In the Writing Block, we work to spend the majority of our time allowing students to work on pieces of their choosing. They choose both the topic and the form. Everyone becomes a better writer when choice is a part of the process. We all write better when we write about things that have meaning for us. However, it is also necessary to pay attention to the requirements of state standards. Most standards, or more specifically Grade Level Expectations, designate certain forms of writing for certain grade levels. When looking at the requirements, grade levels can determine what forms of writing their students will need to learn.

Many standards or curriculums may be general in the description stating, for example, that at the third grade level, students must do expository writing. It may even suggest that the expository writing have a topic with at least three details. This gives a very general notion of what type of writing is to be taught. When the suggestion is that general, the grade level then has a conversation deciding what type of expository writing will be done. What will the finished product look like? Will it be an article like the students read in Weekly Reader? Will it be a class ABC book with each student contributing a paragraph about one letter? Will it connect to content area studies? Will it follow the format established in the fabulous book by Margaret Wise Brown, The Important Book? Will it be a typical school "report"?

With many of the districts I work with, time over the past two years was spent developing a Writing Map. The Writing Map provides a document that guides the instruction for the year’s focused pieces. It lists the focused pieces to be taught, the length of time used to teach each one, the time of year it will be taught, and any focus the instruction will have. In addition, teachers then take the lists of Grade Level Expectations or district curriculums to align individual objectives with each focused piece. Certain objectives will align with all focused pieces; other objectives seem to have a home.

For example, in Missouri, fifth grade is to write a personal narrative. That is a pretty specific type of writing. So when looking through the list of grade level expectations, one district decided that "uses singular possessives" would fit this genre. The teachers could imagine students writing a personal story where they referred to things that were owned by someone. This seemed a logical place to include that instruction. Other obvious connections were the expectation that stated a student would write a narrative that chronicles a sequence of events and a narrative that develops a single focused idea.

In Four Blocks and Big Blocks, we recommend that no more than one focused piece of writing is done per grading period. Third grade is typically where that expectation begins. Most states ask primary students to do one type of narrative and one type of expository at the most. So in first and second grade classrooms, students will not spend a great deal of time doing specified types of writing.

Not only is it important to develop this writing map to guide the instruction, it is also important that teachers have a very detailed conversation about the finished product. Expository writing is just not specific enough. Neither will "reports" generate much motivation from students for long. Because students will be reading a wide range of forms in Guided Reading and hearing a wide variety of forms in Self-Selected Reading, allow students to use the literature they are reading to act as a model for the writing they will be composing. Students can try to create pieces that contain the same text features that the non-fiction they read has. Why not try to allow students to try bold print, captions, headings, or diagrams?

The conversation about the product will be key when deciding what your Writing Map should reflect. Take advantage of the general language in the state standards or grade level expectations. Decide as a grade level team what your students can do. There are some fabulous professional resources that share ideas on how to use children’s literature to craft texts. Look for Katie Wood Ray’s texts: Study Driven and Wondrous Words. Both texts provide concrete examples of how to use literature as a starting point for the writing students create.

Think outside the box. Rejuvenate yourself and your students by finding a new way to do expository writing that closely resembles the type of non-fiction reading your kids like to do. Develop products that go beyond the scope of what writing has historically looked like in our elementary classrooms. Students will be more willing to try and more motivated to make the product one worth sharing.