Education Commons^™

Preparing Elementary Writing Teachers: An Inquiry-Driven, Field-Based Approach To Instruction, Lisa K. Hawkins, Nicole M. Martin, Jennifer Cooper

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Pre-service teachers’ [PSTs] preparation for teaching writing is foundational to writing instruction in elementary schools and children’s writing. Prior research has identified elements in writing-focused methods coursework that support their preparation. In this article, an innovative component in a stand-alone writing teacher preparation course that incorporated the research-based elements is showcased: a process for deconstructing and modeling inquiry-driven writing pedagogy. This process includes five phases: (1) using mentor texts during initial immersion, (2) using mentor texts to study structure, (3) using mentor texts to study writer’s craft, (4) using mentor texts to study sentence structure, sentence fluency, and language, and …