вЂњKids canвЂ™t write to a four if theyвЂ™ve never SEEN a fourвЂќ. The first year I taught ELA in middle school, a veteran teacher on our team shared some brilliant wisdom. Make anchor charts, scaffolded graphic organizers, and a rubric specific to your chosen paragraph writing strategy. Pick the strategy that is most relevant to the writing tasks youвЂ™ll assign most often, then stick to it. Heck, I love MEAL so much that I used it in every paper I wrote for my masterвЂ™s degree.

MEAL really shines in argumentative writing, and is the best choice for Social Studies classrooms. It works for open response questions and body paragraphs. I teach the MEAL strategy in my own classroom. The 1.4 paragraph formula helps students write strong body paragraphs, but itвЂ™s difficult to use for a stand alone paragraph or short answer response. Each has its benefits and some strategies are better suited for certain writing tasks.ДЇor example, RACE is great for constructed response tasks, but difficult to adapt to writing assignments without a direct question. These paragraph writing formulas are excellent scaffolds for growing writers, but using too many acronyms can be more confusing than helpful.Д«efore you teach paragraph writing, decide which writing strategy youвЂ™ll use in your classroom. RACE, MEAL, PEELS, 1.4 paragraphs, Hamburger paragraphs вЂ“ youвЂ™ve heard them all and used most of them.

Race method for writing