Standing Convos

Hey everybody! 

This week I'm sharing an instructional strategy that will add some conversation, music, movement, and fun into your classroom. I've recycled and reused this strategy a gazillion times. I first experienced Standing Conversations at the KISD Literacy Coaches Network. This strategy can be adjusted and applied to ANY content area and used at ANY grade level. It's so simple you could even slide it into your plans at the last minute. You may have heard of a "Stand & Talk" which is the same method minus the music.

Note from Lindsay: I am certainly not claiming to be the creator of this strategy, only a very grateful teacher who uses it A TON.

Here's what works for me:

1. Develop a question related to your subject matter.

2. Post the question visually. 

3. Give 30-60 seconds of think time.

4. Share the Standing Convo directions (I suggest posting them visually), which are: Keep moving ‘til the music stops! When it stops, square up to the nearest person and discuss the question posted on the screen.

5. Play a song that relates to your subject matter or is just fun and jazzy!

6. Students walk or jig or do-a-little-dance as the music plays.

7. Stop the song, listen to chatting, redirect anyone who’s not chatting about the posted question.

8. Start music again (play the same song or start a new one) and repeat with any additional questions you want students to discuss. 

Tip: project the Standing Convo directions for your students. Explicitly state what is expected/allowed while the music plays and during the standing conversation. Doing so will minimize the chaos and maximize the experience.

To make a Standing Convo really meaningful, think creatively about which songs pertain to your subject matter or the topic students will discuss. For example, during the American Revolution learning unit, students discuss the question:

Tip: link the music you plan to play on the slide you'll project.

This way you're not relying on a successful YouTube search while you students anxiously wait to start shimmying around (been there... done that... not great).

Without telling my students in advance, I play "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" by Taylor Swift as they walk around. After the music stops, they discuss the question and sit back down. Then, I ask if anyone caught on to the meaning of my song choice. One by one they figure it out; it's pretty fun to watch. 

I think it is important to hold a whole-class discussion. Do so by using whatever discussion strategy you prefer (draw names, pick volunteers, classmate nominates a friend, etc.) and discuss the questions all together. 

The feedback from kids on Standing Convos is usually very positive. They like to get up and move. They like to talk to a person of their choosing. They like to hear music. It's a fun, quick, and simple way to change up the standard Think-Pair-Share. 

Joy & cheer,

Lindsay

Praise & Celebration

Friends! I have been thinking a lot about positive reinforcement. While my brain is still (sort of) fresh and I'm (mostly) rejuvenated after a long weekend, I am making a commitment to focus on affirmation and praise in the week ahead. Whenever I see a good thing, hear a kind word, or notice an exceptional contribution, I want to praise and celebrate the individual responsible for it. Let's be real — this can get harder to do as the school year wears on, when our patience runs thin, and our minds are bogged down. So, I plan to revisit this topic regularly because I believe it's the key to a positive, joyful learning environment. 

Below you can read an excerpt from The Write Structure (Chapter 6: Celebrate It) which details my experience with praise and celebration in action.  

Joy & cheer,

Lindsay

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Chapter 6: Celebrate It

"I can live for two months on a good compliment."

Mark Twain, Albert Bigelow Paine,

Mark Twain: A Biography (1912)

Think about the last time someone complimented you. Didn’t it feel nice? I found a little “you’re a good teacher” note on the bottom of a student’s assessment today. They were just a few words, but they packed a positive punch. Kind words are a big deal to me, and I don’t think I’m alone in this. Who doesn’t love a compliment? Whose heart doesn’t burst a little when they’re told, “Good job.” Affirmation makes us want to do more of the thing we were complimented on. If someone tells me they like a particular hairdo, I am tempted to wear my hair that way every day for at least a week. 

I was invited to be part of a Learning Lab several years ago. I was super excited about the opportunity. Then, I found out the Lab was located in a kindergarten classroom. What can I possibly learn in such a setting? I skeptically wondered. Teaching five- and six-year-olds was entirely foreign, and I couldn’t imagine there was anything for me to learn. How would I transfer anything from the Lab into my eighth grade classroom? I was in for a positively pleasant surprise.   

