepts

about print, and articulate words slowly and hear and record letters in

words to communicate a message, write letters fluently, and build a core

of high frequency words.

The writing used in this intervention is somewhat different in nature than

writing instruction in a regular language arts program. In a regular

language arts program, the primary emphasis is upon communication,

expression, and organization of ideas. In first drafts, children are

encouraged to use "temporary" (also called "invented") spellings in order

to move on with their ideas, and then, as they move through process

writing, to revise and edit their writing. In this intervention, communication

remains a purpose, and the writing is always meaningful, often based, for

example, on something of interest to children or on a book just read;

however, the writing is also more specifically used to draw students'

attention to the details of printed words in order to reinforce and extend a

student's growing word identification skills and apply reading strategies to

predict and monitor the reading.

Procedures in Implementation:

o Teacher and student share a discussion from either a short read

aloud or a personal experience.

o The message is negotiated through conversation. The final text is

decided upon by the group and rehearsed before writing.

o Children actively contribute by writing known letters, and or words

on shared document

o Teacher models early reading and writing strategies as she engages

the children in constructing the message o Teacher supports with letter formation and other conventions as

needed

13

Integrity Checklist: Interactive Writing

Step Yes No

The conversation is carefully crafted to help expand topics,

language, comprehension, and vocabulary and the teacher

makes deliberate teaching decisions that increase the

complexity of the writing.

The teacher uses a variety of writing prompts to help the child

write new words and takes the child to new learning by asking

the child to ‘think of a way’ to write a new word.

Letter work, word learning, generating words, etc. is modeled

and practiced. This use will fade as the end of lessons nears

and the child grows in competence in letter formation, and

movement from semi-phonetic to phonetic stage of spelling.

The teacher anticipates quickly which words will be analyzed

in boxes, which will be analyzed with analogy, and which

should be written quickly and independently by the child

The child independently articulates sounds, pushes counters,

and records what is known. The teacher helps only for the

hardest to hear sounds for any particular child. The teacher

encourages the child to enter even silent letters by asking

“What letter do you expect to see?”

14

Website Resources

Website Description Link

Common Core State

Standards – English

Language Arts Standards

Common Core State

Standards for the area of

Writing

http://www.corestandar

ds.org/ELA-Literacy/

Intervention Central Information about

academic and behavior

interventions, including

writing

www.interventioncentral.

org

National Center on

Intensive Intervention

Offers resources, tools,

implementation, and

support for intensive

interventions

http://www.intensiveinter

vention.org/

AIMSweb Resources on

administering and

scoring AIMSweb-Written

Expression

http://www.aimsweb.co

m/products/features/ass

essments/written-

expression

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References

De La Paz, S., Espin, C., & McMaster, K. L. (2010). RtI in writing instruction:

Implementing evidence-based interventions and evaluating the effects for

individual students.

Graham, S., & Harris, K R. (2007). Best practices in teaching planning. In S.

Graham, C. A. MacArthur, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.) Best Practices in Writing

Instruction (pp. 119-140). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Johnson, E. S., Hancock, C., Carter, D. R., & Pool, J. L. (2013). Self-regulated

strategy development as a Tier 2 writing intervention. Intervention in School and

Clinic, 48, 218-222.

Rathvon, N. Effective school interventions: Evidence-based strategies for

improving student outcomes (2nd Ed.). (2008). Guilford Publications: New York,

NY.

Saddler, B. (2005). Sentence combining: A sentence-level writing intervention.

The Reading Teacher, 58, 468-471.

Saddler, B., & Asarao-Saddler, K. Response to intervention in writing: A

suggested framework for screening, intervention, and progress monitoring.

(2013). Reading & Writing Quarterly, 29, 20-43.