Teaching Middle School ELA

Episode 311: Drop the Boring Writing Assignment, Engage Your Students, and Give Collaborative Writing a Try

• Caitlin Mitchell • Episode 311

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In Episode 311, Jessica and Megan explore the benefits of using collaborative writing in the classroom. They will also tackle common concerns teachers have when assigning group projects. You'll learn how collaborative writing boosts communication skills, builds confidence, and encourages peer learning. Plus, you'll pick up practical tips on setting up group writing tasks, managing group dynamics, and assessing individual contributions and skills. Whether you're new to collaborative writing or looking to improve your approach, this episode is packed with ideas to help you succeed!

Speaker 1:

All right, you guys. Collaborative writing can be a super powerful tool in the classroom that helps students improve their communication, their critical thinking skills and also, of course, their writing skills. So in today's episode, jessica and Megan are actually going to explore the key benefits of collaborative writing and address common challenges that you might be facing, like how to balance individual contributions. We're also going to provide actionable strategies to help you make group writing a successful experience for all of your students. We're gonna talk about everything from project setup all the way to completion. So if you are looking for ways to make group writing an effective part of your teaching toolkit, this is an episode with tips that you are going to love to implement. Hi there, ela teachers. Caitlin here. Ceo and co-founder of EB Academics.

Speaker 1:

This is an episode with tips that you are going to love to implement. Hi there, ela teachers. Caitlin here. Ceo and co-founder of EB Academics.

Speaker 1:

I'm so excited you're choosing to tune into the Teaching Middle School ELA podcast. Our mission here is simple To help middle school ELA teachers take back their time outside of the classroom by providing them with engaging lessons, planning frameworks and genuine support so that they can become the best version of themselves both inside and outside of the classroom, and we do this every single day inside the EB Teachers ELA portal. This is a special place we've developed uniquely for ELA teachers to access every single piece of our engaging, fun and rigorous curriculum, so that they have everything they need to batch plan their lessons using our EB Teacher Digital Planner that's built right into the app. Over the years, we've watched as thousands of teachers from around the world have found success in and out of the classroom after using EB Academics programs, and we're determined to help thousands more. If you're interested in learning more, simply click the link in the podcast description and in the meantime, we look forward to serving you right here on the podcast every single week.

Speaker 2:

Welcome back to the Teaching Middle School ELA podcast everyone. I'm Jessica and I am here once again with Megan. Hey, megan, hello everybody, and in our last episode, we actually teased that this one was coming. We mentioned that collaborative writing was one way to support ELL learners, and that's completely true. And collaborative writing can help all your students when it's implemented in a really thoughtful way. So today that's what we're talking about Collaborative writing, why it's beneficial and what strategies can make it successful. So our goal is really for you to walk away inspired to try collaborative writing in your classroom, or, if you're already doing it, awesome, maybe you'll think of some new opportunities for doing it as well and sprinkling it in throughout your school year.

Speaker 2:

But before we begin, I feel like we've been saying this disclaimer a lot lately, but please remember, we're going to share lots of ideas. You don't need to include them all. We don't want you to do that. Take it in, listen, maybe, come back, give it another listen and pick the one that resonates the most with you and give that one a try. Right, one of these is probably going to spark something and you're going to say, oh, I could totally try it with this novel or this activity or whatever. Go with that one, then.

Speaker 2:

And I just want to be clear that collaborative writing can mean different things to different people. So in this case, for our context, when we say collaborative writing, we're talking about students creating a piece of writing together. So, for example, a group of three students might write a story together, or they write a research project together. One of my favorite writing activities and it was a collaborative writing assignment that I did with my students was coming up with our own stories for the book. It's the Chris Vaughn Allsburg book, the Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Do you know that one, megan?

Speaker 3:

Oh, I do, I love him, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So good, right, like the buy-in is immediate, with a little intro in that, and it's just. If you don't know this book, it is filled with like the most beautiful illustrations you can imagine and you're given a title next to the illustration and like a very short phrase and that's it. And so I would just print out copies of those images and that short phrase and title for my students. I'd put them in groups and then they were tasked with coming up with the stories. We always did it around Halloween I think I've talked about this on the podcast in years past and we'd make it like spooky stories gathered around the campfire thing, but you could honestly do this any time of the year. I once did it for grandparents day, when I needed an activity to do in our classroom right.

