FROM THE DESK OF The Structured Writing Teacher

There was a time when my writing block was the most exhausting part of my day. I knew writing mattered. I knew students needed time to explore ideas, take risks, revise, and find their voice. I wanted my classroom to feel like a space where writers actually wrote . But no matter how hard I tried, it just… didn’t work. Some students barely wrote anything. Others scribbled five lines and said, “I’m done.” A few thrived—but even then, it was usually because they were natural writers to begin with. The rest were lost. And honestly? So was I. The Turning Point The shift didn’t happen overnight. It came after years of trying to make various writing programs “fit” my students—and failing. Then, I left the classroom to tour as a children’s book author. I worked with editors, publishers, and writing teams. I was immersed in what real writing looked like behind the scenes. And I kept thinking… Why don’t we teach our students to write the way professional writers actually work? I start...

Reese's or KitKat? If you ask a middle schooler to tell you which is best, they can do this immediately. But when you ask Why? you often get: "Because it's good!" "Because I like it!" "Because it's the best!" Most middle schoolers don’t naturally understand how to support their opinions with evidence. Teaching Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning (CER) is one of those higher-level skills that sounds simple—but takes serious repetition to master. I’ve spent years refining how I teach CER to middle schoolers in a way that’s engaging, repeatable, and actually sticks . It’s now a core part of my Structured Writing Workshop, and I break it into three distinct phases that build up both skill and confidence. Let’s dig into what each step looks like—and how you can make CER writing less painful (and way more powerful) for your students. Step 1: Start with Relatable Topics We don’t begin with long articles or complicated texts. Instead, I give them one...

I know I usually talk about writing, but we need to start with some math first. Let's take the number 10 and multiply it by 180 . You get 1,800 .  Now divide that by 60 . What does this all add up to and WHY AM I DOING MATH?!??! Because if you spend just 10 minutes a day on an ELA warm-up, that adds up to an entire month of instructional time over the course of a school year. A MONTH. So… are your warm-ups worth that much? If those 10 minutes aren’t building writing skills, strengthening grammar, or helping with test prep… they’re lost time. That’s why I stopped doing “Motivation Monday” and “Word Wednesday” and started using a structured routine that actually builds writing momentum. ✏️ What I Use Instead: The ELA Three-a-Day It’s quick. It’s structured. It’s powerful. And it works all year long. 🔹 1. Sentence Combining We start every day with this. At the beginning of the year, students practice simple compound sentences—adding commas and conjunctions correctly. As the year ...

Let’s talk writer’s workshop —not the Pinterest-perfect, every-kid-scribbling-furiously version. I mean the real one. The kind where some students thrive... and some stare blankly at the page for 20 minutes straight. That’s where I started. I loved the idea of writer’s workshop. Mini-lesson → independent writing → sharing out. Sounds dreamy, right? But in reality? ⛔ Some kids had no idea what to write about. ⛔ Some didn’t know if they were “doing it right.” ⛔ Some barely wrote a sentence and then… behavior issues. So, I changed everything. Yep... everything. After stepping away from the classroom to become a full-time children’s book author (and watching real authors work), I realized something huge: there are specific routines that professional writers use every day—and our students can use them too. Then I noticed something else… At my son’s baseball practice, I saw 8-year-old team captains leading warm-ups while the coach got everything else ready. When it was time t...

Let’s be real—if you teach 5th grade or above, you’re probably required to teach argumentative essays every year ... and every year, it feels like one of the hardest things to get right. The structure. The evidence. The thesis. The counterclaim. The formatting. 😩 It’s a lot. But after years of refining my process, I’ve found a way to make it manageable, effective, and even—dare I say—fun for students and teachers. This post walks you through how I teach the argumentative essay in just 10 days as part of my Structured Writing Method —including my favorite hooks, how I set up digital slides, what I emphasize in each paragraph, and one simple trick that helps students finally stop using rhetorical questions in their introductions. 🙌 Let’s break it down. 🧠 Start With a Hook They Care About Before we ever start writing, I pull students in with a topic they actually want to argue about . One of my go-to questions: 👉 “What have you binge-watched lately?” Suddenly, we’re hav...

  The Best Order to Teach Writing Skills in Middle School (And Why It Matters) When it comes to teaching writing in middle school, the what is important—but the when is just as crucial. If you’ve ever found yourself wondering, “Should I teach figurative language before sentence structure?” or “Why do my students still struggle with writing hooks halfway through the year?” —you’re not alone. After years of trial, error, and real-world writing experience as a children’s book author and middle school writing teacher , I’ve developed a structured approach to teaching writing. More specifically, I’ve figured out the exact order in which to teach six essential writing skills —and today I’m breaking it all down. ✏️ These skills are the foundation of my student-led, real-world-based writing workshop , (that's a lot of hyphens!) and the sequence I use isn’t random.  It’s purposeful, practical, and incredibly effective at getting students confident, motivated, and writing with ...

  The Science of Writing: What Actually Works? If you’ve been anywhere near the world of education lately, you’ve probably heard about the “Science of Reading” movement. The podcast Sold a Story shook up the literacy world by exposing how reading instruction in the U.S. has ignored research-backed strategies for decades. But as I listened to that podcast, I couldn’t stop thinking: What about writing? Where is the research-backed, evidence-based method for teaching kids to write? So, I did what any self-respecting teacher does during a break—I fell down a massive research rabbit hole . And what I found? Well, let’s just say…it was eye-opening . In this post, I’m breaking down: ✔️ The biggest problems with how writing is taught today ✔️ What actual research says about effective writing instruction ✔️ The three essential components of a successful writing program Let’s dig in. The Pendulum Problem in Writing Instruction Education is notorious for swinging back and forth ...