My biggest issue as a resource teacher? Time! It’s the one thing I can never get enough of, so I am all about quick classroom routines that build necessary student skills. Each year, I notice that my students struggle with writing complete sentences and paragraphs. This year, I implemented and fine-tuned a quick daily routine that I called “Paragraph of the Week” (or POW for short), and what a difference it has made!
This routine is exactly what it sounds like – Students write a paragraph over the course of the week, every week. I provide an open-ended prompt or question, and each day we go through a part of the writing process. At the end, we end up with a paragraph that clearly answers the question, elaborates on reasons and evidence, and ends with a conclusion!
Here’s how we break it down each day:
Monday – Brainstorming
Many students struggle with organizing their thoughts and generating ideas prior to beginning their writing. Most of the time, they try to jump right in and get lost along the way! So we start with getting organized before we write! On Mondays, students see the POW question and brainstorm at least two different possible answers. Depending on the question, students brainstorm pros and cons about the topic or at least two different answers to the question, along with supporting reasons or details. I ask for students to have at least two details for each possible answer. Some students say that they already know what they want their answer to be, but I still encourage them to brainstorm two different answers to practice idea generation! Sometimes, we share our brainstorming out loud to help students who feel stuck get some ideas from peers.
Tuesday – Claim
On Tuesdays, we write a clear claim statement – and that’s it! We’ve practiced writing a claim statement that clearly restates the question being asked and states a clear answer. Some students need support to make sure that their claim sentences don’t include “because” and start listing their reasons. I remind them that we are just restating and answering the question. This has taken a lot of practice for some students! Others think this is the easiest day of the routine since it is only one sentence!
Wednesday & Thursday – Supporting Details and Examples
The next two days of this routine, students develop their supporting details. Students go back to their brainstorming list to help pick these details. I encourage students to state the reason and use a few other sentences to clarify or give an example. I model my writing process for students and bold some words or phrases that they might like to use. Separating each reason into its own day helps my students compartmentalize and stay focused on each unique reason.
Friday: Putting It All Together & Editing!
The last day, students put their claim and support detail sentences together into a final paragraph, and add on a conclusion sentence. Then, we use spell check, rereading the paragraph aloud a few times, and other editing strategies to revise the draft before turning in our final paragraphs!
I do a paragraph of the week with my students every week for 3 weeks. Then, I give students a monthly writing prompt that doesn’t have the step-by-step scaffolding of our paragraph of the week template. I use this writing prompt to monitor student IEP goals and to see how students are progressing with their independent writing. Then, we go back to our three weeks of Paragraph of the Week!
What My Students Think
My students really enjoy this writing routine! Several students have voiced feeling more confident in the writing process, and feel like they are seeing improvements in their final products. They like answering fun or funny questions, like “What would be the most useful superpower to have?” or “Should students be allowed to wear their Halloween costumes to school?”, but have struggled with questions like “What is something that should be taught in school, but isn’t?”.
Are you going to give it a try? Let me know how it goes in the comments!