The host teacher, Renee, blew me away from the second she started her lesson. As she taught, she seamlessly noted every positive behavior she saw. As the kids paired up to work on a task, she glided around the room complimenting, affirming, celebrating.  I started tallying the number of times I heard her do this. I lost count at thirty. In those sixty minutes, I realized how contagious her positivity was. With every compliment, the productivity in her classroom increased. With every kind affirmation kids sat up a little straighter. She directed a table group to notice the quality work of one of their peers.  The girl they were told to notice had a smile so big it overtook her whole face. Her table partner giggled and said, “Good job,” when Renee walked away. I didn’t want the lesson to end. I could have sat there and watched this go on for hours. During the post-lesson reflection time, I was compelled to think of a way I could bring this culture of affirmation and kindness into my own classroom.  

Capturing Kids Hearts Training also opened my eyes to the power of affirmation, compliments, and kind words in the classroom (Flippen Group, 2017). In this training, I learned that our kids are hungry to be affirmed. They hope to be noticed, especially for good things they’ve done instead of the incorrect or bad things we so often notice and correct. I saw the positive effects of Capturing Kids Hearts strategies on the culture of my classroom almost immediately. This philosophy and practice further spurred my thinking: how can I transfer the ideas of positivity, affirmation, and celebration into educational tasks? Specifically, tasks that sometimes bring out the chorus of moans and disgruntled sighs. What is a task that usually draws out the negativity in my kids, and many times {sadly} me? A one word answer came to me: writing. 

I set out to mirror Renee’s tactics and transfer my Capturing Kids Hearts philosophy into purely academic tasks, such as the teaching of writing. 

I began with my Language Arts classes, starting small and simple, such as wandering around the room while students worked, intentionally pointing out quality work, proper formatting, good word choice. Then I started asking individual students if I could put their amazing work under the document camera for everyone to see. As kids prepared for an argumentative essay, I strategically eavesdropped on impromptu debates — when I heard something great, I halted the class, put the two stellar debaters on stools, and created a “fishbowl” where everyone gathered around to hear the thoughtful, rich debate of their peers. The positivity was infectious. Most kids responded very well to these methods.  

I kicked it up a notch by asking volunteers to put their writing under the document camera, and the student walked us through their Identify It, Prove It, and Bring it Back Around. Eventually, students were asked to open up and give peer feedback as they stood their classmate in front of everyone. If the feedback is weak or overly-critical, I always make sure to point out something that was very well done, such as, “I love how you introduced this quote — you really provide your reader with context and it helps the quote make so much more sense!”  

There will always be kids who are embarrassed. Some who would rather not be celebrated — especially in the middle and high school level. It doesn’t matter if you discretely compliment them one-on-one or in front of the whole class — they don’t want the spotlight. Don’t let this stop you. Just bear in mind the kids who are shy and keep their celebration low-key.  

Reinforce and revisit The Write Structure by celebrating when you see it being used properly — when you find a paragraph that is enriched by a thoughtful quote and thorough explanation, when you see a student turn a blank piece of paper into an outline using Identify It! Prove it! Bring it Back Around! as a guide, when you see someone boxing keywords from within their Prove It! and again in their Bring it Back Around! They will want to do more of the same, I assure you. Students will be overjoyed to hear what they are doing right instead of feeling sheepish about what they’ve done wrong. Whenever possible, stop everything and highlight the good. Affirm the well done. Shower your students with praise and kind words. It will sustain them for a least two months, according to Mark Twain, that is. 

Chalk Talk as an Ice Breaker

It's back-to-school week in our neck of the woods! Everyone is back in the classroom and, chances are, you're hungry for a new ice breaker. Here is a clever thinking routine that's a cinch to slide into the first week of school: Chalk Talk as an Ice Breaker. 

