The teacher and children collaborate to plan or develop a piece of writing that challenges and extends the children's independent writing skills.

The teacher models aspects of writing using children's contributions e.g. letter formation, spelling and layout.

The teaching may focus upon the structure and content of writing features and revision and improvement.

Shared Writing is linked to Reading, e.g. using texts as models.

Whilst visually impaired children follow a similar pattern of development, their visual impairment reduces opportunities for incidental learning through shared writing, potentially delaying their understanding of concepts which sighted children take for granted. In addition, children with impaired vision have reduced access to visual demonstrations of letter formation and spelling patterns, and meaning conveyed through layout style, can be lost.

Braillists will be unable to follow any modelled writing from the blackboard. They will gain some idea of what is taking place if the writing is read out while it is being written and the passages which have been altered are reread. There may still be some confusion because a braille user will find it more difficult to visualise a changing text. It is not possible to edit a piece of writing using a Perkin's Brailler although some braillists who progress onto a Laptop computer may develop this skill. Young children who are blind still need direct exposure to, and experience of modelled writing. This may be achieved through the simultaneous brailling of the writing. When the teacher is speaking to the class some teachers may find this distracting. The speed of the lesson may make it difficult to keep up especially as any alterations will necessitate the rebrailling of a whole section. There is often no extra time to go over what the teacher has modelled and as there is always a delay so some things will usually be missed. Preparation of the writing before the lesson is not possible because the ideas are spontaneous. The use of a baking tray with strips of braille paper has been pioneered in an attempt to overcome some of these problems but as yet these have not become established.

Visually impaired children, using print, may also miss out on a number of learning opportunities during these sessions. Many of these children will be unsupported and need to be seated as close to the writing as possible. Work written on a blackboard will less accessible to them than writing on a white board, whilst work written on a Flip Chart can be given to them for closer scrutiny after the session has finished. It will also help if you read out what you are writing, reread passages which have been altered and physically point to any key features you wish to emphasise. Some children who have support may have the writing rewritten for them which they can follow at the same time.