Templates
Start from a finished example, or from a card that sets the grade, the kind of writing and the purpose for you. Nothing is written until you ask for it in the builder.
Worked example
A finished build, prompt through rubric
The course's own sample: a how-to essay about a hobby. Grade 6 · Expository · 6 checklist items · an analytic rubric with 6 rows. Open it to see every stage filled in, then change anything.
Think about a hobby you have or an activity you like to do. Write an essay for your classmates explaining how to do that activity or hobby. Be sure to state your central idea clearly, develop each idea with specific details and examples, and support your ideas with relevant facts, definitions, or quotations. Remember to use transitions to show how your ideas connect. Essays will also be graded for clear organization and correct spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar.
By grade band
A starting point for each grade band, with the grade already set.
K–2 emergent writing
Grade 1 · Narrative
A first-grade story about something fun from last summer, with wide-ruled lines on the student sheet.
Idea: Write a story about something fun you did last summer.
3–5 on-demand
Grade 4 · Expository
A fourth-grade essay on what makes a good leader, written in one sitting and scored as a timed write.
Idea: Write an essay about the qualities that make someone a good leader.
6–8 constructed response
Grade 7 · Reading response
A seventh-grade response on how a novel's main character changes, scored skill by skill.
Idea: Write a paragraph about how the main character changed from the beginning of the novel, to the end.
9–12 timed argument
Grade 10 · Persuasive
A tenth-grade argument to the principal about leaving campus for lunch, scored as a timed write.
Idea: Write a letter to the principal trying to convince him/her that students should be allowed to leave campus for lunch.
Your grade
The next two shelves start at the grade you pick here.
By kind of writing
One for each kind of writing at grade 3, with an idea from the course's idea bank.
Narrative
Grade 3 · Narrative
Narrative writing tells a story about a specific moment in time, and can be fact or fiction. Narrative writing is usually told in chronological order, often includes dialogue, and contains story elements such as characters, setting and plot.
Idea: Write a story about a time you learned something new.
Expository
Grade 3 · Expository
Expository writing is written to explain or describe a topic in an organized, straight forward manner. It is based on facts, not opinions. Good expository writing is well organized with main ideas and supporting details, and is informative, non-emotional, and unbiased.
Idea: Write an essay about the qualities that make someone a good leader.
Persuasive
Grade 3 · Persuasive
Persuasive writing is written to influence the reader to accept the writer's opinion. It typically begins with a clearly stated opinion, which is then supported with arguments based on facts or opinions.
Idea: Convince me that aliens either do or do not exist.
Reading response
Grade 3 · Reading response
The purpose of reading response writing is to analyze a reading selection or respond to specific questions about a text, such as those on an assessment, in order to demonstrate comprehension.
Idea: Write a summary of chapters 1-3 of the class novel we are reading.
Creative
Grade 3 · Creative
Creative writing is written to entertain and share human experiences. Creative writing can be fact or fiction, and the best part is that it doesn't have to follow any specific structure. It can be a poem, a song, a play, or simply a story.
Idea: If you could eat dinner with any famous person from history, who would it be and why?
By purpose
What the writing is for decides how it is scored, so each of these sets the purpose for you.
Beginning-of-year baseline
Grade 3 · Narrative
A personal story every student can write on day one, scored to see where the class starts.
Idea: Write a story about a time you learned something new.
Mid-year growth check
Grade 3 · Narrative
The same kind of writing as the baseline, so the two scores can be compared.
Idea: Write a story about a time you learned something new.
Small-group diagnostic
Grade 3 · Expository
An explanatory piece scored skill by skill, to see who needs which lesson next.
Idea: Write an essay about the qualities that make someone a good leader.
Test-format practice
Grade 3 · Persuasive
An opinion or argument piece written in one sitting, the way state tests ask for it.
Idea: Convince me that aliens either do or do not exist.
Cross-curricular writing
Grade 3 · Expository
An explanatory piece on a science topic; from grade 6 it is scored as science writing.
Idea: Explain how the water cycle moves water around the Earth.
Common prompt problems
Five mistakes the course warns about, each beside its fix. Start from any fixed version.
Too many tasks in one prompt
Grade 5 · Expository
Prompt, broken
Read the article about recycling. Write an essay explaining how recycling works, then write a letter to the mayor about it, and make a poster for the hallway.
Prompt, fixed
Your town has started a recycling program. Write an essay for your classmates explaining how recycling works in your town.
Three tasks, and students cannot tell which one is scored. One prompt asks for one piece of writing.
The vague task
Grade 3 · Narrative
Prompt, broken
Write about summer.
Prompt, fixed
Think about a day last summer that you still remember. Write a story about that day, telling what happened from beginning to end.
“Write about summer” names neither the kind of writing nor what to say about it. The fix names both.
The prompt that gives away the answer
Grade 7 · Persuasive
Prompt, broken
Everyone knows homework is a waste of time that leaves students tired and stressed. Write an essay arguing that schools should stop giving homework.
Prompt, fixed
Some schools assign homework every night, and others have stopped. Write an essay for your principal arguing whether your school should assign homework every night.
The opening takes a side and hands students its reasons. The fix sets out the issue both ways, as the course's neutral framing does.
The rubric that scores what was never taught
Grade 2 · Narrative
Rubric row, broken
Uses dialogue, flashback and foreshadowing to build suspense.
Rubric row, fixed
Tells events in the order they happened, using words like first, next and last.
A second-grade row that scores skills the lessons never covered and the checklist never asked for. Every row should score an item on the checklist.
The checklist nobody could check
Grade 4 · Persuasive
Checklist, broken
Be creative. Do your best. Make it interesting.
Checklist, fixed
State your opinion in the first sentence. Give at least two reasons. End by stating your opinion again.
Nobody, student or teacher, can tell whether “do your best” was done. Each fixed item names something you can point to in the writing.