The Writing Revolution

1. Writing must be explicitly taught, not just assigned.

The problem is not that students like Monica are incapable of learning to write well. Rather, the problem is that American schools haven't been teaching students how to write.

Assigning isn't teaching. Many schools assign writing tasks but fail to explicitly teach the underlying skills needed to succeed. The assumption that students will absorb writing abilities simply by reading is flawed; writing is a complex, unnatural act distinct from reading and speaking. This lack of direct instruction leaves many students, particularly those from low-income backgrounds or English language learners, struggling to express themselves clearly.

Teachers lack training. A major barrier is that most teacher training programs do not adequately prepare educators to teach writing effectively. Without a clear roadmap or sequenced approach, teachers often feel ill-equipped to help students move beyond basic sentence construction to coherent paragraphs and essays. This results in frustration for both teachers and students, perpetuating a cycle where writing challenges persist throughout academic careers.

Writing is foundational. Competent expository writing is essential for success in school, college, and the modern workplace. Students who cannot write clearly face significant hurdles in demonstrating their knowledge and analytical abilities across all subjects. Explicit, sequenced writing instruction, starting early, is necessary to equip students with the tools they need to communicate effectively and confidently.

2. Sentences are the fundamental building blocks of all writing.

If students haven't learned how to write an effective sentence, that is where instruction needs to begin—no matter what the student's age or grade level.

Start with the foundation. Just as a house needs a solid foundation, effective writing begins with mastering the sentence. Students who struggle with constructing clear, grammatically correct sentences will inevitably produce disjointed paragraphs and incoherent essays. Focusing instruction at the sentence level provides a manageable starting point for both students and teachers.

Sentences are miniature compositions. Even a single sentence can be a complex unit requiring decisions about word choice, syntax, and punctuation. Sentence-level activities, such as correcting fragments and run-ons, using conjunctions (because, but, so), subordinating conjunctions (although, since), and appositives, build crucial skills. These activities help students move from the structures of spoken language to the more precise and complex structures of written language.

Manageable practice. Correcting errors and providing feedback is far less overwhelming at the sentence level than on a multi-paragraph essay. Regular, focused practice on sentence construction helps students develop automaticity in mechanics and syntax, freeing up cognitive resources for higher-level tasks like planning and organizing ideas when they move to longer forms of writing.

3. Embed writing instruction within content to boost learning.

When teachers embed explicit writing instruction in the content of the curriculum—no matter the subject area—they see their students' academic abilities blossom.

Writing enhances learning. Writing is not merely a skill to be taught in isolation; it is a powerful tool for teaching and learning content across all subjects. When students write about what they are studying in history, science, math, or English, they are forced to process, synthesize, and organize information, which deepens their understanding and improves retention.

Content drives rigor. Embedding writing activities in content makes them more meaningful and challenging. The same sentence-level activity, like because-but-so, can be adapted for different grade levels and subjects simply by changing the content. This ensures that writing practice is always relevant and reinforces academic material.

All teachers are writing teachers. To maximize the benefits, writing instruction should occur in every classroom, not just English class. Teachers across content areas can integrate brief (5-15 minute) writing activities as comprehension checks, do-nows, or exit tickets. This approach ensures consistent practice and demonstrates to students that clear communication is valued in all disciplines.

4. Use deliberate, scaffolded practice for specific writing skills.

To make their writing better, they need a series of exercises that specifically target the skills they haven't yet mastered, while building on the skills they already have, in a gradual, step-by-step process.

Practice with purpose. Simply assigning writing repeatedly does not guarantee improvement. Effective writing instruction requires deliberate practice, which involves breaking down complex skills into smaller, manageable steps and providing targeted exercises for each step. This contrasts with undirected practice, where students are simply told to "write more" or "make it better" without specific guidance.

Scaffolding builds mastery. TWR provides a sequence of scaffolded activities that build upon previously learned skills. For example, students learn to identify appositives before being asked to use them in their own sentences, and they practice combining simple sentences before tackling complex sentence structures in paragraphs. This step-by-step approach ensures students are not overwhelmed and can gradually build proficiency.

Explicit instruction and feedback. Deliberate practice requires clear instruction on how to perform a skill and specific feedback on performance. TWR emphasizes modeling activities, having students practice orally and in groups, and providing direct, actionable feedback using a common vocabulary (e.g., "use an appositive in your topic sentence"). This helps students understand their errors and monitor their own progress.

5. Planning (outlining) is essential before writing at length.

In short, if you want your students to be able to move from writing effective sentences to writing coherent paragraphs—and, ultimately, compositions—you'll need to teach them how to plan before they write.

Writing taxes cognition. Writing at length, such as composing a paragraph or essay, places significant demands on students' executive functions and working memory. They must simultaneously manage ideas, organization, word choice, syntax, and mechanics. Without a plan, students can become overwhelmed, leading to disjointed, repetitive, or off-topic writing.

Outlines provide a roadmap. Planning, particularly through outlining, provides a linear structure that guides students through the writing process. The Single-Paragraph Outline (SPO) and Multiple-Paragraph Outline (MPO) templates help students:

• Identify the main idea (topic sentence/thesis)
• Select relevant supporting details
• Organize ideas in a logical sequence
• Distinguish essential from nonessential information

Planning is a valuable step. Creating an outline is a crucial step in itself, even if a full draft is not completed. The process of selecting, categorizing, and sequencing information deepens students' understanding of the content and hones their analytical thinking skills. Teaching students to plan makes the drafting process more efficient and the final product more coherent.

