Structured Steps to Writing

Composition

Units 10 to 12. Essay planning and multi-genre composition. This tier is in development.

Units 1 to 4

Foundations

Building sentences. Complete and available now.

Units 5 to 9

Framework

Paragraph writing. Unit 5 is available, the rest are in development.

Units 10 to 12

Composition

Essay planning and multi-genre composition.

Where the sequence has been heading

Foundations teaches a student to write a sentence. Framework teaches them to build a paragraph, then several that hold together. Composition is where those paragraphs become a finished piece with a plan behind it.

The same four tools carry through. SPARK+SORT still generates and narrows the ideas. STEMS still builds the paragraphs. CAMPS still handles the editing. Checklists still open and close the piece. A student arriving in Composition has been using all four since their first lesson.

The three units

Unit 10, Opinion writing

Opinion against fact, then structure: an introduction that states a position, body paragraphs built with STEMS, and a conclusion with a call to action. Students learn to support an opinion with evidence, move between reasons, and address a counterargument. The unit ends with a complete multi-paragraph piece, planned, drafted, revised, and edited.

Unit 11, Informative writing

Teaching or explaining a topic rather than arguing a position. Students organize information by category, by sequence, or by comparison, and integrate facts using signal phrases. This is also where citation is taught explicitly: why we cite, signal phrases, in-text citations, and a Works Cited page.

Unit 12, Narrative writing

Characters, setting, and plot, planned with the Story Arc Planning Guide and its six beats: set the scene, introduce the problem, build the tension, face the moment, show what changed, close the story. Students work on showing rather than telling through dialogue, sensory detail, and action, then plan and draft a full narrative.

Two planning tools arrive here

The Essay Planning Guide is introduced in Unit 9, the bridge unit at the end of Framework, and carries through Units 10 and 11. The Story Arc Planning Guide arrives in Unit 12 for narrative writing. Both work the same way the earlier tools do: taught explicitly once, then used every time.

Start where your student is now

Composition is a while away. Foundations and Unit 5 are ready today, and they are what a student needs before this tier will make any sense.

See the tiers

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