Teach Writing: Structure and Style

When we think about how to teach high-quality writing, the necessity of structure is often front and center. And at Writing with Design, we're all about bringing you the tools to support your young writers in learning how to develop and hone the structure of their essays.

And in your classroom, it's possible to dazzle your students with the power of writing in some easy ways. For example, by demonstrating how style comes alive through the structure of writing, we can inspire them as they use their Mind Designs. By showing, rather than merely telling, what good writing looks like, we'll be setting the stage to empower our writers with the written word.

How can you teach structure and style like this? Well, of course, we recommend our easy-to-use Mind Designs for helping students brainstorm and structure their ideas. But for those of you who are already using Writing with Design in your classroom, there's a few more tips we can give you.

First, strike a conversation with your students about a piece of writing you've all read this year as a class. Whether it was a story, a poem, or a powerful essay, it can serve as an example. It can even be one your students weren't fond of!

Then take time to recite passages out loud and pinpoint the moments in the writing where the structure has its intended emotional affect. Lead ups to a plot twists, punchlines to a jokes... these are perfect examples for your students of what's possible with structure and style.

Finally, ask them why they think it works and what they could do to reproduce the same effect. And of course, feel free to conclude with your own observations as well.

This approach is a great way to teach English in action and display it at its most powerful and dynamic. Show them what they like about their favorite writing and how careful structure and crafted style made it come to life.

Remember, you can be a magician and a teacher, which means you get to show them the trick and the secret behind how it's done.