fun ways to teach essay writing

10 Fun Classroom Writing Games to Improve Literacy Skills

The best writing games to engage students

A colleague of mine recently shared these ten great writing game ideas to improve literacy skills in the classroom.  They are simple to play and can be applied to nearly all year levels. 

These are some of the best writing games that require minimal or no setup time and are an excellent option for substitute teachers looking to quickly break the ice with students or English teachers just seeking fresh ideas to brighten up their lessons. Enjoy.

Remember that if you are looking for more excellent free resources and structured guides to teaching all aspects of English, especially writing, be sure to visit  literacyideas.com .

Sentence Stretching

Start with a short sentence or group of words.  Pass it around to about 6 people, with the rule that each person must add (a word or a group of words) or change ONE word ( to another word or a group of words) to make the sentence more specific and more enjoyable.

Rebus writing

Students write sentences or longer texts and substitute drawings for nouns.

25 Fun Daily Writing Tasks

Quick Write and JOURNAL Activities for ALL TEXT TYPES in DIGITAL & PDF PRINT to engage RELUCTANT WRITERS .

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ( 18 reviews )

It’s in the bag

Place an object in a bag- ensure the students don’t see it. Students feel the object in the bag and use words to describe how it feels. They take it out and add /alter their adjectives.

Touch and tell

An object is passed around a group of students. Each student suggests an adjective to describe it.

Alternative

Students provide an adjectival phrase or clause to describe the object

Students randomly select from a box a picture of an animal, person or object that moves. They brainstorm action verbs for the chosen object.

The students can supply verbs and adverbs

They can supply adjectives or adjectival groups

Read a text ( this case narrative ), and at a particular point, stop and ask students to select a character and suggest, for example:

• What the character is doing, thinking, and feeling ( focus on processes)

Change the meaning- change one word

Students locate and change one word that will alter the sentence’s meaning.

They share their alterations and discuss which part of speech was the most important in changing the meaning .

Locate and classify

Read a text and ask students to write nouns on cards ( red), adjectives (blue), and articles in orange. Rearrange words to create different noun groups. Students can also locate verbs ( green card) and adverbs (yellow). Rearrange all the words to create new sentences.

Students can locate adjectival phrases, clauses, or adverbial phrases and write these on other coloured cards.

Grammar toss- Sentence making

Players must throw a 1 before they can begin. The winner is the first person to make a sentence that includes all of the following:

• A group of words that tell what or who ( singular)
• A group of words that tell when
• A verb in the past tense
• An adverb telling how
• A group of words telling where

They can then rearrange the sentence parts to see how many ways they can make another meaningful sentence. 

Other parts of speech can be used for each number thrown.

Toss and write

Before the activity, a cube is prepared. Upon each face of the cube, a task is written that requires specific grammar knowledge. For example:

Make a sentence

Make a question

Provide two adjectives

Provide two verbs

Create a noun group (e.g. article, adjective/s noun)

Provide a noun and an adverb

Students select a subject ( noun) from a tin. They throw the cube, and whichever side of the cube faces up is the task they must attempt.

OTHER GREAT ARTICLES RELATED TO WRITING GAMES

10 fun writing activities for the reluctant writer

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7 Fun Writing Sub Plans for Substitute Teachers

How To Teach Argumentative Essay Writing

Teaching argumentative essay writing can be a real challenge. In addition to teaching writing, you’re also teaching skills like research and refutation. Luckily, this post includes the tips you need for effectively teaching argumentative essay writing.

I have great news for any of you gearing up to teach argumentative essay writing. Those students of yours love to argue. (Don’t believe me? Just ask their parents!) Students love to stand up for their opinion, proving their view is correct. The challenge, then, is getting them to look at the whole picture, find supporting evidence and understand the opposing viewpoints. Only then can they craft an argument that is both factually strong and persuasive. Overall, it’s about moving them beyond the blinders of their opinions and taking a more sound evidence-based approach.

Teaching argumentative essay writing doesn’t have to be such a painful experience for both you and your students. Follow the steps and strategies below to learn how to approach the dreaded argumentative essay more easily.

The Challenge with Teaching Argumentative Essay Writing

Why is teaching argumentative essay writing so difficult, you ask? I’ve been there. The truth is, when teaching argumentative essay writing, you’re teaching more than writing . You’re also teaching research skills and encouraging critical thought and analysis. You also need to explain how to evaluate sources and evidence and the difference between fact and opinion. In many ways, you’re teaching tolerance and perspective. (The list goes on.)

Long story short, it makes sense that it’s a challenge. The key is to not rush into it. Take it step-by-step, building upon what students already know.

Moving Beyond Persuasion

The good news? Many of your students have a foundational knowledge of persuasive writing that you can use as a springboard for teaching argumentative essay writing. However, it’s important to note that, while many use the terms interchangeably, they’re not quite the same. The main difference? Factual evidence. Your students might be used to persuasive writing, meaning writing to convince the reader of a claim rooted in their personal opinion . While it’s likely that students will argue something they are in favor of, argumentative essay writing involves using claims supported by factual evidence. Additionally, a hallmark of the argumentative essay is addressing the opposing viewpoint, a step that many students are unfamiliar with– and find rather challenging.

Consider the following steps as you move from persuasion to argumentative essay writing:

Step 1: Start with Casual Augmentation

Engage your students in a low-stakes debate before formally teaching argumentative essay writing. This approach will help get students in the right mindset as you begin to lay the foundation for effective argumentation. Don’t even mention the word essay at this point. Keep it fun and casual to break the ice.

There are many ways to approach casual argumentation in class. You can begin with an anticipation guide of controversial yet appropriate statements. After students fill it out, foster a group discussion in which students share their thoughts regarding each statement. Encourage them to move beyond simple opinions by asking why to get them to dig deeper as they support their stance.

To get your students up and moving, consider playing a game like Four Corners to get them to take a stance on a topic. Regardless of which activity you choose, spend time discussing the students’ stances. Small debates are likely to unfold right then and there.

Step 2: Add In Evidence, But Still Keep It Casual

You’ve causally engaged students in basic argumentation. However, before moving into a full-blown argumentative essay, dip students’ toes into the world of supporting evidence. Use the same activity above or write a simple yet controversial topic on the board for them to take a stance on. This time, give students a chance to gather supporting evidence. It might be worth quickly reviewing what makes a sound piece of evidence (research, studies, statistics, expert quotes, etc.). Then, once they pick their stance, allow five to ten minutes to gather the best piece of supportive evidence they can find. After, give them another five to ten minutes to work with the others in their corner/on their side to determine the strongest two or three pieces of evidence to share with the class. Once each team does this, have them take turns sharing their stance and supporting evidence. I like to leave room at the end for “final words” where they can respond to a point made by the other side.

During this simple activity, begin to unpack the importance of solid and relevant supporting evidence.

Step 3: Bring in the Opposing Viewpoints

Don’t stop there. One of the most challenging aspects of argumentative writing for students to grasp is acknowledging and responding to the opposition. They are often blinded by their experiences, perspectives, and opinions that they neglect the opposing side altogether.

Here’s what you can do: Repeat either activity above with a slight twist. Once students pick their side, switch it up. Instead of supporting the side they chose, ask them to research the other side and find the best supporting evidence to bring back to the class. Therefore, students will engage in a casual debate, supporting an opposing viewpoint. (For a simpler, more independent version of this, write a controversial statement on the board, have students take a stance, and then find evidence for the opposing side, putting it all into a written response.) While many students might complain at first, you’d be surprised how quickly they get into the task. Activities like these lay the groundwork for making evidence-based claims. Additionally, students will begin to recognize the role of perspective in argumentation.  

Step 4: Introduce the Argumentative Essay

Now it’s time to introduce the argumentative essay. Many students will be tempted to jump right into writing. Therefore, make it clear that argumentative essay writing involves deeply investigating a topic before writing.

Next, explain how argumentative writing aims to take a stance on a topic and back it up with substantial supporting evidence. Additionally, include how argumentative essay writing requires acknowledging the opposing viewpoint. As for persuasion, explain that it must work in coordination with collected evidence rather than being rooted solely in one’s opinion.

When introducing the argumentative essay, it helps to outline the essay structure, showing students where it is both similar and different from the essays they are used to:

• Begin with an introductory paragraph. This is where the students will hook their readers and provide a summary of the issue, any relative background information, and a well-defined claim. (This is a great place to explain that claim is another word for a thesis statement used in argumentative writing.)
• Then comes the logically organized body paragraphs, each unpacking evidential support of the claim. While students are used to using body paragraphs to support their claim, remind them one body paragraph must reference and refute the opposing side.
• Finally comes the conclusion. Students are no strangers to writing conclusions. However, they should be moving beyond simply restating the thesis at the secondary level. Guide them through readdressing it in a way that acknowledges the presented evidence and leaves the author with something to think about.

Students will likely recognize the similarity between this and the traditional five-paragraph essay. Therefore, focus your teaching on the newer elements thrown into the mix that truly make it an argumentative essay.

Teacher Tip.

Incorporate various mentor texts to help students grasp the elements of argumentative essay writing. There are tons you can pull offline written by students and experts alike. ( The New York Times Learning Network has some great mentor text resources!) The more interesting your students find the subject matter, the better. Controversial topics always stir up an engaging conversation as well.

Teaching the Argumentative Essay Writing Process

Remember, students can quickly fall into old habits, neglecting some of the most imperative aspects of argumentative writing. Take it slow, walking students through the following steps – trust me, you’ll be thankful you did when it comes time to read a pile of these essays:

• Choose a topic. I recommend providing a list of argumentative essay writing topics for students to choose from. This prevents students’ classic “I can’t think of anything” roadblock. However, encourage students to choose a topic they are interested in or feel passionate about. With that said, I always give the option of letting students convince me (ha!) to let them use a topic they came up with if not on the list.
• Start the research. This is where students begin gathering evidence and is an opportunity to review what constitutes strong evidence in the first place.
• Understand the opposing side: Students are always confused about why I have them start here. One reason? It’s more challenging for students to see the other side, so this gets it out of the way first. Another? Some students never took the time to understand the other side, and in some cases, they switch their stance before writing their argument. It’s better to do so now than after you’ve done all your research and drafting. Lastly, I explain how understanding the opposing side can help guide your research for your side.
• Make a claim. While students may have an idea of their claim, the strongest claims are driven by evidence . Therefore, remind students that a claim is a statement that can be supported with evidence and reasoning and debated. Playing a quick game of two truths and an opinion (a spin on two truths and a lie) can reinforce the notion of facts vs. opinions.
• Write the body paragraphs. Each body paragraph should focus on supporting the claim with specific evidence. However, don’t forget to rebut the opposition! While they find it challenging, students learn to love this part. (After all, they love being right.) However, their instinct tends to be just to prove the other side wrong without using evidence as to why.
• Round out the intro and the conclusion, put it all together, and voila! An argumentative essay is born.

More Tips for Teaching Argumentative Essay Writing

• Begin with what they know: Build on the well-known five-paragraph essay model. Start with something students know. Many are already familiar with the classic five-paragraph essay, right? Use that as a reference point, noting out where they will add new elements, such as opposing viewpoints and rebuttal.
• Use mentor texts: Mentor texts help give students a frame of reference when learning a new genre of writing. However, don’t stop at reading the texts. Instead, have students analyze them, looking for elements such as the authors’ claims, types of evidence, and mentions of the opposing side. Additionally, encourage students to discuss where the author made the most substantial arguments and why.
• In [ARTICLE NAME/STUDY], the author states…
• According to…,
• This shows/illustrates/explains…
• This means/confirms/suggests…
• Opponents of this idea claim/maintain that…  however…
• Those who disagree/are against these ideas may say/ assert that…  yet…
• On the other hand…
• This is not to say that…
• Provide clear guidelines: I love using rubrics, graphic organizers, and checklists to help students stay on track throughout the argumentative essay writing process. Use these structured resources to help them stay on track every step of the way– and makes grading much easier for you .

The bottom line? Teaching argumentative essay writing is a skill that transcends the walls of our classrooms. The art of making and supporting a sound, evidence-based argument is a real-life skill. If our goal as teachers is to prepare students to be skilled, active, and engaged citizens of the 21st century, effectively teaching argumentative essay writing is a must. So, what are you waiting for? Teach those kids how to argue the write way.