6. Revision is key to clarity and coherence, focusing on sentence structure and transitions.

Revising needs to come before editing.

Revising vs. Editing. It's crucial to distinguish between revising (improving content, structure, clarity, and flow) and editing (correcting mechanical errors like grammar, punctuation, and spelling). While both are important, revising addresses the substance of the writing and should happen first. Focusing solely on editing without revising is like polishing a poorly structured argument.

Revision improves flow. Revising involves making substantive changes to a draft to ensure it is clear, coherent, and engaging for the reader. Key revision skills include:

• Varying sentence structure and length
• Expanding simple sentences with details
• Using precise and vivid vocabulary
• Incorporating transition words and phrases to connect ideas

Practice on unelaborated text. Students often find it difficult to revise their own work objectively. Using "unelaborated paragraphs"—simple, error-free paragraphs provided by the teacher—allows students to practice revision techniques like adding transitions and expanding sentences without the emotional attachment to their own writing. This practice helps them internalize strategies for later use in their own drafts.

7. Summarizing improves comprehension and helps identify main ideas.

Summarizing information is something we all need to do, often many times a day—and not only inside a classroom.

Summarizing is a core skill. The ability to concisely present the main points of a text or experience is a fundamental skill used constantly in academic and daily life. While often perceived as a simple task, effective summarizing requires sophisticated cognitive processes, including identifying essential information, distinguishing it from details, and rephrasing it accurately.

Summarizing boosts reading. Research shows that writing summaries significantly improves reading comprehension, particularly for elementary students. The act of extracting main ideas and supporting points forces students to actively process the text's meaning rather than passively reading or simply copying information.

Structured summarizing. TWR provides different formats for summarizing, depending on the text complexity and student level:

• The Summary Sentence: Condensing the main idea into a single sentence using question words (who, what, when, where, why, how).
• The SPO: Outlining the main idea and key details of a paragraph or short text.
• The Combined Outline: Integrating a summary sentence with an SPO for longer texts (Level 2).

These formats provide scaffolding to help students practice identifying and articulating the essence of what they read or hear.

8. Argumentative writing requires specific skills built through sequenced practice.

Education experts consider argumentative writing the most complex and cognitively demanding form of composition.

Argumentation is complex. Argumentative writing requires students to present claims, support them with evidence, acknowledge counterclaims, and evaluate the strength of opposing arguments. This involves sophisticated analytical and organizational skills that must be explicitly taught and practiced.

Build through a scaffold. TWR uses a sequenced scaffold to build argumentative skills:

• Opinion pieces (elementary): Stating a position with reasons (may be personal).
• Pro-con paragraphs: Presenting one side of an issue with evidence in a single paragraph.
• Pro-con essays: Presenting both sides neutrally in a multi-paragraph format.
• Argumentative essays: Taking a position, presenting evidence, and refuting counterclaims.

Leverage foundational skills. Argumentative writing builds on previously learned skills, including using conjunctions (because, but, so) to link claims and counterclaims, using transitions (change-of-direction, emphasis) to signal shifts and highlight points, and using outlines (SPO, MPO) to organize arguments and evidence logically. Specific vocabulary (argumentative nouns/verbs) and techniques for incorporating evidence (framing quotes) are also taught.

9. Frequent, diagnostic assessment guides instruction and tracks progress.

Measuring the quality of student writing may be one of the most difficult tasks in all of educational assessment.

Assessment informs instruction. Regularly assessing student writing is crucial for understanding their strengths and weaknesses, setting instructional goals, and tracking progress. Standardized tests often provide delayed or insufficient information for diagnosing specific needs. Effective assessment should be frequent, diagnostic, and tied to the specific skills being taught.

TWR assessment tools. TWR provides specific assessment tools designed to measure proficiency in its strategies:

• Independent Writing Samples: Brief paragraphs or compositions written in response to a prompt or text, administered 2-3 times a year to gauge overall progress.
• Diagnostic Assessments: Strategy-specific tests (e.g., sentence combining, outlining, using transitions) given periodically to check mastery of particular skills.

Differentiation and feedback. Assessment data helps teachers differentiate instruction, providing targeted support for struggling students and additional challenges for advanced learners. Using proofreading symbols and TWR vocabulary allows for brief, specific feedback that students can understand and act upon, making the revision and editing process more effective. Maintaining student portfolios provides a visual record of growth over time.

10. TWR is a cumulative method, integrating strategies across grades and subjects.

TWR isn't just a method of teaching writing—it's a method of teaching, period.

Cumulative learning. TWR is designed as a cumulative method, meaning strategies introduced in earlier grades or stages continue to be practiced and applied as students progress to more complex tasks. Sentence-level activities, for instance, remain relevant and are used for revision even when students are writing multi-paragraph essays. This reinforces foundational skills and integrates them into higher-level writing processes.

Flexible pacing. While a suggested sequence of strategies is provided, the pace of instruction depends on students' needs and abilities, not just their grade level. Teachers use assessment data to determine when students are ready to move on or if they need more practice with a particular strategy. The method is adaptable for students of varying skill levels, including English language learners and those with learning disabilities.

School-wide impact. TWR is most effective when implemented consistently across multiple subjects and grade levels within a school. This provides students with a common language and consistent expectations for writing, reinforcing skills throughout the school day. Ultimately, TWR aims to transform teaching and learning by using writing as a central tool for developing students' thinking, reading, and speaking abilities across the curriculum.

Last updated: May 19, 2025