In today’s era of the increasingly more prominent AI-generated student essay, teaching students how to write is more challenging than ever! And while AI will most certainly be an integral part of Gen-Z and Generation Alpha’s educational and professional careers, middle school and high school teachers across the globe are finding new ways to teach writing to ensure that students have the necessary skills for effective communication and critical thinking.

One way that I’ve adjusted my instruction because of AI is by focusing on more in-class writing either with paper and pencil or a lockdown browser. You can read more about how I address AI in this blog post. However, simply assigning writing is not enough to make sure our students are learning how to improve their writing skills –they also need explicit writing instruction and a variety of practice activities to help them practice their writing. That is where the in-class collaborative essay comes in! This post contains affiliate links.

Recently, I assigned my students an in-class collaborative essay on paper. While I’ve facilitated collaborative paragraphs and essays before, I needed to adapt my instructional strategies this time to do my best to AI-proof the activity. In retrospect, this was a highly effective activity, and I feel my students did well and improved in their writing abilities. If you find this strategy helpful, be sure to check out my secondary ELA teacher professional development book: Building Strong Writers: Strategies and Scaffolds for Teaching Writing in Secondary ELA.

Teaching Writing: Why Assign a Collaborative Essay

Assigning a collaborative essay in the middle school ELA and high school English classroom is a highly effective assignment that provides students with real-time opportunities for brainstorming, organizing, and drafting an essay. In their peer groups, students work together to organize their thoughts and ideas and form the sentences that will eventually comprise their essays.

By working in a group to do this, students actively participate in the writing process while also making small, self-edits to improve their writing as they go. Collaborative writing is also beneficial for students because it provides them with the opportunity to observe the thought process and writing process of their peers.

Teaching Writing: How to Set up a Collaborative Essay

In the past, I’ve had students work collaboratively in a shared Google Doc for their writing before. And while that was a great way to facilitate collaborative essays in the past, with today’s temptation of a done-for-you essay generated by AI is just too much for students. I cannot even tell you how many times I walk around my classroom and see ChatGPT open on my students’ Chromebooks. I wanted to completely eliminate the temptation, so I went with an all paper approach.

For this essay prompt, I had my students write a four paragraph essay: introduction, body paragraph 1, body paragraph 2, and conclusion. For each paragraph, I had them write on a separate piece of paper to maximize in-class productivity and engagement. If a group was sharing just one or two pieces of paper, more students would be observers rather than active participants.

I had students choose their own groups for this assignment, and I had them form groups of four. I instructed them to all work together on the introduction and thesis statement. They were to start there before moving on. This step was absolutely vital for the brainstorming and outlining portion of the essay: the student groups could not begin the body paragraphs until they had a solid thesis statement to guide them.

From there, I instructed the group of four to break up into partners. Each pair of partners within the group was tasked with writing one body paragraph together, and they had to organize their body paragraphs to align with the same order as the thesis statement.

As students wrapped up their body paragraphs, they wrote a quick conclusion restating the thesis statement and commenting on the passage’s impact on the audience. I only gave students one class period to do this. However, we prepped for a bit the day before to help speed up the process.

Since I didn’t have perfect groups of four students, some groups chose to work on groups of three. For those groups, one student worked on a body paragraph independently, and I instructed the groups to have the independent writer to choose the body paragraph they wanted to write. Generally, I noticed my stronger writers took on this role.

To help students understand the process, I also illustrated what the collaborative essay would look like on the whiteboard.

Teaching Writing: Strategies to Use for a Collaborative Essay

In addition to having the students work on the essay collaboratively, I also provided each group of students with a paper that had the prompt (since they didn’t have Chromebooks open and their phones were stored away at the front of the classroom in this cell phone holder). On the paper with the prompt, I also provided students with several sentence frames to use that loosely matched prompt.

The provided sentence frames were written in both the third person and in the literary present. In the days leading up to this activity, I also provided my students with direct instruction where I showed them color-coded versions of these sentence frames to emphasize the third person and literary present.

This is where backward planning comes into play. I knew where I was going with the final writing assignment, and I designed my instruction around that. In regard to how I graded this essay, it was all class participation where students received points for completing the process. I ultimately graded an individual essay after this process.

Back to setting up my strategies, at the beginning of class as I reviewed the sentence frames with students, we also discussed additional strong verbs students could use in their essays. They then wrote their essays as I circled throughout the room offering individualized feedback and instruction. My students stapled their papers and turned in their essays at the end of our 55-ish minute class.

