Pennington Publishing Blog

Writing research has shown that one key ingredient to writing success is time. Developing writers need time to learn the writing craft, time to research/brainstorm, time to draft, and time to revise. However, ironically, time may in-it-of-itself be the greatest impediment standing in the way of writing profiency and fluency for many of our students.

Since the return of phonics-based reading instruction in the 1990s, elementary teachers have had to allocate more instructional time to direct instruction. With greater diversity in most states, more pressure to differentiate instruction in reading has compounded the problem of instructional minutes at all grade levels. Science, art, social studies, physical education, music, and writing have become the casualties of this time-theft.

The advent of timed writings on high stakes tests, such as the new SAT 1, high school exit exams, and standards-based writing assessments, has placed teachers in the difficult position of choosing among three instructional approaches to help students both learn to write and succeed on these tests with no additional time allocated for writing instruction. The three approaches are 1. process writing 2. on demand writing and 3. a mix of the two.

Advocates of the process writing approach (Six Traits, National Writing Project, Writers Workshop, etc.) argue that frequent practice in all phases of the writing process i.e., research/brainstorming, drafting, revision, editing, and publishing best helps writers develop writing fluency and proficiency. Advocates of the on demand approach argue that the above components can be streamlined into an integrated process, which teaches the writer to concurrently multi-task the drafting, revision, and editing steps with the quick bookends of planning and proofreading. Those teachers trying to please both masters have limited their process pieces and upped the amount of on demand writing tasks when the standardized writing test looms on the horizon.

Process writing proponents tend to teach grammar and mechanics (punctuation, capitalization, and spelling) incidentally throughout the writing process or via targeted mini-lessons. On demand proponents tend to teach grammar and mechanics explicitly through an established instructional scope and sequence. Those who try to combine process and on demand writing wind up relegating most grammatical and mechanics instruction to test preparation out of sheer time constraints.

A brief readers theater (tongue firmly planted in cheek) may help teachers of all writing approaches greater appreciate the challenge of teaching writing today.

Narrator: Here is a familiar scene in the teachers’ workroom. Two teachers kill time while waiting in line for the laminating machine. Their subject of discourse: an ongoing discussion of Process Writing versus On Demand Writing.

Teacher 1: I can’t believe that Mildred accidentally threw out my Writing Process charts when she rotated off-track. I’ve got to get new ones laminated and back on the wall. I’m lost without them!

Teacher 2: Are you still using those dumb charts? I thought that you must have dumped them by now. The Writing Process is “old school.” We dropped that with whole language years ago. Get with the program! It’s On Demand Writing, now. Oh by the way, I put back your Lucy McCormick Calkins book in your box; I have enough paperweights for my desk, thank you.

Teacher 1: You and your on demand writing tasks… You’re not teaching—all you are really doing is testing. Are you still passing out those grammar worksheets for homework? Remember, the research about writing says—

Teacher 2: Don’t give me that research stuff—I know what works for my kids. My language expression scores on the state test were much higher than yours. You’re lucky you’ve got tenure.

Teacher 1: Even when I didn’t, I never kissed the principal’s butt like you do. And I don’t teach to the test, like you do. My kids are learning how to think. They are writing to learn. Who cares if they know their subjects and predicates!

Teacher 2: Kids are going to have to spell, punctuate, capitalize, and use grammar correctly if they want to make it in today’s world. They’ve still got to be able to write in those blue books in college for a timed one-hour exam. They can’t just pick their own writing subject and do multiple drafts for a mid-term. You really need to get a Red Bull® and wake up to the real world.

Teacher 1: In the real world, students need to have the brains to say something. Outside of school, people have time to revise and edit. They have the time to be reflective. That’s what real authors do… They don’t have someone forcing them to write to a contrived prompt and then hovering over them with a stupid yellow timer.

Teacher 2: Now, you’re getting personal. My aunt gave me that yellow timer… Who writes your paycheck? Last I checked it was the school district. All our principal cares about is higher test scores. If you can’t show it, they don’t know it!

