FROM THE DESK OF The Structured Writing Teacher

If your students say “because I like it!” when asked to explain their thinking, you’re not alone. Teaching Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning (CER) is one of the most powerful ways to build strong writers in grades 4–8, but it can also be one of the trickiest to get right. As a middle school teacher and the creator of The Structured Writing Workshop™ , I’ve spent years testing ways to make CER writing stick. Today, I’m sharing the three-step system I use in my own classroom. It's engaging, scaffolded, and ready for real-world writing. 💬 Why CER Is So Hard for Middle Schoolers Ask a student to tell you why they prefer Reese’s over KitKats, and they’ll have no problem answering. But ask them to support that claim with real evidence? “Because it’s good!” “Because I like it!” “Because it just is!” CER requires students to move beyond opinion and into evidence-based thinking. That shift doesn’t happen overnight. So I break CER into three manageable, confidence-building phases. ...

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...

  What's the Best Order to Teach Writing Skills in Middle School? A Step-by-Step Guide If you’re a middle school ELA teacher wondering what order to teach writing skills , you’re not alone. Should you start with figurative language? Sentence variety? Hooks? It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, and even easier to rush through skills before students are ready. As a middle school teacher and children’s book author, I’ve spent years refining how I teach writing and in what order . I created the Structured Writing Workshop™ , a 4th–8th grade writing program that focuses on skill-building, confidence, and structure. In this post, I’ll walk you through the six essential writing skills I teach and the exact order I teach them to get students writing with clarity, voice, and purpose. 💡 Why the Order of Writing Skills Matters There are so many writing skills to teach that it can be overwhelming to figure out where to start. Should we teach students how to “show, don’t tell” before we even a...

  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 ...