Teaching Writing: Using Peer Review with a Collaborative Essay

After this process, I didn’t just want to stop here. On one of the following days, I had students complete a peer review activity where they returned to their original groups. For students who were absent on the writing day, I had them join existing groups. I distributed the essays to a new group, and I also gave them a copy of the rubric.

I instructed students to not only grade the essay on the rubric, but to also provide bullet-point explanations as to why they assigned the score that they did. I also instructed the students to mark up the essays with different ways to improve the writing. I wasn’t so much concerned with spelling and grammar, but I wanted them to focus on how to improve the content of the essay.

After the student groups worked with the essays for about 20 minutes, student groups then returned the essays to their original owners. At that time, my student groups then reviewed the feedback from their peers. And let me tell you, they are much harsher critics on themselves and each other than I am on them! It always seems to be that way, but that is okay because when students look at other papers with a critical eye, they in turn become more aware of their own writing!

Teaching Writing: Incorporating the Collaborative Essay in a Writing Unit

While collaborative essay writing might seem like a great idea because there is less to grade, the benefits extend far beyond that! After collecting the peer-reviewed essays, I then graded the essays on the rubric and also provided on-paper comments. Usually, I have 35 students per class, so this is too much to do for every essay, but since there were fewer papers, I was able to provide this level of detailed feedback to my students.

My students then applied these layers of feedback to their own writing for the final writing assessment of the unit. Again, this is where backward planning is so keen. I planned this whole collaborative essay with the final essay in mind. Both prompts were similar, and each prompt required students to demonstrate similar skills. For their individual essay (which was also in-class and only during one class period), students could either write a four-paragraph essay or a three-paragraph essay. I emphasized that I would rather have them write an essay with one body paragraph that was stronger and went into more analysis rather then an essay with two body paragraphs that were more surface level.

The Collaborative Essay Writing Details

I facilitated this activity in an honors sophomore English class during our Night unit. This was the class’ first experience with rhetorical analysis, and in particular, working with the AP Language FRQ2 rubric. And while I completed this activity with an honors-level sophomore class, I’ve also done with with general English students as well! You can read more about my collaborative paragraph poster activity in this blog post.

Prompt: In chapters 3-4, Elie discusses the inhumanity of the concentration camps. Write an essay that analyzes the effectiveness of Wiesel’s use of rhetorical strategies to describe the inhumane conditions that contribute to the message of these chapters. You can focus on tone, diction, imagery, repetition, parallelism, anaphora, syntax, or another rhetorical strategy.

Students chose one rhetorical strategy for the first body paragraph and chose another for the second body paragraph.

Resources for Teaching Essay Writing

Essay Writing Teaching Unit – Teach your students how to write an essay! This comprehensive essay writing bundle includes teaching resources and lessons for every part of an essay. Plus, it includes digital resources!

Essay Writing Skills Unit – Help your students improve their writing by focusing on one specific aspect of writing at a time. These Writing Spotlight Mini-Units help students improve their writing by focusing on specific skills to enhance writing!

Looking for fun and engaging end of novel activities for middle school and high school? I’ve got you covered! Continue reading to learn about five activities you can do at the end of a class novel! These culminating project ideas are sure to bring some creative thinking to your classroom!

Getting to the end of a novel is exciting. I love when all of our ideas and discussions come together. I feel like we can have “meaty” conversations and the students see there was a method to my madness. However, if you’re tired of passing out an end-of-novel exam or essays, consider one of those activities.

End of Novel Activities

Socratic Seminar

Facilitating a Socratic Seminar in the classroom is a great way to discuss, review, and analyze literature. Students partake in discussions and voice their own questions and opinions. Socratic Seminars can be used for any novel.

You can accommodate by breaking your class up into smaller group sizes, so if you have a large class or vastly differening abilities, you can create better opportunities for students to have open discussions.

This Socratic Seminar resource is great for teachers who are looking to assess a student’s understanding of literary analysis.

Comic Strip Analysis

A comic strip analysis activity for the end of a novel is not only a way to bring artistry to your classroom, but you also challenge students to think concisely. Students will need to know the text well enough to abbreviate for a comic strip.