Teacher 1: That’s not why I got into teaching. I want to develop the whole child and nurture a love for learning. I just completed a trimester-long unit on the Haiku and its place in Japanese society…You should come in and see our published poems on the wall. We used real 24 carat gold to highlight—

Teacher 2: I bet I could find some punctuation mistakes—you with your peer editing groups. Talk about the “blind leading the blind.” I have students write one paragraph each day in indelible ink—no changes. I time them and have their desk partners count how many words the student has written in the 10 minutes. It sure saves a lot of teacher grading time. All I have to do is record the number of words in my grade book program. I can show you huge gains in words per minute.

Find essay strategy worksheets, writing fluencies, sentence revision activities, remedial writing lessons, posters, and editing resources to differentiate essay writing instruction in Teaching Essay Strategies at www.penningtonpublishing.com.

Writing composition, essay, on demand writing, Process writing, revision, Six traits, theme, writers workshop, writing fluencies, writing openers, writing process, writing project, writing prompt, writing style

One of the best ways to improve your writing style is to improve the variety of your sentence structures. Professional writers vary the subject-verb-object pattern with other grammatical sentence structures. A simple guideline for good sentence variety would be 50% subject-verb-object sentence openers and 50% other grammatical sentence opener forms. Try these sentence openers to add spice to your writing. Even more assistance with improving your writing style can even be found in online schooling. There are a variety of courses aimed to help your writing skills.

Prepositional Phrase

Start with a phrase beginning with one of these common prepositions to improve writing style:

aboard, about, above, according to, across, after, against, along, among, around, as, as to, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, but, by, despite, down, during, except, for, from, in, inside, instead of, into, in place of, in spite of, like, near, next, of, off, on, onto, outside, out of, over, past, regardless of, since, than, through, throughout, to, toward, under, underneath, unlike, until, up, upon, with, within, without

Place a comma after a prepositional phrase sentence opener when a noun or pronoun follows.

Example

Behind the cabinet, he found the missing watch

Adjective

Start with a word or phrase that describes a proper noun, common noun, or pronoun with How Many? Which One? or What Kind? to improve writing style. Place a comma after an adjective or adjective phrase sentence opener.

Examples

Angry, the neighbor refused to leave.

Happy as always, the child played in the park.

Adverb

Start with a word that answers these questions: How? When? Where? or What Degree? to improve writing style. Many adverbs end in __ly. Usually place a comma after an adverb sentence opener if the adverb is emphasized.

Example

Everywhere, the flowers were blooming; quickly, the winter turned to spring.

Adverbial Clause

Start a dependent clause (a noun and verb that does not express a complete thought) with one of the following subordinating conjunctions to improve writing style:

after, although, as, as if, as long as, as much as, as soon as, as though, because, before, even if, even though, how, if, in order that, once, since, so that, than, that, though, unless, until, when, whenever, where, wherever, whether, or while.

Place a comma after an adverbial clause that begins a sentence.

Example

Although better known for its winter activities, Lake Tahoe offers much during the summer.

__d, __ed, or __en Verbs

Start with a __d or __ed verb, acting as an adjective, when combined with a prepositional phrase, or an __en verb, when combined with an adverb to improve writing style. Usually place a comma after the sentence opener.

Examples

Frightened by the noise, I sat up straight in my bed.

Taken quickly, the pill did not dissolve for minutes.

To + Verb

Start with To and then add the base form of a verb to improve writing style. Add related words to create a phrase. Place a comma after the sentence opener, if a noun follows.

Examples

To smile takes great effort.

To play the game, Mark had to sign a contract.

__ing Verbs and Nouns

Start a phrase with an __ing word that acts as an adjective to improve writing style. Usually place a comma after the sentence opener. Start a phrase with an __ing word that serves as a noun. Usually do not place a comma after the sentence opener.

Examples

(Adjective)

Falling rapidly, the climber hopes the rope will hold.

(Noun)

Tasting the sauce makes them hungry for dinner.

Having Verbs and Nouns

Start a phrase with Having and then add a verb that ends in __d, __ed, or __en to serve as an adjective or a noun, referring to something that happened in the past to improve writing style. Usually place a comma after the sentence opener.

Example

(Adjective)

Having listened to his teacher, the student knew how to study.

(Noun)

Having learned all of the answers is helpful.

