Explicit Instruction and Responsive Instruction: Finding Common Ground

An Introduction to This Blog Series 

Our team has been thinking about the tensions that exist within the world of writing instruction. As educators, we often hear these ideas framed as opposites. Should we follow the curriculum with fidelity or adapt it to meet our students’ needs? How do we protect dedicated writing time while also weaving writing throughout the day? When should we prioritize foundational skills, and when should we focus on composition? How do we balance student choice with the assignments students need to complete? What are the benefits of modeling writing for students versus using mentors. The more we’ve talked and reflected together, the more we’ve realized these aren’t either/or questions. They’re both/and opportunities. Throughout this series, each post will explore a tension, sharing the thinking, questions, and classroom practices that have helped shape our own instruction.

As you prepare for a new school year-whether you’re setting up your classroom, revisiting your routines, or simply thinking about the kind of writing community you want to build- we hope you’ll find yourself somewhere in these conversations. Maybe the strongest writing classrooms aren’t built by choosing one side or the other. Powerful writing instruction happens through research-based practices, regardless of the program, script or curriculum that you are using.

Teaching Writing or Writers? 

Regardless of what your writing block looks like, it is worth asking: What does writing instruction look like today? Are we assigning writing, or are we teaching writers? And as more schools adopt curricula that are expected to be taught with fidelity, do we still leave room to respond to the students in front of us?

When some people hear the term explicit instruction, they imagine a scripted lesson where every teacher says the same words and every student follows the same path. On the other hand, when people hear responsive teaching, they sometimes imagine abandoning the curriculum to follow whatever students happen to need that day. In reality, both explicit instruction and responsive teaching are essential in every classroom. One provides clarity for students; the other provides direction for teachers. Both are necessary. 

Explicit instruction is about making the invisible work of learning visible. As Jennifer Serravallo (2026) explains in “Explicit Instruction and the Power of Strategies,“explicit teaching helps students understand not only what to do but why and when to use a particular strategy. We name the thinking, model the process, and provide opportunities for students to practice until the work becomes their own.”

Explicit instruction is only effective when it is paired with responsive teaching. Responsiveness isn’t something we do after instruction; it is woven throughout the teaching cycle. Before a lesson, we study student work and assessment data to determine what students are ready for. During instruction, we notice how students are responding and adjust in the moment. Afterward, we reflect on student work to decide where instruction needs to go.

Responsive teaching determines what skills and concepts deserve explicit instruction, and explicit instruction equips students with the knowledge, strategies, and confidence to develop independence. We notice, we decide, we teach, we observe, and we adjust. This cycle ensures that instruction is both intentional and responsive.

Teaching writing is about helping students complete today’s assignment. Teaching writers is about helping students develop strategies they can carry into their future writing. Explicit instruction and responsive teaching are what make that possible.

Why It Matters

Teaching is not simply about delivering a lesson. We’ve all experienced lessons that didn’t land the way we hoped. What matters most is what we do next. Do we move on because the lesson is over, or do we respond because the learning isn’t?

When explicit instruction and responsive teaching work together, students don’t just complete today’s assignment. They develop the skills to become writers who can tackle their future writing using everything they’ve learned. 

What This Looks Like in Classrooms 

Here are just a few quick tips that can help you think about balancing explicit instruction and responsive teaching.

One Final Thought

As you head into a new school year, no matter your curricular resource, we hope that you’ll find this common thread woven throughout this entire blog series: our goal has never been to help students finish one piece of writing. Our goal is to help our students carry what they’ve learned into the next piece, the next classroom, and eventually out into the world.

When we make the invisible work of writing visible through explicit instruction and respond thoughtfully to what students need next, we do more than teach writing. We teach writers.

Go Deeper

Responsive Teaching: 7 Guiding Principles by Dr. Carl Hendrick

Anita Archer on the Principles of Explicit Instruction Podcast

An Interview With The Authors of the Responsive Writing Teacher by Stacey Shubitz

Up Next

Tomorrow, Sarah will be exploring schedules, including the balance of having a writing block as well as writing across the curriculum.