Many teachers are abandoning writing workshop… but not because it failed. It’s because the structure was missing.

In this episode of Beyond the Paragraph, I’m sharing how you can reclaim the power of workshop with simple, transformative shifts that bring clarity, consistency, and calm to your writing block.

Whether you’re a former fan of Calkins-style instruction or just tired of chaotic, unproductive workshop time, this episode will help you:

• Identify why traditional workshop often falls apart
• Discover how structure with explicit instruction makes all the difference
• Reignite your love for writing time

Let’s bring back the workshop we actually wanted...the one where students truly have ownership, skills are clear, and everyone knows the plan.

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

🎯 In this episode, I’m walking you through the daily structure that keeps students engaged and independent without constant redirection. You’ll hear exactly how I:

✅ Use student-led routines to minimize off-task behavior
✅ Reinforce expectations without micromanaging
✅ Turn workshop into a powerful classroom management tool
✅ Build a classroom culture where students lead, collaborate, and stay on task

Whether you teach in a classroom or homeschool around the kitchen table, you’ll walk away with real strategies you can start using tomorrow.

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

In this episode of Beyond the Paragraph, I’m pulling back the curtain on what real writers do and how we can finally start teaching like that. As a middle school ELA teacher and children’s book author with Disney, HarperCollins, and Houghton Mifflin, I’ve lived both worlds. 

You’ll learn:

• What real authors actually do (and what we don’t)
• 4 things writers do that students should too
• A simple shift you can make this week to transform your writing block

Whether you teach in a classroom or around a kitchen table, this episode will help you ditch the rigid checklists and start teaching writing that actually works.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:

Elizabeth Gilbert's TED talk

Take the full Structured Writer's Workshop training

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

In this first episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on why traditional writing instruction isn’t working and what you can do instead. I’ll walk you through the simple shift I made that completely transformed my classroom (and made teaching writing way more fun for everyone involved).

I’m sharing:

• Why most students sound like robots when they write (and how to fix it)
  
  
• What “structured writing” really means
  
  
• What to expect from this podcast and how it can support you all year long
  
  

If you want to dive into the 10-video FULL training on The Structured Writer’s Workshop, go HERE.

Whether you teach in a classroom or homeschool around the kitchen table, I hope this episode gives you a sigh of relief and a spark of inspiration.

Let’s rethink how we teach writing. I’ll show you how.

~Robin

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

Meet your host, Robin Mellom, middle school ELA teacher and author of ten children’s books with Disney, HarperCollins, and Houghton Mifflin. In this quick trailer, you’ll hear why she rebuilt her entire approach to writing instruction and how this podcast will help you do the same.

 🎙️ Beyond the Paragraph is for teachers and homeschool educators who are ready to: 

• Move past rigid, formulaic writing lessons
• Help students write with confidence, clarity, and voice
• Use practical strategies that actually work in grades 4–8
• Create autonomous writers who revise with purpose

 🎧 Follow Beyond the Paragraph wherever you get your podcasts—and let’s rethink writing instruction together. 

 👉 Want to go deeper?
Learn about the structured writing method here:
🔗 structuredwritingteacher.com

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

🏀 What does Steph Curry’s pregame warm-up have to do with writing instruction? Everything.

In this episode, I'm comparing the basketball legend’s unpredictable, skill-building practice routine with the way we should be preparing students to write. You’ll hear two stories...one courtside, and one from a humid gym in 1986... that illustrate exactly why rigid acronyms and overstructured templates can freeze young writers in their tracks.

If your students ask, "What do I do next?" every time they write, this episode breaks down:

• Why too many acronyms can backfire in the classroom
• How to build confident, intuitive writers using quick writes and daily reps
• What “joy points” and “sophistication” look like in middle school essays
• The two acronyms I do use (and why they actually work)

Whether you're a teacher or homeschool parent, this episode is a must-listen if you want to raise writers who can “shoot” from any direction...just like Steph.

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

Meet Tisha, an 8th grade ELA teacher who implemented the structured writing workshop in her classroom. She shares what worked during her first year of implementation. 

You'll learn:
✔️How to use BOTH physical and digital notebooks for writing
✔️organization strategies for student leaders
✔️how to incorporate AI successfully in the writing process
✔️how this workshop changed her 8th graders

An episode not to be missed. Share with other ELA teacher friends! 

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

If teaching writing feels like one long game of catch-up… this episode will flip your perspective.

