Writing Strategies for your ELLs

Hey everyone! I am so happy you stopped by today to learn some writing strategies to support your ELLs in writing.

A lot of us ESL teachers want to regularly assess our ELLs in Writing however sometimes we get stuck on how to monitor the students progress. It can also be overwhelming to find the supports the students need to be successful. There is also a component where we need to be consistent with when and how were are implementing speaking and writing assessments.

A few years ago I was providing my students a writing assessment. I had an eye-opening moment. I noticed the students were stuck and confused about how they should approach the writing prompt. The students had memorized generic frames and transition words for the assessments. The scaffolds they were using were truly representative of the level that they were currently on in their studies. In short, the students did not have the tools they needed to succeed on this writing assessment. I wanted my students to succeed and feel confident when they are writing, and they currently were struggling with that confidence.

As I was planning, I started to think of some ways that my students can improve on their writing and at the same time have tools available to them anytime they felt stuck in the writing process. I started to brainstorm some tools they can use with any type of writing prompt and still be successful. In this process I came up with speaking and writing frames, and a universal graphic organizer. The sentence frames can be used for any grade level and any subject. I wanted the students to be able to pull the frames and graphic organizer from memory and at the same time elevate their speaking and writing.

Create a universal graphic organizer for your students. In my case I created a graphic organizer that helps the students structure their paragraphs in a coherent way. The graphic organizer also walked them through when and how to cite evidence. In addition it encouraged students to analyze and elaborate on the evidence. I also provided the students with complex sentence frames that they can use with any subject. The frames were varied in sentence complexity and types. Students could use these frames across subjects and writing genres. This provided the students with a structure they needed when writing in high stakes environments. When they got stuck, I simply reminded them to use the tools we had been using in class.

My third tip for you is to have a kid-friendly rubric for your students. This lets your students know exactly what the expectations are for the writing assignments. Students can also refer to this when they are writing to guide them in the structure and the format of the writing.

Here are your next steps:

1. Download the Speaking and Writing Rubric Freebie. In this kid friendly rubric your students can reference when they are writing and it allows you to have a guide for setting expectations about writing.
2. Brainstorm a graphic organizer that can be used with your students that can help with their writing and speaking.

What are some writing supports you have for your ELLs? Drop your suggestions in the comments below.