1 thought on “How To Teach Argumentative Essay Writing”

This is very helpful. I am preparing to teach my student how to write an argumentative essay. This help me know that I am on the right path and to change how I organize some things in a different way. I really like how you recommended they pick out the elements of the writing. This will help them focus on the parts they dislike doing the most. Thanks for the writing.

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• TARR’S TOOLBOX

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10 creative approaches for developing essay-writing skills

Overview: 10 tips for improving essay writing.

The knack of writing a good essay in a subject like history is a skill which is a challenge to acquire for many students, but immensely rewarding and useful. The ability to carry a reader along with a well-crafted argument is no easy feat, since it involves carefully synthesising the creative arts of the storyteller with the scientific rigour of the evidence-driven empiricist.

With this in mind, it is not enough to simply take in an essay, mark it and provide feedback, and then hurry on to the next lesson or activity. Much better is to take in a first draft of the essay, involve the students in some reflection and redrafting, and then take it in for final marking so that the advice is immediately being put into effect rather than going stale whilst the class awaits the next essay assignment several weeks later.

Listed below are a few activities that can be used to help students improve their essay-writing skills after their initial draft of work has been completed.

To accompany this post, you may wish to read these other entries on Tarr’s Toolbox:

• Compare first paragraph of several books to analyse stylistic techniques
• Develop links between factors using a “Connection Web” template
• “Linkage Bingo” to summarise and connect key factors
• Using Hexagon Learning for categorisation, linkage and prioritisation
• Visual essay-writing: cartoons, sticky-notes and plenty of collaboration!
• Use the “Keyword Checker” to ensure student essays cover the essentials
• Rubric Grids: Essay Marking Made Easy!
• Using the “Battleships” format to Teach Historical Interpretations
• Sticky-notes and project nests: collaborate, collate, categorise, connect
• Connecting Factors with “Paper People” display projects

Sample Exercises

1. analysis skills.

• “The Skeleton”

▪ Produce an essay plan which contains merely the first sentence of each paragraph. Leave space underneath each sentence so it can be completed.

▪ Pass your essay to a partner. Their job is to explain the points you make using evidence.

▪ Finally, take your essay back (or pass it to a third person) to write a conclusion.

• “Objection!”

▪ Take your own (or someone else’s) completed essay. Read out just the first sentence of each paragraph to a partner or to the class. If at any point anyone in the class thinks that an opening sentence is a narrative statement of fact rather than an analytical argument they should say “objection” and explain why. Develop your opening statements until the class is happy with the finished piece.

• “Flowchart”

▪ Take your own (or someone else’s) completed essay. Read out just the first sentence of each paragraph to someone else in the class, who has the task of summarising your argument on the board in the form of a flowchart.

▪ A poorly constructed essay will consist of simple narrative statements.

▪ An adequately constructed essay will consist of isolated analytical statements.

▪ A well constructed essay will consist of analytical statements, linked together in a logical way.

2. Narrative Skills: “Mr. Interpretation”

▪ Read out a sentence of factual detail to someone else in the class from your essay. Their job is to provide an analytical point that it illustrates, for example:

▪ Person 1 presents a fact – “Tsarina Alexandra was German by birth”

▪ Person 2 the interpretation – “Provides explanation for opposition to Tsar during WW1”

Any student unable to provide an interpretation promptly is “knocked out” of the game. The winner is the “last person standing”.

3. Source Evaluation Skills: “Mr. Sceptical”

▪ This is the same as “Mr. Interpretation” except a third person in each “round” has to show an awareness of the limitations of the evidence:

▪ Person 1 presents a fact – “Tsar Nicholas was ‘not fit to run a village post office’ (Trotsky)”

▪ Person 3 the limitations – “But Trotsky was a hostile witness”, “But the Russians were deeply loyal to the principle of Tsarism”.

4. Challenging the Question: “Mr. Angry”

▪ Take a list of sample questions from past exam papers. For each one, copy it down and then underneath explain

▪ What loaded assumptions are within it.

▪ Why these are quite obviously completely and utterly wrong.

5. Structural Skills: Where are the paragraphs?

▪The teacher should take an article available in a digital format (e.g. from the History Today archives), paste it into a Word document, and then remove all of the paragraph marks and (as a final act of stylistic sadism) make it ‘fully justified’. Students should then be presented with this essay from hell, and challenged to deduce by reading it carefully where they think that each of the original paragraphs began. This can then lead into a discussion about how a writer determines when to start a new paragraph – for example, when they are about to make a brand new point in relation to the question,

6. Structural Skills: How effective are the topic sentences?

7. avoiding stock responses: “rewrite the model essay”.

▪ Take a model essay or an article provided by your teacher which answers a central question.

▪ Now examine past exam papers to see what other questions have been asked on this theme. In what ways would you need to re-write and re-structure the essay to focus on this question given?

8. Focusing on the command terms: “Guess the title of the essay”

▪ Another technique is for the students to copy and paste the entire article / essay into a piece of Word Cloud software such as Wordle or Taxedo. Students then have to guess the title of the essay from the results. If a writer has clearly focused on the command terms then these will appear at a higher frequency in the word count and therefore will be displayed more prominently in the word cloud.

9. Only incorporate a quote / historiography when you DISAGREE with it

▪ Using quotes in essays is too often a technique used by students to avoid thinking for themselves. Worst of all is the paragraph which is effectively a potted summary of another writer’s point of view. To avoid this, students should be asked to remove any quotes which they actually agree with. Instead, they should use quotes as a means of setting up a debate and demonstrating clear evidence of independent thinking (“Although AJP Taylor argued that…(quote)…this does not bear close scrutiny because…(contrary evidence))”.

10. General advice: The shape of an essay

A. in the introduction….

▪ Demonstrate understanding of the question. Clarify any key concepts that are mentioned (“Marxist”, “Propaganda”); outline which events and time period you will consider, and why

▪ Signpost the reader through your essay . In other words, give a very brief overview of how you plan to tackle the question.

b. In the main body of the essay…

▪ Start each paragraph with an argument (analysis). If you read the first sentence of each paragraph when you have finished, you should find that you have a summary of your case.

▪ Proceed to explain this point using evidence (including quotes from historians). The more specific this evidence is, the better.

▪ Wherever possible, explain why this evidence is valuable, or acknowledge its limitations.

c. In the conclusion…

▪ Answer the question by such things as

▪ Showing how your factors link together

▪ Showing how it depends on where / when / at whom you are looking

▪ Challenge the question by tackling any assumptions within it:

▪ E.g. “Why did the League of Nations only last 20 years?” suggests that this is a dismal record; you could make the point that the surprising thing is that it lasted so long as this given all the overwhelming problems it faced.

Classroom Q&A

With larry ferlazzo.

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. Read more from this blog.

Four Strategies for Effective Writing Instruction

• Share article

(This is the first post in a two-part series.)

The new question-of-the-week is:

What is the single most effective instructional strategy you have used to teach writing?

Teaching and learning good writing can be a challenge to educators and students alike.

The topic is no stranger to this column—you can see many previous related posts at Writing Instruction .

But I don’t think any of us can get too much good instructional advice in this area.

Today, Jenny Vo, Michele Morgan, and Joy Hamm share wisdom gained from their teaching experience.

Before I turn over the column to them, though, I’d like to share my favorite tool(s).

Graphic organizers, including writing frames (which are basically more expansive sentence starters) and writing structures (which function more as guides and less as “fill-in-the-blanks”) are critical elements of my writing instruction.

You can see an example of how I incorporate them in my seven-week story-writing unit and in the adaptations I made in it for concurrent teaching.

You might also be interested in The Best Scaffolded Writing Frames For Students .

Now, to today’s guests:

‘Shared Writing’

Jenny Vo earned her B.A. in English from Rice University and her M.Ed. in educational leadership from Lamar University. She has worked with English-learners during all of her 24 years in education and is currently an ESL ISST in Katy ISD in Katy, Texas. Jenny is the president-elect of TexTESOL IV and works to advocate for all ELs:

The single most effective instructional strategy that I have used to teach writing is shared writing. Shared writing is when the teacher and students write collaboratively. In shared writing, the teacher is the primary holder of the pen, even though the process is a collaborative one. The teacher serves as the scribe, while also questioning and prompting the students.

The students engage in discussions with the teacher and their peers on what should be included in the text. Shared writing can be done with the whole class or as a small-group activity.

There are two reasons why I love using shared writing. One, it is a great opportunity for the teacher to model the structures and functions of different types of writing while also weaving in lessons on spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

It is a perfect activity to do at the beginning of the unit for a new genre. Use shared writing to introduce the students to the purpose of the genre. Model the writing process from beginning to end, taking the students from idea generation to planning to drafting to revising to publishing. As you are writing, make sure you refrain from making errors, as you want your finished product to serve as a high-quality model for the students to refer back to as they write independently.

Another reason why I love using shared writing is that it connects the writing process with oral language. As the students co-construct the writing piece with the teacher, they are orally expressing their ideas and listening to the ideas of their classmates. It gives them the opportunity to practice rehearsing what they are going to say before it is written down on paper. Shared writing gives the teacher many opportunities to encourage their quieter or more reluctant students to engage in the discussion with the types of questions the teacher asks.

Writing well is a skill that is developed over time with much practice. Shared writing allows students to engage in the writing process while observing the construction of a high-quality sample. It is a very effective instructional strategy used to teach writing.

‘Four Square’

Michele Morgan has been writing IEPs and behavior plans to help students be more successful for 17 years. She is a national-board-certified teacher, Utah Teacher Fellow with Hope Street Group, and a special education elementary new-teacher specialist with the Granite school district. Follow her @MicheleTMorgan1:

For many students, writing is the most dreaded part of the school day. Writing involves many complex processes that students have to engage in before they produce a product—they must determine what they will write about, they must organize their thoughts into a logical sequence, and they must do the actual writing, whether on a computer or by hand. Still they are not done—they must edit their writing and revise mistakes. With all of that, it’s no wonder that students struggle with writing assignments.

In my years working with elementary special education students, I have found that writing is the most difficult subject to teach. Not only do my students struggle with the writing process, but they often have the added difficulties of not knowing how to spell words and not understanding how to use punctuation correctly. That is why the single most effective strategy I use when teaching writing is the Four Square graphic organizer.

The Four Square instructional strategy was developed in 1999 by Judith S. Gould and Evan Jay Gould. When I first started teaching, a colleague allowed me to borrow the Goulds’ book about using the Four Square method, and I have used it ever since. The Four Square is a graphic organizer that students can make themselves when given a blank sheet of paper. They fold it into four squares and draw a box in the middle of the page. The genius of this instructional strategy is that it can be used by any student, in any grade level, for any writing assignment. These are some of the ways I have used this strategy successfully with my students:

* Writing sentences: Students can write the topic for the sentence in the middle box, and in each square, they can draw pictures of details they want to add to their writing.

* Writing paragraphs: Students write the topic sentence in the middle box. They write a sentence containing a supporting detail in three of the squares and they write a concluding sentence in the last square.

* Writing short essays: Students write what information goes in the topic paragraph in the middle box, then list details to include in supporting paragraphs in the squares.

When I gave students writing assignments, the first thing I had them do was create a Four Square. We did this so often that it became automatic. After filling in the Four Square, they wrote rough drafts by copying their work off of the graphic organizer and into the correct format, either on lined paper or in a Word document. This worked for all of my special education students!

I was able to modify tasks using the Four Square so that all of my students could participate, regardless of their disabilities. Even if they did not know what to write about, they knew how to start the assignment (which is often the hardest part of getting it done!) and they grew to be more confident in their writing abilities.

In addition, when it was time to take the high-stakes state writing tests at the end of the year, this was a strategy my students could use to help them do well on the tests. I was able to give them a sheet of blank paper, and they knew what to do with it. I have used many different curriculum materials and programs to teach writing in the last 16 years, but the Four Square is the one strategy that I have used with every writing assignment, no matter the grade level, because it is so effective.