Chalk Talk is a thinking routine that comes from the text: Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners by Ron Ritchhart, Karin Morrison, and Mark Church. 

Chalk talk promotes student thinking, connection development, and reflection. To put this ice-breaking, community-building lesson together, do the following:

1) In the middle of several (six to seven) large pieces of chart paper, write or tape a few thought provoking questions/prompts (one per paper). These questions should fit your students' grade level and may relate to the content area you teach. Open ended questions are optimal! At this point in the year, using basic get-to-know-you questions/prompts will help build community in your classroom. Here are some ideas:

Spring or fall? Why?

City, suburb, or rural? Why?

You can have any three things at no cost. What do you want?

My perfect day consists of...

You can travel anywhere in the world with any one person. Where do you want to go and with whom?

Best school memory.

My most cherished possession is... because...

Car or truck or neither? Why?

My role model is... because...

2) Put students into groups of three or four. Each student needs a thin marker. Since it's back-to-school time and this is a let's-get-acquainted activity, I suggest requiring that students write their name above their respective remarks. Inform students that this is a silent activity. 

3) Place each group at one paper (call the first paper they're at their "home station") and set a timer for a few minutes (of course, this will vary based on the grade level you teach and the type of questions you pose).

4) Show students how they will move to the next station (clockwise or counterclockwise or whatever make sense in your space). DO address movement BEFORE you start the first timer or CHAOS WILL ENSUE!!!! 

5) Students will silently rotate through each station and comment on every prompt. Encourage your thinkers-in-the-making to connect their comment to another student's comment, if possible. Individuals will add their own thinking at each station until each group returns to their home station. 

6) Finally, There are a couple of ways to wrap up this activity:

When groups return to their home station, the students read through the remarks on that paper. They discuss and decide which one is the most thoughtful or interesting. A group leader is nominated to share that remark with the whole class.

Or

Students revisit each station in the same order (call this  "round two") and read the remarks on each chart paper. Individual students draw a star next to the comment he/she believes is the most thoughtful or interesting. Use a timer to keep this moving along in a swift and orderly fashion. Once groups return to their home stations, direct the group to count up the stars on each comment. This will determine which remark earned the most stars. A group leader is nominated to share the winning remark with the whole class. 

It's always worth the time it takes to affirm individual students — especially those whose contributions are positive and thoughtful. It's effective for the teacher to review all comments on Chalk Talk charts and publicly commend students who've demonstrated exceptional depth of thinking. Using these first few weeks to build a positive community and create a warm environment will pay off in the months to come!

I'm excited to explore and share more thinking routines in future weekly notes. Happy start to the school year, everyone! 

Joy & cheer,

Lindsay

PS: Follow this link for several Chalk Talk videos and other tips.  

Working Mamas & Back to School Jitters

Message from Lindsay: Hi everybody! Thanks for tuning into my second weekly note. I hope to use this platform to encourage you and pass along helpful teaching ideas. This week’s note offers a few more tidbits about me as a person/teacher/professional (I promise to stop yackin’ about myself so much next week). You are receiving this in email form because you opted in via lindsaykveitch.com, joined my launch team, or bought a copy of The Write Structure. Please don't worry about hurting my feelings; you can scroll to the bottom of this email to unsubscribe at any time. 

Another message from Lindsay (re: the topic of this post): no offense to working dads or working pet parents or anyone else for that matter. Peace and love, my friends.

I became a working mama a little under five years ago. I started the school year extremely pregnant, and as my due date closed in, I became an official crazy person (True story: I went to the hospital thinking I was in labor, not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES, only to endure 36 hours of labor 10 days after my due date — my crazy was justified, okay?). Little did I know that those days were a prelude to what would become a great, big, crazy challenge: the balancing act of teaching students and raising babies.

