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1.  Word Choice lesson
2.  Summarization (SWBS)
3.  Mind Mapping
4.  Sacred writing time
5.  Images
6.  Non-stop writing (SMITY)
7.  Writing conclusions (Smeckens...So What strategy)
8. Focus on last sentence...elaborate after textual evidence

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Checklists are used for many academic tasks, and writing is a common one. Are they really effective? Absolutely! This post will explore why checklists are used, research results, and how to use writing checklists to improve student writing in the classroom.

Why Are Writing Checklists Used in the Classroom?

When children have the opportunity to address their own mistakes within the writing process, it makes their learning more meaningful. They can fix mistakes as they go and develop their writing skills that much faster. Think of famous authors like Roald Dahl or Judy Blume. Good writers use checklists, revise, and edit over and over again to get it just right.

A writing checklist is an effective tool to use when writing because...

It guides students to develop the skills needed when writing.

It shows reluctant writers a simple way to include the necessary elements.

It provides a reference to use throughout the writing process.

It helps students stay focused on each step of the process.

It gives students tools for review and peer-editing.

It ensures students include key elements of that particular type of writing.

It encourages students to establish organization throughout their paper.

It reminds students to "check over" their paper for effective revising strategies and proper editing rules.

It holds students accountable by providing expectations.

It keeps students on task.

It ultimately helps significantly improve students' writing.

It can help communicate the criteria of an effective paper to parents.

It can eliminate extra work for the teacher and student if the teacher grades the paper and wants the student to fix any mistakes.

It can develop students' metacognitive awareness of their intellectual processes (see research below).

What Research Supports the Fact that Writing Checklists Improve Writing?

There have been several studies to support the effectiveness of using checklists. Let's take a closer look at their findings...

Dr. Kathleen Dudden Rowlands (Educational Specialist)

Kathleen Dudden Rowlands wrote an article titled Check it Out! Using Checklists to Support Student Learning. The article states, "Kathleen Dudden Rowlands recommends using checklists to support student learning and performance. Well-designed checklists identify steps students can take to complete complex tasks which scaffolds students' metacognitive development and fosters the confidence and independence needed for internalizing these steps for future tasks." Read more HERE!

Atul Gawande, MD, MPH (Surgeon and Writer)

Atul Gawande explores how experts in their fields need checklists to avoid mistakes and how checklists improve outcomes. The description of his book, "The Checklist Manifesto", states, "Atul Gawande makes a compelling argument that we can do better using the simplest of methods: the checklists. In riveting stories, he reveals what checklists can do, what they can't, and how they could bring about striking improvements in a variety of fields, from medicine and disaster recovery to professions and businesses of all kinds. And the insights are making a difference." Read more about his book HERE!

Annette Marines (Librarian, USCS) and Aaron Zachmeier (Instructional Designer, USCS)

Marines and Zachmeier looked at how checklists improve writing, information literacy, and analytical thinking skills. In 2017, they studied several scenarios comparing results of students using a checklist with students who didn't use a checklist. Their findings indicated that checklists help improve student performance. For more details, click HERE!

How Do You Use Writing Checklists in the Classroom?

Now that you know checklists are important and effective in the classroom, how can you use them for writing?

1. When creating a writing checklist, think about the expectations of the task and what you want your students to accomplish. Are they writing a paragraph or an essay? What type of writing are you assigning? Make sure to include the elements of writing for that particular type of writing. For example, in narrative writing, checklist items might include: Do you have a beginning, middle, and end? Do you offer a solution to the problem? Did you develop the characters throughout the story? Did you provide suspense?

2. Make sure the checklist is well-crafted, simply-stated, and in a practical order to guide the students through the assignment. Don't make it too lengthy because you want your struggling readers to understand it as well.

3. Tell students the purpose for the checklist. (It will guide you to a quality of writing and remind you of the expectations of the assignment. It will help you become an amazing author!)