‘Swift Structures’

Joy Hamm has taught 11 years in a variety of English-language settings, ranging from kindergarten to adult learners. The last few years working with middle and high school Newcomers and completing her M.Ed in TESOL have fostered stronger advocacy in her district and beyond:

A majority of secondary content assessments include open-ended essay questions. Many students falter (not just ELs) because they are unaware of how to quickly organize their thoughts into a cohesive argument. In fact, the WIDA CAN DO Descriptors list level 5 writing proficiency as “organizing details logically and cohesively.” Thus, the most effective cross-curricular secondary writing strategy I use with my intermediate LTELs (long-term English-learners) is what I call “Swift Structures.” This term simply means reading a prompt across any content area and quickly jotting down an outline to organize a strong response.

To implement Swift Structures, begin by displaying a prompt and modeling how to swiftly create a bubble map or outline beginning with a thesis/opinion, then connecting the three main topics, which are each supported by at least three details. Emphasize this is NOT the time for complete sentences, just bulleted words or phrases.

Once the outline is completed, show your ELs how easy it is to plug in transitions, expand the bullets into detailed sentences, and add a brief introduction and conclusion. After modeling and guided practice, set a 5-10 minute timer and have students practice independently. Swift Structures is one of my weekly bell ringers, so students build confidence and skill over time. It is best to start with easy prompts where students have preformed opinions and knowledge in order to focus their attention on the thesis-topics-supporting-details outline, not struggling with the rigor of a content prompt.

Here is one easy prompt example: “Should students be allowed to use their cellphones in class?”

Swift Structure outline:

Thesis - Students should be allowed to use cellphones because (1) higher engagement (2) learning tools/apps (3) gain 21st-century skills

Topic 1. Cellphones create higher engagement in students...

Details A. interactive (Flipgrid, Kahoot)

B. less tempted by distractions

C. teaches responsibility

Topic 2. Furthermore,...access to learning tools...

A. Google Translate description

B. language practice (Duolingo)

C. content tutorials (Kahn Academy)

Topic 3. In addition,...practice 21st-century skills…

Details A. prep for workforce

B. access to information

C. time-management support

This bare-bones outline is like the frame of a house. Get the structure right, and it’s easier to fill in the interior decorating (style, grammar), roof (introduction) and driveway (conclusion). Without the frame, the roof and walls will fall apart, and the reader is left confused by circuitous rubble.

Once LTELs have mastered creating simple Swift Structures in less than 10 minutes, it is time to introduce complex questions similar to prompts found on content assessments or essays. Students need to gain assurance that they can quickly and logically explain and justify their opinions on multiple content essays without freezing under pressure.

Thanks to Jenny, Michele, and Joy for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo .

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A Step-by-Step Plan for Teaching Narrative Writing

July 29, 2018

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“Those who tell the stories rule the world.”  This proverb, attributed to the Hopi Indians, is one I wish I’d known a long time ago, because I would have used it when teaching my students the craft of storytelling. With a well-told story we can help a person see things in an entirely new way. We can forge new relationships and strengthen the ones we already have. We can change a law, inspire a movement, make people care fiercely about things they’d never given a passing thought.

But when we study storytelling with our students, we forget all that. Or at least I did. When my students asked why we read novels and stories, and why we wrote personal narratives and fiction, my defense was pretty lame: I probably said something about the importance of having a shared body of knowledge, or about the enjoyment of losing yourself in a book, or about the benefits of having writing skills in general.

I forgot to talk about the  power of story. I didn’t bother to tell them that the ability to tell a captivating story is one of the things that makes human beings extraordinary. It’s how we connect to each other. It’s something to celebrate, to study, to perfect. If we’re going to talk about how to teach students to write stories, we should start by thinking about why we tell stories at all . If we can pass that on to our students, then we will be going beyond a school assignment; we will be doing something transcendent.

Now. How do we get them to write those stories? I’m going to share the process I used for teaching narrative writing. I used this process with middle school students, but it would work with most age groups.

A Note About Form: Personal Narrative or Short Story?

When teaching narrative writing, many teachers separate personal narratives from short stories. In my own classroom, I tended to avoid having my students write short stories because personal narratives were more accessible. I could usually get students to write about something that really happened, while it was more challenging to get them to make something up from scratch.

In the “real” world of writers, though, the main thing that separates memoir from fiction is labeling: A writer might base a novel heavily on personal experiences, but write it all in third person and change the names of characters to protect the identities of people in real life. Another writer might create a short story in first person that reads like a personal narrative, but is entirely fictional. Just last weekend my husband and I watched the movie Lion and were glued to the screen the whole time, knowing it was based on a true story. James Frey’s book  A Million Little Pieces  sold millions of copies as a memoir but was later found to contain more than a little bit of fiction. Then there are unique books like Curtis Sittenfeld’s brilliant novel American Wife , based heavily on the early life of Laura Bush but written in first person, with fictional names and settings, and labeled as a work of fiction. The line between fact and fiction has always been really, really blurry, but the common thread running through all of it is good storytelling.

With that in mind, the process for teaching narrative writing can be exactly the same for writing personal narratives or short stories; it’s the same skill set. So if you think your students can handle the freedom, you might decide to let them choose personal narrative or fiction for a narrative writing assignment, or simply tell them that whether the story is true doesn’t matter, as long as they are telling a good story and they are not trying to pass off a fictional story as fact.

Here are some examples of what that kind of flexibility could allow:

• A student might tell a true story from their own experience, but write it as if it were a fiction piece, with fictional characters, in third person.
• A student might create a completely fictional story, but tell it in first person, which would give it the same feel as a personal narrative.
• A student might tell a true story that happened to someone else, but write it in first person, as if they were that person. For example, I could write about my grandmother’s experience of getting lost as a child, but I might write it in her voice.

If we aren’t too restrictive about what we call these pieces, and we talk about different possibilities with our students, we can end up with lots of interesting outcomes. Meanwhile, we’re still teaching students the craft of narrative writing.

A Note About Process: Write With Your Students

One of the most powerful techniques I used as a writing teacher was to do my students’ writing assignments with them. I would start my own draft at the same time as they did, composing “live” on the classroom projector, and doing a lot of thinking out loud so they could see all the decisions a writer has to make.

The most helpful parts for them to observe were the early drafting stage, where I just scratched out whatever came to me in messy, run-on sentences, and the revision stage, where I crossed things out, rearranged, and made tons of notes on my writing. I have seen over and over again how witnessing that process can really help to unlock a student’s understanding of how writing actually gets made.

A Narrative Writing Unit Plan

Before I get into these steps, I should note that there is no one right way to teach narrative writing, and plenty of accomplished teachers are doing it differently and getting great results. This just happens to be a process that has worked for me.

Step 1: Show Students That Stories Are Everywhere

Getting our students to tell stories should be easy. They hear and tell stories all the time. But when they actually have to put words on paper, they forget their storytelling abilities: They can’t think of a topic. They omit relevant details, but go on and on about irrelevant ones. Their dialogue is bland. They can’t figure out how to start. They can’t figure out how to end.

So the first step in getting good narrative writing from students is to help them see that they are already telling stories every day . They gather at lockers to talk about that thing that happened over the weekend. They sit at lunch and describe an argument they had with a sibling. Without even thinking about it, they begin sentences with “This one time…” and launch into stories about their earlier childhood experiences. Students are natural storytellers; learning how to do it well on paper is simply a matter of studying good models, then imitating what those writers do.

So start off the unit by getting students to tell their stories. In journal quick-writes, think-pair-shares, or by playing a game like Concentric Circles , prompt them to tell some of their own brief stories: A time they were embarrassed. A time they lost something. A time they didn’t get to do something they really wanted to do. By telling their own short anecdotes, they will grow more comfortable and confident in their storytelling abilities. They will also be generating a list of topic ideas. And by listening to the stories of their classmates, they will be adding onto that list and remembering more of their own stories.

And remember to tell some of your own. Besides being a good way to bond with students, sharing  your stories will help them see more possibilities for the ones they can tell.

Step 2: Study the Structure of a Story

Now that students have a good library of their own personal stories pulled into short-term memory, shift your focus to a more formal study of what a story looks like.

Use a diagram to show students a typical story arc like the one below. Then, using a simple story (try a video like The Present or Room ), fill out the story arc with the components from that story. Once students have seen this story mapped out, have them try it with another one, like a story you’ve read in class, a whole novel, or another short video.

Step 3: Introduce the Assignment

Up to this point, students have been immersed in storytelling. Now give them specific instructions for what they are going to do. Share your assignment rubric so they understand the criteria that will be used to evaluate them; it should be ready and transparent right from the beginning of the unit. As always, I recommend using a single point rubric for this.

Step 4: Read Models

Once the parameters of the assignment have been explained, have students read at least one model story, a mentor text that exemplifies the qualities you’re looking for. This should be a story on a topic your students can kind of relate to, something they could see themselves writing. For my narrative writing unit (see the end of this post), I wrote a story called “Frog” about a 13-year-old girl who finally gets to stay home alone, then finds a frog in her house and gets completely freaked out, which basically ruins the fun she was planning for the night.

They will be reading this model as writers, looking at how the author shaped the text for a purpose, so that they can use those same strategies in their own writing. Have them look at your rubric and find places in the model that illustrate the qualities listed in the rubric. Then have them complete a story arc for the model so they can see the underlying structure.

Ideally, your students will have already read lots of different stories to look to as models. If that isn’t the case, this list of narrative texts recommended by Cult of Pedagogy followers on Twitter would be a good place to browse for titles that might be right for your students. Keep in mind that we have not read most of these stories, so be sure to read them first before adopting them for classroom use.

Step 5: Story Mapping

At this point, students will need to decide what they are going to write about. If they are stuck for a topic, have them just pick something they can write about, even if it’s not the most captivating story in the world. A skilled writer could tell a great story about deciding what to have for lunch. If they are using the skills of narrative writing, the topic isn’t as important as the execution.

Have students complete a basic story arc for their chosen topic using a diagram like the one below. This will help them make sure that they actually have a story to tell, with an identifiable problem, a sequence of events that build to a climax, and some kind of resolution, where something is different by the end. Again, if you are writing with your students, this would be an important step to model for them with your own story-in-progress.

Step 6: Quick Drafts

Now, have students get their chosen story down on paper as quickly as possible: This could be basically a long paragraph that would read almost like a summary, but it would contain all the major parts of the story. Model this step with your own story, so they can see that you are not shooting for perfection in any way. What you want is a working draft, a starting point, something to build on for later, rather than a blank page (or screen) to stare at.

Step 7: Plan the Pacing

Now that the story has been born in raw form, students can begin to shape it. This would be a good time for a lesson on pacing, where students look at how writers expand some moments to create drama and shrink other moments so that the story doesn’t drag. Creating a diagram like the one below forces a writer to decide how much space to devote to all of the events in the story.

Step 8: Long Drafts

With a good plan in hand, students can now slow down and write a proper draft, expanding the sections of their story that they plan to really draw out and adding in more of the details that they left out in the quick draft.

Step 9: Workshop

Once students have a decent rough draft—something that has a basic beginning, middle, and end, with some discernible rising action, a climax of some kind, and a resolution, you’re ready to shift into full-on workshop mode. I would do this for at least a week: Start class with a short mini-lesson on some aspect of narrative writing craft, then give students the rest of the period to write, conference with you, and collaborate with their peers. During that time, they should focus some of their attention on applying the skill they learned in the mini-lesson to their drafts, so they will improve a little bit every day.

Topics for mini-lessons can include:

• How to weave exposition into your story so you don’t give readers an “information dump”
• How to carefully select dialogue to create good scenes, rather than quoting everything in a conversation
• How to punctuate and format dialogue so that it imitates the natural flow of a conversation
• How to describe things using sensory details and figurative language; also,  what  to describe…students too often give lots of irrelevant detail
• How to choose precise nouns and vivid verbs, use a variety of sentence lengths and structures, and add transitional words, phrases, and features to help the reader follow along
• How to start, end, and title a story

Step 10: Final Revisions and Edits

As the unit nears its end, students should be shifting away from revision , in which they alter the content of a piece, toward editing , where they make smaller changes to the mechanics of the writing. Make sure students understand the difference between the two: They should not be correcting each other’s spelling and punctuation in the early stages of this process, when the focus should be on shaping a better story.

One of the most effective strategies for revision and editing is to have students read their stories out loud. In the early stages, this will reveal places where information is missing or things get confusing. Later, more read-alouds will help them immediately find missing words, unintentional repetitions, and sentences that just “sound weird.” So get your students to read their work out loud frequently. It also helps to print stories on paper: For some reason, seeing the words in print helps us notice things we didn’t see on the screen.

