The Writing Rope: A Framework for Explicit Writing Instruction in All Subjects

Writing is a task as complex and multifaceted as reading—but it’s often taught as a single skill. Discover how to plan and deliver comprehensive, explicit, and evidence-based writing instruction with this groundbreaking book, aligned with IDA’s Structured Literacy approach and based on the latest research.

Joan Sedita's innovative Writing Rope weaves multiple skills and strategies into five fundamentals of a comprehensive writing curriculum: critical thinking, syntax (sentences), text structure, writing craft, and transcription (spelling and handwriting). Teachers of Grades 4-8 will get crystal-clear guidelines that demystify the process of helping students learn to write and write to learn across academic content areas. And with dozens of included templates, handouts, and other resources—available for download online—teachers will have all the tools they need to design and deliver explicit, high-quality writing instruction.

Perfect for professional development, this invaluable planning guide will help teachers apply the science of reading to the skill of writing—and help students master a critically important aspect of literacy.

 

TEACHERS WILL:

• Learn the fundamentals of effective writing instruction. Get research-based background knowledge about writing development, the five components of the Writing Rope framework, the role of fluent transcription skills in proficient writing, and the intentional choices proficient writers make about writing craft.


• Apply evidence-based practices in the classroom. Teach essential skills all students must learn to become proficient writers, focusing on critical thinking strategies for generating ideas and gathering information before writing, strategies for each stage of the writing process, syntactic awareness and sentence writing, paragraph writing, and skillful structuring of different types of text.   


• Help students “write to learn.” Teach students how to use writing to enhance their learning across different content areas. Learn how to plan effective writing assignments in different content areas, and explicitly teach students skills for summarizing texts and writing about narrative and expository text. 

PRACTICAL MATERIALS: Apply the Writing Rope framework to support your students’ writing skills with classroom activities, Connect to Your Classroom questions, suggestions for scaffolding, a Writing Assignment Guide to use with any grade or content area, and 40+ reproducible instructional resources for students and teachers.

Joan Sedita, M.Ed., Founder and CEO of Keys to Literacy, has been in the literacy education field for more than 40 years. She received her B.A. from Boston College and her M.Ed. in reading from Harvard University. She began her career at the Landmark School in Massachusetts for students with reading and learning disabilities, where she worked from 1975 to 1998 as a teacher and administrator. Joan was Founder and Director of the Landmark College Preparation Program and the Landmark Outreach Training Program. While at the Landmark School, she also was a member of a team that conducted psychoeducational evaluations at Boston Children’s Hospital.

From 1998 to 2007, as Founder of Sedita Learning Strategies, Joan trained educators and consulted with schools and literacy organizations throughout the country. During this time, she was Lead Developer and Trainer for the Massachusetts Reading First initiative and Consultant to the state’s Secondary Reading initiative. Joan also authored several guides for using the Kurzweil text-to-speech software to support reading and study skills, and she was a national author and trainer for LETRS: Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling. She was a member of the Educational Testing Service Praxis National Reading Advisory Committee and a board member of Learning Disabilities Worldwide.

Joan is currently CEO of Keys to Literacy (KTL), a literacy professional learning company she founded in 2007 that develops, publishes, and delivers reading and writing professional development to educators across the country. KTL’s professional development and on-line course have been delivered to thousands of teachers across the country, hundreds of districts and every state – and include topics such as Keys to Beginning Reading, Keys to Early Writing, Keys to Content Writing, Keys Vocabulary Routine, and Keys to Adolescent Literacy, amongst others. Joan has also authored numerous books, book chapters, and articles related to literacy instruction, as well as several customized professional development programs that include online courses, training manuals, and professional development delivery materials.

Jan Hasbrouck, Ph.D., is a leading researcher, educational consultant, and author who works with schools in the U.S. and internationally. Dr. Hasbrouck worked as a reading specialist and coach for 15 years and later became a professor. Her research in reading fluency, academic assessment and interventions, and instructional coaching has been widely published. She is the author and coauthor of several books, curriculum materials, and assessment tools. She continues to collaborate with researchers on projects related to reading assessment and intervention.