A practicum was designed to increase the literacy levels of first graders through writing daily for authentic purposes and self-assessing their work. A writing program was designed which allowed for daily authentic writing, and students were taught how to self-assess their written work. Subjects were 60 students in 3 Grade 1 classrooms in a city elementary school serving more than 400 students total. Each first-grade classroom devoted 45 minutes daily to writing for authentic purposes. Results indicated through analysis of the data that when teachers allowed time for daily authentic writing, students were active participants in their own writing process. Data also indicated that when teachers write long range plans for teaching writing, writing tends to become a daily classroom activity. Findings suggest that when teachers increase their knowledge of process writing and how to teach writing to children, students and teachers tend to engage in daily authentic writing. Further, students could be taught to self-assess their own writing after repeated modeling from the teacher. (Contains 1 table of data and 41 references; appended are a school mission statement and various forms for classroom use.) (Author/CR)