I find this to be an excellent option for students to reflect on a novel. Don’t think this is just a few drawings. Have students include direct quotes from the novel as their dialogue, cite the information, focus on one aspect of literary analysis, etc. You can also help your students who may balk at a drawing requirement by having students use the computer to create graphics.

A fun way to bring this assignment into the 21st century is to assign students a digital comic strip by using Canva!

Podcast Chat

Instead of having a large group chat, put students together in groups of two or three for a podcast chat. Students who may have difficulty asserting themselves into the conversation may benefit from this small-group style project. Have students create a clever name and catchy introduction followed by the “meat” of the podcast.

Students can discuss key elements, be candid with their opinions, and include personal connections. You can also create a list of other discussion topics that you would like for them to include, such as author information, a relevant quiz or challenge, and connections to other literature, history, or current events.

You can broaden this activity by having students to listen to each other’s podcasts and respond with peer evaluations.

Collaborative Posters

The sky is really the limit with collaborative posts. At the end of a novel, you can select what type of posters you want students to complete. This is a great opportunity to focus on any elements you’d like students to work on, without dedicating specific study like an essay or quiz. For example, you may have students who need to work on their research skills. You can have students work on posters involving historical references, or author biography. You can also have students review literary analysis through collaborative posters as well.

When finished, give your students opportunity to participate in a gallery walk. It’s great if you’ve had students work on different tasks, such as analyzing symbols or discussing types of conflict. Students can use this opportunity to review and study for any potential end of novel test you may decide to complete, or it works as a standalone activity.

If you are looking for some inspiration, these short story review posters can be modified for novels.

Design Projects

Another creative idea is for students to create some type of design with the novel as their inspiration. Students might design a museum for historical novels, complete with relevant exhibits and writing tour information. A lighter novel might inspire a theme park.

Students can create “lands” for the park inspired by characters or major plot points. A novel with multiple settings might have a map created of the travels, or a brochure if it is a land unfamiliar to the students. This is an interesting activity to try if you’re looking for students to have a new take on using the information gleaned from novels.

There is certainly a need for students to work on writing, and I have given my fair share of tests before. But, I also love giving my students creative opportunities to share what they know. I also like keeping them on their toes, wondering what activity I have in store for them next.

Still Planning Your Novel Unit? Check out this resource!

Engage your students all year long with this Novel Activity Pack that includes 32 different activities you can use for any novel (it also works for short stories too)! This secondary ELA resource is filled with 32 novel activities that you can use before, during, and after reading any novel!

These novel activities are perfect for a class novel study, independent reading projects, lit circles, and more! This resource includes multiple teacher instruction pages to help you seamlessly integrate these novel activities in your classroom, and it is organized into four sections: pre-reading, while reading, differentiated writing tasks, and after reading.

Even though most secondary ELA students have a plethora of English classes to choose from, at some point or another they probably are reading “classic” literature. And while I love that students can choose to take courses such as Contemporary English or Creative Writing, I still want them to see the power and timelessness of those classic works. Check out some of these tips for teaching these classics to modern readers.

1. Make it fast and friendly

We live in a high-speed world. Sometimes I am more concerned with students getting the “gist” of a work rather than reading the entirety of a novel. No matter what I do, some students are just not going to find Victorian-era literature tantalizing. Instead, we might read passages and discuss connotations, or try to mimic writing style, or I’ll have them search for examples that make the novel fit into its genre. Think about what you want students to get out of the experience of reading the novel, play, or collection, and decide if it would be better suited as a “highlight” study.

2. Pair with what they know

There are many classic pieces of literature that pair well with modern works. Especially if you read some of those “timeless” classics like Romeo and Juliet or Frankenstein. We have many options we can pair together. Look for modern tales with similar themes. You don’t have to strictly find adaptations of the same work (though there are plenty of options available). You can have interesting conversations with students about what makes themes timeless, how a theme or moral may change across generations, or what makes a work outdated.

3. Assess through conversation

Speaking of conversations, consider nixing assessments via quizzes and tests. While writing skills is certainly important, so is the ability to have a conversation. Take classic literature study as an opportunity to introduce Socratic Seminars so that you can focus on conversation-based assessments. You may also try Literature Circles (try these Task Cards for quick assessment options) so students can either work in small groups to complete the work or select their own preference when reading literature.

