How to Teach Essay Writing Skills
Every year, when I announce our first essay assignment to my middle school students, I’m met with slouched shoulders and groans.
Let’s face it—essays get a bad rap!
But teaching essay-writing skills does NOT have to be the stressful, mundane experience that middle school students expect.
Here’s how I teach essay writing to my students:
I slowly introduce each tiny piece of an essay during our “Write Bites” segment of class. If you’re new to UPBEAT ELA, you may not know this yet, but I divide my 72-minute class period into 8 different segments, and segment #7 is “Write Bites”: our writing mini-lesson for the day. On my Promethean board, I present a slide that introduces one part of an essay (for example, the thesis statement). That first slide tells my students everything a thesis statement should include. The second slide tells my students what NOT to do when writing a these statement. Then the next three slides have examples that could be good or bad. For each example, I have my students vote on whether it’s good or bad, and they usually have to do something silly to vote (like patting their heads or rubbing their stomachs—it’s different every day). The silliness offers a nice break from more serious learning, but it’s also an excellent formative assessment.
Here’s one of our bad examples of a thesis statement.
We had a whole lot of hooting and hollering! 🦉😅
2. I assign each part of an essay just as slowly! Rather than giving my students a topic and asking them to wing their way through the essay, I start by assigning JUST the thesis statement. Next, I assign JUST the topic sentences. The kids feel like they’re getting off easy because the assignments are shorter than they’re used to, but in reality, they are able to write SUCH solid essays when they have time to get the framework right. 'I create examples and rubrics for each individual part of the essay, and I have these ready to go before the school year starts so I don’t have to worry about it throughout the year.
3. Since I am assigning one piece of an essay at a time, I can grade my students’ essays as they go. This is SO beneficial for everybody! My students don’t keep building an essay on shaky ground because they have immediate feedback on their foundation—and I can grade each student’s work in 30 seconds or less. Win-win! You can read all about my 30-second grading tips here.
4. Once my students have written each part of their essays, I have them put the pieces in order, and that’s their rough draft. Then I challenge them to find 10 things to improve for their final. That way, I can grade their improvements rather than going through the entire paper again. I love that this challenges my students on different levels without making extra work for me. 😊
Yes, writing essays is still work, but there’s no reason to make it harder than it needs to be, right?
Essays can actually be FUN for your students and EASY for you.
I share all of my favorite essay-teaching tips and tricks in my self-paced course, UPBEAT Essays.