If you are a working mama — with little babies who still nurse or big kids who are sassy — I genuinely hope you are thriving. I hope you find yourself wonderfully exhausted at the end of each school day. I hope your heart is full as you head out your classroom door to scoop up your cherubs and smooch their faces. I hope you are fulfilled and joyous in all of your roles.

The truth is, I struggled to thrive as a full-time teacher and full-time mama. Even though I have the world’s most helpful husband, a supportive principal, and a very kind teaching team, it was hard for me to raise little babies and teach a bunch of big kids. I took a look at my options and made a difficult decision. That decision was to put my work as a full-time teacher on hold for a couple of years. And since you’re subscribed to my weekly note, you should know what I’m up to these days.

I am still a teacher, only right now, that looks, well… a little different. I write this to you not from my classroom but from my home office. Changing lanes has given me a different vantage point and inspired new learning. In this season of life, my working mama gig consists of writing, adjuncting, and consulting. Next week, a gaggle of pre-service teachers are depending on me to show them how to teach literacy in their content areas. Talk about a legitimate case of back to school jitters.

Your school year is either under way or nearing its start. I want to encourage anyone who's a working mama, those of you who get all nervous-excited with each new year, or really anyone who needs a kind word. It’s tough work to teach kids all day and keep your home afloat, yourself sane, and channel positive vibes through it all. It seems extra important for educators to surround each other and lift one another up. Grab a colleague right now and laugh or hug or even shed a tear because you miss your kids or need a friend. Finally, a suggestion to those of you who had someone come to mind as you read this: how can you support this human? Bring in a coffee, offer that hug, ask about his/her family.  

Life is made so much better when we care for one another. Go, care for each other.

Joy & cheer,

Lindsay

Introducing lindsaykveitch.com

17 years ago I had finally figured out what I would do with the rest of my life. I was 18, so obviously I was already an expert at life. With more confidence than a tenured veteran in any career, I set off to Michigan State University with one goal in mind: journalism. I would write peoples’ stories, expose injustice, and explore the world. Equipped with amazing talents that were beyond reproach, I was motivated and ready to arm wrestle anyone who dared to stop me. I was bursting with possibility and a whole lotta pride. Until every internship request was met with a no. Until writing samples were scoffed at. Until I felt the fire in my belly morph into a pit in my tummy. Clearly I wasn’t as amazing as I thought I was. My pride was shattered. My dream of journalism fell apart around me, and it wasn’t long before I felt certain that my spirit for the work had completely dissolved.

Humbled and discouraged, I stumbled into teaching despite every effort to avoid it. I’d been told to consider it by my mother (a former teacher and current principal) but at 19, my life motto was: NO ONE will tell ME what to do. Nevertheless, I agreed to volunteer as a writing tutor for a young lady at an alternative high school in Lansing, MI. Apathetically, I began the assignment. Until the second I looked into the eyes of my first pupil, I was sure this tutoring gig was a minor detour. The student was despondent, quiet, and spoke with hesitation. At our first meeting, I remember wondering how she wound up at an alternative school. Apathy quickly turned into empathy as I saw in her something every good teacher sees in his or her students: a human being with potential. And I saw something similar in myself: possibility. The possibility that my prior career ambitions were permanently detouring into the good work of teaching. A new set of goals emerged — invest in people’s stories, step into lives steeped in injustice, and explore ways to impact the future of the world. My self-focused career ambitions vanished, and new, life-giving opportunities were set in motion.

Week after week I sat alongside my new student reading and re-reading excerpts from The Old Man and the Sea. Together, we wrote and rewrote responses to her assigned writing prompts. She opened up to me, and I learned a little of her story. Her past was void of adult support and mentorship. She was likely to grow up and repeat the cycle of dysfunction unless someone intervened. After just a few weeks, the obvious occurred to me — that teaching is not only a job or even just a career; it is good, hard, meaningful work. Work that required me to think beyond myself. Work that can actually change the future of the world. It wasn’t even a month after I abandoned one dream that I found myself living in a new one. And I believe it was the dream I was meant to realize all along.

I have no idea what became of my first student, but I am forever grateful that she opened my eyes to the work of investing in humans. Now, 17 years after I careened away from journalism, and with over a decade of teaching experience under my belt, I am delighted to share that my two loves —writing and teaching — have intersected. Life has a funny way of circling us back around from time to time. An old passion has been resurrected. But this time, I will write about the beautiful work of teaching. And now, I’ll do so for the love of it. So it is with a grateful and excited heart that I share this blog and website with you! Sign up to receive my weekly note and I promise to deliver practical teaching ideas, impactful stories, and plenty of inspiration.

Joy and cheer,

Lindsay

The Finish Line

By: Lindsay K. Veitch 

Note from Lindsay: This article originally appeared on Dave Stuart Jr.'s blog April 2018

The text message read something this:

Hey Linds. I am writing an essay for Psych 201 and I’m wondering if you could review my intro and make sure I’ve written a fully developed essay?

It was my sister-in-law, Taylor, a high school senior who’s dual-enrolled at community college and working day and night to achieve her goals. Of course I replied with a YES! But first, I needed to know what she was tasked with.

Her assignment was:

1. To read a five-page long, single-spaced, medically jargoned article on Electroshock Therapy
2. To write a “fully developed essay in response to the article”
3. Due Monday

That’s it. Did you just have a flashback to freshman year of college? Are you nauseous? If so, I sincerely apologize.

Next, I reviewed Taylor’s work. I was proud as punch when I read her essay. I quickly found her thesis. Her subtopics were clearly stated. Her body paragraphs matched the subtopics and each was supported with evidence from the article. She expertly used her own logic to explain the key points. It was, as she had been directed to create, a fully developed essay.

As both a high school senior and first year college student, Taylor is an interesting case study. She is quickly approaching one finish line while simultaneously starting another race. Days in the safe and helpful environment of her public school are coming to an end. But for now, she still has dozens of teachers who are readily available, approachable, and helpful. Lunch hour check-ins, before school chats, and sustained relationships provide her assistance. For years, her learning has been supported with rubrics, outlines, and plenty of guidance. And yet Taylor also finds herself in a new world. The world of college — with far less guidance, independence galore, and of course, the all-necessary self-motivation.

Taylor, as a student, is the sum of her education so far. Right now, she finds herself seconds away from crossing the stage, snatching that diploma, and descending into the “real world.” And with her she will take hundreds of moments, a good many strategies, and a foundation of important skills acquired over the past 13 years of her education.

Colleagues, Taylor, as well as every other high school senior about to cross the finish line, embodies our collective efforts to teach, mentor, instruct, and motivate.  

Back to that vague assignment from Psych 201: write a “fully developed essay in response to the article.”  Taylor had no other instruction. And, I suppose you should know that Psych 201 is an online class. Students like my sister-in-law have to figure out how to develop an essay without any provided instructional tools. All of this, without even another human present to guide or explain.

Oh, and there’s one other thing I failed to mention. I noticed something very significant when reviewing Taylor’s essay. On the desktop of her screen, strategically placed, was a digital sticky note. On it she had typed a reminder for herself. It said: Identify It, Prove It, Bring It Back Around. Fortunately, Taylor has a writing structure, The Write Structure, to live and write by.

Taylor will not just make it through Psych 201 and every other college course she will write an essay for, she’ll excel. As a writer, Taylor can focus on content (what she’s read and learned and what she’ll write about it) instead of fretting about how to format her thoughts, logic, and ideas. When writers have an organizational model embedded in their memory, they can thoroughly develop their evidence and logic in a clear and orderly way.

As we prepare our students for the finish line this spring, let’s remember a few things. When we see them glide across the stage or waltz out of our classrooms for the final time, we are actually watching them enter the future. For these young people, graduation or grade advancement is really another beginning. It’s their chance to apply and try out all that we taught them. Do they have what they need to succeed at the next level? It’s our job as teachers to make sure we did all that we could.

