How to Support Your Students with Writing
Do you have students who struggle with writing?
Maybe they struggle to come up with ideas and just stare at their paper. Maybe they have a difficult time organizing their thoughts or using a clear introduction and conclusion. Or perhaps they forget to edit their work for things like capitalization and spelling.
Wherever in the writing process they struggle, one thing is for sure - writing can be tricky!
That’s why we’ve implemented this 3 step writing process.
Let’s jump in.
Step 1 - Brainstorming
The first thing students need to do when working on a writing assignment is to understand what type of writing they are being asked to do.
Are they writing a narrative? If so, they should begin thinking about what characters they will include. Where will the story take place? What will the problem and solution be?
Or maybe they’re being asked to write an informative prompt where they need to present facts and information relevant to the prompt.
Once they know what kind of writing they are doing, they can begin outlining potential details or information to include in their paragraph.
This is where some students may get stuck.
When we have a student who says, “I can’t think of anything!” and just stares at their paper, we like to provide them with a “stuck strategy” to help narrow their focus and spark an idea.
We will ask them to consider the 5 W’s. They should consider…
Who/what
Did/does what
When
Where
Why
For example, if a student is writing an informative prompt about trout, they could say…
Who/what am I writing about? - Trout
What do trout do? - Trout are fish and can be up to 55 lbs.
Where do trout live? - Trout live in freshwater like lakes, streams, and rivers.
Why are trout important? - They provide humans with vitamins & minerals like omegas.
This breaks the big picture thinking of “what can I say about trout?” into smaller, more specific questions.
Step 2 - Drafting
Once students have come up with all of their ideas, they will pick a few to include in their paragraph.
This is where they will begin organizing their writing into an outline. They will consider the order in which they want to introduce their details and if they flow together cohesively.
They will also consider how they want to format their introduction and conclusion sentences.
This is where we like to encourage students to think about different types of introductions they can use like starting with a statistic or an interesting fact, opening with a quote, or asking the reader a question. We also have them consider how are they going to close their paragraph. Will they summarize their writing, look to the future, or leave the reader with a takeaway question?
At this point in the writing process, students can use their outline to guide them as they draft their actual paragraph.
Step 3 - Editing
The final step in the writing process is to edit the paragraph.
Once students have finished their draft, they should go back and edit it for grammar and mechanics, as well as for content.
We like to use acronyms to help them make sure they have edited for all of the necessary components.
To edit for grammar & mechanics, we use the word “CAMPS.”
This stands for -
Capitalization - Does each sentence begin with a capital? Are all proper nouns capitalized?
Appearance - Does it look right? - Does the paragraph include proper spacing, is it legible? Etc.
Meaning - Does it sound right? - Does each sentence have a subject & predicate? Are the verbs in the correct tense? Etc.
Punctuation - Does each sentence have the correct punctuation mark(s)? Are there any punctuation marks that need to be taken out?
Spelling - Did you check your spelling and ask about any words you were unsure about?
They will work through each sentence in their paragraph and check for these five things.
To edit for content, we use the acronym, “KICK.”
This stands for -
Key Information - Does the paragraph include key points and elaborations?
Introduction - Does it include an introduction with a hook?
Conclusion - Does it have a conclusion that wraps up thoughts?
Key Takeaway - Does it answer the question/prompt?
What if my students are writing at the essay level?
When students move from writing individual paragraphs to essays, we’ll have them follow these same three steps. The only difference is when outlining, the three pieces of key information will each become a full paragraph instead of a single sentence. This means they will need to brainstorm elaborations and examples to use for each key detail.
Then, when editing, we’ll have them work through one more acronym to make sure they have the necessary essay components.
This acronym, “TENT,” stands for -
Topic - Does each paragraph have a clear main idea?
Evidence - Does it have facts or evidence (with citations)?
Nailed in point - Do the facts and evidence presented support the main idea?
Transitions - Does the writing use transition words to help it flow nicely?
How can I add executive functioning support to the writing process?
Before students begin writing, we’ll ask them how long they think it will take them to brainstorm, write, and edit their work. Then, we’ll time each step of the process to see how long it actually takes them. After step 3 is complete, we’ll have students reflect on where their time estimations were close and why they were potentially different than the actual amounts of time they used.
This allows them to form a better understanding of the amount of time they need when writing so they can develop stronger time management and planning skills.
Key Takeaway -
Students may struggle with any step in the writing process, whether it is content generation, content organization, editing, or time management. It is important that we provide them with instruction in each area and provide them with strategies they can use when writing.
We’ve developed this Guided Writing Folder to help walk our students through each step of the process. They can use a dry-erase marker to write on the pages again and again, no matter what kind of writing assignment they are working on.
Click the button below to learn more about the Guided Writing Folder and grab a copy to use with your students!