12 Strategies to

Support Struggling
Writers in
Elementary
Cecilia Schmidt
Grade-School Educators
April 3, 2020
Objective: Identify three types of struggling writers and
learn different strategies that can be implemented into
the writing instruction to help support struggling writers.

• Teacher Leader Model Standards (Domain 3)- Promoting

Professional Learning for Continuous Improvement
• International Society for Technology in Education Standards for
Educators: 2. Educator as Leader- I seek out opportunities for
leadership to support student empowerment and success and to
improve teaching and learning.
• National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (Proposition
3)- Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring
student learning.

Presentation Objective
2
Personal Experience about a
struggling writer.

Educational Hook
3
Think about a student who struggles with writing,
what would you do to support that student?

Educational Hook
4
 Types of Struggling Writers

• Stuck for ideas- “I don’t know what to write.” These students

struggle with getting started and knowing what to write.
• Disorganized and lacks structure- These students will write, but
their writing is disorganized and hard to follow.
• Feel disconnected from the assignment- These students may lack
background knowledge, or may feel the assignment is not
relevant to them.

5
 With a little scaffolding and support, there are many
strategies that can be implemented into the writing
instruction to help support struggling writers.

Dual Coding
6
 Stuck for ideas

Stuck for Ideas

Try the following
scaffolding tips.

Share ideas Collaboratively Use sentence Writing warm-

Pre-writing
before writing write starters up

Smart Art
7
 “Stuck for Ideas”
First–grade sharing ideas before writing

Dual Coding
8
 Now You Try
“Stuck for ideas”

What are the five strategies to help students who are “stuck for ideas?
Match the strategies with the appropriate examples to help support
writers who are “stuck for ideas.”

Progress Monitoring
9
 Disorganized and lacks structure

Disorganized and lacks structure

The following scaffolding tips are a
best practice when teaching young
students.

Chunk Teacher lead

Provide students
assignments with modeling and Mini writing lessons
with writing tools
graphic organizers guided writing

Smart Art
10
 “Disorganized and lacks structure”
Example of writing tools for students

Dual Coding
11
 Now You Try
“Disorganized and lacks structure”

What are the four strategies to help students who are “disorganized and
lack structure?”
Match the strategies with the appropriate examples.

Progress Monitoring
12
 Disconnected from the assignment

Feel disconnected
from the assignment
Try the following
strategies.

Conference with
Student choice Sense of purpose students individually
and in small groups

Smart Art
13
“Disconnect From Assignment”
Example of student choice

Dual Coding
14
 Now You Try
“Disconnected from the assignment”

What are the three strategies to help students who are

“disconnected from the assignment?
Match the strategies with the appropriate examples.

Progress Monitoring
15
 Jane’s Story
She’s a struggling writer.

Dual Coding
16
What are some ways Jane’s teacher can help?

• Provide one to one to support her individual needs.

• Allow enough time for her to write.

• Encourage Jane to social write.

• Set writing goals

• Connect reading to writing

• Give Jane choices in her writing Progress Monitoring

17
 Now You Try
Closing Group Activity

• Identify a strategy learned for your

struggling writer.

• Provide an example on chart paper using

words or a visual that represents the
strategy.
Evaluation

• Please complete the evaluation provided.

Culminating Activity/Evaluation