To get the most from peer review, where students read and comment on each other’s work, more modeling from you is essential: Pull up a sample piece of writing and show students how to give specific feedback that helps, rather than simply writing “good detail” or “needs more detail,” the two comments I saw exchanged most often on students’ peer-reviewed papers.

Step 11: Final Copies and Publication

Once revision and peer review are done, students will hand in their final copies. If you don’t want to get stuck with 100-plus papers to grade, consider using Catlin Tucker’s station rotation model , which keeps all the grading in class. And when you do return stories with your own feedback, try using Kristy Louden’s delayed grade strategy , where students don’t see their final grade until they have read your written feedback.

Beyond the standard hand-in-for-a-grade, consider other ways to have students publish their stories. Here are some options:

• Stories could be published as individual pages on a collaborative website or blog.
• Students could create illustrated e-books out of their stories.
• Students could create a slideshow to accompany their stories and record them as digital storytelling videos. This could be done with a tool like Screencastify or Screencast-O-Matic .

So this is what worked for me. If you’ve struggled to get good stories from your students, try some or all of these techniques next time. I think you’ll find that all of your students have some pretty interesting stories to tell. Helping them tell their stories well is a gift that will serve them for many years after they leave your classroom. ♦

Want this unit ready-made?

If you’re a writing teacher in grades 7-12 and you’d like a classroom-ready unit like the one described above, including slideshow mini-lessons on 14 areas of narrative craft, a sample narrative piece, editable rubrics, and other supplemental materials to guide students through every stage of the process, take a look at my Narrative Writing unit . Just click on the image below and you’ll be taken to a page where you can read more and see a detailed preview of what’s included.

What to Read Next

Categories: Instruction , Podcast

Tags: English language arts , Grades 6-8 , Grades 9-12 , teaching strategies

52 Comments

Wow, this is a wonderful guide! If my English teachers had taught this way, I’m sure I would have enjoyed narrative writing instead of dreading it. I’ll be able to use many of these suggestions when writing my blog! BrP

Lst year I was so discouraged because the short stories looked like the quick drafts described in this article. I thought I had totally failed until I read this and realized I did not fai,l I just needed to complete the process. Thank you!

I feel like you jumped in my head and connected my thoughts. I appreciate the time you took to stop and look closely at form. I really believe that student-writers should see all dimensions of narrative writing and be able to live in whichever style and voice they want for their work.

Can’t thank you enough for this. So well curated that one can just follow it blindly and ace at teaching it. Thanks again!

Great post! I especially liked your comments about reminding kids about the power of storytelling. My favourite podcasts and posts from you are always about how to do things in the classroom and I appreciate the research you do.

On a side note, the ice breakers are really handy. My kids know each other really well (rural community), and can tune out pretty quickly if there is nothing new to learn about their peers, but they like the games (and can remember where we stopped last time weeks later). I’ve started changing them up with ‘life questions’, so the editable version is great!

I love writing with my students and loved this podcast! A fun extension to this narrative is to challenge students to write another story about the same event, but use the perspective of another “character” from the story. Books like Wonder (R.J. Palacio) and Wanderer (Sharon Creech) can model the concept for students.

Thank you for your great efforts to reveal the practical writing strategies in layered details. As English is not my first language, I need listen to your podcast and read the text repeatedly so to fully understand. It’s worthy of the time for some great post like yours. I love sharing so I send the link to my English practice group that it can benefit more. I hope I could be able to give you some feedback later on.

Thank you for helping me get to know better especially the techniques in writing narrative text. Im an English teacher for 5years but have little knowledge on writing. I hope you could feature techniques in writing news and fearute story. God bless and more power!

Thank you for this! I am very interested in teaching a unit on personal narrative and this was an extremely helpful breakdown. As a current student teacher I am still unsure how to approach breaking down the structures of different genres of writing in a way that is helpful for me students but not too restrictive. The story mapping tools you provided really allowed me to think about this in a new way. Writing is such a powerful way to experience the world and more than anything I want my students to realize its power. Stories are how we make sense of the world and as an English teacher I feel obligated to give my students access to this particular skill.

The power of story is unfathomable. There’s this NGO in India doing some great work in harnessing the power of storytelling and plots to brighten children’s lives and enlighten them with true knowledge. Check out Katha India here: http://bit.ly/KathaIndia

Thank you so much for this. I did not go to college to become a writing professor, but due to restructuring in my department, I indeed am! This is a wonderful guide that I will use when teaching the narrative essay. I wonder if you have a similar guide for other modes such as descriptive, process, argument, etc.?

Hey Melanie, Jenn does have another guide on writing! Check out A Step-by-Step Plan for Teaching Argumentative Writing .

Hi, I am also wondering if there is a similar guide for descriptive writing in particular?

Hey Melanie, unfortunately Jenn doesn’t currently have a guide for descriptive writing. She’s always working on projects though, so she may get around to writing a unit like this in the future. You can always check her Teachers Pay Teachers page for an up-to-date list of materials she has available. Thanks!

I want to write about the new character in my area

That’s great! Let us know if you need any supports during your writing process!

I absolutely adore this unit plan. I teach freshmen English at a low-income high school and wanted to find something to help my students find their voice. It is not often that I borrow material, but I borrowed and adapted all of it in the order that it is presented! It is cohesive, understandable, and fun. Thank you!!

So glad to hear this, Nicole!

Thanks sharing this post. My students often get confused between personal narratives and short stories. Whenever I ask them to write a short story, she share their own experiences and add a bit of fiction in it to make it interesting.

Thank you! My students have loved this so far. I do have a question as to where the “Frog” story mentioned in Step 4 is. I could really use it! Thanks again.

This is great to hear, Emily! In Step 4, Jenn mentions that she wrote the “Frog” story for her narrative writing unit . Just scroll down the bottom of the post and you’ll see a link to the unit.

I also cannot find the link to the short story “Frog”– any chance someone can send it or we can repost it?

This story was written for Jenn’s narrative writing unit. You can find a link to this unit in Step 4 or at the bottom of the article. Hope this helps.

I cannot find the frog story mentioned. Could you please send the link.? Thank you

Hi Michelle,

The Frog story was written for Jenn’s narrative writing unit. There’s a link to this unit in Step 4 and at the bottom of the article.

Debbie- thanks for you reply… but there is no link to the story in step 4 or at the bottom of the page….

Hey Shawn, the frog story is part of Jenn’s narrative writing unit, which is available on her Teachers Pay Teachers site. The link Debbie is referring to at the bottom of this post will take you to her narrative writing unit and you would have to purchase that to gain access to the frog story. I hope this clears things up.

Thank you so much for this resource! I’m a high school English teacher, and am currently teaching creative writing for the first time. I really do value your blog, podcast, and other resources, so I’m excited to use this unit. I’m a cyber school teacher, so clear, organized layout is important; and I spend a lot of time making sure my content is visually accessible for my students to process. Thanks for creating resources that are easy for us teachers to process and use.

Do you have a lesson for Informative writing?

Hey Cari, Jenn has another unit on argumentative writing , but doesn’t have one yet on informative writing. She may develop one in the future so check back in sometime.

I had the same question. Informational writing is so difficult to have a good strong unit in when you have so many different text structures to meet and need text-dependent writing tasks.

Creating an informational writing unit is still on Jenn’s long list of projects to get to, but in the meantime, if you haven’t already, check out When We All Teach Text Structures, Everyone Wins . It might help you out!

This is a great lesson! It would be helpful to see a finished draft of the frog narrative arc. Students’ greatest challenge is transferring their ideas from the planner to a full draft. To see a full sample of how this arc was transformed into a complete narrative draft would be a powerful learning tool.

Hi Stacey! Jenn goes into more depth with the “Frog” lesson in her narrative writing unit – this is where you can find a sample of what a completed story arc might look. Also included is a draft of the narrative. If interested in checking out the unit and seeing a preview, just scroll down to the bottom of the post and click on the image. Hope this helps!

Helped me learn for an entrance exam thanks very much

Is the narrative writing lesson you talk about in https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/narrative-writing/

Also doable for elementary students you think, and if to what levels?

Love your work, Sincerely, Zanyar

Hey Zanyar,

It’s possible the unit would work with 4th and 5th graders, but Jenn definitely wouldn’t recommend going any younger. The main reason for this is that some of the mini-lessons in the unit could be challenging for students who are still concrete thinkers. You’d likely need to do some adjusting and scaffolding which could extend the unit beyond the 3 weeks. Having said that, I taught 1st grade and found the steps of the writing process, as described in the post, to be very similar. Of course learning targets/standards were different, but the process itself can be applied to any grade level (modeling writing, using mentor texts to study how stories work, planning the structure of the story, drafting, elaborating, etc.) Hope this helps!

This has made my life so much easier. After teaching in different schools systems, from the American, to British to IB, one needs to identify the anchor standards and concepts, that are common between all these systems, to build well balanced thematic units. Just reading these steps gave me the guidance I needed to satisfy both the conceptual framework the schools ask for and the standards-based practice. Thank you Thank you.

Would this work for teaching a first grader about narrative writing? I am also looking for a great book to use as a model for narrative writing. Veggie Monster is being used by his teacher and he isn’t connecting with this book in the least bit, so it isn’t having a positive impact. My fear is he will associate this with writing and I don’t want a negative association connected to such a beautiful process and experience. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thank you for any information you can provide!

Although I think the materials in the actual narrative writing unit are really too advanced for a first grader, the general process that’s described in the blog post can still work really well.

I’m sorry your child isn’t connecting with The Night of the Veggie Monster. Try to keep in mind that the main reason this is used as a mentor text is because it models how a small moment story can be told in a big way. It’s filled with all kinds of wonderful text features that impact the meaning of the story – dialogue, description, bold text, speech bubbles, changes in text size, ellipses, zoomed in images, text placement, text shape, etc. All of these things will become mini-lessons throughout the unit. But there are lots of other wonderful mentor texts that your child might enjoy. My suggestion for an early writer, is to look for a small moment text, similar in structure, that zooms in on a problem that a first grader can relate to. In addition to the mentor texts that I found in this article , you might also want to check out Knuffle Bunny, Kitten’s First Full Moon, When Sophie Gets Angry Really Really Angry, and Whistle for Willie. Hope this helps!

I saw this on Pinterest the other day while searching for examples of narritives units/lessons. I clicked on it because I always click on C.o.P stuff 🙂 And I wasn’t disapointed. I was intrigued by the connection of narratives to humanity–even if a student doesn’t identify as a writer, he/she certainly is human, right? I really liked this. THIS clicked with me.

A few days after I read the P.o.C post, I ventured on to YouTube for more ideas to help guide me with my 8th graders’ narrative writing this coming spring. And there was a TEDx video titled, “The Power of Personal Narrative” by J. Christan Jensen. I immediately remembered the line from the article above that associated storytelling with “power” and how it sets humans apart and if introduced and taught as such, it can be “extraordinary.”

I watched the video and to the suprise of my expectations, it was FANTASTIC. Between Jennifer’s post and the TEDx video ignited within me some major motivation and excitement to begin this unit.

Thanks for sharing this with us! So glad that Jenn’s post paired with another text gave you some motivation and excitement. I’ll be sure to pass this on to Jenn!

Thank you very much for this really helpful post! I really love the idea of helping our students understand that storytelling is powerful and then go on to teach them how to harness that power. That is the essence of teaching literature or writing at any level. However, I’m a little worried about telling students that whether a piece of writing is fact or fiction does not matter. It in fact matters a lot precisely because storytelling is powerful. Narratives can shape people’s views and get their emotions involved which would, in turn, motivate them to act on a certain matter, whether for good or for bad. A fictional narrative that is passed as factual could cause a lot of damage in the real world. I believe we should. I can see how helping students focus on writing the story rather than the truth of it all could help refine the needed skills without distractions. Nevertheless, would it not be prudent to teach our students to not just harness the power of storytelling but refrain from misusing it by pushing false narratives as factual? It is true that in reality, memoirs pass as factual while novels do as fictional while the opposite may be true for both cases. I am not too worried about novels passing as fictional. On the other hand, fictional narratives masquerading as factual are disconcerting and part of a phenomenon that needs to be fought against, not enhanced or condoned in education. This is especially true because memoirs are often used by powerful people to write/re-write history. I would really like to hear your opinion on this. Thanks a lot for a great post and a lot of helpful resources!

