The Write from Beginning … and Beyond (WfBB) program the Danville Independent School District implements guides students in planning and organizing. They use Thinking Maps prior to writing, and the program aims to build foundational skills. Teachers at each of the Danville Independent Schools shared their experience with the program.

 

Allison Hughes, kindergarten teacher

At the kindergarten level at Mary G. Hogsett Primary School, students pair illustrations with written sentences. 

“Starting with drawing their ideas gave them a strong foundation of expressing themselves with pictures first,” Hughes said. “I have already seen many of my students able to phonetically write a sentence to go along with their drawing, which I typically haven't seen until the end of kindergarten.”

At Hogsett, teachers model work for students to inspire and guide them in assignments, which Hughes said helps them build confidence in their own writing. 

“I really love how all ability levels of my students are feeling successful right now,” Hughes said. “Some of my students have just started drawing pictures that make sense and match the topic given, and they are proud of their work. I also have students that are writing a basic sentence accompanied by a black and white picture that are feeling proud because at the beginning of the year they couldn't spell any words. Finally, I have students that have colorful drawings with many details that are working on writing complex sentences or multiple sentences to further express their ideas.”

 

 

Shelby Owens, kindergarten teacher

In Owens’ class one day, she sat out a Mr. Potato Head figure. Students drew it and wrote sentences about it. This was part of an informative writing unit, during which students learned to write about something, focusing on observable facts. 

“I love the structure and routines … The students are familiar with the process, understand their responsibilities, and know how to complete the assignment … The growth in writing ability and confidence we have seen as a grade level is amazing,” Owens said. “We have kept a sample of writing from everyone, every week since September. Students have progressed from very limited drawing, with only dictated words, to detailed drawings that tell their stories with one or more sentences.”

One helpful thing about WfBB is it allows teachers to differentiate instruction, Owens said. There’s one-on-one conferencing, small group mini lessons and more. The daily exposure to writing helps a lot, she said.

“We noticed very early in the year that because they were exposed to writing daily, students were learning their letters and sounds quicker than before,” she said. “Most have a strong grasp on letter/word/sentence relationships. Also, as we have moved from narrative writing to informational writing, they quickly picked up on the differences and have made connections to our reading discussions.”

 

 

Michelle Herring, 1st grade teacher

Something Herring has noticed with her 1st graders is that they’ve started to move on from drawing and coloring and are more comfortable with writing. She’s also noticed that they don’t dislike writing. When working independently, students use Thinking Maps more and more. 

In narrative writing, students have been writing about routines before getting to school and once at school. They’ve been learning transition words and phrases, like “first,” “next,” “then,” “after that,” and “last.” 

One helpful tool of WfBB is the rubrics, Herring said. Students have even been using them to review each others’ writing. 

“I can’t say enough about how the structure of what’s expected of them is laid out and consistent,” she said. “The Thinking Maps help them think clearly, more clearly than some kind of graphic organizer.”

A fellow teacher let Herring know that one of their students could barely write a sentence at the beginning of the year, and in recent weeks, he was able to write five legible sentences using the transition words.
 

Diana Oliver, 1st grade teacher

After students watch Oliver model writing and use Thinking Maps, they put their own thoughts into maps, mostly Circle Maps, Tree Maps and Flow Maps so far. They’re able to use the rubrics in the same way Herring’s students have been, to review their own work and peers’.

“Students are having amazing conversations with each other to improve their writing,” Oliver said. “I have seen a lot of growth this year. Students are able to write longer and more detailed sentences now. They are also using capital letters, punctuation, spacing and organization much better.”

The “effectiveness of the program” is overlapping into other areas too, Oliver said, like ELA writing, science writing and small group reading, and the foundational skills will serve students going forward, preparing them for future grade levels. 

“It has been amazing to see how students are progressing with Write from Beginning and Beyond,” Oliver said. “I believe our writing as a district will improve … especially once all students have started it in kindergarten and progress throughout the grades focused on their writing.”

Emily Reece, 5th grade teacher, and Renee Lanigan, Edna L. Toliver Intermediate School principal

At Toliver, Principal Renee Lanigan has changed the master schedule to make time for writing at the end of the day. 

