Teach writing with simple systems that make it easy for students to know what to write. Learn the POWERRR system and download an anchor chart for your classroom and your Pinterest board.
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When you teach writing with simple systems it helps young writers achieve clarity and understanding of what strong writing looks like. When they know what to do, and they have simple systems in place, your writing instruction and practice time will go much more smoothly.
There are many models for writing processes. Some of them involve whiteboards or charts to indicate what stage a student is working in. Some involve writing as fast as you can, and then going back to clean up (the mess.)
Sometimes the writing process seems like a bunch of jigsaw puzzle pieces to students. They puzzle how to put them together. You might find holes in their writing where a piece was missing.
Remember when you were in school, and your teacher gave you acronyms to remember important things? Let’s do that. Acronyms are a way to help the teacher and the students know what to do. Acronyms are the bones, the frame. With each step in the acronym, young students can achieve the foundational skills, and upper grade students can dive more deeply.
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The POWERRR System
The title of this blog post uses the word POWER. However the R is cubed in this process because it makes three points.
When your students have this POWERRR system in mind, they’ll be able to POWERRR through any writing assignment. This description is written with the intent of being a guide for student writers.
P – Prompt. (Be clear and understand the prompt.)
O – Organize thoughts or research. (Use a related graphic organizer.)
W – Write! (Write with abandon. Don’t stop to make corrections.)
E – Edit with CUPS. (You can also use COPS or another system you prefer. The system is the key.)
R – Review. (Reread what you wrote. Does it make sense?)
R – Revise. (Use ARMS to revise what you wrote so it’s clear and understandable.)
R – Rewrite the final copy.
Let’s look at each part.
P is for Prompt
You can choose the prompt for your students. In elementary grades, I highly advise choosing the prompt for them. That way no one is left behind, trying to decide what they want to write about. Nobody has time in a teaching day for people who can’t make up their mind on a writing topic.
For example:
The prompt for a fictional narrative can simply be a setting and a character. Even if you tell all your students the story setting is on the moon and the main characters are the student and a dog, every child’s story will develop differently. But essentially, they all have the same prompt.
If you need more variety in your prompts, this blog post has over 50 new and engaging prompts.
Why It’s Better To Assign One Prompt
It’s quoted all the time in professional writing circles and masterclasses that there are no new story plot lines. Everything has been done. But it’s never been done the way you would do it, because we all have our own points of view.
Imagine a scenario where you’ve just witnessed a bank robbery. Detectives will isolate the witnesses and ask them for their story of what happened. Why? Because everyone’s story will be different, depending on where they were, and their point of view.
The same thing happens with a single writing prompt. Every student will turn in something different.
You can choose a topic for informative writing or for research writing. Even though students will follow the same writing process, each paper will be different. So don’t worry about inhibiting creativity if you provide the prompt.
Really, in a classroom setting, time is at a premium. We teachers don’t have time to lose helping elementary students try to settle on a prompt. It’s much more efficient to give them the prompt.
Giving one prompt also simplifies the teaching and the grading. You’ll be better situated to give explicit writing instruction in your class mini-lessons if everyone is focused on the same prompt or topic. When you narrow your focus on the same prompt, you simplify the teaching. Within that focus, you can keep it surface level, or you can dive deep.
O is for Organize
Have you ever had an ELA textbook that includes writing, and every week the students are using a different type of graphic organizer? Fish diagrams, mind maps, word bubbles, Venn diagrams, and so on. If you do an online search, you’ll find places offering 10, 20, 30 different types.
I don’t know about you, but I grew tired of all the variations and reteaching how to use them week after week.
I’m not here to tell you which ones are the best, or which note taking strategy is the best. My approach is this:
Choose one type of graphic organizer for each writing genre. Once you’ve chosen the one that works for the task stick with it for the rest of the year. You can grab a packet of graphic organizers for free right here.
This means that if you have a particular type of graphic organizer you love for opinion writing, use it. Just don’t change to a different type of organizer the next time your students are writing an opinion paper.
You can choose one that you like for narratives, another for explanatory writing, and another for compare and contrast writing. And so on.
At the beginning of the year or term, look at the genres of writing you’ll be teaching, and the level of your students. Younger students will need simpler organizers.
Then choose the one you like best for that task. Just one. You can make copies of it and give it to the students to keep in their journals. If you slip a graphic organizer into a plastic sheet protector, they’ll be able to write on it with dry-erase markers and reuse it all year long.
Constantly changing up graphic organizers serves no purpose and actually is confusing to students trying to learn. Not only do they have to learn the focus topic, they also have to learn how to use the graphic organizer.
Just keep it simple. Choose one for each type of writing.
W is for Write! (Write with abandon.)
Once students have their prompt, and they’ve mapped it out on a graphic organizer or in notes (for upper elementary) they can start writing. Once they’ve organized their plan, this part goes fairly quickly.
Remember to let them know the first draft shouldn’t be perfect. This is the time to write with abandon. Get all of their thoughts onto the paper or screen. As many famous writers have said:
“You have to have something on the paper before you can begin to edit it.”
There’s no need for perfection here. This is all about getting the words out of their heads and onto the paper.
E is for Edit (With CUPS or COPS)
Now the fun begins. I used CUPS for the copyediting acronym. In this blog post about editing with CUPS you’ll learn strategies for managing and making the most of this editing process in your classroom. There’s also a video about it.
This simple system is fast. In 5 minutes, students can be done and ready to make the basic corrections to their writing. They can do it on the computer or on paper.
Copyediting with CUPS is all about looking at the writing mechanics. Capitalization and Punctuation, Usage, and Spelling. This step can be done before or after the R steps. I think students find it easier to do the final revisions after the basic CUPS editing is done, because they’re not distracted by grammar mistakes.
RRR is for Review, Revise, and Rewrite
The 3Rs. These three final steps are the most powerful in this system.
R – Review
One of the most effective ways to find errors of clarity and cohesion in writing is to read it out loud. Of course, in a classroom setting, this could become noisy and distracting. Here are a few ideas to manage it.
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Have students whisper read their writing.
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Have a table in a corner of the room specifically for reading their writing out loud. Students can take turns using it.
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Partner read in a whisper voice.
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Have students wear headphones when writing. They won’t hear other students when they’re doing their review reading.
As students do their review reading, and they find things they want to change, they can quickly note it.
R – Revise
Revising in this type of assignment can use the acronym ARMS. This is adding, removing, and moving things around to make the writing stronger.
On a computer, it’s easier to do this step because students can cut and paste. On paper, it’s a bit more involved. Instead of having students rewrite each part, this is a trick that I’ve used.
On the first draft, have students leave a line between each paragraph. Then, during the revision, have them cut the paper along the extra lines. Now they can move the sections around on their desk until the writing makes sense.
Once they’ve settled on the best revisions, they can begin the next step.
R-Rewrite
Now they’ve finished all the other steps, they’re ready to rewrite their paper for publication. There’s something so satisfying when students know they’re work is going to be published, whether it’s in the classroom, in a school magazine, or in a digital classroom. In this blog post you’ll find creative ideas on how to publish student writing.
With the POWERRR system for the writing process, you’ll find your students begin to enjoy writing. They’ll know what to do, how to do it, and when to do each step. It’ll all come together like a jigsaw puzzle. (With no missing pieces.)