Thank you so much for this. Jenn and I had a chance to chat and we can see where you’re coming from. Jenn never meant to suggest that a person should pass off a piece of fictional writing as a true story. Good stories can be true, completely fictional, or based on a true story that’s mixed with some fiction – that part doesn’t really matter. However, what does matter is how a student labels their story. We think that could have been stated more clearly in the post , so Jenn decided to add a bit about this at the end of the 3rd paragraph in the section “A Note About Form: Personal Narrative or Short Story?” Thanks again for bringing this to our attention!

You have no idea how much your page has helped me in so many ways. I am currently in my teaching credential program and there are times that I feel lost due to a lack of experience in the classroom. I’m so glad I came across your page! Thank you for sharing!

Thanks so much for letting us know-this means a whole lot!

No, we’re sorry. Jenn actually gets this question fairly often. It’s something she considered doing at one point, but because she has so many other projects she’s working on, she’s just not gotten to it.

I couldn’t find the story

Hi, Duraiya. The “Frog” story is part of Jenn’s narrative writing unit, which is available on her Teachers Pay Teachers site. The link at the bottom of this post will take you to her narrative writing unit, which you can purchase to gain access to the story. I hope this helps!

I am using this step-by-step plan to help me teach personal narrative story writing. I wanted to show the Coca-Cola story, but the link says the video is not available. Do you have a new link or can you tell me the name of the story so I can find it?

Thank you for putting this together.

Hi Corri, sorry about that. The Coca-Cola commercial disappeared, so Jenn just updated the post with links to two videos with good stories. Hope this helps!

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Can You Convince Me? Developing Persuasive Writing

• Resources & Preparation
• Instructional Plan
• Related Resources

Persuasive writing is an important skill that can seem intimidating to elementary students. This lesson encourages students to use skills and knowledge they may not realize they already have. A classroom game introduces students to the basic concepts of lobbying for something that is important to them (or that they want) and making persuasive arguments. Students then choose their own persuasive piece to analyze and learn some of the definitions associated with persuasive writing. Once students become aware of the techniques used in oral arguments, they then apply them to independent persuasive writing activities and analyze the work of others to see if it contains effective persuasive techniques.

Featured Resources

From theory to practice.

• Students can discover for themselves how much they already know about constructing persuasive arguments by participating in an exercise that is not intimidating.  
• Progressing from spoken to written arguments will help students become better readers of persuasive texts.

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
• 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

Materials and Technology

• Computers with Internet access  
• PowerPoint  
• LCD projector (optional)  
• Chart paper or chalkboard  
• Sticky notes  
• Persuasive Strategy Presentation
• Persuasion Is All Around You  
• Persuasive Strategy Definitions  
• Check the Strategies  
• Check the Strategy  
• Observations and Notes  
• Persuasive Writing Assessment

Preparation

Student objectives.

Students will

• Work in cooperative groups to brainstorm ideas and organize them into a cohesive argument to be presented to the class  
• Gain knowledge of the different strategies that are used in effective persuasive writing  
• Use a graphic organizer to help them begin organizing their ideas into written form  
• Apply what they have learned to write a persuasive piece that expresses their stance and reasoning in a clear, logical sequence  
• Develop oral presentation skills by presenting their persuasive writing pieces to the class  
• Analyze the work of others to see if it contains effective persuasive techniques

Session 1: The Game of Persuasion

Home/School Connection: Distribute Persuasion Is All Around You . Students are to find an example of a persuasive piece from the newspaper, television, radio, magazine, or billboards around town and be ready to report back to class during Session 2. Provide a selection of magazines or newspapers with advertisements for students who may not have materials at home. For English-language learners (ELLs), it may be helpful to show examples of advertisements and articles in newspapers and magazines.

Session 2: Analysis of an Argument

Home/School Connection: Ask students to revisit their persuasive piece from Persuasion Is All Around You . This time they will use Check the Strategies to look for the persuasive strategies that the creator of the piece incorporated. Check for understanding with your ELLs and any special needs students. It may be helpful for them to talk through their persuasive piece with you or a peer before taking it home for homework. Arrange a time for any student who may not have the opportunity to complete assignments outside of school to work with you, a volunteer, or another adult at school on the assignment.

Session 3: Persuasive Writing

Session 4: presenting the persuasive writing.

• Endangered Species: Persuasive Writing offers a way to integrate science with persuasive writing. Have students pretend that they are reporters and have to convince people to think the way they do. Have them pick issues related to endangered species, use the Persuasion Map as a prewriting exercise, and write essays trying to convince others of their points of view. In addition, the lesson “Persuasive Essay: Environmental Issues” can be adapted for your students as part of this exercise.  
• Have students write persuasive arguments for a special class event, such as an educational field trip or an in-class educational movie. Reward the class by arranging for the class event suggested in one of the essays.

Student Assessment / Reflections

• Compare your Observations and Notes from Session 4 and Session 1 to see if students understand the persuasive strategies, use any new persuasive strategies, seem to be overusing a strategy, or need more practice refining the use of a strategy. Offer them guidance and practice as needed.  
• Collect both homework assignments and the Check the Strategy sheets and assess how well students understand the different elements of persuasive writing and how they are applied.  
• Collect students’ Persuasion Maps and use them and your discussions during conferences to see how well students understand how to use the persuasive strategies and are able to plan their essays. You want to look also at how well they are able to make changes from the map to their finished essays.  
• Use the Persuasive Writing Assessment to evaluate the essays students wrote during Session 3.
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The Persuasion Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to map out their arguments for a persuasive essay or debate.

This interactive tool allows students to create Venn diagrams that contain two or three overlapping circles, enabling them to organize their information logically.

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How to Teach Persuasive Writing

Last Updated: November 3, 2022 References

This article was co-authored by Alexander Peterman, MA . Alexander Peterman is a Private Tutor in Florida. He received his MA in Education from the University of Florida in 2017. This article has been viewed 49,767 times.

There are many ways to teach persuasive writing, and utilizing more than one approach can be good for your students. Not all students learn the same way, so demonstrating by example how to write persuasively might reach some of your students. Carefully explaining written assignments or setting up in-class debates and then letting your students learn by doing are methods for teaching persuasive writing that might reach different learners in your class. And reviewing your students' work and giving them plenty of feedback can also be an effective way to teach persuasive writing.

Demonstrating Persuasive Writing

• For example, you might show elementary school age students a piece of writing that argues that one brand of soda is better than the other. The best brand of soda is based on opinion, but your students will still see that they still have to give reasons or justification that supports their opinion.
• For middle and high school age students, a good example might be an article that argues that older teens need more sleep than elementary age children. This article will likely use scientific research to support its claims, so your students will see that the reasons and justifications they give to support their position need to based on more than how they feel about a particular subject. [2] X Research source

• For example, if you've read a piece about the benefits of more sleep for older students, you could say "Do you think older students need more sleep? Why?" Your students therefore not only have to assess the article's argument, but how the author used evidence to support that argument. [3] X Research source

• For example, using an overhead projector, start drafting your own essay on a topic you've selected beforehand. Think out loud and write as you go so that your students can actually see what the writing process looks like, and so they can see that even teachers are not perfect in the way that they write and that quality writing takes time and practice. However, do some preparation in advance so that you do not end up wasting time or looking disorganized.
• This is an especially useful strategy when you're working with students who don't have a lot of experience with writing - elementary school students or perhaps students whose first language is not English. This method can also be useful for older students as the complexity of their assignments increases. [4] X Research source

Using Debates

• You can use an informal or formal debate, or both on successive days. The informal debate should be organized immediately after you tell your students what you'll be doing in class. The formal debate should take place after they've had some time to prepare. [5] X Research source
• You may even consider setting up a mock courtroom. Assigning roles to your students, such as prosecutor, defense, judge, and jury members will help to keep them focused and interested in the conversation.

• For example, read a statement like “Men and women have equal opportunities in life.” Then ask your students who agree with the statement to line up on one side of the room and those who disagree to line up on another side. [6] X Research source

• If you're using a more formal debate set up, at this point you can pass out supporting material to each side of the debate and either ask them to read it then or be prepared to use it the next day. You can ask them to collect their own supporting material for a future debate. [8] X Research source

• For example, you could point out that when they made a statement of fact and then gave a reason for it - for example, if they said older students need more sleep because they are generally involved in more after school activities - they set up what could be the first paragraph of their essay. They made a statement, then backed it up with evidence.

Having Your Students Write an Assignment

• For example, your students might feel strongly that there is not enough recess time. Or they might feel they should be allowed to watch more TV at home.

• In some situations, assigning a topic may be a good idea. For example, if you are trying to prepare your students to take a state exam, then assigning a topic will give them practice writing about a topic they may not be particularly interested in, which could be the case on test day.

• Some examples of where to look for evidence might be the internet, the library, or interviews they conduct with people.
• Some examples of the types of evidence you can encourage your students to look for are articles, charts, graphs, and interview transcripts. [14] X Research source
• If all of your students have been assigned the same topic, then you could also assign them the same supporting text.

• For example, on day 1, explain to them that they should start by reading through the research they collected to see what pieces of it they can use to support which pros or cons they listed at the beginning of the process.
• Day 2 could be focused on addressing each pro or con in its own paragraph. Explain to them that they should first explain their point and then use their research to support it.
• Day 3 could be dedicated to turning their separate paragraphs into a full piece and then doing some self-editing. [15] X Research source

Reviewing Your Students' Work

• You may want to set aside a portion of your class time for this activity to help keep students focused on the task and prevent the class from getting too out of hand.

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Teaching opinion writing tips and activities.

Today, you’re going to get a bunch of teaching opinion writing tips. I’m going to what best practices I think you can follow. I hope that you’re going to walk away with a clear understanding of what is expected when teaching this standard. I also hope you walk away with some fun ideas and activities to add to your lesson plans! All of the images you see below (except for the read-alouds) are part of my ELA writing units. The links to all grade levels are at the bottom!

Let’s dive into the opinion writing standards

Common Core writing domain focuses on three big types of writing:  informative, narrative, and today’s topic OPINION WRITING! It begins kindergarten and each year, gets progressively more in depth and detailed. Here is a look at K-5’s expectations for opinion writing, according to Common Core.

• Kinder: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is.. .).
• 1st: Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion and provide some sense of closure.
• 2nd: Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking words (e.g., because , and , also ) to connect opinion and reasons, and provide a concluding statement or section.
• 3rd: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons. (a- Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons.) (b- Provide reasons that support the opinion.) (c- Use linking words and phrases (e.g., because , therefore , since , for example ) to connect opinion and reasons.) (d- Provide a concluding statement or section.)
• 4th: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information. (a- Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writer’s purpose.) (b- Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details.) (c- Link opinion and reasons using words and phrases (e.g., for instance , in order to , in addition ).) (d- Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.)

Outline of how to teach opinion writing…

• What is opinion writing?
• How do I state an opinion?
• Supporting your opinion
• Introductions explicit teaching
• Conclusions explicit teaching
• Provide lots of practice

If you teach opinion writing broken up in parts like this, your students can focus on each part. That way, they can get a true grasp of what each piece requires and how to write it.

Load up on Mentor Texts

Every single part of this blog post will include mentor texts. Each time you teach your students about a component of opinion writing, use a strong example! Mentor texts are great because students can see what they’re learning in engaging or familiar books. Then, it can help them with their own practice. Each of the book links below are affiliate links to Amazon.

• Hey Little Ant by Phillip and Hannah Hoose
• I Don’t Want to Be a Frog by Dev Petty
• My Teacher for President by Kay Winters
• The Perfect Pet by Margie Palatini
• I Wanna New Room by Karen Kaufman Orloff
• I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff
• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
• The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
• Red is Best by Kathy Stinson
• Earrings by Judith Viorst
• Don’t Let Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems
• Click, Clack, Moo by Doreen Cronin

First, teach WHAT Opinion Writing is

When you begin your opinion writing unit, you of course need to start with teaching them what it is. You will be showing them the framework of an opinion writing piece. First, create an anchor chart (or use one provided to you in my ELA units). Then, as you explore texts, examples, and activities, you can refer back to this anchor chart to teach opinion writing framework.

