Modeling in the classroom is vital for helping students do their best. As educators, we often strive for perfection in showing students how mechanics should be completed, whether it’s fluency, compression, writing, editing, or revising.

But the reality is that even teachers need to model mistakes in a classroom. It makes teachers human and allows kids to connect with their teachers and release the pressure of perfection.

1) Write Without Organization

One of the first things I model with my students is brainstorming and writing. I don’t worry about details, paragraphs, word choice, introduction, conclusion, setting, etc. I just write.

Whatever flows from your mind should be processed on paper. You should never try to make the first attempt perfect – not with grammar, spelling, content organization, etc. Students should see you struggle as they would struggle. They should note any mishaps you have so they don’t feel pressured to be perfect at the start.

If you teach middle or high school, you likely have multiple classes. It would help to have an imperfect draft as a model. If you have time, it’s suggested that you write in front of them for every class. One way to spice this up is to create a different prompt for every class so you have multiple stories to tell.

Why is this important?

Sometimes, students feel the pressure to be perfect in their writing, which can cause brain fog. They get so wrapped up in needing all the literary elements that they forget the story’s basics.

Allowing a student to write freely lets ideas flow and run through without stress about perfection or judgment. Students who “just write” often find it easier to adjust their writing and revisit their content to ensure greater success.

Allowing them to write will also enable students to choose what they want YOU, as a teacher, to focus on during revision. Once the student gets the basic story on paper, you can focus on differentiation through small-group instruction.

If you allow them to write before creating a graphic organizer to separate the organization into paragraphs, you allow them to gather their overall thoughts before trying to break them down into big ideas. They can take apart their own essays and place them into “categories,” which become the paragraphs of the paper.

This can also make grading more manageable for you by allowing the student to focus on one thing at a time.

How to implement a small group after “just writing”:

Some small groups could be the standards that push students to the next level, which automatically leads to revision:

• Theme
• Thesis/Claim
• Character Development
• Sensory Detail
• Introduction/Conclusion
• Supporting Evidence
• Use of Text/Graphic Features
• Organization
• Setting
• Word Choice
• Grammar
• Conflict-Resolution

2) Marking the Text

When introducing a new concept, it is important to mark the text. This is best done color-coded. I personally enjoy different colored highlighters or colored pencils. I have the students match my colors as much as possible to ensure they have the same notes I do.

How to implement:

For example, when we learn about CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning), we use three colors. I like to use blue, red/pink, and green, but any three colors will work. I often do Blue for Claim, Red/Pink for Evidence, and Green for Reasoning.

During the first read of the passage, we just read, think aloud, and process what’s being said. We may pause and discuss chunks, summarize chunks, or find methods to help us “remember” the paragraphs of each section.

On the second read, we often look for the colors, focusing on one at a time. We will discuss what the claim is and how we know it’s the claim. Once the claim is identified, we often discuss the various ways it can be stated. As we read, we highlight in blue any mention of the claim. We discuss why the author repeats the claim throughout the passage, not just at the beginning and end.

On the third read, we focus on the red/pink for evidence. When we discuss evidence, we look for statistics, references, citations, etc. We look for facts about the topic. We avoid opinions, thoughts, and unproven methods. Whenever we see evidence, we highlight it in red/pink. From there, we discuss how the evidence supports the claim and why it’s essential to include it. This deepens understanding of how authors are intentional in their work.

On the last read, I focused on the green for reasons. Reasons support the evidence, which supports the claim. Reasons are the explanations for why the evidence is important. We draw attention to this to help students see the author’s thought process for supporting their claim.

Why it’s important:

By color-coding and modeling this, students can see the paper’s organization and better understand the author’s craft.

This gives a visual representation of writing for students. This allows students to see whether their own writing mirrors the author’s and make adjustments as needed. Students can go back to their papers and color-code their papers. If they do not see all three colors, they can revise to help their claim.

This method works for any genre or standard. The important thing is that there is a color-coded key for students to follow and refer back to often, ensuring they have a reliable reference for their own use.

3) One-Pagers

One mistake educators often make is believing students are familiar with certain classroom strategies. Though students may have a concrete background in most strategies, treating each strategy as brand new is essential.

Modeling one-pagers is vital because everyone has a different idea of what a one-pager should look like. The expectations should be drawn out as you grade a student’s one-pager. Sometimes, having a good and a “bad” example will help the student understand the difference. Students don’t need to be artists, so it’s essential to show that they don’t by incorporating stick figures, too!

How to implement:

One of the first activities I do at the beginning of the year is a one-pager about myself. On this one-pager, I put information strictly about me there: my interest in reading, writing, cats, traveling, pens, favorite snacks (Skittles, Doritos), shopping (Amazon, Target, Ulta), drinks (water, Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper), and general information about my family (like two brothers, two nieces, two nephews, etc.).

When I do this, I incorporate different lettering, page breakdowns (how the one-pager is organized), images, colors, and more.

Why it’s important:

This is a great way to build relationships with students and set expectations for one-pagers. I only make one for this, even if I teach multiple classes, because it takes so much time. Sometimes, I will create or add to them in each class so students can see my progress. Having it already created allows me to think aloud with the students on the one-pager and explain why I chose what I did and how it ties to the rubric.

Modeling Doesn’t Stop There

Modeling is incredibly important for students, whether in first grade or eleventh grade. It allows students to see the process in action and process their learning with it. There are millions of ways to model within the classroom. Starting small with one of the methods above is easy and not too time-consuming. It doesn’t require much adjustment.

One of the biggest benefits of modeling is that it allows you to identify and address any misconceptions students may have during the creation process. I always told my students, “I never give you anything I haven’t done.” I do this not only to determine misconceptions but also to determine their interest in the topic at hand. If I’m bored, they’re bored.