Lesson Planning will never be the same. #Ship30for30 has me questioning what I know about writing instruction.

Friendly Letter or Productive Email?

Elementary teachers often give the friendly letter assignment. Why?

Why not teach students to write a productive email? These are skills students need.

Are you a teacher if you haven’t received a student email with the entire message in the Subject Line?

Are you a teacher if you haven’t received central office emails that read like a novel?

We could teach students to compose a friendly or informative email instead. This would instantly be more productive and relevant for students. It would hopefully solve the novel-length email problem as students entered the workforce.

5 Paragraph Essay or Atomic Essay?

I’m furthering questioning the need to spend so much time teaching students the mechanics of the 5 paragraph essay. Students write opinion essays, informational essays, and narratives. Each one following an outdated formula that does not reflect our current reality that most writing is now done online.

If students learned and practiced the atomic essay they would build their writing fluency. Writing clarity would improve. In a short time, students would have a body of work that illustrates their gains. Then, they could decide which topics to further explore in a longer format.

I’m an elementary teacher doing #Ship30for30 to improve my own writing habits. I did not anticipate that it would change my writing instruction as well.