Now, it’s time to get the students talking. Give them an engaging partner talk game, such as Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up or Mix-Pair-Share. When they’re with a partner, ask them questions about the actual framework. Ask them the purposes of each component. This will help strengthen their writing when it’s time to start writing independently.

After that, you can start showing them real-world examples. Start with read-alouds and mentor texts. See if students can identify the introduction, opinion sentence, support, and conclusion. Then, give them examples that aren’t tied to a picture book. Above, you see two different activities. One of them asks students to put a puzzle together of sample sentences for each component. The other is a cut-and-glue activity where they have to sort sample sentences. (Links to all resources are at the bottom of the blog post.)

Stating an Opinion

Next, it’s time to simply teach them how to state an opinion. If you’re in kinder or first grade, you may have to take a step back and teach what an opinion is and how it’s different from a fact. But… once that’s determined, you can start teaching opinion sentences.

Make a class anchor chart or display a stem poster in your classroom. This will help trigger their ability to form an opinion sentence. Then, give them a few engaging partner activities. For example, the image above shows a partner game where students are shown an Opinion Stem chart and one picture topic card at a time. They will form an opinion sentence about that topic using a different stem each time.

It’s also important to teach your writers the difference between strong and weak opinion sentences. There is a big difference between “I like pizza” and “Pizza is my favorite dinner”. One way to practice this is to have students sort different sample sentences into the strong and weak categories.

Then, it’s time to let them practice! Try using one of the templates in the ELA unit like the one shown above. It gives students a collection of sentence stems and a topic. They will have to form an opinion sentence using a mixture of all these options!

Dive deeper with reasons

Once you get into second, third, fourth grade (and above), you’re going to be required to teach students how to support their opinion. The big thing that can really help is just the word ‘why’. This helps trigger students to think of the reasons behind their opinion. Once they get to 2nd grade, they have to be able to give reasons why they like or dislike something. Try using an opinion writing anchor chart explaining support.

Now that you’ve taught your students HOW to support their reasons, it’s time to practice. Give them lots of opportunities to try supporting opinions with reasons. There are two activities shown in the image above. First, you have a picture card with an opinion sentence. Students will work with a partner to try to create a strong reason to support this opinion. Next, there is an opinion sentence strip that students will draw and try to create a strong support.

Move onto INTRODUCTIONS when teaching opinion writing

One of the biggest pieces to teaching opinion writing is the introduction. This is the hook. This is where your students are going to try to draw their audience in. First, teach introductions explicitly using an anchor chart or poster from my ELA units. Then, choose one or two mentor texts to show how they’ve used introductions to hook their readers.

It’s a great idea to show students what a strong introduction looks like with modeling. Another way is to give them a matching activity where they have to read introduction sentences and sort them.

Here is another game example for students to participate in. They will match three cards together. First, they will match the topic card and a sample introduction. Then, they will match a strong opinion sentence to follow up their introduction sentence. While playing this game, students can get a strong sense of what an introduction paragraph will look like in a multi-paragraph paper.

Finish up with CONCLUSIONS

Next, you’ll teach conclusions explicitly. Just like you did with introductions, conclusions need to start with an anchor chart or discussion of a poster. Students can learn conclusion stems, reasons for conclusions, and why they’re used. After teaching opinion writing conclusions explicitly, show students examples with mentor texts from the list above. Read one or two mentor texts and discuss what conclusions were used.

Give your students lots of practice with writing conclusions. Hands-on writing activities and matching games are two ways to give them practice singling out conclusions. Above, you see a flip book. They will fold and snip along the dotted edges. Under each flap, students will write an example of each type of conclusion (such as final facts, repeated opinions, personal experiences, and offering a suggestion.

Provide lots of opportunities to practice!

In my ELA units, I also offer 3-4 final writing pieces. They’re presented as lesson plans, so you can still walk students through these steps. First, they’ll be presented with their prompt. The prompt shown above asks which living condition would be worse: Arctic or desert. Then, the steps of the lesson plans walk students through brainstorming, pre-writing, and drafting their papers.

Finally, you’ve taught all the pieces of your opinion writing unit. Therefore, it’s time to practice, practice, practice. Once you teach students to write an opinion piece from start to finish, give them different prompts to write about in their journals. Or they could even write about these as a final opinion writing piece! Choose high-interest and engaging topics for students to write about.

Are you ready for your Opinion Writing resources?

Interested in Free Graphic Organizers for Your Writing Unit?

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5 Seriously Fun Ways to Teach the Writing Process

The writing process —that is, the steps of pre-writing, drafting, revising, rewriting, and publishing—can be intimidating for students with limited literary experience. It’s an onslaught of new information, and on top of that, students may find it boring.

According to Read, Write, Think , however, that doesn’t diminish its importance: “Studies show that students who learn the writing process score better on state writing tests than those who receive only specific instruction in the skills assessed on the test. This type of authentic writing produces lifelong learners and allows students to apply their writing skills to all subjects.”

How would you teach the writing process to reluctant learners? Would you believe you can do so almost entirely with fun writing games?

Here are five fun ways to teach the writing process to even the most stubborn students.

#1: Play-Doh Creations

The colorful, squishy goop known as play-doh can be a powerful teaching tool. For this activity, geared towards pre-teens and teenagers, all you’ll need is a mini jar of play-doh and a pencil for each student in your class.

The assignment is simple: Each student needs to mold a functioning pencil holder out of the play-doh. By physical implementing the process of brainstorming, attempting, improving, finalizing, and publicly sharing their designs, you’ll also be imprinting the writing process through kinesthetic exposure.

Reading and Writing Haven has all the details if you want to attempt this activity. As a bonus, your students will all have both new writing skills and new pencil holders at the end.

#2: “Publish” Your Students

If students know their work will be shared, they’re much more motivated to polish their prose to perfection. That’s why Teach Hub advises “publishing” your students, which is one of many fun ways to teach the writing process.

There are multiple ways to “publish” student work. You could print and bind a “book” of your students’ writing. You could publish it in the school newspaper or design one just for your class. If you want to keep it simple, even hanging students’ writing on a bulletin board or in the hallway gives them reason to be proud of their work—and make it the best it can be.

#3: Become a Model

Luckily, becoming a writing model doesn’t necessitate high heels or a catwalk, though it’s still one of the most fun ways to teach the writing process. All you need is a projector and either a blank document or a rough draft.

 “By modeling the process of writing you can demystify it in terms of sequence and nuance, and make it artistic and entirely personal–and less mechanical as a result,” Teach Thought says.

As you write or revise, talk through your writing process aloud so that students can follow along and take notes. Teach.com emphasizes the importance of providing multiple examples for each Trialnstrated technique, whether it’s as simple as correct punctuation or as complex as a prolonged metaphor.

Additionally, Teach Thought suggests talking through answers to questions like:

• “What are you thinking as you finish that introduction?
• “Why do you go back and fix some errors while you write, and not others?
• “How do you decide when to go to a new a paragraph?
• “How does the absence or presence of pre-writing impact the drafting?
• “How are you using your own uncertainty to affect a certain tone in your writing?
• “How do you keep an audience in mind as you write–how exactly?
• “As you sketch out your conclusion, how is the introduction and the body impacting its design–i.e., what is the relationship between your introduction, your body, and your conclusion?”

While you’re modeling, encourage students to take notes or fill in a pre-determined worksheet. This will cement the messages they’re learning firsthand into their long-term memory.

By teaching writing to students through Trialnstration instead of structural memorization, you’ll build deeper understanding than you could ever hope for otherwise.

#4: Play a Game

There’s an abundance of fun writing activities to be mined online. Literacy Ideas offers “Story Chains,” which encourages social creativity instead of solo, single-minded struggle.

To play “Story Chains,” write a prompt on the board and give each student 2 minutes to begin a story based on that prompt; then they pass their story along, allowing the next student to continue the story where they left off. The game ends when every student’s original story has traveled back to their desk, now complete with contributions from all of their classmates.

“This activity encourages students to see writing as a communicative and creative task where there needn’t be a ‘right’ answer,” Literacy Ideas says. “This encourages students to be more willing to take on creative risks in their work.”

Thoughtful Learning ’s contribution is equally zany. “ Diary of a Famous Figure ” tasks students with listing three famous people, real or fictional, that they particularly like—then writing a diary entry about a day in that person’s life, from first-person perspective.

Finally, Essay Catcher offers a visual element to writing games with “Photo Story/Memes.” Select intriguing photos from the Internet, and then encourage students to choose a photo and write a story incorporating the image. For a more gentle introduction to visual writing inspiration, download meme templates (or photos that could lend themselves to memes) and ask students to write appropriately creative captions.

#5: Use GraderAide to Make More Time for Activities

If you’re thinking, “These creative writing games sound like a great idea, but how will I find the time to grade everything?” then GraderAide is your solution.

Instead of painstakingly grading every assignment, you can simply upload them to the GraderAide software and receive recommended grades back in minutes. Grades are assigned at grade level based on focus, purpose, content, development, organization, and grammar. Best of all, you can tell GraderAide whether the assignment is informative, narrative, literary, or persuasive, allowing the program to adjust its grading accordingly.

With your schedule freed from grading, you’ll have time to implement these fun ways to teach the writing process. So what are you waiting for?

GraderAide is the most advanced scoring system for written assignments available to teachers. To learn more, visit www.graderaide.com .

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How to teach essay writing skills.

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Learning any new language is a challenging task. Whether that’s quickly coming up with an answer during a conversation or reading through some text to extract key information, the journey to second language fluency takes time and hard work. This is particularly true when it comes to writing lengthy pieces of text or essays – it’s a massive leap up from translating or writing short sentences.

This skill is particularly important for university students or adult language learners, who are usually trying to develop professional writing skills for international business roles or academic studies. Yet the ability to construct compelling written text is a key, albeit difficult, skill to acquire. This blog post outlines six tips for language teachers to use to help and support their students to write clearer and better structured essays.

6 tips to build your students’ essay writing skills

1. Get the basics right

It is clearly unrealistic to expect students to suddenly be able to write an essay in the target language without support. Build up their confidence over time so that they become familiar with writing increasingly long pieces of text. A key part of this will be to ensure that they understand sentence connectors and know how to write simple, compound and complex sentences – these are the foundations on which more advanced skills can then be developed.

2. Don’t jump straight in

Even in a timed exam situation, it is vital that students take the time to plan their writing and to work out the key points that they wish to communicate. This is also an opportunity for them to identify specific vocabulary or phrases that they might want to include.

Depending on their ability, some of this work can be scaffolded by the teacher to support and encourage progress. Perhaps your students could begin by following an essay structure / word bank you’ve provided or working through a set of questions you’ve prepared? They could then progress to working collaboratively in pairs or groups before tackling a long writing task on their own. 

Mind mapping can also be a useful tool to help students organise their ideas and articulate their thoughts before putting pen to paper. It also helps provide a clear reference point for students to revisit whilst writing to ensure that they are still answering the question set!

3. Follow a structure

For most students being asked to write a 1,000 word essay will, at first, feel like a huge ask. So help them to make it feel less of a challenge by breaking it down into manageable chunks. The 5-paragraph essay structure is widely used for second language writers and provides a clear road-map for students to follow.

• Paragraph 1: This is meant to grab the reader’s attention, give them a clear idea of what’s to come and generally sets the tone for the rest of the piece.
• Paragraphs 2 to 4 form the core of the essay’s content. These make specific points that are then backed up by a variety of evidence.
• Paragraph 5 delivers the conclusion, pulling together all of the arguments along with a summary of the key points.

Students may also find the acronym P.E.E useful when writing paragraphs 2 to 4. This stands for Point, Explanation and Evidence. Paragraphs should contain clear points or arguments that support (or reject) the overall theme. This is then followed by a brief explanation and relevant evidence to reinforce the point.

Focusing on these structures can be a big help in building students’ confidence. Their attention can be focused on getting the content and language correct rather than worrying about the essay structure.

4. Share examples of great writing

When writing in their target language it can be very difficult for students to imagine or know what good writing actually looks and sounds like. So share examples with them – from books, the internet or magazines on topics that will engage and interest them.