4. Use what they know

Students today are socially saturated with visual components. Just take a look at social media platforms. Pictures and videos prevail. Lean into the culture (within reason). Shakespearean works, for example, are full of scandal, sordid mockery of the times, and universal themes. Students can create “social media” accounts for characters, following the story and summarizing its parts through “posts”. You may also try having students write TMZ-style tell-alls with newspaper articles and gossip columns.

5. Let them recast the classics

Maybe students just aren’t connecting how you would hope. Instead, try letting them revamp the classics to something that would catch their attention. What modern telling of Animal Farm would they connect with more? If Oliver Twist doesn’t seem relevant, what if they retold it from the perspective of a child in foster care? Moby Dick can be a retelling of a ruthless CEO stopping at nothing to improve his business. Let creativity shine and let students tell you what makes a literary work valuable to them.

If you’re searching to connect students to the classics, let me know if any of these ideas worked in your classroom. Or, comment below with lessons and activities you found successful in bridging the gap between classic literature and modern readers.

If you haven’t incorporated peer editing into your essay units, you are truly missing out. Anytime I can use positive peer interactions in an assignment I find heightened engagement and a better turnout of essays. Find my top reasons for including peer editing below, and don’t forget to check out my resources.

Reasons why you should include peer editing in your next essay unit

1. So students can write to a wider audience.

When my students write essays that only I will read, they tend to write what they think I will like. Especially when students write later in the year, they’ve “been there done that” with writing for me. Most students know what I’m nitpicky in, possibly what my own biases are (even the most objective teacher may inadvertently share personal opinions from time to time). When they peer edit, they also consider the other students who will be reading the paper. In fact, I usually preface and emphasize that they are writing for the wider audience and NOT to just me.

2. So students are more engaged.

Without peer editing, you end up with students quietly typing for the entire writing portion of the unit. I find I spend a lot of time redirecting students to tasks because they get bored and need a break. When there are peer editing sessions, students can vocalize concerns, chat with peers about ideas for writing, and are in general more engaged with their writing. I also find students are more apt to finish work in a timely manner when they know they have the opportunity to have someone review their work before turning in a copy to be graded.

3. So students can think critically.

It is one thing to think critically while writing a paper. It is another to read someone else’s paper and assess it. Assessing and thinking critically about ideas and how they are formed in written format is an important skill. I find it helpful to start by providing students with a checklist. I also have them work from the same rubric I will use. We discuss what to think about when you are the reader, and the types of phrases and assessments that are most valuable to give to a writer.

4. So students can learn appropriate criticism skills.

Not only do students need to learn how to criticize a work without being critical, but students also need to learn how to take criticism without taking it personally. When I frontload peer editing skills, I ensure students understand that the editing process is meant to help them improve as writers. My suggestion would be to introduce peer editing on research-type essays rather than any personal or creative writing essays. It can be challenging for students to separate themselves from essays that include their personal lives, or a creative work they’ve poured themselves into.

5. So you save yourself some time.

Of course, this isn’t the top reason, but it does save me some time. First, students who have taken the peer editing portion seriously tend to have fewer things for me to “grade.” When I’m not writing endless notes from students who turned in their one and only draft, I save myself some time. I also save some stress from trying to get in touch with each student for one-on-one sessions. Instead of trying to meet with every student by myself, they can meet with each other to get questions answered. I’m still available for specific questions, but I also find that I can answer to a group of students who pass around the answer as they work together. If I select peer groups based on strengths and weaknesses, I know that I’ve set students up to succeed by having my good editors with my poor spellers. My students who excel at ideas but not so much with organization can be paired with someone strong in that area. All in all, I save myself that stress and time simply by allowing my students to peer edit.

If you’re interested in peer editing resources, I have a checklist and a peer editing station resource available in my store. You can also find this great bundle of goodies if you’re looking for a full set of handouts and printables to introduce your students to peer editing.

You probably won’t get very far in teaching without hearing about a plethora of sticky note activities. It might even seem overwhelming because you can use sticky notes for just about anything. What are the best practices for using sticky notes, especially when you’re teaching older students? Read on to see my suggestions.

1. Use them conscientiously

There are two points to consider – how to get ahold of them, and what to do with them when you’re done. Buy in bulk for the best bang for your buck. But if you are tight in the supply budget and it’s part of your school culture to provide supply lists to students, consider having students contribute to a class stock of sticky notes or have them bring their own supply.

