This slideshow includes the top five challenges middle school students have when writing essays or other content.

1. TOP 5 ELA OPPS
FOR MIDDLE
SCHOOLERS
C O M M O N W R I T I N G S N A G S
E L A T E A C H I N G P O R T F O L I O

2. 1. IDEAS
Coming up with many and varied
ideas can be challenging for
some students.
Take some class time to
brainstorm just for ideas practice!
You could turn it into a regular
game.

3. 2. PLANNING
Many kids hate to plan because
they think planning has to be a
page-long Venn diagram, but
writing plans can be simple.
Encourage students to create
short, jot-list style plans as well as
practicing longer plans.

4. 3.PARAGRAPHING
Students don't always see the
value in using paragraphs, so
writing can appear on the page as
a giant blob.
Practice sorting ideas into
"buckets." Each bucket should
be its own paragraph. Teach
indention and block paragraphing.

5. 4.CAPS + COMMAS
As might be expected among
text-messaging teens, many
young writers stylistically avoid
capitalization and forget commas-
-especially those in compound
sentences.
Give each error its own color code. Have
students color code their practice writings
for these errors before submitting.

6. 5.DETAILS
Whether the details come in the
form of imagery in a narrative or
applicable evidence in a literary
response or expository essay,
many students struggle to include
enough details.
In groups, let students pick a scenario from a cup.
Give groups 5-minutes to list as many details or
bits of relevant evidence as possible.

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E L A T E A C H I N G P O R T F O L I O