Whilst it’s important to read them and pick up new words / phrases to include, your students may also find it useful to carefully dissect the examples in detail. Help them to identify what makes a piece of writing entertaining or persuasive and help them build the skills to try it themselves (either individually or as a group)

5. Practice, Practice, Practice

Of course, the very best way to do this is to practice. Writing more often remains the most effective way for students to improve their writing skills. Of course, some of these tasks should be done as homework, but setting small writing tasks in class reduces grade pressure and ensures that educators are on hand to answer any questions and provide constructive feedback.

Pairing students to write practice essays can also be highly effective, particularly when students of mixed ability come together. The weaker student learns from their peers and the stronger student reinforces their understanding by explaining it to their classmate.

It’s also important that educators make the time to review the outputs from writing tasks with students. Highlight the areas where students did well, show them where improvement can be made and get them to look again at grammar / words that they frequently get wrong. This process is vital – it inspires their confidence and encourages students to keep writing and to keep trying to get better.

6. More than words

Every educator will have their own view on the accuracy vs. fluency debate and how they judge the quality of written work students produce will be based on that . Of course, it’s important that students pay attention to using correct grammar, spelling etc, but it’s also vital that the aim of the piece of writing is achieved. More specifically, does it convince? Does it persuade? Does it encourage me to change my behaviour or think again about a topic?

It’s imperative therefore for educators strive to create and deliver writing lessons that cover the core writing skills but which also encourage students to expand their creativity and critical thinking. Helping students to understand the importance of how to plan and structure an argument is also, of course, valuable beyond just language learning. Ultimately these tips aim to help you ensure that students find writing a more fulfilling experience.

How can Sanako help you to teach essay writing skills?

Tools like Sanako Connect can make a big difference in helping students practice and improve their writing skills. It has been specifically designed to help language educators to do this in asynchronous or asynchronous settings. It enables teachers to easily set students tasks that test their writing skills. Connect’s flexibility also allows teachers to upload stimulus material to which students can respond with detailed written answers of any length.

Whatever approach you use to improve your students’ writing skills, Sanako’s market-leading tools include a wealth of unique features that help language educators teach languages more efficiently and more successfully. It’s why the world’s leading educational institutions choose Sanako as their preferred supplier to support online and in-person lesson delivery.

If you are interested in learning more about how Sanako products support language teachers and students and would like to see how they could benefit your institution, book a FREE remote demo now to see them in action.

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5th grade writing doesn’t have to be a struggle! This blog post will provide all of my best tips and ideas for teaching your fifth graders to succeed as writers.

I’ve had classes where writing was a struggle allll yearrrr longggg. I’ve also had classes where I’d swear my students were one step away from writing professionally.

Your groups will never be the same and that’s ok. Just roll with it!

Take heart in the fact that when students leave your class at the end of the year, they will be MUCH better writers than when they entered in the fall.

No matter how good (or bad) my students are at writing when 5th grade begins, we always start at the very beginning and work on writing strong sentences.

This post will give you a step-by-step breakdown of how I help my students move from dull to dazzling sentences: How to Help Your Students Write Better Sentences

Once they’ve got the hang of writing an excellent sentence, then we move on. Your class may move slowly or quickly but be sure to watch their writing closely for clues that you may need to slow down.

You need to know where you’re going to know how you should plan the journey. So, the next section lays out my end-of-the-year goals for my 5th grade writers. Everything I do all year leads to the completion of these goals.

My end-of-the-year goals for my 5th grade writers….

By the time my students walk out of my classroom for the last time…

1. I want them to be able to efficiently organize their ideas and plan/write a five paragraph essay.

2. I want my students to be able to construct narrative, informative, and opinion essays.

3. I want my students to be able to choose appropriate sources and write a simple research report. 

4. I want my students to be able to closely read two paired passages and write an essay in response to a prompt. 

If you’re looking for a hyperlinked pdf version of my pacing and sequence for 5th grade writing, click the link below to have it sent to your email address. As a bonus, you’ll become a member of my weekly VIP email club just for upper elementary teachers. 🙂

Obtain a Writing Sample!  

Give students a simple prompt and ask for a response in a paragraph or two. Emphasize to students that you are not grading writing samples for grammar, spelling, or structure. You are interested in the quality of their ideas. 

This writing sample will be valuable as the year goes on. Your students will improve so much that their first samples will (hopefully) be pathetic compared to their new, improved writing pieces.

I usually whip out their first samples after we’ve written a few five paragraph essays. Students feel inspired to keep growing their writing skills when they see how far they’ve come in just a few months. 

Example Writing Sample Prompts: 

• Describe a talent or characteristic that makes you unique and different.
• Tell about a time when you set a goal for yourself and reached that goal.
• Pretend you live in a society where children are required to choose their future career paths in the 5th grade. What path would you choose? Explain.

Create Writing Reference Notebooks with students! 

I’ll admit it – I’m a little obsessed with writing reference notebooks. We use composition notebooks to create these amazing sources of knowledge and we use them all year long. 

So, where do we start with creating writing reference notebooks?

The beginning section of students’ notebooks hold reference materials. I want students to have plenty of resources at their fingertips to improve their sentence writing, including alternatives for overused words and my specialty, sparkle words. Sparkle words are words that are just a little bit special and make my students’ writing shine, like scandalous, embrace, and intriguing.

Other ways that my students use their writing reference notebooks:

• Writing journal entries
• Creating a personal thesaurus
• Writing topics & ideas list
• Taking notes on writing skills lessons
• Writing first drafts of longer assignments

This resource will give you an idea of the printable pages that I use for students’ notebooks: Writing Interactive Notebook – Reference Pages

Do I take grades on students’ writing reference notebooks? Not really. I want these notebooks to be a safe space for students to jot ideas and take risks with their first drafts. I do sometimes take a participation grade on their notebooks. This encourages students to keep their notebooks organized and up to date.

Start with sentences!  

When teaching 5th grade, you can expect students to start the year writing complete sentences, right?! No, sorry. Whether it’s the long break or maybe your students’ 4th grade teachers never required a lick of writing, your 5th graders will often begin the year with less-than-stellar sentences. 

So, I just plan to start with sentences first every year. We work on building and expanding sentences for about two weeks. Yes, two weeks probably seems like a really long time, but spectacular sentences are the foundation for creating great writers.

To improve my students’ sentences, I take the basic, simple sentences that students write and we work on adding more specific details and interest. First, I give students a list of five nouns and ask them to write one sentence using each noun.

I usually get sentences similar to these:

• Pie is my favorite dessert.
• My dad’s car is red.
• I wear my jacket when it is cold.
• This school is a nice place to learn.
• The tree is tall.

This is where I want students to get in their sentence-writing before moving on:

• Pecan, cherry, apple, or pumpkin… any type of pie is delicious!
• My dad spends his Saturdays washing and shining up his candy apple red Jeep.
• A puffy, hooded jacket is the first thing I reach for on chilly mornings.
• My school, North Hills Elementary, has the best teachers and students.
• The tall Redwood tree in my front yard is a welcome sight to visitors and makes my house look spectacular.

My students write every single day!  

I vividly remember being in 5th grade myself and writing long papers on the most boring topics ever, like “The Science of Light” and “The History of Mapmaking.” Snooze fest! I vowed to never do that to my students. Instead, I took a different route.

Students absolutely need to learn to write full reports and five paragraph essays, but they don’t need to do this every week. They do, however, need to continually practice writing. I find that if I make writing assignments engaging, my students don’t complain and actually seem to enjoy writing.

I assign Weekly Writing Choice Boards . This writing has made all the difference in my classroom! Students are now excited about writing class. They see writing as a treat and a fun way to express their thoughts and opinions.

I hand out a new choice board every week and students must complete three assignments from the board. I don’t grade these on perfect grammar, spelling, or punctuation, instead I look for ideas and effort. Even imperfect writing practice will improve your students’ writing skills tremendously!

Enter your first name and email address below for a free set of 6 Weekly Writing Choice Boards! The pdf file will be sent directly to your inbox. As a bonus, you’ll become a member of my weekly VIP email club just for upper elementary teachers. 🙂

If you teach social studies in addition to writing, this blog post will give you a bunch of engaging social studies journal entries that will help you tie social studies into your writing instruction.

Train students in proofreading and editing!  

Student need to practice proofreading and editing their writing (and the writing of other students) near the beginning of the school year.

Repeatedly practicing the steps of the proofreading/editing process will help your students to internalize this procedure. You’ll find that they will start to catch their mistakes earlier and more independently.

I find it valuable to establish and consistently use a common “proofreading language” in my classroom. It takes a little time up front to teach students the markings and their meanings but having a common system for proofreading will save loads of time throughout the school year.

This resource will give you an idea of the proofreading marks and practice that I use in my classroom: Proofreading and Editing Activity Pack

Asking your students to proofread and edit their own writing is a must but it’s also a good thing to have students pair up and look over a partner’s writing also. Your students will receive valuable feedback on their writing, editing ideas, and they’ll get to see some writing styles that are a little different from their own.

Teach five paragraph essays one piece at a time! 

Simple Paragraphs

Once my students are stellar sentence writers, we move to simple paragraphs. The simple paragraphs that I use with students consist of a topic sentence, three detail sentences, and a closing sentence.

Starting with simple paragraphs is much less threatening than jumping straight into five paragraph essays, so I find that spending some time helping students write excellent simple paragraphs is the perfect bridge into essays.

Additionally, we color-code our simple paragraphs. This allows students to think critically about what sentence types they have written and provides a visual for students (and for me) to see that all required parts of the paragraph are included.

The color-code I use with students:

• Topic sentence – green
• 3 detail sentences – yellow
• Closing sentence – red

Planning and Writing Body Paragraphs

Once students are able to write great simple paragraphs, we dive into the planning and writing of body paragraphs.

This isn’t too much of a jump for students because the body paragraphs are structured similarly to the simple paragraphs that we have practiced over and over. The only difference is that they are using one prompt to write three body paragraphs.

Many teachers think they have to start with the first paragraph of the essay, the introduction paragraph. This isn’t what I recommend. Starting by teaching students to write the three body paragraphs helps to steer the rest of the essay.

Adding an Introduction Paragraph

Now that students are able to write their three body paragraphs, it’s time to add the introduction paragraph.

The introduction paragraph contains a hook, commentary, and a thesis sentence.

The hook is a sentence (or two) that “hooks” readers and builds interest in the upcoming essay. I teach my students several types of hooks, including quotes, questions, bold statements, or sharing a memory.

After the hook, I ask students to write a sentence or two of commentary on the hook or on the prompt in general. This helps to “bulk up” their introduction paragraph a bit and make it more interesting.

The final part of the introduction paragraph is the thesis sentence. Because students already learned to write the body paragraphs, crafting a thesis sentence is so much easier.

The formula for writing a thesis sentence: Restate the prompt briefly + detail 1 + detail 2 + detail 3.

Additionally, I teach transition teams at this point. Students need to use a transition word or phrase at the beginning of each body paragraph, so that’s where transition teams come in. Transition teams are sets of three transition words or phrases that work well together.

Examples of transition teams:

• First, Second, Finally
• To begin, To continue, To end
• One reason, Another reason, A final reason

Adding a Conclusion Paragraph

When conclusion paragraph day finally arrives, my students are so excited because they can finally write an entire five paragraph essay.

In my opinion, conclusion paragraphs are super easy to teach because they only have two parts. Here’s the conclusion paragraph formula: Write the thesis sentence in a different way + add a closing thought.

I allow students to be creative with their closing thoughts. I tell them that this is the final thought that your readers will take with them, so it needs to relate well to your entire essay while being engaging and thought-provoking for readers. Some examples of closing thoughts are calls to action, quotes, personal opinions, and brief personal experiences.

Teach, Discuss, & Practice with Rubrics

I inform my students that from this point on in their school journey, they will be graded with rubrics fairly often, so this is a good time to learn about rubrics and become familiar with them.

I create or find five paragraph essay samples that are good, bad, and in-between. We read and examine the samples as a class and circle the applicable parts of the rubric. If students are able to grade a few assignments using a rubric, it’s not this unknown, scary thing anymore. 

Are you grading every single word and making a million corrections on students’ essays? I give you permission to stop doing that! 🙂

You are going to burn yourself out and get to where you hate grading and teaching writing. To be honest, your students will not become better writers when their papers are marked all over with suggestions in the margins.

