We have 7,226 standards to teach in ELA, so it makes sense that it is a challenge to get all of the things done. Especially in a 50-60 minute block!

Unfortunately, one of the skills that falls to the side is writing. 

It’s difficult to find a way to fit it in when we have to focus on checking everything off our reading standards list. 

The good news is that even though our classes may be short, and we have a ton to do, there are several easy ways we can incorporate writing into our daily practice in a way that does not seem burdensome. 

Here are three daily writing ideas for you!  

1. Question of the Day (QOTD) Bell Ringers

I decided to start with a student favorite right off the bat. For real, they love this writing activity!  

It’s super simple - come up with a thought provoking journal question and find a song that goes with it. Students will answer the journal question while the song is playing.

Challenge your students to write until the song stops! If they run out of ideas, they can include more details, tell a personal story, give an example, etc. 

For some reason, having the song play while the students are writing takes away their resistance to the task. It’s almost like magic. 

To read more about Question of the Day and the specific procedures I use, click here.

2. Power Writes

After we read something powerful, impactful, or meaningful, I give students an opportunity to get their thoughts out by using the power write strategy. 

Set the timer for two minutes and tell students they are going to write their reaction to what they just read.

Before you start the timer, give your students a minute to think about their reaction and how they feel about what they read.

Once the timer is going, the goal is to write the whole time. Students can write about how they felt and what happened in the text to make them feel that way.

This strategy is great at building writing confidence because it eliminates stalling in between sentences. Also, when students go back and read over what they wrote, they are often times surprised by how insightful they were!

This strategy can also be used after direct instruction as a summary activity. Students complete a power write about what they learned and their biggest takeaways. This makes a great exit ticket! 

3. RTQT CONSTRUCTED Responses

If you need something more structured on a daily basis, then this strategy is for you! 

Students use the RTQT framework to write a four sentence response to a standards-based question. You can do this on a daily basis after reading. I love that it provides students with the framework to add text support to their answers and explain their rationale. 

The example below is from a 7th grade student in an inclusion class. They responded to the RTQT question, what is the theme of “Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”?

To read more about how the RTQT framework, check out this post.

I hope this helped you discover some small ways to incorporate writing into your daily practice!

If you would like to get started, I have some tools and resources for you in the Daily Writing Starter Kit! With this kit, you get five Question of the Day prompts and songs, the Power Write instruction Google Slide, and an RTQT poster with a short explanation of each sentence and sentence starters!

Just fill out the form below and you will be redirected to the Google Drive folder. 👇