Speaker 2:

So there's so many opportunities and you can do it. You know, as low as, I'd say, third grade and then all the way up to eighth grade. If you work at a school like Megan's at a Catholic school so was I we could pair up our older students with our younger students, like so many options there. So that's just one example, but I love it and I had to share. So, before we share some other ideas with you, we want to kind of talk really quickly about the benefits of using collaborative writing tasks like this and as students create really actually exceptional writing from them. So I want to quick fire go through 10 different reasons you should give it a try. First, it improves communication skills. When students work together on writing, they learn to share their ideas. Clearly, they have to learn to really listen to each other and then naturally, this boosts both their speaking and writing skills. Number two it encourages diverse perspectives. It allows your students to see different viewpoints and incorporate a variety of ideas into their writing. They have to learn to be more creative. They create more well-rounded work because they're listening to their classmates and putting a bunch of all the different ideas into that writing. Three it builds cooperative skills. Right. Students have to work as a team. They have to divide tasks, they have to negotiate their roles and then they need to support each other. Four it enhances critical thinking. They have to think about the different suggestions being offered in the group and then combine the best ones right. Not every idea is going to make it into their story or their research paper and it's kind of like a workout for their problem solving muscles. And the more they do collaborative writing, the stronger they get at this. Five this one seems obvious, but it promotes peer learning. Students are going to pick up new writing techniques, new styles, new tips. It's gonna help improve their own writing later on.

Speaker 2:

Six it increases motivation and engagement. This might be my favorite one, just because I'm all about engagement, but frankly it's a lot more fun than doing writing alone. And yes, there's a time and place where students do need to do independent writing. But I guarantee if you say today we're going to write a story in a small group, they're going to be excited. They're going to feel like this is fresh, this is new and it keeps them motivated. They want their group to do well, they're proud of their work. Then, seven it develops editing and revising skills. Their students are going to naturally have to review each other's work, refine it, make improvements until they come up with their final product. Eight it can reduce anxiety, right? Students aren't alone. They're not feeling this like, oh God, what do I write about? And then I have to share it in front of the class and I'm overwhelmed. No, they're working in a small group, they're a part of something and it feels a lot less daunting.

Speaker 2:

Next, one, number nine it teaches time management. If you work in a collaborative group, right, it requires planning. It requires organizing your time effectively, which helps students develop better time management skills, especially if you're giving them little mini deadlines. And finally, it builds confidence. Successfully completing a writing project as a group can boost students' confidence in their writing abilities and in working with others. And if they had fun throughout the process, then the next time you do a writing activity like this, they're like oh hey, I'm on board, that was fun last time, I want to do it again. And they get stronger and stronger.

Speaker 3:

For sure, and I use collaboration in my classroom so much, especially with my eighth graders, because, to your point about engagement, and I had a teacher like an aide that would come in for push and support, and she made this comment one time she's like your kids, when they come into your classroom, know that they're going to be able to work with each other and she goes. I think that just helps the community. One and two, they're engaged, they just want to do the work, you know, and so I think, especially for our middle schoolers, that's important to remember. And so writing, which can be really intimidating and daunting, this is a great way to use collaboration, so it's really exciting. So there's so many benefits to collaborative writing.

Speaker 3:

But really, before we get into some of the specific strategies just to make it more effective, I do want to look at some of the reasons that some teachers kind of shy away from having students writing together, cause that's real and it can be a little intimidating for teachers. So the first reason is sometimes, when you know, maybe a teacher tries to have students write together, one student takes over the whole project. That can absolutely happen. Right, you have those 100%, you have strong writers in your classroom and they're like I got this, I'm writing it. Another reason might be when you know you try to have students write together, one of the group members checks out and lets the rest of the group do all the work, which happens with any group project. I think Third reason might be that students get off tasks when they work together. Absolutely could happen. And the fourth reason might be that you know you're not really sure how to assess individual contributions and skills when students write as a group.

Speaker 2:

I think those are such valid concerns and I'm willing to bet anyone listening is like yep, I experienced that in the classroom. Or they could name that student who, like, takes over the group project, or that student who's like I'm just going to let them handle it, I'm good over here. So let's start. Let's share some ideas for setting up students for success before they begin writing. So maybe you don't experience those setbacks. First one you want to group students carefully, right, and again, this might seem obvious, but we know there are different ways to group students and we want to really take our time with it. So, for example, a mix of ability levels and personalities can be helpful so that students who need help can be supported and then strong leaders can help the group. You know, stay organized, stay on task, or, on the flip side, if it's a project where students are choosing their own topics, you can also group students based on the topic they want to write about. This helps ensure that all group members will be interested, will care about the process, for what they're writing about. You get more buy-in that way. Number two you want to set expectations, go over the do's and don'ts of the group writing process all the way from brainstorming to drafting to revising to presenting. So, for example, for brainstorming, you might write down or have the class write down write down everyone's ideas and that would go in the do column and make fun of a group member's idea in the don't column. And we really really recommend creating these as a class so students have ownership and I think so often we see third grade teachers do this, we see fourth grade teachers do this and then as we get older, we're not always spending time on this. We're like we've got things to do, we got to get to work, but spending five minutes really saying these are the expectations for each stage of the writing process and this is what I'm looking for as I walk around and observe you. It's just going to set your students up for success. They know exactly what they need to do. And, yes, there'll still be pitfalls, but there are going to be a lot fewer of them if we go over the expectations. And you could even write all these down on anchor charts. Get your class's input, hang them up on the walls, keep them there as reminders so that they know what they're doing and they stay on task.