4. Tell students that experts like surgeons, pilots, and the best authors use checklists!

5. Provide the checklist at the beginning of the assignment so they can use it throughout the writing process- pre-writing, rough draft, revising, editing, peer-editing, and final copy. Remind them to go over the checklist one more time before the publishing stage!

6. Go through each item on the checklist. Demonstrate examples or use a mentor text to explain each step.

7. Ask students to turn in the checklist with their published piece. This will help them realize its importance and make them accountable for the items on the checklist.

Writing checklists are found in all my Step-by-Step Writing Programs® which are aligned to each grade level. Do you want to try our FREE writing checklists aligned to primary or upper elementary grades for a variety of writing types? Click on the BOX below and see how to get them for FREE!

I hope you found some useful tips!

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How to Improve Student Writing With Writing Checklists

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Checklists are used for many academic tasks, and writing is a common one. Are they really effective? Absolutely! This post will explore why checklists are used, research results, and how to use writing checklists to improve student writing in the classroom. Why Are Writing Checklists Used in the Classroom?

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Let them write about themselves, or things that they like, instead of always assigning prompts that they find "boring".

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Teaching and assessing writing can be challenging, and even more so when you're trying to identify effective ways to scaffold writing instruction for struggling students. Set teenagers up for success by incorporating these teacher-tested, student-approved strategies.
It was big. HUGE. Overwhelming, actually. It sat on my desk, taunting me.

I dare you to grade me, the stack of papers whispered smugly.

You see, this was my first year teaching. I was fresh out of college. As is the case frequently with newbies, I was given the low-achieving, at-risk students. Honestly, I loved those kids, but I had no idea how to teach or assess their writing. As I slumped over my desk, staring at the pile of papers that threatened to take away my social life for the next two months, I felt tears creep into my eyes. These kids couldn't even spell simple words. Their essays were huge paragraphs that spanned multiple pages, yet there wasn't a period in sight. That was the moment I knew I needed a different strategy.

If you've ever taught writing to a group of struggling pupils, you can identify with the sense of helplessness you feel as a teacher who wants to catch them up on all they have missed, but they're so far behind you have no idea where to start. For the last ten years, I've taught students who were years behind grade level - ninth graders who wrote like elementary students, who couldn't hear the awkwardness of a poorly constructed sentence, who misspelled their, they're, and there like it was their job.

Good teachers adapt to their students' needs. Struggling writers are just as frustrated with the task of writing as we are with trying to assess their work. I've learned that students who have low self-confidence benefit from scaffolding and differentiation. Whether you teach students who fall into this category year round or just during summer school, these strategies might help you to adjust your instruction, thereby increasing their engagement and chances of success.

1. BEGIN BY GATHERING DATA.

Every year, I start my first writing unit with a pre-assessment. In order to cater my instruction to the group's basic needs, I have to know where to start. The pre-assessment provides the data I need. While many people use multiple choice formats, I find those ineffective. If I'm assessing a student's writing ability, I need to see a sample of their writing. The genre of writing for the pre-assessment should be determined by the type of writing you expect students to practice in class.

2. BUILD CONFIDENCE.

So many struggling writers walk through our doors with negative preconceptions about their abilities and futures as authors. They live up to the minimal goals they have developed and own the pessimistic self-images projected both by themselves and others. In order to build up students' confidence, I take the information I glean from their pre-assessments, and I begin with simple writing tasks I know they can tackle. For instance, when given a debatable topic, most students are capable of writing their opinion on said topic. With each skill my students complete successfully, they slowly begin to develop a more positive image of themselves and their abilities.

3. DEVELOP A LOGICAL INSTRUCTIONAL SEQUENCE.

By introducing individual writing skills one at a time and slowly building upon each one, students will be less overwhelmed when you ask them to write an essay. As a high school English teacher, I've noticed that when I begin with grammar instruction (like subjects, verbs, fragments, and run-ons), I can then speak to my students in a more intelligent manner regarding the use of complete sentences in their writing. I teach them to identify sentence errors at the beginning of the year, and they are well-versed at identifying the misuse of a semi-colon by October. As students gain confidence with each learning target, I add in a more advanced skill.