In today’s episode, I’m revealing the six writing skills I teach first in my student-led writing workshop and why the order of instruction matters more than you think. You’ll learn how to teach skills that build on each other and give students instant momentum.

We’ll talk about:
 ✔️ The confidence-building skill you should always start with
 ✔️ Why “show, don’t tell” can wait
 ✔️ How to build writing fluency one layer at a time
 

If you’ve ever felt like your writing block is just… not clicking, this episode will give you the structure and strategy to change that.

🎧 Plus, I’ll share how to keep these six skills spiraling through everything you teach all year long.

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

When I became a published author, I thought I understood revision...until I met my editor. And then my second editor. And my third.

In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on what really happens in the publishing world, all the way from developmental edits to line edits to the final proofread. This changed everything about the way I teach writing. 

You'll hear how authors revise in stages, why feedback is always focused (and never rushed), and how we can bring that same layered process into the classroom.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by student drafts and unsure when or how to give feedback, this episode will give you a fresh structure. Enjoy!

Robin

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

What if the reason your students hate writing isn’t because they’re unmotivated but because you’re asking them to do too much, too soon?

In this episode, I’m breaking down why I stopped starting the year with narrative writing and how changing the order of essay instruction completely transformed my classroom. I’ll walk you through the exact essay sequence I use, why it works, and how each step builds skills (and confidence) without overwhelming students.

If you’ve ever felt like writing instruction just isn’t clicking... this might be the missing piece.

Need done-for-you essay lessons? Go HERE

Get my Literary Evidence Tracker for ANY novel HERE

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

Traditional comprehension questions are holding your students back. It’s time for a shift. This method flips the script on how we approach novel studies and writing in middle school, moving beyond recall questions and into deep, authentic engagement.

Instead of asking students to remember what happened, this strategy teaches them to track what matters. By gathering purposeful evidence on theme, characterization, world-building, and author’s craft as they read, students naturally build the foundation for high-level literary analysis. And the best part? It all connects seamlessly to evidence-based writing using the CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) framework.

Use this approach to bring more meaning to your novel studies, elevate your writing instruction, and finally answer the question: how do you truly teach writing in middle school? You start here.

Want a closer look at the Literary Evidence Trackers? Go HERE.

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

This episode is the audio from one of my most popular YouTube videos, so if you hear me say “look at this” or reference something on screen, don’t worry! I've linked the full video below!

In this deep dive, I unpack what I discovered after listening to the Sold a Story podcast and asking myself a big question: Where’s the research on writing instruction? Spoiler alert: it’s complicated. But I share what I found, what’s missing, and what we can do right now to teach writing with more clarity and confidence.

You’ll also hear:

• What the 10 essential components of effective writing instruction are
• Why sentence combining is a powerhouse strategy
• The surprising research around grammar instruction (and what to do instead)
• And the one line from Mel Robbins that changed everything for me

🔗 Watch the full video with visuals on YouTube:
The Science of Writing - My Hunt for RESEARCH-based Writing Instruction in Middle School

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

When it comes to writing instruction, the first week can make or break your year. In this episode, I’m walking you through exactly how I start the school year in my writing classroom. You'll hear about the phone call I make before students ever step through the door, and the voice lesson my students beg to do again.

I’m sharing:

• The one question I ask families that tells me everything about a student’s writing mindset
• How I get an honest, messy, meaningful baseline writing sample
• Why I don’t open the writing workshop right away (and what we do instead)
• The unexpected activity that teaches voice better than any anchor chart
• How I use my ELA Three-a-Day to build grammar skills and writing stamina, all year long

These are the exact lessons I use to set the tone, build trust, and kick off a student-led writing program that actually works. 

Mentioned in this video:

Back to School: Icebreaker activities and writing prompts

How to Write a Scene, not a Story

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

In this episode, I’m diving into why CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) is the ultimate pivot skill. It’s not just for ELA. Students can use it in science, history, short responses, and full essays—and the more they practice it, the more confident and structured their writing becomes.

You’ll hear how I scaffold it with sentence frames, expand it with an “Explain in your own words” step, and enrich it with a hook and a powerful closing statement.  No matter your experience with CER, you’ll walk away with tools to make it more effective, more transferable, and way more engaging. 

 🎧 Let’s talk about how to teach CER… and why it might be the most important writing move you make all year. 

Need CER resources? Go HERE.

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

The writing crisis in American classrooms isn't due to lack of teacher effort, it's our instructional model. When the Nation's Report Card reveals only 27% of eighth graders scoring proficient in writing, we need to examine what's really happening in our classrooms.

