Everything but the Writing

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It can be a valuable practice to go through every step leading up to the actual writing of an essay and have students reflect on their process. This could be done as a pre-assessment towards the beginning of the year to see what students do without any guidance, or it can be a practice drill closer to the exam. Timings are suggested; adjust according to your students’ needs.  

Process: Option 1

(as a Pre-Assessment/Activating Metacognition): 

  1. Set a timer for 15 minutes.  
  2. Students independently annotate or brainstorm a response to a prompt/stimulus text and write an outline. By the end of the 15 minutes, they should strive to have a rough draft of a thesis statement; it does not need to be perfect by the end of the time.  
  3. Pair students off and have them discuss their process: 
  4. Student A spends 2 minutes sharing their process.  
  5. Student B responds for 1 minute. Remind them that this is not time to talk about their own process. Provide them sentence starters like: 
    • I noticed that you… 
    • I like how you… 
    • I’d love to hear more about how you… 
    • I wonder what would happen if you tried… 
  6. Student A has 1 minute to respond to the comments and questions from their classmate. 
  7. Repeat the process with Student A and B switching roles. 
  8. Finish off with a quick written reflection. Students can consider the following questions:  
    • What did you do with your planning time that was effective? 
    • What did your partner do with their planning time that was effective? 
    • What can you do better next time to feel more prepared to begin writing your essay at the end of the 15-minute preparation period? 

Process: Option 2

(to provide a scaffolded process for close-reading assessments that have guiding questions or prompts like IB Paper 1, AP FRQs 1 and 2)

  1. Students read the passage once for literal understanding. (3 minutes)
  2. Students write their understanding of the “general situation” of the passage: who/what/when/where, to the best of their abilities, based on their first reading. (1 minute)
  3. Students break down the guiding question or prompt of the assessment. (1 minute)
  4. Students read the passage again, considering the guiding question or prompt that accompanies the passage. Encourage students to annotate as they read in relation to that guiding question. (3 minutes)
  5. Have the students write a rough draft answer to the question (their thesis) based on their first and second reading. (1 minute)
  6. Have the students read the passage again, annotating with their response to the prompt/guiding question in mind, considering what could be considered good references to the text to include in their response. (3 minutes)
  7. Have students write a rough outline of their line of reasoning. What smaller claims would they have to prove in order to prove their thesis statement? (3 minutes)

Process: Option 3

(to provide a scaffolded process for prompt-based essays like IB Paper 2, AP FRQ3): 

  1. Students break down the prompt to understand everything it is asking them to consider. (2 minutes) 
  2. Students use a mind map, flowchart or similar method to answer the broken-down question in relation to text(s) used for assessment. (3 minutes) 
  3. Students strive to answer the question, crafting a rough draft of a thesis. (1 minute) 
  4. Students brainstorm more specific references to the text that can help them answer the prompt. (3 minutes) 
  5. Students write a second draft of their thesis, making sure it is still answering the prompt. Sometimes specific references to the text can throw students off the focus on the prompt; make sure they recalibrate at this stage and make sure their evidence is appropriate for answering the assigned prompt. (2 minutes) 
  6. Students write a rough outline of their line of reasoning. What smaller claims would they have to prove in order to prove their thesis statement? (4 minutes) 

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