By Kyle Clark
February 28, 2024
Similar to studying for a test or doing a lab report, writing essays is just another classic educational requirement that students expect, expect to dislike, and try to avoid. These assignments ask students to showcase skills through actions that involve steps. Of course, writing lab reports and essays is not inherently fun, but that is not why students shiver every time a teacher displays a prompt on the board with a deadline. Writing an essay is hard but so is buying a house, learning how to drive a stick shift, and making a fancy dinner for a date. However, “smaller” tasks such as looking for potential homes in a desired area on Zillow, learning exactly where the clutch is in your older brother’s Honda Civic, and boiling water on the stove are all less daunting than the end results previously listed. From a student’s perspective, it seems counterintuitive to be the recipient of “more work” when the initial task seemed so gargantuan in the first place. However, if we can model, practice, and require students to engage with this thought process, then we can help them flex their metacognitive muscles and help them redefine challenging academic feats beyond just writing.
At the Landmark School, students are required to follow a five-step writing process. In order to create checks and balances as ideas evolve into written language, we approach the writing process with the following: brainstorming, organizing, composing a rough draft, proofreading, and making final edits before turning it in. Breaking a daunting task like writing an essay into areas of specialized focus and attention minimizes the stress of tackling a large assignment by focusing efforts on smaller, more manageable steps in real time.
Click the images below to access a PDF of each template.
| Step #1: Brainstorm |
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| Step #2: Organization |
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| Step #3: Rough Draft |
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| Step #4: Proofreading |
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| Step #5: Final Draft |  Now that they have completed four out of the five steps, and their work takes the shape of an essay, students often think they are done. But instead of just asking them to reread their work one more time and turn it in, provide them with structured opportunities to actively check their work before submitting it. Students can check their citations and formatting or review the rubric and cross-check their own work. Posting examples of certain elements, whether it is a new skill being worked on or a review of a component that has a heavier focus on their grading rubric, are also ways for students to refine their work. |
This process needs to be introduced, modeled, and practiced from the get-go in order for its utility to be maximized. Then, over the course of the school year, the level of challenge and sophistication can progressively be increased without altering the number of steps, or the purpose of each. While most of the work supporting this process is creating buy-in and familiarity at the beginning of the year, the other challenge is creating materials to support student work and skill development. It can be time-consuming to create one’s own materials, but if a basic version of each step is initially created, adapting subsequent templates, organizers, checklists, and other documents can be developed easily. In this day and age, it is vital to include opportunities for students to upgrade their digital pedigree, especially in preparation for post-secondary opportunities and with the rise of A.I. Although balance is key, digital steps of the writing process can be created quickly, shared/delivered efficiently, monitored regularly, and graded seamlessly, especially when the Google Suite is employed because of how interconnected all their educational apps are.
Kyle Clark has been at Landmark for almost ten years. He splits his time between the Student Life department as an Associate Dean of Students and as an Academic Advisor and Writing/Literature teacher in the academic world. Kyle also serves as the High School Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees and as the Coach of Landmark’s Varsity Boys Lacrosse team. He has a passion for the art and recreation of film as well as coastal life in the town of Rockport, MA. Besides working at his friend’s surf shop in the summer months, he also teaches courses for Landmark Outreach Online and at the Summer Institute. Kyle holds a bachelor of science degree in Business Administration from the University of Vermont as well as a master’s degree from Simmons University.
