Science of Writing Courses & Events
COURSE CATALOG
Live Courses
Introduction to Releasing Writers’ (formerly think SRSD) Science of Writing Course (Live via Zoom)
Gr K-12 Introductory Course (*New Winter 2025-26 Dates Below)
This course includes both Releasing Writers and Power Up books. Total cost is $449.
To enroll a group over 20 – email [email protected]
Couse Description
Learn the Releasing Writers’ (formerly think SRSD) writing instructional approach, an evidence-based, explicit set of sequenced strategies and scaffolds for teaching all writing genres. This course supports you in integrating the science of writing into any content area or ELA program. This framework improves the structure, coherence and clarity of students’ writing at all levels: word choice, sentences, organization and content. Participants will also learn how to teach note-taking, organization, and revision. There are opportunities to develop your own lessons and practice delivering these. This course is open to all educators in grades K-12. (Note: K/1 teachers may prefer to take our K/1 only courses.) This approach is grounded in SRSD (self-regulated strategy development) as well as wider findings from current cutting-edge leading writing researchers. Students find not only writing success but joy when using this framework.
Course Objectives
Course Objectives At the completion of the course, participants will:
- Become familiar with the self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) model for teaching writing strategies that includes modeling, scaffolding the use of tools and providing guided feedback that helps students become more skillful and strategic writers.
- Learning how thinkSRSD has augmented SRSD to include more explicit instruction in sentence level writing, and writing in response to the reading standards.
- Learn how to integrate how to use the thinkSRSD instructional framework (and key strategies) in your class for your writing units or with individual students through creating lesson plans with your materials..
- Enhance and deepen awareness of the skills and schemas that underlie writing and the writing process and how you can facilitate students’ progressing through mastering these processes more quickly, effectively and easily.
- Learn to analyze student writing more effectively and formulate a more systematic, structured lesson plan/unit to help them to write while addressing their needs.
- Discover structured ways to enhance how you use data to guide your teaching the writing process, creating and organizing skill and strategy lessons, regularly collect data on student writing to assess students’ writings frequently and to co-set effective goals with students to improve their writing skills.
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Gr K-8 July 13-14 – 8:30-3 EST
Train the Trainer National Leadership Network Monthly Meetings
Ensure your school experiences a light-lift and high-yield Releasing Writers (formerly think SRSD) adoption process. Receive personalized monthly guidance during your science of writing implementation journey. You will also receive access to our road-tested and research-based support tools (i.e. Lesson Observation Look-For Checklists; Implementation Success Self-Assessments) and access to our unique applications that can help you monitor and support uptake in your classrooms. Connect in job-alike breakouts with colleagues to problem-solve challenges and celebrate successes. Each breakout has an experienced coach or principal facilitating, who has successfully seen ELA gains after adopting the science of writing.
Cost is $1000 for a single coach or school. Districts larger than 3 schools, contact [email protected] for pricing.
SY 2025-26 Dates: 9/3, 10/1, 11/5, 1/7, 2/4, 3/4
SY 2026-27 Dates: 9/2, 10/7, 11/4, 1/6, 2/3, 3/3
Coaches: 8:30-10:00 EST; Principals 10:30-11:30 EST; Make ups: 12-1:30 or TBD
Sentence Instruction Course (Live and Recorded)
Learn the science of writing for how to teach the word and sentence level building blocks needed for quality writing. This course presents an explicit and systematic clearly laid out instructional progression, that includes flexible step by step lessons for each grade level. Grounded in the evidence-based practices outlined in the IES (Institute for Educational Sciences) What Works Guide for Teaching Writing, this course will make it easy for you to embed daily grammar lessons into your existing curriculum in ways that improve student writing quality, as well as feelings about writing in general.
Pre-requisite: We recommend completing the main Releasing Writers Introductory Course first. This course builds on the core framework, strategies, and scaffolds introduced there—so you’ll get the most out of this experience if you’re already familiar with them. Think of this as your next step: a powerful way to elevate students’ word and sentence level writing.
Total cost is $199. Note: Access to Releasing Writers’ exclusive ‘Gist’ sentence lessons packets provided.
SY 2025-26 Dates: TBD
Session Recordings from prior Live sessions included, as well as Gist books
Curriculum Integration Course (Live and Recorded)
Discover how to seamlessly integrate Releasing Writers (formerly think SRSD) into your core ELA curriculum. Explore sample integration maps and hear directly from coaches and teachers who’ve already brought this approach to life in their classrooms.
Pre-requisite: To register, participants must first complete the main Releasing Writers Introductory Course. This integration course builds on the core framework, strategies, and scaffolds introduced there—so you’ll get the most out of this experience if you’re already familiar with them. Think of this as your next step: a powerful way to elevate and energize your existing ELA or content area instruction.
Total cost is $199.
To enroll a group over 20 – email [email protected]
Integrate Expeditionary Learning with Releasing Writers:
2026 – 4/8, 4/15, 4/29, 5/13 (3:15-4:15 EST)
Integrate Benchmark Advanced with Releasing Writers
Integrate HMH Into Reading with Releasing Writers
Integrate Core Knowledge Language Arts with Releasing Writers
Integrate Wonders with Releasing Writers
Integrate Wit & Wisdom with Releasing Writers
March 11, 3:15-4:15 EST
Science of Writing Keynotes & Presentations
ESEA (Federal Elementary & Secondary Act) Conference
February 10-12, 2026
The Reading League Live Full Day Event
March 20, 2026
Registration coming soon
Alaska Science of Reading Symposium
May 1-3, 2026
Registration coming soon
Reading League Colorado Annual Conference
May 30, 2026
Registration coming soon
About Us
Releasing Writers is the community of teachers and researchers who use and study practical applications of the Science of Writing. We offer in-person professional development and e-learning courses taught by teachers with decades of experience using our framework. Since offering the very first open enrollment course in SRSD in 2008, our group has grown to lead courses on multiple evidence-based practices for teaching writing and to integrate these.