7 Strategies to Teach Writing & Scaffold the Process for Students

Writing can be one of the most challenging things to teach. Many students struggle with writing, and many teachers find it challenging to help students overcome those hurdles. This can be frustrating, and often students are left just sitting there staring at their paper. So, when nothing is working, where do you turn? Scaffolding! When you scaffold writing, you provide the support students need to be successful. Let’s talk about how to take your classroom of struggling writers and implement scaffolds that will help every student feel successful.

Ways to Scaffold and Strategies to Teach Writing

Despite writing being a common challenge for teachers, I promise that you don’t have to struggle. Here are some of my favorite strategies to teach writing and help scaffold the process for students.

#1 Reading Responses and Flash Drafts

Reading responses and flash drafts can take the daunting task of writing and make it less intimidating. During a flash draft, students write down their thoughts without thinking of grammar, organization, or other writing rules. They simply write. If you ever have students say, “I don’t know what to write about,” this is where I’d start. Tell them to braindump an idea.

When you use reading responses and flash drafts during reading units, students can practice literacy analysis. During writing units, these flash drafts become the basis of their paper.

#2 Have a Common Text

When you start a new unit, read aloud a short story or text to get everyone on the same page…literally! Then, together as a class, write a literary analysis of that text. By writing it together, you can model the process for students and leave them with an example to refer back to.

When students write independently, they can look at this piece of writing you created as a class. This writing scaffold still requires that students write on their own, but they aren’t left to fumble their way through it. You guided them through the process first.

#3 Exemplars and Mentor Texts

Another scaffold example is to have a text available to reference. This is similar to having a common text, except this time, you aren’t writing together (so it’s good for more advanced students or when you’re lacking time).

I would pull these mentor texts in advance because it can take some time to find them. Don’t underestimate the power of a good mentor text! When students see quality writing frequently, they’re more likely to be able to implement those strategies themselves.

#4 Partnerships

Whenever you start a new writing or reading unit, pair students up so that everyone has at least one classmate reading the same text with them at the same time. This pair of students can help support each other during the reading or writing process.

Having a go-to person to consult before coming to the teacher builds classroom community, increases student accountability, and decreases interruptions when you’re conferencing with other students. It’s a win-win.

#5 Writing Conferences

When you scaffold writing, you’re making support available to students as they need it. As much as you don’t want students to rely on you for every part of the writing process, getting your feedback is really important. Writing conferences are an age-old strategy to teach writing, and that’s because they work!

1:1 conferences give you a firsthand look at how students’ skills are progressing and what areas they still need support in. Also, it can help you catch mistakes during the writing process, so students aren’t learning they did something “wrong” after they finished the entire essay.

I like this scaffold example because you can also take the information you’ve learned from writing conferences and use it to form small groups. For example, if 3-4 students are all struggling with finding text evidence, you can form a small group and focus on that skill together. If writing conferences are overwhelming to you, here’s an in-depth look at how they worked in my classroom.

#6 Work Alongside Students

Sometimes we underestimate how important the “we do” portion of our lessons is. When you work alongside your students and model writing, they are able to see the step-by-step process and what is going on inside your head.

This helps to scaffold writing because many students don’t know how to “think” like a writer. They have to be taught exactly what to do, from taking the ideas to editing them for publication. 

#7 Create an Intentional Unit Plan

If you’re hoping you can just wing your scaffolding, think again. It’s not always a natural part of teaching to scaffold, which is why I recommend building it into your units and lesson plans.

Start each unit by having students complete a reading or writing reading response with you. Model the process and create a piece of writing together. Then, you can gradually release them to take more responsibility and write with less support.

When you intentionally build writing scaffolds into your unit, you will be more successful at implementing it, and students will be more successful with their writing. For tips on how to create an intentional unit plan, check out this post.

Although it can be tough to get students to write, using various strategies to teach writing and scaffold writing makes a big difference. As students gain more knowledge and skill, switch up your instruction using the scaffold examples in this blog, so you can meet students where they are every step of the way.