Giving students an effective writing format (that’s easy to remember) does take intention and effort. For years now, I’ve seen The Write Structure transcend grade levels, content areas, and writing tasks. Now included with the purchase of the ebook are two essay writing templates. You can purchase a copy of The Write Structure: A Simple and Effective Method for {Teaching} Writing Across the Content Areas here.

Doing It All vs. Doing One Thing Well

By: Lindsay K. Veitch 

Note from Lindsay: This article was originally appeared  Dave Stuart Jr.'s blog January 2018

It was New Year's Eve, and we were sitting around a spread of appetizers: cheese, meat, shrimp, the works. More than ready to move on from the past year, I wasn’t feeling particularly reflective. Yet I was forced into a moment of such pondering when my husband asked me, “What’s your big takeaway from 2017?” I hadn’t spent any time developing this thought, so I surprised myself when I instantly said, “I’m learning, or I guess, relearning, that I can’t have it all. I can’t be it all. I can’t do it all.” Wait, I wondered, where did that come from? I felt instant relief and freedom in verbalizing what I suppose was stored up in my subconscious for who knows how long.

When I thought more about this, I realized the source: I am a dreamer. Wanting more of this and that and always hoping for the other thing. I long for an impactful teaching career while simultaneously desiring the life of a stay-at-home mom. I fantasize about the hot sun and a warm climate, yet I pine for mountains and snow. I want to be in a room full of important people until I remember that I prefer silence and serenity.

Having it all, doing it all, being it all. Too much? Clearly, it’s time to dial it back.

I’ve been fixated on this idea — simplifying, focusing, and decluttering my brain — ever since. And man, it’s been a welcome and freeing realization. I can’t do it all. I can’t have it all. I can’t be it all. We get so tangled up in our lives, our dreams, our tasks, our goals, our mission, our calling, our everything. We plan and act and tweak and do, do, do. If you’re like me, you probably have about 95 new things you want to try, 24 places you’d like to visit, and several dozen teaching strategies and methods you want to implement. We can drown in our ambitions to do more, be more, achieve more.

Sometimes it’s best to stop. Take inventory. And ask a very simple question: what is one thing I can do really well? For teachers, this is often a tricky thing to answer because we do so many things, and we mean so much to so many people. We answer to administrators, parents, our colleagues, our students, and our own families. We have a lot of relationships to nurture and expectations to see through. But, truly, put all of that aside for a minute and ask, do I have a method or strategy or best practice that I can deepen and develop to foster and perfect? We often try a bunch of different things and end up exhausted and frustrated and frayed. Our kids sense it, and we know this is not the best way to fulfill our very important assignment.

Several years ago, I, a young and easily excitable teacher, was in this place. I was blessedly inundated with teaching strategies and methods galore. This is a goodproblem to have. However, I realized then, like I realized when talking to my husband on New Year's Eve, that I couldn’t implement, have, or do all of those wonderful things. And, if I tried, I knew that I couldn’t do any of them very well at all. I knew I had to make a strategic instructional decision.

For me, teaching writing was overwhelming and mentally exhausting. Trying to meet the demands of ever-changing standards and state tests and my self-imposed goals as a teacher, I tried what felt like several hundred ways to do a better job teaching writing. I regularly rushed through the instruction and bumbled around trying to help my students make sense of the writing task at hand. Writing days left me feeling like my head was a balloon full of hot air and about to burst. Some wise mentors in my life suggested I simplify. And the oldy-but-goody, less is more, became my mantra. I set out to discover or invent a simple, effective writing structure and focus solely on that when teaching writing. Focusing writing instruction on one simple, transferable method was a game changer. I felt free to slow down, take the time to make sure kids got it right, and intentionally reinforce the same method over and over, all year long.

It can be difficult to admit that we can’t do it all, have it all, or be it all. Yet there is so much freedom when we do. Give yourself permission to declutter your mind and teaching playbook. Focus in on one strategy, method, or practice that you can develop and dive deeply into.  

