Keys to Literacy founder, Joan Sedita, is the creator of The Writing Rope framework for writing instruction and the author of a book published by Brookes Publishing titled The Writing Rope: A Framework for Explicit Writing Instruction in All Subjects. The book delves into each strand in the rope and includes teaching suggestions drawn from Joan’s writing professional development courses. Based on research findings, the framework organizes effective writing instruction practices into five strands. Educators can use The Writing Rope to determine if their writing curriculum or program addresses all essential components of writing instruction.
View the 2019 article, The Writing Rope: The Strands That Are Woven Into Skilled Writing, published by Keys to Literacy.
View a copy of the colored version of The Writing Rope. See the information about permission to use this graphic at the bottom of this page.
View a version of The Writing Rope translated into French.
Are you interested in professional development related to The Writing Rope?
WORKSHOPS: If your organization is looking for a 60- to 90-minute overview workshop for a conference or school-district professional development day, contact Keys to Literacy to schedule one of our writing consultants. This workshop begins with a brief overview of research related to effective writing instruction, followed by a review of the five strands in The Writing Rope: Critical Thinking, Syntax/Sentences, Text Structure, Writing Craft, and Transcription Skills. Examples of effective instruction for each strand are highlighted.
MORE IN-DEPTH TRAINING: In writing the book, Joan combined the research on effective writing instruction with her decades of experience teaching students and training teachers. Many of the instructional suggestions in The Writing Rope are part of Keys to Literacy writing professional development programs. Click on each title below to learn more about the professional learning options, online courses, and books, or contact us to discuss professional learning options.
- Keys to Early Writing: for grades K-2
- Keys to Content Writing: for grades 3-12
These professional development courses provide detailed suggestions and guided practice for using many of the instructional practices that are introduced in The Writing Rope book.
About the The Writing Rope Book
From the back cover:
Joan Sedita’s innovative Writing Rope weaves multiple skills and strategies into five fundamentals of a comprehensive writing curriculum: critical thinking, syntax (sentence structure) text structure, writing craft, and transcription (spelling and handwriting). Teachers will get crystal-clear guidelines that demystify the process of helping students learn to write and write to learn across academic content areas. With dozens of included templates, handouts, and other resources — available for download online — teachers will have all the tools they need to design and deliver explicit, high-quality writing instruction.
The target audience for the book is grades 4-8, but many of the instructional suggestions can be used with children in younger grades and with high school students, especially those who have writing difficulty.
To Order the Book
Click here to order the book at the Brookes Publishing store.
Free Book Study Guide
Joan has prepared a set of questions designed to help individuals or groups of educators reflect on the content of the book. Click here for a free set of the book study questions.
Archived Book Study
Click here to access free recordings of a 5-part webinar series of Joan Sedita’s book study sponsored by PaTTAN (PA Training & Technical Assistance Network).
Webinar: The Writing Rope – Reading & Writing Connections
In this 20-minute recording, Joan Sedita shares a webinar she conducted for a book study group. Joan compares Scarborough’s Reading Rope with The Writing Rope and offers suggestions for how teachers can integrate reading and writing instruction.
Permission to Use The Writing Rope
Joan Sedita holds the copyright and trademark to The Writing Rope. To ask for permission to reference The Writing Rope, send an email including a contact name and email, and a brief description of how The Writing Rope will be used to: info@keystoliteracy.com