Expressive Writing

Help poor writers in grades 4-12 improve their skills with Expressive Writing, an easy-to-use approach to teaching the basics of good writing.

Expressive Writing helps students learn to express ideas by writing sentences, paragraphs, and stories that articulate precisely what the writer wishes to say. The program addresses essential skills with four instructional strands: Mechanics, Sentence Writing, Paragraph and Story Writing, and Editing. In every lesson, students learn to write with:

• Structure, by writing sentences that first name something and then tell more. Then, by arranging sentences appropriately.
• Coherence, by relating sentences logically.
• Unity, by developing well-supported paragraphs.
• Correct grammar and punctuation, by writing first, then editing, using a self-administered, cumulative Check System.

Expressive Writing lessons focus squarely on writing to close the gap for struggling writers very quickly, providing on-going skill development to target the problems most often experienced by poor writers. Four placement options in two distinct levels allow you to precisely meet learning needs, and carefully sequenced instruction moves students from simple paragraph writing to composing and editing sophisticated stories with varied sentences.

The Cumulative Check System permits rapid evaluation of student progress and reduces your work time, and In-program Mastery Tests and black line masters provide an easy way to monitor progress and re-teach critical skill. 

Use Expressive Writing 1 for students who need to learn to:

• Plan what they want to say
• Write complete sentences and paragraphs that do not deviate from a topic
• Edit their own and others' work

Level 1 consists of fifty-five lessons, including five lessons (15, 30, 40, 50 and 55) that serve as mastery tests.

Use Expressive Writing 2 for students who are ready to learn to:

• Write and correctly punctuate compound and complex sentences
• Use varied sentence types
• Produce paragraphs with a topic sentence, supporting details, and a conclusion
• Edit consistently for punctuation, tense agreement, and unclear pronouns
• Revise to improve structure, coherence, and clarity

Level 2 consists of a ten-lesson preprogram followed by a fifty-lesson regular program. Four of the regular program lessons (15, 30, 40 and 50) are mastery test lessons. The preprogram is designed to assist students who have not gone through Level 1, or who need extra work on punctuation.