The Daily Writing Program
and
Vygotsky
Brian Martel
Edu 511
The Daily Writing Program
The DWP consists of 5 phases.
The kindergarteners progress through
the phases at their own pace according
to their zone of proximal development.
Vygotsky
Three zones of developmental ability
Zone of
Actual Developmental_________________________Level of Potential
Level
Proximal
Development
Development
The DWP works in the children’s zone of
proximal development.
The Daily Writing Program
Phase 1
The children begin by writing
their names on the
whiteboards using a model
that includes their name in
upper and lower case letters.
The children are encouraged
to use the model less and
less.
The Daily Writing Program
Phase 2
The children copy three
words out of our alphabet
books and/or words they find
in or around the room.
The Daily Writing Program
Phase 3
The children
choose three
words to write
about the
pictures on the
class
whiteboard.
The Daily Writing Program
Phase 4
The children write a sentence
about the picture on the class
whiteboard.
The Daily Writing Program
Phase 5
The children are given paper
with different silly pictures like
the one to the right. They
must use sentences to write a
story about the picture.
Vygotsky
Scaffolding
Conventional “story writing” is broken up into
smaller, more simple tasks throughout the 5
phases.
Hand-over-hand, special writing utensils, and
other fine motor strategies are used to help
penmanship.
Vygotsky
Formal Conversation
The children bring their work to the teacher
who assesses what their zone of proximal
development is and models a strategical
dialogue to the child.
Vygotsky
An Example of Formal Conversation
Phase 3
When the children bring their whiteboards
to the teacher, the teacher will help them make
improvements on their spelling by modeling a
thought process. For example, the teacher
might say, “I see you wrote N-I-S but when you
say ‘nose’ I don’t hear I say ‘i’. What letter
says ‘o’?”
Vygotsky
Authentic Activities
Obviously the written language is at the core
of many of our adult activities, and the list of
examples in which the basic skills the DWP
builds are used could fill reams upon reams of
paper. Or power point upon power point!
What About Piaget?
Questions he might have about the DWP
What is exploration’s role in the DWP?
and
How do children interact with each other
during the DWP?