Speaker 2:

Number three use graphic organizers right, the word is in the title organizer. It helps keep students organized and offer students graphic organizers to help them not just plan out their work, not just with that brainstorm, but with drafting as well. I remember I worked in a classroom years ago where the teacher did not use a lot of graphic organizers and I felt like whenever the students went to write, oh dear God, you know, there'd be sometimes one paragraph and then someone else who's like I have seven pages, and it's like and then, and then, and then and I'm just like, oh, my goodness, so Right, I know you've experienced that too, megan. We can give our students those organizers. Again, we're setting the tone of the lesson and helping give them guidance. It's just something we don't want to overlook. So, for example, with that, if students are following common plot structure, right Exposition, rising action, climax you know the drill Give them a story arc that they can jot down their ideas on and then when they go to work, they have that to rely on. And again, it makes their writing so much more focused and you'll thank yourself when you go to grade them because it'll be that much easier to read what they wrote. And again, if they're doing a research project. Think of what kind of note-taking graphic organizer you could provide for them, or what kind of evidence tracker If you're an EB teacher. Those are so helpful to set students up for success.

Speaker 2:

Next one offer checklists. I love a good checklist. Give students one for everything that they need to accomplish during the project, along with deadlines. Maybe you want to create this as a class, maybe you don't. Either way, just having that and students can say okay, did we do our brainstorming sheet? Yes, check, move on. They know where they're at in the process and you're more easily able to support them as well.

Speaker 2:

So be clear in those checklists which are meant to be done together as the whole group and which are meant to be done by individuals. So, for example, maybe all the students are sharing ideas of what to write, but one student is physically writing or typing up the final essay. Right On the flip side, do not allow an individual to take on a large task on their own. So, for example, you don't want one student responsible for revising the entire paper. That's not fair for that one student. So, on the checklist, maybe make that clear Every group member is responsible for editing, for revising, and then finally, I'm sure we all do this but review the rubric, go over the rubric with students before they start the work so they know the expectations, they know how they will be graded, they know what they're going to be graded on as an individual and what's considered group effort as well. So that's a lot of food for thought, but hopefully it gives you some guidance in how to set up collaborative writing for success.

Speaker 3:

For sure. This is an important step because I think it's going to, like you said, kind of help teachers avoid those pitfalls if they do try this in their class, and we hope you do so. Next we're going to give you some strategies to use while students actually work to help them work more effectively together. So the first idea is to offer sentence stems. It can be helpful to display just a few sentence stems on your board that students can really use to communicate with each other, so you can offer sentence stems for multiple situations, like maybe a student's offering a new idea. They could say something like have you considered If they're adding an idea? They could say I see what you mean and I'd like to add blank. Students can help add their own to this list too, as you're kind of brainstorming together as a class, if you want to do it that way. Next, actively observe and guide students and this probably sounds super obvious, but it's always worth the reminder as students are working. Circulate among them and be on the watch for those groups with a student who might be, you know, taking over the project, or for those groups with a student who really doesn't seem to be participating, and just kind of offer your gentle guidance as students, right, encouraging them really to work as teams and maybe offering suggestions here and there. And then check in with groups to make sure they are meeting their expected deadlines and remind them to keep going back to the rubric, because those are their expectations, to really check their work. Another idea is to speak with students individually as needed. So if you are observing that a student's behaviors are not helpful to a particular group, just pull that student aside to discuss their role in the group and how they can really best fulfill that role.

Speaker 3:

Next idea is to use technology to supervise.

Speaker 3:

So if students are writing on a Google Doc, all group members can collaborate in real time on the same document, which is so helpful.

Speaker 3:

So from your computer, you can monitor their progress, provide immediate feedback right, using those little comments, which I love and use the version history feature to track specific contributions from each team member, and this really just allows you to see who is actively participating and to make sure that the writing is being distributed fairly. And then, final idea here is to pause for peer feedback. So peer feedback is helpful at the end of a project, but teachers don't always consider making time for it during a project and it can be really super helpful then, and it's kind of like when we as teachers provide feedback to students as they're learning a concept right, peers can do that same thing in the middle of a project. So it can be helpful to pause after some work time has passed and ask group members to offer each other praise and also talk about how the group can improve their process to just be more inclusive or more efficient, and during this time you can also praise. You can actually also praise groups for teamwork, for creativity, et cetera.

