Have you ever listened to a student give a thoughtful, detailed answer at your small group table... only to get one sentence back on paper? You know the thinking is there. So where did it go?

In this episode, Emily is breaking down what’s happening when a student can tell you the answer but can’t write it. Drawing on the Simple View of Writing from researcher Virginia Berninger and her colleagues, she explains why writing asks so much more of students than talking does. Then she walks through the three places an answer can get lost between a student’s head and the page: handwriting and spelling, composition, and executive functions.

You’ll also hear a simple way to figure out where the breakdown is happening, plus strategies that fit right inside the curriculum you already have. These include verbal rehearsal with a writing partner, the Say It, Step It strategy from Melanie Meehan and Maggie Beattie Roberts, and a keyword sticky note that holds onto a student’s ideas while they write.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why writing is so much harder than talking, and what the Simple View of Writing tells us about it
• How to use the “say it, then write it” check to find where a student’s answer is getting lost
• What erasing, run-on sentences and answers that trail off can tell you about the breakdown
• How brief handwriting fluency practice can free up mental energy for ideas
• How a word list or speech to text can support students when spelling is the roadblock
• How verbal rehearsal and Say It, Step It help students build sentences that stand on their own
• Why working memory, cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control all play a role in writing
• How a keyword sticky note helps students hold onto their answer from start to finish

If you have a student whose great ideas never seem to make it onto the page, the good news is that the thinking is already there. Try Emily’s challenge this week: pick a few students, compare what they say with what they write, and you’ll have a clear place to start supporting them.

Resources Mentioned:

⭐ Free Sentence Writing Routine Sample: Stellarteacher.com/sentence

⭐ The Stellar Literacy Collective: Stellarteacher.com/join

⭐ Foundational Skills for Writing by Melanie Meehan and Maggie Beattie Roberts