Interactive writing, or “sharing the pen,” is a strategy to teach writing to young children. Imagine you want your six-year-old to express gratefulness, so you set a stack of blank cards in front of her and ask her to write thank you notes for her birthday gifts. What do you think will happen?
Young writers would be overwhelmed with a task like writing thank you notes by themselves. They need guidance and support from grown ups to help them be successful and to enjoy the writing task. Here’s where interactive writing, also known as “sharing the pen” comes in handy.
What Does “Interactive Writing” or “Sharing the Pen” Mean?
Interactive writing is a teaching strategy that supports young writers. Since writing is complex and takes time to develop, you take the pressure off your child by “sharing the pen.” You collaborate on a writing piece. Your young writer isn’t expected to do it all, but plays an active role by contributing what he or she can.
Steps for Sharing the Pen
1. Set Up an Easel (if you have one)
Using an easel is practical for interactive writing in a classroom setting, because it allows everyone in the group to see the writing. But using an easel with just one child in your homeschool works too.
An easel represents a place where we share writing. When your child sees the easel set up for interactive writing, he’ll be eager to find out what’s in store. There’s something special about writing in big letters on a vertical surface that makes it new and exciting and easier for you both to see.
Get some markers and chart paper, or butcher paper, cut to size to fit your easel. You can also use a white board, but one disadvantage is you can’t keep the writing to refer to later on. You’ll also want an alphabet chart handy to help with letter sounds and letter formation.
If you don’t have an easel, you can do interactive writing at a table with paper. This would be very practical for writing those thank you note cards!
2. Decide on the Type of Writing
Now that you have your easel (or paper) ready, decide what type of writing you want to do. Thank you notes, like mentioned earlier, are perfect for interactive writing. But you can make any piece of writing interactive. Here are some ideas:
- poetry
- lists
- invitations
- letters
- stories
- journal entries
- documenting experiments
- graphing
- venn diagrams
- summaries
- recipes
- labeling drawings or charts
- descriptions
The key to choosing a type of writing is to find something that is meaningful to your child. Writing about a learning experience or a book you read together are great places to start.
3. Talk About the Purpose
Helping kids see the purpose behind writing makes it meaningful and motivating. Think about what purpose you have behind your writing activity and help your child see the value in it.
For example, if you’ve been studying animals, you may talk about how it’d be useful to keep track of the information you’re learning. You may suggest making a venn diagram. You can talk about how it’s a fun way to compare two things visually. Instead of writing down a list of information in sentences, you get to put words or phrases in overlapping circles. A venn diagram challenges you to find what two objects have in common and what makes them different.
4. Compose the Text
Together, you and your child talk about what to write. Think about who will be reading it. Plan out how to organize the writing. What will come first? What kinds of conventions will you need?
For example, if you are composing a letter, you’ll need a greeting and a closing. Think through and plan the body of the letter together. What will you say first?
5. Write the Text
Now that you’ve composed the text by talking about it, start writing it together. How can we write that? This is the part where you share the pen and the real fun begins.
What You Should Write
To make the most of interactive writing as a teaching strategy, you should write the words, or parts of words, that your child already knows.
What Your Child Should Write
Your child should write different phonemes, blends, digraphs, or other spelling patterns that you draw her attention to and teach. “In this word you hear a ‘sh’ sound. The letters ‘s’ and ‘h’ together make that sound.”
Here’s an example of what an interactive writing moment might look like.
The sentence is “The dog ate the bone.”
- First, you pick up the pen and write, “The dog.” You make this decision because “the” is an easy word and your child is confidently spelling words like “dog” that have a CVC, consonant-short vowel-consonant, pattern.
- Since you know your child is learning long vowel patterns, like in CVCe, consonant-vowel-consonant-silent e, you talk through the word “ate” and invite your child to share the pen.
- “The next word in our sentence is ‘ate.’ What vowel sound is at the beginning? Yes, it’s an ‘a.’ (Your child writes ‘a’). “What do you hear next? Yes, a ‘t.’ (Your child writes ‘t’). “What other letter do you need?” (If your child doesn’t know it’s ‘e’ then talk about how if she left it as ‘at’ the word would be a different word. An ‘e’ at the end makes the vowel say its name).
- Then you pick up the pen and quickly write ‘the.’ You give the pen back to your child and help her with the word ‘bone.’
- “This word follows the same spelling pattern as ‘ate.’ Do you think you can say the word slowly and figure out all the letters you need?”
Find a Balance
Find the right balance of sharing the pen with your child. This means figuring out when to challenge your child and when to give more support. It’s a balancing act that comes through practice and getting to know exactly what your child is capable of doing.
It could take too long if you only wrote the words that an inexperienced writer knows. What if he only knows the simplest sight words like “I,” “a,” or “the?”
Sometimes you have to write words that your child doesn’t know too. Some words may have spelling patterns that are far too advanced. You want him to be successful, not overwhelmed. So you write those words, saying them out loud and talking about the patterns so your child so he can connect the oral language to the written language.
6. Read the Text
After you’ve finished your piece of writing, read it together. Point to each word as you read to encourage your child to read along with you. Decide together if you are finished or need to add or change anything. Does what you wrote sound right and make sense? This is a great introduction to revising and editing.
7. Put the Writing Piece in a Prominent Place
When you have finished your interactive writing piece, hang it up or keep it on the easel for a few days. This gives your child the invitation to revisit the text and practice reading it. It may also inspire your child to try some similar writing on her own.
Key Points to Remember About Interactive Writing
Interactive writing, or “sharing the pen,” is a valuable tool that encourages your child to write. You provide support by modeling writing, talking through difficult spelling patterns, and inviting your child to participate with you by sharing the pen.
Knowing your child’s capabilities is an important part of making “sharing the pen” effective. Make sure you don’t set your child up for failure. Offer the pen and say things like, “I wonder if you could write the ending sound to that word. Do you remember where we start when we form that letter?”
On the other hand, be sure to vocalize your contributions to the writing piece. You have to talk to yourself! As you write say why you are writing those letters and marks. “I’m going to put a questions mark here, because I just asked a question.” Your child will be introduced to new concepts just by watching your actions and hearing your thought process.
Most of all, be sure to choose writing ideas that will be fun for both of you. If your child is not interested and sees no purpose, interactive writing won’t be effective. But when you find that right opportunity, take it, and you will be pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable and motivating this writing strategy can be for your young writer.
Resource
McCarrier, Andrea, Gay Su Pinnell, and Irene Fountas. 1999. Interactive Writing: How Language and Literacy Come Together, K-2. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