Noun Clause

Start with a group of words that acts as the subject of a sentence beginning with: How, However, What, Whatever, When, Whenever, Where, Wherever, Which, Whichever, Who, Whoever, or Whomever to improve writing style. Place a comma after the noun clause when used as a sentence opener if it does not serve as the subject of the sentence.

Example

However the students answered, the scores were marked wrong.

Nominative Absolute

Start with a possessive pronoun (my, mine, our, your, his, her, or their) followed by a verb with a  d, __ed, or __en ending to serve as a noun phrase that provides information, but no grammatical connection with the rest of the sentence. A comma is placed at the end of the nominative absolute when it opens a sentence.

Example

His friends angry and frustrated, Paul promised to change his behavior

Find 42 sequenced writing strategy worksheets and quickly move students from simple three-word paragraphs to complex multi-paragraph essays. With 64 sentence revision lessons, additional remedial worksheets, writing fluency and skill lessons, posters, and editing resources, the teacher can differentiate instruction with no additional prep with Teaching Essay Strategies. Also, find whole-class diagnostic grammar and mechanics assessments, enabling 4th–12th grade teachers to differentiate instruction with 72 targeted worksheets in Teaching Grammar and Mechanics. The book has a full year of 15-minute sentence lifting lessons with standards-based mechanics, spelling, and grammar skills that teach all the conventions needed for successful writing.

Grammar/Mechanics, Writing essay strategies, grammar, sentence structure, sentence variety, writing strategies, writing style

More and more candidates for better paying jobs are now required to submit writing samples as part of the interview process. Many applicants with strong verbal skills fail to make the second round of interviews because of their poor writing samples. Frequently, the problems are not unity or coherence, or even inadequate vocabulary/word choice. All too often, poor writers are categorized as such because they only write in simple or compound sentences. A few tips on how to improve writing, using complex sentences will get you through to that second round of interviews.

A Few Definitions and Examples

A simple sentence has a noun (person, place, thing, or idea), a verb (mental or physical action or “to-be” verb—is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been), and the rest of the sentence (known as the complement).

Example: John ran down the street.

A compound sentence combines two simple sentences with a conjunction (a connecting word such as and, but, or so).

Example: John ran down the street, and he saw the crime take place.

A complex sentence has an independent clause and at least one dependent clause. An independent clause means that there is a noun and a verb that express a complete thought. A dependent (subordinate) clause means that there is a noun and a verb that do not express a complete thought.

Example:

Ty completed all his chores (independent clause) + after eating his lunch (dependent clause) = Ty completed all his chores after eating his lunch.

How to Form Complex Sentences

Complex sentences can help define the relationship between complicated ideas and will make your writing more specific and interesting to read. Learn how to improve writing by adding dependent clauses to the beginning, middle, or end of your simple or compound sentences. Oh, by the way, if starting a sentence with a dependent clause, always follow the clause with a comma.

Dependent Clauses

To improve writing, add adjective clauses, which describe nouns or pronouns. Transitions beginning adjective clauses include who, whose, on (for, of) whom to refer to people, that to refer to people or things, and which to refer only to things.

Example: whose work is well-known

To improve writing, add adverbial clauses, which describe describe an adjective, an adverb, or verb. Transitions beginning adverb clauses include after, although, as, as if, as long as, as much as, as soon as, as though, because, before, even if, how, if, in order that, once, since, so that, than, though, unless, until, when, whenever, where, wherever, whether, and while.

Example: as long as she can wait

To improve writing, add noun clauses, which describe are used as a subject, a complement (the rest of the sentence besides the subject and predicate), or as the object of a preposition. Transitions beginning noun clauses include that, what, whatever, which, whichever, who, whoever, whom, and whomever.

Example: whatever he demands

Find 42 sequenced writing strategy worksheets and quickly move students from simple three-word paragraphs to complex multi-paragraph essays. With 64 sentence revision lessons, additional remedial worksheets, writing fluency and skill lessons, posters, and editing resources, the teacher can differentiate instruction with no additional prep with Teaching Essay Strategies. Also, find whole-class diagnostic grammar and mechanics assessments, enabling 4th–12th grade teachers to differentiate instruction with 72 targeted worksheets in Teaching Grammar and Mechanics. The book has a full year of 15-minute sentence lifting lessons with standards-based mechanics, spelling, and grammar skills that teach all the conventions needed for successful writing.

