I am currently completing a second graduate degree. As a result, I spend one or more nights a week seeing the world through student eyes.

I feel my students’ pain when assignments pile up or the timeline for task completion is short. What’s more, I cringe when I do not have mentor texts to guide or inspire my work.

I have started to keep a list of reminders when I plan writing assignments. A few of my favorites include:

• have a set of mentor texts ready to go
• set up a padlet so students can crowdsource research
• provide frequent opportunities for students to talk about the work
• rather than whole graphic organizers (that can sometimes limit student creativity or hamstring writers), offer frames for part of the work (a thesis frame or an opening or closing)
• create a list of potential student questions and answer them with a FAQ document
• use exit tickets for students to privately raise concerns or ask for help
• create resource folders with writing tools (lists of transition words, writing checklists)

Writing is hard. As a student, I stay up late working on  papers. I am thankful for each and every tool my teachers provide to help me produce my best work.