“It’s Kind of Like Figure It Out:” Experiences of K-2 Educational Professionals with Teaching Writing

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to elevate the voices of kindergarten through second grade (K-2) educational professionals regarding their experiences teaching writing. Although reading instruction continues to dominate public attention, there is a need to better understand the current state of writing, an often neglected content area, from educational professionals who are delivering instruction. Specifically, this can expand our current knowledge by allowing us to understand the state of writing through educators’ sharing of their lived experiences. Twenty-seven educational professionals (18 general education classroom teachers, six specialists working in intervention and coaching roles, and three speech-language pathologists) working with kindergarten, first, and/or second grade students in public and private school settings across the United States participated in semi-structured interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze data. Results indicate that writing remains a low priority content area. Reasons provided include limited guidance and resources for assessment, instruction, and data-based decision making especially when compared to reading and mathematics. Many participants expressed a lack of confidence and identified writing-related areas of interest for professional growth and development; however, we still identified promising practices used to teach writing. Our findings illustrate the importance of elevating K-2 educators’ perspectives to better understand their teaching practice and call attention to the need for future research to create and evaluate writing-related professional learning opportunities and resources rooted in research and evidence-based practice that can be immediately translated into educational settings.