Grammar/Mechanics, Writing essay strategies, grammar, sentence structure, sentence variety, subjects and predicates, writing strategies, writing style

Writing an effective essay prompt requires equal shares of art and science. The prompt must allow room for creative interpretation and analysis. However, the prompt must also provide organization and boundaries for the writers’ responses. Finally, the prompt should provide ample room for post-writing criticism to help students improve their writing.

Writing Prompt Guidelines

1. The prompt should be brief. Wordiness only serves to confuse the writer.

2. The prompt should be focused. A prompt that rambles in an attempt to explain or motivate is counter-productive.

3. The prompt should require only the prior knowledge that has been emphasized in class instruction. Isolate the variables of personal experience to best assess the outcomes of instruction.

4. The prompt should be age appropriate. Know the developmental capabilities and interests of your students and translate these into the writing prompt.

5. The prompt should avoid issues which students or parents would find objectionable. Save the PG-13 issues for older students. Don’t let the subject interfere with the writing task.

6. The prompt should not be so personal that the privacy of the writer is jeopardized. A writing prompt should not inhibit the writer from answering honestly and comfortably.

7. The prompt should not embarrass the gender, ethnicity, or socio-economic background of the writer. Stay sensitive to these variables within your classroom. Words have different meanings according to one’s perspective.

8. The prompt should allow students of varying abilities to respond effectively. An ideal prompt allows all students to experience success in their writing.

9. The prompt should be interesting enough to motivate the writer. A prompt that does not provoke thought will reap a thoughtless response.

10. The prompt should allow “room to breathe” for divergent thinkers. Expect the unexpected in student responses, and design prompts to allow for a variety of responses.

11. The prompt should enable the writer to respond with a thesis that states the purpose of the writing and/or the author’s point of view. If you can’t turn the writing prompt into a thesis statement without effort, your students will never accomplish this task.

12. The prompt should not artificially force the writer into a certain thesis. A one-sided prompt that demands a certain thesis will not produce original thought.

13. The prompt can provide a writing situation to set the writing directions in context. However, the writing situation should not overwhelm or confuse the writing instructions.

14. The prompt should have clear writing instructions. Writers are the best judges as to whether the prompt has clear instructions. Avoid vocabulary and terms that will confuse the students. Don’t use writing direction words, such as “analyze”, if your students do not understand them.

15. The prompt should be one that will afford your writers plenty of evidence with which to prove or elaborate upon their topic sentences. Picking narrow or obscure writing subjects will not allow your writers to weigh easily accesible evidence. They will also be tempted to plagiarize or invent when little evidence is available.

Writing directions words for essays designed to inform the reader…

1. Describe means to show the characteristics of the subject to the reader through visual details.

2. Explain means to make something clear or easy to understand.

3. Discuss means to talk about all sides of the subject.

4. Compare means to show how things are the same, and contrast means to show how things are different. If the writing prompt only mentions compare, you must still do both tasks.

Writing directions words for essays designed to convince the reader…

5. Analyze means to break apart the subject and explain each part.

6. Persuade means to convince the reader of your argument or claim.

7. Justify means to give reasons, based upon established rules, to support your arguments.

8. Evaluate means to make a judgment about the good and bad points of the subject.

Find 42 sequenced writing strategy worksheets and quickly move students from simple three-word paragraphs to complex multi-paragraph essays in Teaching Essay Strategies. With 64 sentence revision openers, additional remedial worksheets, writing fluency and skill lessons, posters, and editing resources, the teacher can differentiate instruction with no additional prep.

Writing essay, essay strategies, teaching writing, writing style

Many writers are ill-equipped to write an introduction to an essay, article, formal research paper, or business letter. All too often, students only received this limited instruction about how to write an introduction: “Introduce the topic in one sentence; write another sentence that has a “hook” or “lead”; then end with a thesis statement.” Not much to go on with that limited instruction…

The following strategies will help you write an introduction leading up to your thesis that will be appropriate to the writing task, engage the reader, and show off your writing skills. The BAD RAPS memory trick will help remind you of your introduction strategy options on timed writing tasks. Not every introduction strategy fits the purpose of every writing task, so learn and practice these options to increase your writing skill-set.

