Organizing On-Demand Writing: The 4 Square Planner

Teaching on-demand writing was my most dreaded 50 minutes of 5th grade each day. It was frustrating, agonizing, and filled with tears, crumpled papers, mangled erasers, and very terrible writing. Terrible. We weren’t able to write a single, cohesive paragraph. In fact, we spent the first 9 weeks of school, learning to writing paragraphs. 9 WEEKS. And still, our paragraphs were weak at best.

It was an uphill battle. It was hard. Really hard. My kids came to me unable to write a parapgrah, but in the Spring were expected to take a 90 minute state writing test that required a 5-paragraph essay with a thesis statement, 3 main ideas, supporting details, and conclusion paragraph. Oy! After observing writing at another school, I found our saving grace for the year – 4 Square Planning.

Finding a way for students to organize their ideas and thoughts completely changed our year and my students’ writing. We were successful, and by the end of the year, my kids were decent writers. I saw thesis statements and main ideas and supporting details. There were no more torn papers or tears. After a very rocky start, writing was a successful venture.

I’ve shared about how we used and adapted the 4 Square Planner (a writing tool created by the awesome Judy Gould) in 5th grade on Laura Candler’s Corkboard Connections. Stop by Laura’s blog to see my student’s planning in action!