Writing from Me: Authentic Student Voice
Every developing writer needs an opportunity to scribble and have us attribute meaning and assume competence.
There is an increasing amount of information about supporting early emergent and emergent students to develop as writers – and an understanding that this scribbling doesn’t have to happen with traditional pens and pencils for writing development to occur.
For early emergent students, their writing with the flip chart is usually equivalent to a young child scribbling, and at this stage we attribute meaning to their “writing”. We also assume competence, and by attributing meaning and assuming competence we teach them that text is a code for speech and that print always has meaning. We give them heaps of positive reinforcement too because they need to have a strong self-image of themselves as a writer. These students are usually at Descriptors A.1 to A.3 on the Writing with All Tools Continuum.’
Emergent students are learning more about the form of writing. They are learning that text is composed of letters grouped into words. These students are usually at Descriptors A.4 to A.6 on the Writing with All Tools Continuum.
Late emergent students are learning even more about form and are focusing more and more on letter selection. These students are usually in Groups B, D or even E on the Writing with All Tools Continuum. Students in Groups D and E are usually not emergent writers any longer.
Let’s Write
The handout Let’s Write is designed to provide guidelines for writing with students at different levels on the Writing with All Tools Continuum and has links to some video examples.
Writing Continuum Guide for Teaching
The Writing Continuum Guide for Teaching is designed to assist teachers to move each student to the next group in the Writing with All Tools Continuum. For each group (or in the case of Group A two sub-groups) there is a description of how the student is currently writing, a suggested learning goal to help them move to the next group, and then the same guidelines that are provided in Let’s Write. There is also a row for each student’s name to be written under their Writing with All Tools Continuum group.
Writing Guideline Sheets
The Writing Guideline Sheets are designed to be placed on the inside front cover of a student’s writing book to help everyone ensure that they are provided with writing supports and scaffolds (if scaffold are needed) in a consistent way. These Sheets are available with guidelines at different levels – the same guidelines that are provided in Let’s Write.
Writing Record Form
Each time an emergent writer participates in an individual writing session, we need to keep a record of the process. Please use the writing record form below or a similar resource provided by your school.
Writing Tools
There are a range of writing tools that emergent students might use for writing. Flip charts are a great emergent writing tool as they chunk the alphabet and give lots of opportunities for interaction and writing success. There are different flip charts for use with different students. Tools for Writing: A suggestion and selection guide is a blog post providing you with information about which flip charts (and other writing tools) you might use with different students. Other useful blog posts are Flip Charts: An Important Emergent Writing Tool and Writing Tools: Sensory Pencils and Early Emergent Writers.
You can find the biggest range of writing tools on the Comprehensive Literacy website Writing Tools page. There are options to download a PDF or to be taken to Canva to customise your own version.
There are a wide range of writing tools for different writing levels, vision, access needs and interests!
And if you are after an electronic flip chart or a very simple QWERTY keyboard, check out Flip Keyboard.
Attributing Meaning and Co-Constructing Language
Emergent writers may need us to attribute meaning to their writing, or may need different levels of co-construction when generating a narrative for their writing.
At the earliest levels (A.1 to A.3 on the Writing with All Tools Continuum) students usually need us to attribute meaning. Once a student can translate their own writing, we usually need to provide some co-construction to help them to learn to generate more complex narratives over time.
The handout below provides some further information about co-construction.
The Additional Resources and Information section in the Writing with All Tools Continuum has a section with information about supporting language generation for each group on the continuum. See this section for more information.
The video below also explains the link between early emergent writing and language development.
Writing from Me: Other Resources
Writing from Me General Resources
- DLM self-directed learning module
- DLM Self-Directed Learning module on alternative pencils
- Literacy Instruction for Students with Significant Disabilities Alternative Pencils
- Alternative Pencils Weebly
- Teaching to the Next Group – document associated with the Writing with All Tools Continuum
- Flip Keyboard
Writing in Our Classrooms Overview Sheet
Writing in our Classrooms Overview Sheet (Updated May 2026)
Example Lesson Plans created using the model from The Grove Education Centre
- Lesson plans for Students at A.1 to A.3 on the Writing with All Tools Continuum
- Lesson plans for Students at A.4 to A.6 on the Writing with All Tools Continuum
- Lesson plans for Students in Group B on the Writing with All Tools Continuum
- Lesson plans for Students in Group C on the Writing with All Tools Continuum
Individual Writing Self-Evaluation Forms for Educators
- Printable Writing from Me self-evaluation or observation form (modified February 2024)
- Fillable Writing from Me self-evaluation or observation form
Writing from Me Blog Posts from Jane Farrall
- Emergent Writing: Focus on Function
- Emergent Writing: Moving onto Form
- Writing Instruction and Data Walls: Focusing on All Students at The Grove
- Building Language through Emergent Writing
- Tools for Writing: A suggestion and selection guide
- The Do’s and Don’ts of Writing
- Flip Charts – An Important Emergent Writing Tool
- Writing Tools: Sensory Pencils and Early Emergent Writers
- Writing Tools: Download or Customise!
- Flip Keyboard: A new Option for Emergent Writers