BAD RAPS Introduction Strategies

• Background—Sentences that briefly explain the setting or help your reader better understand the thesis statement. (B)
• Question to be Answered—A sentence worded as a question that asks either a question needing no answer (rhetorical question) or a question to make the reader think of a question that will be answered in the essay. (A)
• Definition— Sentences that explain the meaning of a key word that may be unfamiliar to the reader or help to narrow the focus of the subject. (D)
• Reference to Something Known in Common—Sentences that refer to a fact or idea already known by most people, including your reader. (R)
• Quote from an Authority—Sentences that quote an authority in the subject of the essay. It must list the name of the authority. (A)
• Preview of Topic Sentences—Sentences that list the subjects of each body paragraph topic sentence in the order that they appear in the essay. (P)
• Startling Statement—Sentences that are designed to startle the reader with an emotional response or a controversial remark to help support the thesis statement. (S)

For short essays (such as on the SAT®), college applications, business letters, etc. I suggest that two of the strategies listed above, leading into a concise thesis statement will be more than adequate. Flesh out each strategy in a compound-complex sentence or two separate sentences and then finish the introduction with a one-sentence thesis statement that makes good plagiarized use of the writing prompt. For longer writing tasks, such as research reports, a few more of the introduction strategies, developed in separate paragraphs will be appropriate. The writing rule of thumb is 10% of the writing task as introduction paragraph(s), 80% as body paragraphs, and 10% as conclusion paragraph(s).

Think of writing an introduction much as a prosecuting attorney uses an opening statement to convince a jury that the defendant is guilty of the crime. Connect your introduction strategies and thesis statement with effective transition words to maintain coherence. The introduction should flow together as one whole. Every word should move the reader toward the demanded verdict, which is your thesis statement. Always place your thesis statement at the end of your introduction. Writing research indicates that the thesis statement is placed at the end on the introductory paragraph most of the time in published works, so don’t re-invent the wheel. Write in the way your reader expects to read.

I suggest that you take the time to pre-write before drafting any writing task. Compose your thesis statement first; then, brainstorm the body paragraphs. Next, draft the body paragraphs, skipping space to later write your introductory paragraph. Then, write the introduction. Finish the writing with your conclusion paragraph.

Now you have the right strategies to make your case in your opening statement, by using BAD RAPS to write an introduction. All you have to do is to convince your jury.

Find 42 sequenced writing strategy worksheets and quickly move students from simple three-word paragraphs to complex multi-paragraph essays. With 64 sentence revision lessons, additional remedial worksheets, writing fluency and skill lessons, posters, and editing resources, the teacher can differentiate instruction with no additional prep with Teaching Essay Strategies.

Writing conclusion, essay, essay strategies, introduction, teaching strategies, teaching writing, writing style

Very few writers have learned how to write a conclusion to an essay, article, formal research paper, or business letter. All too often, students only received this limited instruction about how to write a conclusion: “Re-state the thesis; write another sentence that summarizes the body paragraphs; then ‘give a finished feeling’ to the writing.” Hard to write an effective conclusion with that kind of limited instruction…

The following strategies will help you learn how to write a conclusion that will be appropriate to the writing task, convince your reader, and also show off your writing skills. The GQ SALES memory trick will help remind you of your conclusion strategy options on timed writing tasks. Not every conclusion strategy fits the purpose of every writing task, so learn and practice these options to increase your writing skill-set.

GQ SALES Conclusion Strategies

• Generalization—Sentences that make one of your specific points more general in focus. (G)
• Question for Further Study—Sentences that mention a related subject or question that is beyond the focus of the essay. (Q)
• Synthesis of Main Points—Sentences that pull together the points proven in the essay to say something new. (S)
• Application—Sentences that apply the proven thesis statement to another idea or issue. (A)
• Argument Limitations—Sentences that explain how or why your conclusions are limited. (L)
• Emphasis of Key Point—Sentences that mention and add importance to one of the points of your essay. (E)
• Statement of Significance—Sentences that discuss the importance and relevance of the proven thesis statement. (S)

For short essays (such as on the SAT®), college applications, business letters), I suggest that two of the strategies listed above, following a concise thesis re-statement will be more than adequate. Flesh out each strategy in a compound-complex sentence or two separate sentences. For longer writing tasks, such as research reports, a few more of the conclusion strategies, developed in separate paragraphs will be appropriate. The writing rule of thumb is 10% of the writing task as introduction paragraph(s), 80% as body paragraphs, and 10% as conclusion paragraph(s).

