Mora Literacy utilizes the Releasing Writers (formerly think SRSD) approach to writing instruction. A simple mnemonic, TIDE-L, creates the organizational strategy to support self-regulation when crafting informational and persuasive writing pieces.
This approach is backed by decades of research and involves extensive explicit instruction and feedback across the entire writing process, from planning and drafting, to revising and editing. As an example, this 2002 study compared middle school writers who received this thorough and supported strategy instruction with a control group. Students receiving SRSD instruction outperformed their peers in terms of length, maturity of vocabulary, and overall writing quality.
Writing instruction begins with crafting a strong gist statement to summarize what has been read, followed by pulling apart the writing prompt, picking and organizing ideas, and selecting strong vocabulary targets before beginning to compose the piece. Then drafting, revising, editing, and scoring follow. Positive self-talk, learning from mentor examples, completing writing cycles together as a class, and setting personal goals are all elements added in to create a thorough approach that supports personal growth and independence.
For additional information, please refer to the following resources:
- Releasing Writers brochure- https://thinksrsd.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2026-Brochure-smaller.pdf
- The Science of Writing- https://thinksrsd.com/what-is-srsd/
- 2024 Large scale study of thinkSRSD- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/398891474_A_large_scale_implementation_and_cohort_study_of_thinkSRSD
Mora Literacy 