Beyond Expression: How Writing Builds Better Readers
Hi Champions,
In the busy day-to-day of a classroom, writing often takes on many forms, from quick notes to polished essays. But beneath its surface, writing holds a profound, often underestimated, power. It’s not just a means of expression, but a powerful engine for deeper thinking and, crucially, for building mastery in reading. This week, we are exploring how intentional writing practices can transform students' engagement with and comprehension of texts.
The Undeniable Link: Writing as a Pathway to Reading
At Teach Like a Champion, our work continually reinforces that writing is not just an outcome of learning, but a powerful act of learning itself. In our new book, we delve into how writing creates what cognitive scientists call "desirable difficulty". This isn't about making things harder for the sake of it, but about engaging in the kind of effortful thinking that truly embeds knowledge.
As we explain in The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading:
Writing, the task of describing complex ideas in precise verbiage and clear syntax, is hard work, a source of what UCLA cognitive psychologist Robert Bjork calls “desirable difficulty.” It requires the sort of deliberate, effortful thinking that encodes knowledge in long-term memory and leads to deeper understanding.
Unlike speech, written words offer durability, allowing students to pause, reflect, critique, and refine their ideas. This allows for accountability and deeper processing. Additionally, the very act of writing slows down our thinking, enabling a more deliberate engagement with language and concepts. This "thesaurus effect" is vital for expanding a student's active vocabulary and comprehension.
This leads us to a powerful conclusion about the intertwined nature of writing and reading:
When we cause people to write, and especially to write thoughtfully and with intentionality, they are more likely to remember and understand. When the subject of that writing is also the thing we have asked students to read, we can cause them to learn more about it, remember more from it, and, in doing so, achieve greater mastery of the communication code they will use both productively in writing and receptively in reading.
Formative Writing: Discovering What We Think
One of the most impactful ways to leverage writing is through what we call Formative Writing. This is not about writing to prove what you know, but about writing to discover what you think. It is an exploratory process, where the pen helps clarify initial ideas.
As we illustrate with examples from classrooms:
The goal is for students to use writing not so much to explain what they already think about the text—to justify their opinion and/or support it with evidence—but as a tool to generate ideas. They are writing to discover what they think.
This approach transforms writing into a tool for active learning, encouraging every student to engage deeply with the material, fostering a habit of thoughtful reflection, and making them more adept and perceptive readers.
Bringing It to the Classroom: Key Implementation Strategies
In our new book, we offer guidance on how to implement these writing principles in your daily teaching:
Integrate "Think in Writing" Routines: Implement short, low-stakes writing prompts (often 1-2 minutes) directly after reading.
Utilize Formative Writing for Discovery: Design writing tasks where students write to discover what they think, rather than just to explain what they already know.
Teach Students to "Stamp" Key Ideas: Guide students to briefly encapsulate takeaways from discussions or reading in one or two sentences.
Implement Frequent, Brief Revision Bursts: Focus on revising shorter, informal pieces of writing, even single sentences, frequently throughout a lesson or week.
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Let's Discuss: How Does Writing Shape Reading in Your Classroom?
The relationship between writing and reading is dynamic and profound. We are eager to hear your experiences:
What's one way you've seen writing transform a student's understanding of a text, or a writing activity that has significantly boosted their reading comprehension?
Share your thoughts and strategies in the comments below. Your insights help us all grow!
We hope these ideas empower you to harness the full potential of writing in your literacy instruction. Thank you for your tireless dedication to excellence!
Sincerely,
The Teach Like a Champion Team
Loved this post! I love the idea of formative writing. We can write to figure out what we think or want to say.
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