Writing Companion

Writing minilessons

Writing Companion is designed to engage students through concise, focused minilessons. Students develop skills, step by step, as they read and respond to source texts. The program helps students

• develop confidence and competence in argumentative, informative, narrative, literary analysis, and research reports
• learn how to break down writing tasks into manageable chunks
• understand performance expectations through student models and mentor texts
• practice performance tasks for each writing type
• strengthen editing skills through practice on common language and style issues

Lesson Planning & Instructional Support

The teacher guide and digital toolkit provide teachers the ability to

• deliver instruction through interactive whiteboard minilessons
• engage students in active discourse through whole class, small group, and partner activities
• support struggling writers through scaffolded instruction, reproducible activities, and gradually releasing students to independent writing tasks
• provide differentiation for ELLs, struggling, and advanced writers
• improve students’ ability to annotate and incorporate textual evidence
• plan and manage instruction through lesson plans and pacing guides