Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively

Recommendation 1 

(continued)

3.  Engage students in evaluating and reflecting upon their own and peers’ writing and 

use of modeled strategies.

Reflection activities enable students to carry 

out the evaluation component of the writing 

process, and deepen their understanding 

of their writing effectiveness and how well 

they accomplished their goals and executed 

their strategy. Reflection also helps students 

discover ways to improve their writing, and 

reinforce the use of effective strategies in 

future tasks. (Recommendation 3 discusses 

formative assessment, a type of evaluation 

and reflection performed by teachers to 

improve their writing instruction.) The goal is 

the same: to support students in improving 

the quality of their writing.

After students practice using a particular  

strategy, have them ask themselves a series  

of questions to reflect upon their use of the 

strategy, or challenge students to articulate 

how the strategy worked for them (e.g., “How 

did the strategy help you achieve your writing 

goals?” or “What did you find challenging about 

using that strategy?”). Encourage students to 

consider these reflections when approaching a 

component of the writing process in the future 

to help them internalize how strategies can 

facilitate effective writing. 

Provide opportunities for students to evaluate 

their own and others’ writing on a variety of 

features, such as whether the piece:

•  achieves the author’s intended goals for 

the assignment

•  incorporates a logical problem-solution 

organization

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•  establishes mood, tone, and style  

(the writer’s voice)

•  has sufficient detail

•  is well-organized for the intended audience

•  uses strong and appropriate word choice

•  incorporates dialogue as appropriate  

(e.g., when writing a fiction short story)

•  presents evidence that is sufficient and 

necessary (e.g., when supporting a claim 

for a scientific argument) 

As demonstrated in the last two points, the 

evaluation characteristics will vary based on 

the purpose and audience for the assignment. 

Example 1.11 illustrates a classroom activity 

that facilitates reflection on student writing 

and use of a writing strategy.