Can you think of a time when you collaborated with colleagues and/or peers to accomplish a goal? For an educator, I'm sure there aren't a shortage of experiences to choose from. In reflecting on one or more of these experiences, what was the result of the collaboration? Did you reach the goal? What would the experience have been like if you'd worked independently? Was any of the work easier or harder with others? Depending on the situation, the collaborators, and the environment, there is a good chance your answers will vary. In the experiences you reflected on, how would you describe the level of guidance and feedback you received from a leader or evaluator? What difference might guidance and feedback have made in you and your team successfully reaching the goal/intended outcome?
Many of us reflect on writing as a mostly independent activity. As a student, this was my experience. I was given a task or prompt, and I was expected to write to demonstrate proficiency. Most of the feedback I received from teachers was related to grammar and mechanics. Does this sound familiar to you? In communicating with teachers, many share this same experience of writing as a student. This has resulted in many teachers feeling unprepared to teach writing.
What if we implemented collaborative opportunities for students to engage in writing as a community?
Imagine a writing classroom that includes direct instruction focused on one skill, writing time to practice the skill independently and with peers, time to work towards an independent writing goal, feedback from different people, and time to share the writing that has been developed so far. In this environment students are throughout the writing process creatively, strategically, and purposefully. In the collaborative writing classroom, students are brainstorming, asking clarifying questions, and providing possible solutions and suggestions. Collaborative in this context does not necessarily mean co-authoring a piece, but providing support to one another as each individual creates one final piece. This process is guided and facilitated by a knowledgeable teacher to develop an engaged community of writers.
How To Integrate Collaborative Writing Opportunities
#1: Brainstorming Throughout the Writing Process
After teaching a skill, allow students opportunities to brainstorm ideas with peers. This doesn't just happen in the initial planning phase of the writing process, but throughout the writing process. After teaching students how to develop ideas, focus a topic, add details, or include dialogue, allow them opportunities to discuss how they might do this in their own work. This can be a simple turn and talk before practicing writing. It might also be allowing students to work with a partner on a graphic organizer or a storyboard. Brainstorming throughout the writing process builds students' confidence as a community. Brainstorming also allows students' to learn more about each other as they give and receive feedback.
#2: Feedback Help Sheets
Giving feedback is a skill that must be modeled and practiced. If students do not understand a skill they are meant to give feedback on to peers, this task can be both challenging, a waste of time, and even embarrassing. Students can be provided feedback help sheets throughout the writing process. After teaching a skill, students are provided time to apply the skill within their own work. Next, students are taught how to implement feedback help sheets as a tool to revise and edit work with peers. The revise and edit steps of the writing process do not have to come at the end of the writing process. Instead, they are woven in throughout the writing process to improve their work as they go. A feedback help sheet might include 1-2 skills you have taught (think success criteria), with an example (think mentor sentence) on a half a piece of paper. Remember, you must first model for students how to use it before having them use it to self-assess and use with a peer.
#3: Collaborative Digital Documents
Consider allowing students to work through the writing process using a collaborative digital document. One purpose of a collaborative digital document is for students to collect ideas together and practice the skills they are being taught. This strategy can be implemented with grammar and writing skills. For example, if you are teaching compound sentences, you can use a digital document for students to practice the skill with a partner. Another example would be having students practice developing ideas. In the digital document, you would provide an example of an undeveloped idea, and allow students to work together to develop the idea. This collaboration allows them to see and discuss the ideas of peers. Additionally, collaborative digital documents serve as a formative assessment for you to determine future instructional moves, including mini-lessons, conferences, and individualized feedback.
A digital document can be created using Microsoft docs or slides, or Google docs or slides. There are some recommendations for making this process clear and manageable for students.
You create the document template with text boxes and instructions. Giving students blank documents can be disastrous. Additionally, this step maximizes your instructional time.
Know how you will share the document with students they can access and add their work.
Explain the expectations: how to access the document, how to work together, where to type your responses.
#4: Sharing
Don't skip the sharing part of your lesson! This 5 minute step in the writing lesson ensures students have time to reflect on their process and receive feedback on their daily practice. Collaborative feedback can be embedded throughout the writing time, but won't be the way students spend their entire writing time. Sharing should happen every day to ensure closure to the lesson. Sharing can be turning to a partner and sharing, or it can be sharing out in whole group.
Here are some questions to guide the sharing part of your writing lesson:
What did you write about today?
How did your writing improve today?
What skill were you working on today?
What are you most proud of today?
What did you struggle with in your writing today?
How were you successful today?
What is something a peer wrote or shared that you admired?
What might you start with tomorrow?
Consider allowing students to use sticky notes in this process as they reflect on their next steps. They may hear something someone else shared and want to capture it on a sticky note as a reminder for themselves.
Collaborating For Confidence, Engagement, and Inspiration
Collaboration does not always leave us feeling happy, fulfilled, and successful. But sometimes it does. Sometimes these opportunities provide us just what we need to move forward and feel accomplished. Providing students with clarity and purpose can support their development in writing. A collaborative writing environment can boost confidence, engagement, and inspiration. Learning from and with others through writing provides students opportunities to share thoughts, learn new ideas, appreciate the thoughts and processes of others, and encourage risk-taking.
References:
Graham, S. & Harris, K.R. (2016). A path to better writing: Evidence-based practices in the classroom. The Reading Teacher, 69(4), 359-365.
What Works Clearinghouse. (2018). Teaching elementary students to be effective writers. Institute of Education Sciences.
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