Donald H. Graves

Donald H. Graves (1930–2010) was an American author and educator widely recognized as a pioneer in the teaching of writing. He served as a teacher and school principal before joining the University of New Hampshire in the early childhood program, where he became Professor Emeritus of education and founded the Writing Process Laboratory in 1976. He completed a master’s degree in education at Bridgewater State and a doctorate in education at the University at Buffalo, and his classroom-based research at Atkinson Academy in New Hampshire in the 1970s and early 1980s helped revolutionize writing instruction by demonstrating that children learn to write by writing frequently and making real decisions as authors.

Graves published numerous influential professional books for teachers, including the landmark Writing: Teachers and Children at Work (1983), which grew out of his ethnographic study of elementary students and became a foundational text in process-oriented writing instruction. His work emphasized that all children can write and that writing is a vital means of self-expression and critical thinking, an impact recognized by the National Council of Teachers of English through an award named in his honor. He later coauthored Inside Writing: How to Teach the Details of Craft with Penny Kittle, extending his apprenticeship approach to help teachers model key elements of writing craft—such as topic choice, detail, and revision—through their