4. REDUCE OVERWHELMING CHOICES.

I'm not a creativity or interest squelcher. To the contrary, I firmly believe students will be more receptive to writing if we allow them to write about what matters to them. Still, I've taught remedial writing classes long enough to understand that when struggling writers are given too much freedom, many of them become paralyzed. For this reason, I've always found it beneficial to scaffold writing instruction by offering students a list of topics (for which I know they can easily find research), to brainstorm possible thesis statements together as a class, and even to offer students the option to use sources I've already gathered for them.

5. READ & WRITE FREQUENTLY.

When learning a new language, immersion is crucial. If you surround yourself with the new language, you will learn it exponentially faster. The same is true with writing. For some students, composition is so difficult for them that it's similar to the learning curve of adopting a new language. In order to provide our students with optimal opportunities for success, they need to write frequently (every day, ideally). Because reading and writing are the perfect literacy companions, struggling writers will also benefit from reading every day. Marrying reading and writing together in your daily routine will reap bigger gains.

6. MINIMIZE ASSIGNMENT LENGTHS.

So often, teachers beat themselves up if their students cannot write an intelligent multiple paragraph essay by the end of the year. In truth, much of students' ability to do so is determined by influencing factors that occur before we ever meet them. I've learned to lighten up, and we all should. Quality trumps quantity. With my struggling writers, I celebrate success when we write a single sentence eloquently. Besides, when teachers assign three-page essays to a group of at-risk students, those teens often immediately decide not to complete the assignment. It will be "too hard," "too frustrating," "too time-consuming," "too boring," or downright "impossible." A paragraph, on the other hand? That's do-able.

7. OFFER VARIOUS PREWRITING OPTIONS.

Whether it's a graphic organizer, an outline, note cards, a mind-map, or something else, students benefit from pre-writing. I model how to use both a graphic organizer and an outline with my students so as not to pigeon-hole them into one mandatory strategy. Regardless of the approach, pre-writing is essential to help students organize their thoughts before drafting.

8. WRITE TOGETHER AS A CLASS.

Struggling writers benefit largely when teachers model the drafting process. In my classroom, here's what that looks like. I sit at my computer, and I ask probing questions, like:

"How should we begin?

What do you call the first sentence of an argumentative paragraph?

How should we word our standpoint?"

From there, I write down whatever students volunteer without critiquing.

After the sentence is written, I ask the class to reflect on it as I read it aloud. "Is everyone happy with what we have so far? How can we make this stronger? Does it include a clear argument that can be defended logically?" Almost always, students share opinions for how we can improve upon the existing content, and they are engaged. They enjoy the collaborative writing activity. Why? They can sit back and analyze what's on the board without pressure. They benefit from hearing their peers' opinions. They don't feel like failures because even though they are writing the paragraph, we are improving it together.

10. USE GUIDED PRACTICE STRATEGICALLY.

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14 Ways to Support Struggling Writers: Build Confidence and Increase Success - Reading and Writing Haven

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Teaching and assessing writing can be challenging, and even more so when you're trying to identify effective ways to scaffold writing instruction for struggling students. Set teenagers up for success by incorporating these teacher-tested, student-approved strategies. It was big. HUGE. Overwhelming, actually. It sat on my desk, taunting me.

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-Sacred Writing Time with weekly tracking
-Peer Review
-Power Writing
-Mind Mapping
-Floop
-NoRedInk

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We have images (that I just pull from the internet) and the kids brainstorm nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Then they are charged with building a simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentence that are all related to the image.

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I love to use the 4 Square pre-write for argumentative and informative writing. I have books in my room that are helpful. This method helps struggling writers with organization, elaborations, and adding transitions.