The other thing to consider is how to dispose of sticky notes. There’s a myth that sticky notes can’t be recycled. While some types of sticky notes are harder to recycle (like those with fluorescent dyes), and not all recycling centers take “mixed paper”, I recommend considering alternatives to just tossing them in the trash. Check with your state and local recyclers if they accept mixed paper and consider starting a recycling program at your school if there isn’t one already. You can also keep sticky notes on a display wall for students to refer to later or keep an empty photo album as a collection of class notes and assignments to review as needed.

2. Use them consistently

I’m all for offering a variety of notetaking skills and options for organizing thoughts. But I also think students

thrive when they have a consistent style of notetaking. Consider practicing various forms of notetaking and letting students decide what works best for them – including sticky notes. If you want to use sticky notes for all close reading passages, then use them for all close reading passages. It will become second nature for students and they will know what to expect from the assignment when you create a habit.

3. Use them meaningfully

Ultimately, using sticky notes should focus on student retention. You could probably find a “sticky notes” version for just about any type of assignment – but that doesn’t mean you should. Your tried and true lessons don’t need a makeover. Remember these are just a tool. Assignments with in-depth organization needs, introducing any type of close reading work, preparing for debates, and working with new text are great ways to see increased productivity in student work. Think about how you will be productive and efficient. Don’t forget to include yourself! Think of your sticky notes as a vessel to guide students to whatever assessment you have ready. I.e. don’t fret trying to grade individual sticky notes for an assignment. Tie it together with what you really want students to get out of the work and focus on the meaning.

So where do I start with sticky notes in the classroom?

You can find so many ideas on Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers (see my sticky notes resources here). But take a look at your own lessons and see where they might be a good fit.

• Print exit tickets on sticky notes to take a quick assessment of how the class is doing with assignments.
• Have students jot notes and questions and place them in their textbooks as they read, or turn in to you after a lecture so you can see what needs to be reviewed.
• Encourage more productive reading by having students use sticky notes to mark questions, or use for close reading.
• Build up to class discussions or debates by using sticky notes. Students can jot notes individually, and build their discussion points with groups until they have a comprehensive list made from everyone’s thoughts.
• When dealing with tough subjects, ask students to use sticky notes to put their personal thoughts down in the moment, and they can revisit them later to journal or just have a space to get their thoughts out.
• If you have lengthy assignments like those related to research, students can compile their notes with sticky notes and then organize them into like-minded categories or topics without sifting through pages and pages of notes in different places.

If you’re looking for a good list of resources to start using sticky notes in tried and true methods, visit my store and find some great options such as

• Sticky Note Analysis Bundle: Literary, Rhetoric, Poetry 
  
• Long Way Down: Literary Analysis with Sticky Notes
• Literary Analysis Sticky Note Organizer for Any Text
• Analysis Mini Flip Book Bundle: Literary, Rhetorical, and Poetry

Shakespeare has been gone for 400 years and yet we still insist on keeping him in our classroom. Mention Shakespeare, and I can guarantee teens immediately put up a front. Breaking through that initial abrasiveness can sometimes become a hurdle – but pointing out Shakespeare’s relevancy is a great start to a study. Below are some quick thoughts you might consider sharing with students, as well as several resources you can use while teaching Shakespeare.

Shakespeare influenced our language.

You can find so many references in our English language directly from Shakespeare’s work. If your students have ever been tongue-tied or hoodwinked, they’re quoting Shakespeare. There is a definitive record of Shakespeare being identified as the sole user or the first user of many common words and phrases. Your students might enjoy focusing on phrases they do recognize instead of worrying about what seems confusing.

Shakespeare’s themes are timeless.

If you cut the language that feels outdated to students and get to the bare bones of the stories Shakespeare wrote, you’ll find emotional and masterful works. Romeo and Juliet is a prime example of a work that is showcased in pop culture over and over again. Give students the “bare bones” of some works and have them find cultural links to their favorite movies, shows, and books before getting started on a new work. I like to spark conversations with these Shakespeare Bell Ringers meant to work as discussion starters as we begin Shakespeare’s work.

Shakespeare’s characters are relatable.

We can all relate to the trouble that affects Shakespeare’s characters. The raw emotions of love, jealousy, anger, and hope are identifiable across the centuries. When you can help students read into character analysis and development, you can open up a new way of understanding the works and the relevancy of these classics. This is especially true if you’ve already done the above and had students identify relatable works from their era – they can extend to the specific characters from the work. Use an activity like my character analysis (this one is for Julius Ceasar) to help students organize their thoughts and connections.