Speaker 2:

Okay, I really liked that last one. I mean, as a teacher, I definitely paused and checked in with groups, but I don't think I ever did peer feedback midway through a project like this. A good one, yeah, yeah, something I would have overlooked, so very cool, okay. Finally, here are a few things that you can do after the project to wrap up the experience and remember. The intent is not to do these all, there's just too many of them. Pick one that resonates with you and maybe give that a try.

Speaker 2:

First one have students reflect and give feedback. How did it go for them? What went well, what challenges did they face? Encourage them to write about specific moments of effective teamwork or problem solving, and then have them write down what didn't work and how this process could be improved for next time, and they can just hand you those slips of paper. You can read through them on your own time and set up the next time you do a collaborative writing assignment, maybe a little bit differently, based on their feedback. Two have students fill out self-assessment and peer assessment. They can grade themselves right. Students often grade themselves much harder, I find, than I would have done, and I think that's really interesting, but it can really help students think critically about their role, about their classmates' role, in the project, and it encourages accountability. If students know they're doing this ahead of time, too, it's really going to change their behavior during the actual writing process.

Speaker 2:

Three, have a whole class discussion. This is honestly what I did in the classroom because it was quick, it was effective. We would just talk about the project and the writing process in general. I'd ask what worked well in certain groups, what didn't, what could we improve on for next time. They'd share what they thought. I'd jot down a few notes and then we were good to go for next time and finally, have students share their work and celebrate their successes Whether this is done in a traditional whole class presentation format, where maybe it's groups presenting to other groups a publishing party which side note Sarah on our team just went to an EB teacher's publishing party.

Speaker 2:

She said it was so cool. It was outside with hot chocolate, campfire theme, like so much fun. So we just love seeing stuff like that. So whatever kind of activity you do to celebrate your students' success, give your students a chance to share their work, show that they're proud of it, make it a big deal. They didn't just do this assignment for a grade. There was an audience for it or there was a reason behind the task, and it's really going to motivate them again, if they know this ahead of time, to really put their best foot forward.

Speaker 3:

That's awesome, and I do have one more question that I know some of our listeners are going to ask. So how do you assess a student's individual writing skills when you've got everybody working together other than by you know, for instance, using technology, reading those version histories of the Google Docs? I know there's a spot on the rubric for individual participation, but what about their actual writing skills and knowledge of the topic?

Speaker 2:

Yes, I'm sure so many teachers are like yeah, I worry, if I do this in the classroom it's not going to work out well at this part. But there's something really simple you can actually do here to make this effective. So what you can do is a very short and I mean short individual follow-up assignment that requires the skills you want students to demonstrate. So let's say students did their whole collaborative writing assignment. Then you would add this on at the very end. So, for example, if you had groups writing a story together, then at the end I would ask each student to now take one section from the story, one paragraph from the story, and write it from the point of view of another character. Or they could write a new introduction or a new conclusion, whatever the case may be. But it's something short that gives students an opportunity to showcase what they learned and what their contributions are, while still focusing on the skills of the lesson.

Speaker 3:

Does that make sense, it absolutely does, and I'm thinking for something like research writing. You could even have students individually write like one or more short section about their topic or even just kind of summarize their group's findings.

Speaker 2:

Totally, or you could even like, depending on what you're focusing on. You could have students individually, like write a summary or a review of another group's project, if you have time for that. That might take a little bit longer.

Speaker 3:

That's a great idea. I love that idea of even taking another group's idea and being able to summarize that. That's cool, yeah. So hopefully this episode gave you all some ideas for successful collaboration in your classroom, and, of course, you don't have to use every single one of these ideas. We want to keep reiterating that.

Speaker 2:

Just choose the ones that will work best for your class and for your next project, and I'm just thinking of this as we talk when we say that for your next project, right, the holidays are kind of approaching and if you do teach, you know holiday related material in your classroom and you're an EB teacher, you know we have got that gingerbread descriptive writing activity. We've actually got three more coming out in our portal for our EB teachers. There's a hot chocolate one, there is a snow fort one and there's like an ugly holiday sweater one. They all follow this same format and I'm thinking this would be a brilliant opportunity to try collaborative writing with an assignment that's like already laid out for you and structured.

Speaker 2:

So I think that's so fun, so give it a try and if you do use it with one of those holiday activities, please let us know. Share pictures with us. We'd love to see it. And again, thank you for joining us. We appreciate you spending your time with us, whether you know this is your Saturday morning run and you listen to a podcast activity, or when you drive to school, or while you're doing the dishes. Whatever the case may be, we are very grateful that you are making the choice to come hang out with us. So have a great week, everyone. See everybody later.