I love to directly teach writing to help even the most reluctant writers find success! This section is full of ideas, resources, and strategies to help your students become confident writers. It also includes tips to make grammar fun!
Latest Writing & Grammar Posts from the Blog
How Starting with Sentence Writing Builds Stamina, Confidence, and Clearer Writing
Most big box writing programs begin the year with narrative essays or a “Writer’s Workshop Launch.” It’s well-intended: hook students with creativity, build a love
Why We Need to Rethink Beginning-of-the-Year Writing Instruction
According to the most recent NAEP scores, 73% of eighth graders in the United States cannot write proficiently. That statistic signals a serious literacy and
Why Only 27% of Students Are Writing Proficiently and How Explicit Writing Instruction Changes That
Let’s say you’re grading your first narrative writing assignment of the year. You stack the papers into three groups: The ones that are solid The
The Writing Crisis: Why Our Students Struggle
Only 27% of eighth graders score proficient or above in writing on the NAEP. That means for every class of 30 students, eight of them
Inside the Explicit Writing Kickstarter Kit by The Teacher Next Door
In this article, we’re going to break down the Explicit Writing Kickstarter Kit (EWKK), its contents, and how we’re going to fix writing instruction, together.
Why I Don’t Start the Year With Narrative Essays, and What I Teach Instead
Most big-box upper elementary writing programs begin the year with narrative essays. It feels familiar. It’s how we’ve always done it. But at The Teacher
How to Help Reluctant Writers: Strategies to Overcome Cognitive Overload
Writing is one of the most challenging subjects for students. It requires them to juggle multiple tasks at once. From understanding the prompt to organizing
Step-By-Step Success: Teaching Fictional Narrative with Explicit Writing Instruction
Fictional Narrative, Storytelling, and the Impact on Childhood I used to think the most important writing unit I taught was the expository and research unit.
Unlocking Student Writing Success: The Power of Explicit Writing Instruction
As upper elementary teachers, our goal is to create strong writers. However, the lack of Explicit Writing Instruction has caused students in the US to
The Major Problem with Writing Instruction and How to Fix It
Writing instruction at the elementary level needs an overhaul. The last time the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) measured 8th-grade students’ writing proficiency in
How to Optimize Grammar Instruction in 15 Minutes a Day
As elementary school teachers, we are always thinking about how to integrate subjects. History content and nonfiction text features. A science equation and a math
5 Ways to CONQUER Elementary Grammar Instruction and Get Results
As I was sitting at my kidney table, going through my students’ writing, I realized that even my best writers had paragraphs littered with grammatical errors…