Shakespeare is a conspiracy.

Even today there’s speculation on whether Shakespeare truly wrote all of his works. Was it really a one-man show? Was it a group of playwrights? Was it an aristocrat penning in secret? And, despite so many images of Shakespeare – we aren’t even sure we know what he looked like. Shakespeare’s printed portraits that we associate with his work actually didn’t debut during his lifetime. Students can work on their own interpretations of who he might have been or can read articles related to his life. You can use this informative flip-book activity to get started learning about the bard.

Despite the changes of the times, I still believe Shakespeare has a place in our English studies today. It rests on us to show students that there is a relevancy and help guide them to understanding the importance of understanding and connecting to universal themes and characters.

1. Collaborate with New Students
Group work allows students to work with people they don’t usually collaborate with or spend time with. Most middle and high school students choose to associate with their friends in class or students with whom they feel comfortable. By doing so, they generally spend time with people similar to themselves. Maintaining an element of group work in the classroom allows students to work with other people that are not in their immediate circle. This process helps to integrate students into different circles of people, even if it’s just for a short time. Having students work with different people in their classes helps expose them to different perspectives on separate tasks and ideas, which is essential in increasing understanding.

2. Exposure to Different Writing Styles
When students work in groups on writing assignments, they can experience a different writing style from their own. They are also able to see what kinds of styles are useful for different types of writing. This is particularly effective when it comes to peer editing. When students read another student’s work, they can utilize that same level of review with their own work. The peer-review process is a sure-fire way for students to hone their writing skills and find inspiration in their peers’ work.

3. Strengthen Communication Skills
Group work in the classroom also helps strengthen verbal communication skills. When a group of students works on a project or activity together, they must communicate with one another to complete the project or activity. Communication may come naturally to some students who are accustomed to always raising their hands in class and contributing to every conversation, but it is challenging for other students. Students who are a bit more introverted, students who have social anxiety, or shy students will find it easier to practice their communication skills in a small group setting compared to a whole-class setting. Working in small groups can be beneficial for both types of students because the more outgoing students have a chance to hear from other voices. In contrast, the more reserved students can contribute in a small group setting, which may be less intimidating to them than a full classroom. Using group work to foster effective verbal communication is very beneficial for students’ learning and development in and out of the classroom.

Utilizing group work in the classroom is a great way to help students improve their writing abilities and improve their communication skills. Group work can help students learn how to speak up when they have ideas or ask for help when they are stuck. Group work helps set students up for success in and out of the classroom, and successful work in groups will be beneficial to students in the long run when it comes to higher education or jobs in the future.

Here are some links to my favorite group activities.

A Collaborative Writing Project for Secondary ELA

Collaborative Review Short Story Poster Project

Collaborative Rhetorical Analysis Poster Project

Poetry Analysis Collaborative Poster Project

As a high school English teacher, I assign my students many writing assignments over the course of the year. Some assignments are quick 3-sentence responses, some are literary analysis paragraphs, some are narrative responses, and some are complete, multi-paragraph essays. In addition to assigning and assessing individual writing, I also assign several collaborative writing projects throughout the year.

While it is essential to assess student writing on an individual level, collaborative writing projects are extremely beneficial for students…and even teachers.

1. Built-in peer editing

When students work together to produce one well-written piece of writing, they take each other’s’ best ideas and incorporate them into the final piece. Not only do students have two (or more) sets of eyes looking at the paper, but students also draft and revise as they go.

2. Less grading

When students partner up to produce one paragraph or one essay, that reduces the grading load in half! As an English teacher, I easily get more than 150 papers to grade at a time. When that workload is drastically cut in half, I can provide meaningful feedback to my students much quicker!

3. Students learn from one another

Teachers are not the only ones doing the teaching in a classroom. Students also teach one another, especially with group work. Assigning a collaborative writing assignment is a great way to help students learn from their peers.

4. Learn to collaborate

As much as some students loathe group work, it is a necessity. Many careers and jobs require people to work together. Assigning a partner essay provides students with another opportunity to learn how to collaborate to produce the best work possible. A collaborative writing assignment is another opportunity for students to learn to work together.

5. More individualized time

When students write collaboratively, teachers have more time in class to provide meaningful and individualized instruction. As students write their papers in class, there are fewer papers to read during those precious instructional minutes. This leaves you with more time to help students improve their drafts as they write.