FROM THE DESK OF The Structured Writing Teacher

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...

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 ...