5 Questions to Ask to Keep Any Writing Curriculum Grounded in Best Practices with Emily and Carrie

Listen to the full episode to hear best practices for any writing curriculum:

Incorporating writing that engages students into your instruction can be difficult, especially if you already have an established writing curriculum that your district requires. However, I’m here to tell you it’s not impossible! My guests on today’s episode, Emily and Carrie, are both writing experts who specialize in engaging students to write creatively and often. They’re sharing how to use best practices with any writing curriculum.

With both Emily and Carrie’s expertise, they have come up with fun writing activities that are achievable for students and also make parents and teachers confident and feel at ease knowing they’re working on their writing foundation. While it seems like kids are reluctant and unsure about what to write, Emily and Carrie believe the exact opposite is the case. Instead, they recommend asking yourself 5 questions that will change your mindset about best practices in any writing curriculum.

In order to make writing a priority and create a conducive environment for growth amongst your students, having best practices for any writing curriculum is essential. Since Emily and Carrie have a wide range of experience between them, from elementary and middle, their beliefs and instruction are focused on student growth in their writing. Implement one or all of their best practices and watch your writing curriculum go from rigid to flexible!

In this episode on best practices for any writing curriculum, we share:

• 5 questions to ask yourself regarding your writing curriculum
• The reality that students want to write and have something to say
• Why establishing an audience is the most important for young writers
• How to use your writing curriculum as a tool to facilitate what works for you and your students

Resources Mentioned:

• Join The Writing Disguise

Meet Emily and Carrie:

Carrie Finlinson and Emily Bauman are teachers, friends, and co-founders of Write On! Workshops. They have a subscription Writer’s Box for children ages 7 through 12 and for the past 15 summers have run a writing camp for children in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Emily and Carrie both have Master’s Degrees in education. Carrie is a native Utahan and has four daughters, and Emily grew up in New Jersey and raised her three daughters in Utah. They are both passionate about helping parents and teachers create positive writing experiences for children.

Emily currently teaches first grade and is enjoying being able to pour into early writers positively and give them a strong and solid foundation before advancing to the upper grades. Carrie currently teaches middle school but taught writing instruction to pre-service elementary ed teachers at Utah State University (their semester right before student teaching) and also worked for USU as an elementary education supervisor for student teachers.

Connect with Emily and Carrie:

• Follow them on Instagram: @writeonworkshops
• Check out their website
• Join their Facebook group

Connect with Megan:

• Check out my TpT Store
• Subscribe to my E-mail list
• Instagram Posts
• Blog Posts
• Facebook Posts

About The Literacy Dive Podcast:

Do you find yourself seeking new ideas when it comes to literacy instruction in elementary classrooms? The Literacy Dive Podcast was created to offer actionable steps and to share information for teachers, like you, who are always looking to improve their craft! ELA is our jam and we are excited to dive into all things reading and writing with you!

Your host, Megan Polk, is the creator and owner behind The Literacy Dive and loves to support students and their teachers with curriculum, literacy instruction, best practices, and engaging literacy activities.

Dive in with us every Monday for a new episode from Megan! She, and her guests, will chat about various literacy topics and will bring you tips and tricks that can easily be implemented in your classrooms. You can tune in wherever you get your podcasts! Listen to The Literacy Dive Podcast on platforms like Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Google, and more!