Help! I need more support…

Please visit the following blog post for in-depth explanations and examples of my five paragraph essay teaching and grading process: 

Tips for Teaching and Grading Five Paragraph Essays

This resource will provide you with a full, scaffolded unit that will help you to teach the five paragraph essay process to students! Five Paragraph Essay Instructional Unit

Narrative, Informative, and Opinion Essays

As much as we’d like to just have our students write simple, straightforward five paragraph essays all year, that’s just not feasible.

But I promise, once your students can crank out those five paragraph essays on simple topics, moving to other modes of writing is no sweat! 

In my classroom, we spend time learning to write opinion essays, narrative essays, and informative essays. 

I start with opinion writing because my students have a lot of opinions, haha! We channel those opinions into five paragraph essay format. 🙂

Research Reports

The skills involved in writing a research report are valuable for 5th graders. They need to be able to judge the reliability of a source and cite their sources properly. 

Research reports also teach students to organize their ideas, take notes, make an outline, write a draft, and create a final report. 

I’d like to point you to the following blog post where I detailed my entire process for teaching research reports.

The Step-By-Step Guide to Teaching Research Reports

Paired Passages

5th graders are too young to compare two passages and write a response. Right?! 

No, this is not true at all. I think that reading paired passages and using them to craft a written response is a valuable skill for 5th graders. 

Steps to analyzing paired passages and writing an essay to answer a prompt:

First, dissect the prompt.

Second, closely read the paired texts.

Third, organize thoughts using the prompt.

The following blog post explains my paired passage writing steps in detail. Take a moment to check it out. You’ll be glad you did! 

How to Teach Writing Using Paired Passages

My Sequence & Pacing for Teaching 5th Grade Writing

Don’t stress! This sequence and pacing guide is hyperlinked and ready to be sent to your email address. Go to the bottom of this blog post to request the guide.

1st Month of School

We start school in the middle of the month, so I only have two weeks to teach during the first month of school.

This is the rundown for the remainder of the month:

Month 1, Week 3

The first week of the school year is all about teaching and practicing procedures. Teach it right or teach it all year! 🙂

Classroom Procedures – I recommend you check out this blog post:  5 Tips for Establishing Procedures in the Upper Elementary Classroom

Welcome Activities –  Welcome to 5th Grade: First Week of School Activities

Blog Post – Back to School Writing Prompts for 5th Graders

Month 1, Week 4

During this week, I review and continue practicing procedures with students but we do go ahead and start working on writing.

I establish my expectations and procedures for my students’ Weekly Writing Choice Boards.

We set up writing notebooks together, including the table of contents, cover page, and an  About the Author  page. 

Obtain a writing sample

We start working on improving sentences.

2nd Month of School

Month 2, Week 1

We continue working on improving sentences.

Start proofreading/editing instruction and practice.

Month 2 , Week 2

Review the process for writing excellent sentences.

Finish proofreading/editing instruction and practice.

Month 2, Weeks 3-4

Writing simple paragraphs (include color-code)

3rd Month of School

Month 3, Weeks 1-2

Planning & writing body paragraphs (include color-code)

Month 3, Weeks 3-4

Teach introduction paragraphs

Writing introduction plus body paragraphs (include color code)

Transition teams

4th Month of School

Month 4, Weeks 1-2

Teach students how to write conclusion paragraphs.

Students will write their first full five paragraph essays this week.

Month 4, Weeks 3-4

Write 5 paragraph essays with a variety of basic prompts.

Have students proofread/edit other students’ essays.

Provide mini-lessons on grammar structure or other issues you are noticing in students’ writing.

5th Month of School

This is where our winter break falls, so I only have two weeks to teach this month.

This is a great time to review what we’ve been working on all year and assign some fun journal prompts.

Also, writing mini-lessons are good fillers for this time.

This Winter Writing Project is a student favorite right before winter break!

6th Month of School

Month 6, Week 1

When we come back from winter break, I like to teach the research report process. I spend a week teaching the process and giving students time to research while I’m there to help.

Month 6, Week 2

Student complete their research reports, including outlines, citing sources, and etc.

I ask my students to do super quick presentations on their research topics. It’s 1-2 minutes max. I don’t want them to read their reports aloud because that’s boring. Instead, I want them to quickly highlight what they learned about their topics and what was fascinating to them.

Month 6, Week 3

We review the five paragraph essay process and write/proofread/edit an essay with a simple prompt.

Month 6, Week 4

I start opinion writing this week. You’ll find that students will slide into opinion writing easily because they already know five paragraph essay structure.

7th Month of School

Month 7, Week 1

Continue working on opinion writing. By the end of this week, students should be able to write an opinion essay using a prompt.

Month 7, Weeks 2-3

We spend two weeks on narrative writing. By the end of the second week, students should be able to write a narrative essay using a prompt.

Month 7, Week 4

This week, I teach the process of writing an informative essay.

8th Month of School

Month 8, Week 1

Continue working on informative essays. Students should be able to write an informative essay using a prompt by the end of this week.

Month 8, Weeks 2-3

Teach students how to write an essay using paired passages.

For more information on how I teach the steps above, visit this blog post: How to Teach Writing Using Paired Passages

Month 8, Week 4

Now that students know the process of using paired passages, I provide a set of paired passages and ask students to answer prompts in a variety of genres, like opinion, narrative, informative, poetry, and etc.

This resource makes it easy:

Paired Passages with Writing Prompts and Activities Bundle

9th Month of School

Month 9, Week 1

Continue working on using paired passages to write in a variety of genres.

Talk about last minute standardized testing tips to help students with their writing tests.

The rest of the month is taken up with standardized testing, so I do a lot of review activities, free writing, and etc.

I do have a set of suspense stories that my students love to write during this month. Check them out here: Suspense Stories Bundle

10th Month of School

During this month, we are wrapping up the year. Students participate in multiple activities and field trips, so there’s not much teaching time.

If you are still feeling overwhelmed, don’t dismay. Instructing young, inexperienced writers is a challenge. Just work on one step at a time to avoid overwhelming yourself and your students. Once you’ve taught writing for a year or two, you’ll feel like an old pro. Promise! 

If you’d like to keep this blog post for later, simply save this pin to your teacher Pinterest board!

Are you that teacher saying, “oh my goodness, please just give me the print ‘n go pages so that i can start teaching writing tomorrow” it’s all here for you:.

I’m not a teacher, perhaps in my heart I am. I am an older Mom who adopted late in life as God gave us our newborn in our 50’s! By His grace, we are healthy, fit, youngish 50’s LOL! I love your stuff and have always supplemented Fi’s education., for I find the California standards quite low. Now that I have her in a college-prep school (5th Grade) I find she is much more prepared because of your wisdom! Thank you. Sophia Joy is someone who has always had to work hard at school, but it is paying off! Thank you and God bless you richly for being so generous with your wisdom,it will all come back to you 100-fold! Sincerely, Susan, Sophia Joy’s Mom

Thank you so much, Susan! You certainly have a heartwarming story with your precious girl 🙂

Hello When you do the back to school journal prompts, where do you have students complete these? On single paper, google classroom?

Hi Sarah! Usually, I have students complete the prompts in their social studies interactive notebooks. This year, however, we were virtual at the beginning of the year, so I had students type their entries onto Google Docs.

Hi! I am a new 5th grade teacher, and I’m wondering if your school uses a particular writing curriculum? Your website has been so helpful – thank you!!

Hi Jenny! We don’t use a particular writing curriculum at my school. I use my own resources to teach writing. Please reach out to me at [email protected] if I can help or answer any questions for you 🙂

Do you have any resources in Spanish?

Hi Danielle! The only resources I have in Spanish are my Parent’s Guide to Reading resources, grades K-5.

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How to Teach Descriptive Writing

Jan 7, 2022

How to teach descriptive writing when students don’t understand “show, don’t tell” is probably one of the hardest things for students to grasp, but these 3 small things can improve their “meh” writing in BIG ways. Also, it only takes a few minutes to practice!

Why descriptive writing is difficult to teach:

Kids know a good story when they read or hear or watch one, but they can’t necessarily pinpoint why. If the story has a lot of action or has awesome, relatable characters, then they like it.  They just know it happens, and that they are hooked by a good story told well. However, when they try to write their own stories, they often gloss over the details or don’t notice how an author uses description in a piece of literature. 

It takes a lot of practice over and over again. Of course, this takes time, and you have tons of standards to make sure your writers understand. So, the real reason descriptive writing is so difficult to teach is that it takes time. However, in just a few minutes a couple of times per week, you can practice these 3 ideas to get students writing with more specific detail. Additionally, they will notice those specific details more when they read as well. This will help them find the support they need for responses to literature and essays.

Trust me, it’s time well-spent!\\

Step 1: How to Teach Descriptive Writing: Mind Map

The first way to get students to improve description is to get them to mind map their description.

I always start off with a bell ringer for students to list down something to describe specifically, like favorite places or food. Then, the writer chooses ONE item from their list to describe. 

For this example, I’m going to use a favorite place. For students, I demonstrate how I would mind map a place.

Then, I give students a mind map to follow that includes questions, like where? When (day or night?) (how long ago the experience was), what the place looked like, sounded like, felt like?

These first mind maps will usually be pretty superficial, with details of objects in a place, but not any action or sensory details for the most part. Therefore, that brings me to the next step to teaching descriptive writing.

Step 2: How to Teach Descriptive Writing: Use Sensory Detail Word Lists

Another way I get students to improve description is by showing them how to use a sensory word list to add sensory details.

For example, I give students the sensory details list I’ve developed that breaks all the senses down and gives them hundreds of words to describe things using the 5 senses. 

First, I show students how the sensory word list is organized, and then I demonstrate how I use the list to add details to my mind map of a place.

Then, my writers add 2 sensory words to each object on their mind maps. 

From there, I show students how I would organize my mind map and where I would start my writing, numbering off each potential sentence. They do the same.

Finally, students write their descriptions and share them with each other.

Step 3: How to Teach Descriptive Writing: Action Verb Activities

The third way that writers improve description is by using action verbs. Now, this takes some practice because middle school students forget what verbs are and how they function in a sentence.

Simple sentences illustrate the power of action verbs. Subject-action verb constructions create movement in a reader’s mind. Show students how easy it is to create these power sentences by using these simple activities:

Subject- Action Verb lists. I do this activity with my students several times throughout the school year. I learned the original activity from one of my very dear friends, Victoria. 

The activity is a simple list of subjects and action verbs that use the senses. She used “Fall is here” as the topic. She had students create a list of fall nouns and then showed them how to use action verbs to make these objects move, smell, taste, and sound. 

Then, her writers created a poem out of their lists. They could add other words after their action verbs to add more to their descriptive poems. 

The power of this activity is that students begin to see that inanimate objects can seem to move, make sounds, or create a fragrance or flavor. For example, “turkeys roast” conjures multiple appeals to the senses – smell, taste, heat, flavor. All of this from two simple words.

Next steps for teaching description

I have students practice activities, similar to this one, multiple times throughout the school year. I usually start with describing a beach because it is the beginning of August when we go back to school, and we live in Florida. My writers listed 10 things they see on a beach. Then, they listed action verbs for each of these things. 

Next, they wrote a description of a day at the beach. 

I used a similar activity this past week when my writers described a favorite activity. This time they listed the verbs first, then the nouns. For example, I used cooking. I wrote a boring example of cooking pizza. Then, I wrote down 10 cooking verbs. I showed them my revised paragraph, and we discussed why this one was better. 

As a result, students wrote their own activity paragraphs based on their 10 action verbs for their favorite activity with vibrant descriptive words.

Working on descriptive writing can be fun and rewarding…

All writers, even our middle school writers, can create powerful descriptions through planning, sensory details, and action verbs. The more they practice this in their own writing, the better. Also, you won’t be as bored with reading their “meh” descriptions that all start to sound the same after a while.

Also, by teaching students how writers capture a reader’s attention, their comprehension improves as they notice writers using these descriptive techniques over and over again.

If you’d like to know more about how to help your students improve their writing skills, teach them the 5 tricks to breaking writer’s block. You can pick up my free teacher’s guide by clicking on this link: www.teach2write.com/5tricks .

This guide comes with printable and digital student worksheets, videos that show you how I teach each of the 5 tricks, and a free subscription to my newsletter that gives you more techniques, tips and tricks for teaching writing in middle school.

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