Abstract
Kindergarteners enter school with varying literacy skills based on prior experiences and education. Teachers are accountable for meeting state standards regardless of the kindergarten population’s cultural, linguistic, and developmental diversity. Kindergarten teachers struggle with the responsibility to implement a developmental approach to literacy within the guidelines of the state standards while concurrently addressing the unique ways their young readers and writers learn. Given the positive influence adult support has on young children’s learning, programs that incorporate teacher support of students’ composition would be sufficient at developing students’ writing literacy. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of an interactive writing treatment for improving young students’ writing and orthographic development. Sources of Data Data was gathered from pre- and post-treatment writing samples. The twenty-two students in the treatment group received traditional classroom instruction including alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, and phonemic awareness instruction. Additionally, the day began with a fifteen to twenty minute interactive writing lesson four times per week. Included in each lesson was a five minute pre-writing routine. The duration of the treatment was nine weeks with a two week mid-winter break after the third week. The actual time for the treatment was seven weeks. Conclusions Reached Conclusions from examination of the data indicate that the participants developed more sophisticated orthographic writing characteristics as an outcome of this treatment. Most participants’ writing improved. Struggling students benefited most from the interactive writing treatment.