Instruct students to use the worksheet below to plan parts of their writing. You may ask them to complete the whole sheet or only complete portions of the sheet, depending on their needs. You can either conference with them while they complete the worksheet or after they are finished, but the goal is to allow them time to plan each part of their writing and to engage in a conference to be sure their planning is sufficient before starting the writing task. This prewriting strategy allows them to produce an organized piece of writing and also to experience increased writing fluency as they have a plan before beginning.

Alternatively, complete a top down topic web together to plan writing before the student works independently.