Writing Ideas

Well since the last time I was on here, I attended a professional development workshop to train on a new reading program our school system has purchased to be used over the next six years. The reading series is named Reading Street. It is published by Scott Forseman. In the series there is a section outlining the implementation of writing. It seems that this may provide a good start for me, considering I have not been as pleased as I would like to have been with my past experiences. Now I will say , I did see some amazing writing with some of my students by the end of the year. Again my goal is to continue to search for the best writing program that promotes the highest success rate. The new reading series suggest that you start with something simple like having a student draw a picture, then label the drawing. The book suggest continuing these steps for at least the first month or two of school. According to the Teachers Edition the drawings will change based on the theme being covered weekly. I can't wait to try this! Of course, if I see some students that can go beyond this point I will do what I can to further advance them. So do you think this could be a good beginning?