Writing strategies for middle school students that help them break through writer’s block – your middle schoolers can use these strategies for the rest of the school year and, quite frankly, for the rest of their lives.
Why I teach writing strategies to my middle school students
Year after year, I ask my students if they had ever been taught these strategies before they were in my classroom. Often, they say that some teachers make them do one or two of these strategies once in a while. However, after using the writing strategies I teach and we use throughout the year in my class, these strategies have become a part of their writing process.
For instance, this school year Nicholas admitted something to me during a writing conference. He said, “I wasn’t doing some of them during your lesson, but then I got stuck when I got to my computer. Then, I remembered what you taught me, and so I pulled out my journal and used one of your writer’s tricks. I used to think it was a waste of time to plan before I write. But it really helps.”
Another student, Eva, had pages of lists, mind maps, etc. all unassigned by me. During her writer’s conference, she told me that she had this story in her head for a very long time and didn’t know how to get it onto paper. “With this class, I can now!” Her enthusiasm was all I needed to keep teaching these “magic” tricks to break writer’s block.
To have students internalize which strategy works best for them in a particular moment – that is gold! You taught them a life-long skill!
How to teach writing strategies for middle school students
First, I use a writing workshop in my classroom. Also, these strategies are used before we read as well, to allow students to think and connect with the topic or theme of a text we will study. For more information on writing workshop, click here for: Writer’s Workshop Middle School: The Ultimate Guide
Start with the five most used strategies first. Those are: asking questions, listing, mind mapping, writers sprints (freewriting), and drawing to write.
In order to get the best results, teach each writing strategy to your middle school students step-by-step, and practice a lot.
When you employ these strategies, you will see a difference in your student writers in less time than it might have taken to teach writing before you taught these strategies and with less stress, too.
The two secrets to teaching these strategies are using a timer and making it common practice.
I like to call my 5 best writing strategies “the 5 writer’s tricks.” Using a magical theme helps it stick in the student’s mind, and what middle schooler doesn’t like a little magic?
This is what I do: I teach one trick per day for five days, and then after that I use them almost every day in bell ringers, reading annotations, pre-writing, reviewing concepts, etc. Therefore, any time I want my students to think and write down their thoughts, I employ one of these strategies. I always use a timer, too.
On my YouTube channel, I have created a playlist of videos that walks you through how I teach these 5 writing strategies or “writer’s tricks.” Each Monday, I will publish a video covering one of the tricks in depth.
Click here to watch those:
Blog Posts that Go Deeper into the 5 Tricks Writing Strategies for Middle School Students
Click on any of the blog post links below to read more about how I use these “magic” tricks with my students:
As I add more writing strategies to my classroom this year, I will add them here for you.
Click here for the 5 tricks that Break Writer's Block Teacher's Guide
https://www.teach2write.com/5tricks
This contains:
- PDF Teacher guide with links to:
- Engaging Magic themed Worksheets
- Digital Worksheets
- Videos for you about how to use and teach these strategies
For TPT products that use these 5 writing Strategies for middle school students, click on these links:
