The Power of the Quick-Write: Fast, Purposeful Writing Strategies for All Subjects
Quick-writes are short responses to structured prompts that can be used in all content-area classes at any point during a learning opportunity. Grounded in the reading-writing connection, this workshop explores how structured quick-writes support long-term retention and recall, progressive skill development, and fluency in thinking and writing. Drawing on research showing that sentence-level instruction leads to better, faster sentence construction, reduces cognitive load, and ultimately frees up resources for idea generation and organization. Participants will learn to design writing tasks that build composition fluency and leave with ready-to-use strategies and templates that are adaptable to any subject or grade level.
Key Learning Objectives:
- Understand and articulate the reading-writing connection and how it encourages knowledge through the discovery of new ideas.
- Apply sentence-level writing instruction within a contextualized skill framework so students can see how complex sentences are used in relation to real academic tasks across subjects such as science, social studies, math, and the arts.
- Design and implement structured quick-write for use as Do-Nows, guided practice, exit tickets, and formative assessments.
- Use the Sentence Doctor’s three-step protocol to help students diagnose sentence-level problems, choose a treatment, and revise their writing, framing revision as problem-solving rather than criticism.
- Leverage quick-writes as formative assessment tools that increase student progress by focusing on daily learning, clear misunderstandings, create rigor, and improve motivation and engagement.
Date: Monday, Nov. 9, 4:30 PM-6:00 pm EST
Instructor: Betsy MacDermott- Duffy, MsEd
Grades: 3-8
Location: Virtual
Price: $90
Credentials: 1.5 Approved CTLE Hours