6+1 Traits of Writing and Smekens also has some great mini lessons. I also have some literature and binders on these topics.

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Strategy for written analysis

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Since writing is my jam, I have tried so many different writing strategies in my classroom over the years and found ones that truly work like a charm. I wouldn't teach writing without them. Each strategy sets the stage for effective writing. LEARN 5 TESTED WRITING STRATEGIES THAT WORK LIKE A CHARM!

1. SCAFFOLD YOUR WRITER'S WORKSHOP LESSONS

The writer's workshop lessons should be presented to students in a step-by-step progression. When lessons are planned out and in an order that makes sense for that type of writing, students' writing will undoubtedly improve. They will understand the writing process and see how a quality piece of writing starts from the beginning stages of prewriting to the end stage with a final copy. Learn from my mistakes. I used to teach different mini lessons, but until I focused on an order to take one piece of writing all the way through a series of mini lessons, I didn't see the same results. It may take a long time to finish one piece of writing, but it is worth it in the end! A sample of scaffolded lessons can be found HERE.

2. SET WRITING GOALS

Young writers should create a goal for each piece of writing. It will help them reflect on their writing and grow into expert authors.

Tell students to think of something that they frequently have to correct in their writing or something that they find difficult when writing in the past. Explain that writing goals can change from one piece of writing to the next. I find it best for students to focus on ONE goal in each writing piece. I know I know, it is hard to pick just one when they may need help in numerous areas. However, this focus will help them in that particular area every time they write! There are many goals that can be developed from writer's workshop. For example, writing in complete sentences, sticking to the topic, adding more details, or organization. Find a list of common goals HERE.

Absolutely! It is perfectly fine for the teacher or parent to set a goal or help the young writer set a goal, but make sure you explain your reasoning! Think of anything that may have been taught in a previous lesson or something students are expected to use throughout the year. Are there any writing skills that the young writer needs more time to develop?

3. CREATE A WRITING REFERENCE

Writers should have a source to reference when writing. One way of providing a reference is by taking notes in each writer's workshop lesson. If you provide lessons that scaffold through the writing process, the notes will be in the same step-by-step order. This is especially helpful when students have another writing prompt in that same type of writing. They can go back to their notebooks and use it as a guide. Another way is to provide student reference folders. Print off all the necessary resources for your writing standards and place them in the folder. This can be used in a writing center or printed for each student. It is a valuable tool that can be used over and over.

4. WORK WITH WRITING CHECKLISTS

Writing checklists are by far one of the best strategies for students to use when writing. Whether it is a paragraph or an essay, a checklist will help young writers look back through their writing to see if it still needs work.

5. USE SPACING AND COLOR WHEN REVISING

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5 Tested Writing Strategies That Work Like A Charm

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Since writing is my jam, I have tried so many different writing strategies in my classroom over the years and found ones that truly work like a charm. I wouldn't teach writing without them. Each strategy sets the stage for effective writing. LEARN 5 TESTED WRITING STRATEGIES THAT WORK LIKE A CHARM!

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Write Endings That Don't Merely Summarize

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A great conclusion has nothing to do with how long the ending is but rather how satisfied it leaves the reader.

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This is so easy and students do well with it. Chunk your text, Identify main idea of each chunk, find supporting evidence for main idea, write a summary using details. Easy Peasy!!!

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We divided our classes into 2-3 leveled flexible groups (within the class). Each group either met with teacher for a mini lesson on grammar or worked on an activity/individualized instruction at their level. This has been pretty successful in 8th grade. We usually block it for 2 days at a time. If group A meets with me on Monday, then group B will meet with me Tuesday.

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Adapt Yes, MA'AM to fit Longer Extended Responses

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Somebody...wanted...but...so...

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1.  When students are editing for word choice, have them look at a piece of writing.  Put a box around the words got, get, went, and nice.
2.  Students will consult dictionary or thesaurus to find substitution word.
3. Using stronger words will help students develop ability with word choice.