To learn more about my writing method, The Write Structure: A Simple and Effective Method for {Teaching} Writing Across the Content Areas, read this article. Alternatively, you can purchase the ebook here.

A Case Study in Simplified Instruction: The Write Structure

By: Lindsay K. Veitch

Note from Lindsay: This article originally appeared on  Dave Stuart Jr.'s blog October 2017. 

I brought my two-year-old to his pediatrician, Dr. Lisa Brown, for a well-visit the day we launched my ebook, The Write Structure. I casually mentioned this exciting news to Dr. Brown, and she replied as only the doctor of children could.

With an incredibly warm look on her face, she asked a remarkably direct question, “That’s wonderful! Can you crystallize your text in one or two sentences?”  

Well, that’s not much to work with, doc, but here goes: “The Write Structure is a simple format that is totally transferable. The book is based on solving a common problem with writing in schools. Kids don’t know where to start, so they loathe writing. When teachers recycle The Write Structure (and the teaching methods that go with it), kids’ anxiety goes down and success goes up.”

Okay, so I cheated on the two sentences thing.  

Dr. Brown didn't bat an eye at my rambling answer; instead, her face lit right up! She went on to explain that writing is often the primary academic struggle her adolescent patients mention.

“While they may love school, many kids express anxiety about feeling unsuccessful at writing.” She then applauded any work that teachers and administrators are doing to alleviate students’ stress about writing.

This mid-checkup conversation with my two-year-old’s pediatrician affirmed what I already believe: writing is tricky and complicated for kids.

We know many students struggle with writing. Informal polls repeatedly report writing as one of students’ least liked academic tasks, mainly because they see their writing ability as a weakness, not a strength. Kids often don’t see themselves as successful writers because writing, often and unfortunately, is a shot in the dark. Even some kids who are legitimately good writers feel that the task of writing is a struggle. Overwhelming prompts and empty text boxes disengage many kids. Students will be asked to write hundreds and hundreds of times throughout their K-12 education and endless times as adults. As teachers and educational leaders, we must find a way to ease stress about writing so students can attack prompts with confidence and success.

As a teacher, I became aware of the need for a simple, transferable writing format when, in the course of five years of teaching, the state standards and standardized test changed. Then, the district summative assessment tools changed in order to align to the new standards and state assessments. I had designed many of my materials based on those tests, only to redesign them 12 months later. Call me crazy, but I figured that chances were I’d once again be realigning sometime in the next several years unless I could think beyond the tests. From this, my method for teaching writing was born. I decided to

• Develop a basic writing format, or structure, that transcends grade levels and content areas
• Base my writing instruction on best-practice methods and strategies that are proven to show results
• Weave that basic writing format and those best practices into all subject areas I could and in as many tasks as possible all year long

Over the last five or so years, I have applied The Write Structure to all my writing instruction, including modeling, conferring, range-finding, scoring guides/rubrics in English language arts and social studies over and over throughout the entire year. The results have been astounding!

Kids use the format to write basic paragraphs on a weekly basis, it’s recycled on more in-depth essay outlines, and I’ve seen dozens of kids turn blank paper on the state test into an outline using the three part structure as their guide. The simple format is easy for kids to remember and follow (there are hand motions and a cheer to boot!) even when there isn’t an outline or rubric provided. The format is transferable to any content area, any grade level, any writing task, and any scoring guide.

Let me try again to crystallize my text in two sentences:

I took a simple, memorable format, married it with best-practice teaching strategies that work, and recycled the combination of the two over and over. As it turns out, the marriage is a win-win for kids and teachers: less stress, more confidence, and we all write happily ever after.

Want to learn more about The Write Structure: A Simple, Effective Method for Teaching Writing Across the Content Areas?

A thorough explanation of the three part writing format, best practice writing strategies, and 14 exclusive writing lessons are all in Lindsay Veitch's ebook, which is available here.