TRY THIS TOMORROW: QUICKWRITES TO STUDY CRAFT
Part of a Series on Using Quickwrites in Grades 6–12 Literacy Classrooms
Quickwrites are a powerful way to support students in reading like writers. When paired with a shared text that models a writing technique, quickwrites create opportunities for students to notice, name, and try out craft moves in their own writing.
How Quickwrites Support Craft Study
When intentionally designed, quickwrites can help students:
- Recognize and analyze writing techniques in context
- Build autonomy as writers who make purposeful choices
- Develop voice through low-stakes experimentation
- Experience a variety of writing styles through mentor texts
- Feel more invested in techniques they notice themselves
- Build confidence in identifying and using craft moves in their own work
In Practice:
Lesson Context: You are teaching a unit focused on the craft of description where students have the choice of form, audience and purpose. You want to show them how different authors use description.
This quickwrite will:
- Support gathering ideas about moments that matter
- Show text features that enhance author’s voice
- Provide an example of including internal dialogue into writing
- Provide an example of including personal feelings in exploding a moment
| Underrated by Steph Currie
Steph Currie has just lost a game. He writes: I remember getting back to our hotel room — I think it was a Holiday Inn Express? — and just sulking. Like, I wasn’t being a hothead. I wasn’t mad at losing. I was just. . . down. I was in my turtle shell. I was feeling…well, I guess I was feeling how we’re really all taught to feel by these big tournaments, and this cutthroat basketball culture: like we’re walking down some do-or-die path. My dad took that path, and he made it to the league. And his son? His son couldn’t even make a mark against some other 13-year-olds. So like I said, I wasn’t heated. I was more just, like — Oh, O.K. That’s it? I’m not good enough? This is…. over? For me, in that moment, it pretty much WAS over. |
Invitations to respond:
- Write about anything that comes to mind after reading the text
- Reflect on a time when you experienced a similar feeling of disappointment or inadequacy. How did you handle it? Did it motivate you to work harder or did it discourage you?
- Currie compares himself to his father. Write about a time when you compared yourself to someone else.
- Write about a time when you felt pressure to succeed. Who/What was the pressure? How did it turn out?
Connecting the Quickwrite to Craft Study
The context of your mini-lesson is exploding a moment with emotion and description. After students write their responses, revisit the mentor text together, not just for meaning, but for craft.
Why this works:
- Students have already read the text for understanding
- A second read offers a new lens to analyze technique
- Re-reading builds fluency and accuracy
- Through writing, students may uncover new ideas for their own pieces
- Invitations offer immediate opportunities to try the technique
Mini-Lesson: Exploding a Moment with Feeling
After the quickwrite:
- Explain the focus: how authors use detail and internal dialogue to expand an emotional moment.
- Revisit Curry’s passage with this lens.
- Ask:
- What do you notice about the way this is written?
- What’s the effect on the reader?
- How might you use a similar technique in your writing?
Craft Moves You Might Highlight:
- Question marks to signal memory gaps
- Italics to show internal thought and emphasize words
- Dashes to insert side thoughts
- Ellipses to indicate emotional pauses
- Capital letters for intensity
- Figurative language (e.g., “turtle shell,” “cutthroat culture”)
- Casual, spoken tone to convey voice
- Short fragments to show raw emotion
Try it out!
Choose a mentor text connected to your current unit. It could be a full piece or just an excerpt. Then:
- Write 2–4 invitations to respond
- Connect the text to your current craft mini-lesson
- Explore the craft with students
- What do they notice?
- What’s the impact of the moves?
- How might they apply this technique in their own work?