3 Essential Routines to Boost Reading and Writing Skills
- April Connelley
- Feb 3
- 2 min read
By April Connelley
Reading and writing skills are a top priority for teachers everywhere. Even if you teach something other than reading or English. For example, if you teach Science or Social Studies, you know that a student’s reading and writing skills directly impact their success with learning in any content area.
So what can English teachers and all teachers do to boost reading and writing skills? Let’s start with three essential routines to put in place across a student's day. These basic moves are the beginning areas to start concentrating on. After these are in place, additional actions can be taken.
One - Plan for Students to Annotate
I’ve heard text annotation referred to as trails of thinking someone leaves while reading. That is exactly what annotating text is. It is reading with a pencil in hand, jotting thoughts, marking important parts, and writing down questions, all while in the act of reading. It helps readers understand that there is an ongoing dialogue happening in our brains as we read. It’s almost like we are having a conversation with ourselves reflecting and thinking about what we read.
Annotating is a habit and like any habit, it starts with a few formal procedures. I’d encourage you to set some routines in place, create an anchor chart (see the sample below), and expect students to at least jot a few annotations as they read.
Two - Expect Students to Take Notes
When we write something down, we have to process the information. Expecting students to take notes makes them think about what they are learning. Using a system like two-column notes or some other organization format supports students on their learning journey. Remember taking notes is not copying information from something like a board or screen. Taking notes is getting information in your own words.
Sometimes teachers move away from note-taking, especially when students are resistant. Here are some strategies to encourage note-taking:
Confer with students and ask them questions about what they wrote.
Provide graphic organizers to structure their notes.
Ask students to evaluate their notes and share insights with the class or a partner.
Three - Frequent Quick Writes
Quick writes are short, informal writing tasks which take a small amount of class time. Quick writes help learners remember and organize the information and should happen frequently. Think about how much writing a student would do at the end of the day if they did one quick write in every class! Quick writes can happen in many forms, for example, warm-ups, exit tickets, a short sentence summary, or even sentence combining.
If students are resistant or if you are not getting the responses you’d like, try adding in a sentence starter or asking a seed question to get students thinking. Asking students to share their answers with a partner or small group also helps keep students engaged.
Start Small, Build Big
Mastering these three essential routines is a great way to start a focus on improving reading and writing skills. Regardless if it is an individual classroom, a school, or an entire district these three foundational skills are the place to begin.