After spending nearly a decade away from teaching to become a professional writer, I returned to education as a "fish out of water," shocked by both how writing instruction had changed and how my professional writing experience contradicted classroom practices. While publishers expected complete manuscript rewrites in weeks or even days, schools were still dedicating entire quarters to single essays. This disconnect revealed a crucial truth: volume matters enormously in developing writing proficiency.

Kelly Gallagher's critique of the "4x4 classroom" (four big books, four big essays annually) resonates deeply with what professional writers like RL Stine know instinctively—writing improves through consistent practice, not occasional massive projects. Stine, who produced Goosebumps books monthly, found that "writing fast forced him to stay in the flow, avoid overthinking, and treat perfectionism like the monster it is."

My structured writing method transforms reluctant writers through daily sentence combining exercises, perspective-based quick writes using engaging images, and explicit weekly workshop skills. When essay time arrives, we tackle it in focused 10-day blocks with clear checkpoints rather than dragging the process across an entire quarter. Students set line-length goals, building the confidence to overcome writing inertia while developing authentic voice.

The results speak volumes! Students who once feared writing now request additional workshop time. Even implementing these strategies mid-year yields remarkable growth. Start tomorrow by replacing traditional warm-ups with sentence combining and perspective-based quick writes, and watch as your students discover that writing can actually be enjoyable.

Visit structuredwritingteacher.com to learn more about implementing these volume-based strategies in your classroom.

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

 What if your students could experience essay structure instead of just being told about it? In this episode, I introduce The Rebuild Relay, which is a constructivist teaching method that gets students moving, problem-solving, and teaching each other. You’ll hear how it works with a 7th grade argumentative essay, why it’s more effective than reading the rubric aloud, and how it can be adapted for younger learners with a fun Detective & Informant twist. Plus, I’ll share ways this strategy can be used across subjects like math, science, and history. 

To read about it in depth and see a short video: Go HERE

To take the Structured Writer's Workshop CRASH COURSE, go HERE.

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

In this 60-minute audiobook, you’ll learn the complete framework behind the Structured Writer’s Workshop™, a structured approach that helps students in grades 4–8 become confident, independent writers. They also LOVE it. 

Why This Workshop Is Different

I’m not just a teacher, I’m also a published author of children’s books with Disney-Hyperion, HarperCollins, and Houghton Mifflin. What I learned from working with editors and revising manuscripts under tight deadlines transformed the way I teach writing.

The routines in the Structured Writer’s Workshop™ are the same ones professional authors use every day, but they're adapted to fit a real classroom. That means your students aren’t just “doing assignments”… they’re practicing the skills of actual writers.

What You’ll Learn in This Crash Course:

• The 6 SUPER Skills that build strong writers step by step
• How to structure your writing block so students are engaged 
• Simple routines that give students ownership of their writing and revision
• How this framework fits seamlessly into ELA or homeschool instruction
• Real classroom strategies that work for all learners (reluctant writers included)

Get the free eBook PDF here!

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

In this episode, I share the story behind one teacher’s phrase “the unicorn of writing” and unpack what that really means.

We’ll explore why writing instruction so often feels frustrating, what qualities a true “unicorn” approach would have, and the small shifts you can make to bring some of that magic into your own classroom. Along the way, you’ll hear stories of reluctant writers turning a corner, and I’ll leave you with a few practical strategies you can try tomorrow.

Grab your crash course HERE

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com

In this episode, I start with a student story that proves just how powerful a hook can be, and then we dig into the real work of teaching them. You’ll hear my philosophy on why hooks aren’t just “sentence starters,” why rhetorical questions are only training wheels (and how to move past them), and the one secret that makes kids lean in with curiosity.

Plus, I’ll explain how keeping cognitive load low is the key to helping every student succeed.

And finally, you can Hook Hop! Here's your Teacher Trail I’ve created:

1️⃣ Start with my 9-minute YouTube demo (three ways to write narrative + essay hooks).
2️⃣ Share the student-facing video from Write with Robin.
3️⃣ Come back here for more student examples, strategies, and depth.

Next step on your trail? HOP HERE!

Thoughts? Questions? Send me a text message!

➡️ Learn more about the FULL Structured Writing training PD

📆 Grab my yearlong writing planner for free (it includes my eBook!)

🎥 Watch the teaching strategies in action on YouTube

📝 Read the latest blog posts for writing tips & ideas

HAVE A QUESTION? Email me at robin@structuredwritingteacher.com