ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Education is offering a new statewide program designed to help teachers and school leaders improve writing instruction and strengthen students’ writing skills.
The program, called Georgia Writes, is a free 13-part professional learning series that provides educators with resources and strategies for teaching writing in the classroom.
Dr. Felicia Purdy, director of curriculum and instruction, says the initiative was developed in response to requests from teachers across the state who wanted additional support.
“They wanted support with writing instructions and so this is one of the many ways that we are supporting and meeting those needs,” Purdy said.
So far, approximately 4,400 Georgia teachers have signed up to participate in the program.
Purdy says effective writing instruction involves more than simply assigning students written work.
“Students need more than just writing assignments. They need teachers who model the writing process that explicitly teach strategy for planning and revising, and providing feedback, and creating those meaningful opportunities for practice,” Purdy said.
The program also focuses on the connection between reading and writing and how strengthening one skill can help improve the other.
“There are decades of research that tell us that reading and writing are deeply interconnected and that strong writing instructions itself doesn’t just help students become better writers, but it also strengthens reading comprehension, those critical thinking skills, and learning across the content areas,” Purdy said.
According to Purdy, writing can also help students better understand subjects beyond language arts, including science, social studies and mathematics.
“Writing supports learning across the curriculum. We know that writing can help a student in science explain concepts, or in social studies they analyze historical events, or justify reasoning in mathematics, I mean it’s really a tool for communication,” Purdy said.
The goal of Georgia Writes is to help educators incorporate writing into everyday classroom instruction and create more opportunities for students to develop those skills.
WSB Radio’s Ashley Simmons & Sabrina Cupit contributed to this story.