“Intentional writing instruction helps students express their ideas with confidence across all content areas,” she said. “We ensure students receive consistent, focused instruction and practice in writing, reinforcing that writing is not an ‘extra,’ but a foundational skill essential for lifelong learning and success.”

Fifth Grade Teacher Emily Reece has seen an improvement in focus and clarity thanks to the WfBB program and Thinking Maps.

“Something we have noted over the years is that 5th graders often struggle with putting their thoughts into writing,” she said. “They will answer a question beautifully when they can verbally answer, but they tend to fall apart when they have to answer in writing. These structures have really helped students to organize their thoughts.”

She said the foundational skills WfBB builds are valuable for older students as well as younger ones.

“We still work on a lot of foundational skills even in the older grade levels,” she said. “Students still need support with the structure of writing and creating those strong foundations … I have taken several of the lessons from the younger grades and adapted it to work really well in 5th grade.”

 

Rachyl Stonebraker, 8th grade English/language arts teacher

One of Stonebraker’s students said Thinking Maps are helpful not just in the classroom but also when she’s working on written composition assignments for her extracurricular activities. Likewise, Stonebraker finds the program helpful not only in her ELA classes but also the speech class she teaches. 

“In both writing assignments and speech preparation, students demonstrate stronger organization, clearer focus, and more developed ideas,” Stonebraker said. “Their writing and speeches show improved clarity, smoother transitions and greater confidence because their thinking is organized before they begin.”

She said Thinking Maps “make it easier to see students’ thinking, provide targeted feedback and support students at different ability levels.”

“Because the tools are used consistently, students become more independent and confident in organizing their thoughts,” she said. 

She said she appreciates that “our entire district is vertically aligned in using them.”

“The program provides the structure they need without limiting creativity. For 8th graders, the tools help bridge the gap between basic skills and higher-level expectations by encouraging deeper thinking, clearer organization, and more purposeful writing. Students are able to plan, draft, and revise more efficiently, which builds confidence and prepares them for the increased academic demands of high school.”

Laurie Pierce, Danville High School English teacher

Though Pierce said she doesn’t think the program is necessarily “designed for or fully adapted to high school level writing,” she finds the organizational strategies helpful, “especially for students who struggle to organize their writing or break down the process into manageable steps.”

“I am excited that students are learning to write with this program in elementary and middle school, because I think it will help them come into high school with solid skills and a comfort with the writing process that they wouldn't otherwise have had,” she said. 

Pierce has seen this program be helpful particularly with her 9th graders. 

“I found that the program helped scaffold more in-depth writing tasks and supported them as they made the transition to high school writing … Using Thinking Maps in pre-writing stages also helped discourage plagiarism/AI use,” she said.

She has found the Flee Maps (combination of Tree and Flow maps) helpful for essay planning.

“I'm very happy our district is doing this program,” Pierce said. “Implementing a district-wide plan that gives teachers common strategies and vocabulary for writing instruction can only be good for students. I also like that the strategies are adaptable — they can be incorporated into your pedagogy regardless of your teaching style.”

 

Megan Berketis, DHS English Teacher

Berketis has found the program useful with her 10th graders, with moving their thinking into a long-form writing format. 

For example, on one of the Non-Traditional Instructional (NTI) days in January, students read a speech and made a Tree Map organizing the argument into rhetorical appeals. The next step was to write about how the author got their point across using the appeals.

“When I give them a writing assignment, they don’t feel like they don’t know where to start,” she said. 

A tool she enjoys from the WfBB program is a guide she has in her binder that tells what words to use to trigger in students’ minds what map to use. For example, the word “classification” lets students know to use a Tree Map. 

“I like that kind of consistency in the words that are associated with particular maps, and I also really love the Double Bubble Map for comparison,” she said. “[Previously], I’ve kind of always struggled with how to do pre-writing with comparison work.”

A helpful thing with high schoolers is also that they can go more in-depth with the maps and build onto them. They can put evidence, quotes and sources into or around the maps. 

“That’s what I like about the Thinking Maps,” she said. “There’s always room for growth and making the map more in-depth for the writing that needs to be done.”