Think of how to write a conclusion much as a prosecuting attorney uses closing arguments to convince a jury that the defendant is guilty of the crime. Connect your conclusion strategies and thesis re-statement with effective transition words to maintain coherence. The conclusion should flow together as one whole. Every word should move the reader toward the demanded verdict, which is your thesis statement. 

Take enough time to pre-write before drafting any writing task. Write your thesis statement first; then, brainstorm the body paragraphs. Next, draft the body paragraphs, skipping space to later write your introductory paragraph. Then, write the introduction. Finish the writing with your conclusion paragraph. 

With GQ SALES, you have the right strategies to make your case in your closing arguments. Now that you know how to write a conclusion, all you have to do is to convince your jury.

Find 42 sequenced writing strategy worksheets and quickly move students from simple three-word paragraphs to complex multi-paragraph essays. With 64 sentence revision lessons, additional remedial worksheets, writing fluency and skill lessons, posters, and editing resources, the teacher can differentiate instruction with no additional prep with Teaching Essay Strategies.

Writing conclusion, essay, essay strategies, introduction, teaching strategies, teaching writing, writing style

Using numerical values to identify and apply expository writing structure has proved an effective tool in identifying expository text structure and helping writers organize essays. The numerical values eliminate the writing jargon that varies from teacher to teacher and curriculum to curriculum. Instead, writers simply apply the implicit hierarchy of the number system to that of reading and writing. Writers just seem to intuitively “get” the idea of a number system applied to their expository writing in essays.

The Teaching Essay Strategies curriculum uses following number system:

(1) for the introductory strategies of an essay introduction—for example, a definition or a preview of the topic sentences.

(2) for the thesis statement that “talks about” the introduction strategies.

(3) for the topic sentences that “talk about” the thesis statement.

(4) for the major details that “talk about” the topic sentence. 

(5) for the support details that “talk about” the major details. 

(6) for the conclusion strategies—for example, a thesis re-statement or summary.

For Developing Recognition of Text Structure

Try analyzing expository reading by numbering the sentences. Critique the writing by analyzing the structure and whether there is sufficient evidence, e.g. enough (5s) to back the (4s).

For Essay Writing

Using your own writing prompts, practice varying sentence order within the numerical hierarchy to help students develop a flexible writing style to address the demands of the writing prompt and improve the quality of your essays. Try the following paragraph organizations and watch your students improve their writing structure and recognition of text structure at the same time.

1. (3)-(4)-(4)

2. (3)-(4)-(4)-(4)

3. (3)-(4)-(5)-(4)-(5) 

4. (4)-(5)-(3)-(4)-(5) 

5. (4)-(5)-(4)-(5)-(3) 

6. (4)-(5)-(4)-(5) 

7. (3)-(4)-(5)-(4)-(5)-(4)-(5) 

8. (3)-(4)-(4)-(4)-(5)

9. (3)-(4)-(4)-(5)-(4)-(5) 

10. (3)-(4)-(5)-(4)-(5)-(5) 

11. (Transition Statement)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(4)-(5)

12. (3)-(4)-(5)-(4)-(5)-(Concluding Statement)

13. (1)-(1)-(2) added to any two of the above body paragraphs

14. (6)-(6)-(6) added to any two of the above body paragraphs

15. (1)-(1)-(2) added to any two of the above body paragraphs (6)-(6)-(6)

Find 42 sequenced writing strategy worksheets and quickly move students from simple three-word paragraphs to complex multi-paragraph essays. With 64 sentence revision lessons, additional remedial worksheets, writing fluency and skill lessons, posters, and editing resources, the teacher can differentiate instruction with no additional prep with Teaching Essay Strategies.

Writing conclusion, essay, essay strategies, evidence, introduction, paragraphs, reasoning, teaching strategies, teaching writing, writing style