Maximizing Teachable Moments with WeWillWrite

Teachers learn best from one another, which is why we’ve compiled best practices shared by educators like you. 

The most impactful aspect of WeWillWrite is its ability to create meaningful teachable moments in the classroom. This guide is designed to help you multiply those opportunities and become an even more inspirational leader as you continue to explore and grow with WeWillWrite alongside your creative students.

Who is this guide for?

The strategies we share here are from 4th to 12th grade teachers. While many of you already enjoy it as a quick bell ringer or exit activity, this guide takes it further. It’s for those looking to transform sessions into dynamic, 30+ minute activities by sequencing 3-5 challenges and integrating teaching strategies both before and after the game.

By applying these practices, you’ll unlock the full potential of WeWillWrite to captivate your students and deepen their understanding. Ready? Let’s dive in!

1. Suggestions for a Pre-Game Introduction

WeWillWrite is an excellent classroom management tool, with many students eagerly wanting to play. This enthusiasm creates a golden opportunity to capture their full attention and deliver a key teaching moment before they dive in.

1. Introduce a literary device
   Briefly explain the theory behind a specific literary device and encourage students to explore and apply it during the game.

2. Highlight a game criterion
   Choose one of the 12 game criteria for fiction or non-fiction writing. Explain its significance and challenge students to focus on delivering with precision.

3. Showcase a student text
   Motivate your class by sharing a standout text from a previous session—especially one that didn’t win but demonstrates qualities worth highlighting. You can find such examples in the Student Texts archive in our portal to inspire students and set expectations.

4. Set expectations for behavior and rules
   Clearly outline the game rules and behavioral expectations. Highlight what on-task, focused participation looks like and emphasize consequences for submitting off-topic texts (e.g., replacing non-relevant texts).

2. Exploring Different Ways to Introduce Challenges

Personalizing the way you introduce challenges is a powerful way to inspire creativity and engage your class. Here are several strategies you can use to add variety, spark their thinking, and set the stage for success:

1. Silent thinking time
   Give students uninterrupted silence for all 30 seconds before the writing time begins. This pause gives them a chance to reflect, organize their thoughts, and access deeper creativity without external distractions.

2. Guide their observations
   Visual prompts can sometimes feel intimidating, causing some students to rush into their first idea before fully observing and understanding the many details in the images. Help students engage more thoughtfully by guiding them to “read” the details or interpret the prompt. Use questions like, "What is this?" while pointing to specific visuals, or "What do you notice? What could this be? What might be happening here?" These questions spark creative ideas, encourage connections, and build confidence in approaching the task with greater depth.

3. Share your ideas
   Sharing ideas demonstrates that there are many valid ways to approach the challenge, which can reduce anxiety and stimulate creative thinking. Offer a few creative examples or starting points to inspire and increase confidence in approaching the writing challenge. You can also use the tip cards to prepare ahead of time by clicking “Details” of the challenge set in the portal. These cards align with the challenge criteria and are a great resource to jumpstart creative thinking.

4. Focus on the criteria
   Tie the challenge to the specific goals of the session, whether it's practicing a literary device or honing a particular criterion. Explain the goal or criteria and reinforce this focus while analyzing their texts later in the game.

5. Provide sentence starters
   For students who struggle to begin, sentence starters can be a lifeline. Write a few on the board or prepare them in advance. These provide structure and inspiration, helping students move past the blank page and into the flow of writing.

3. Help Students Vote for Better Team Winners

Sometimes, the best texts don’t make it to the finals. By guiding your students on how to evaluate and stay on topic, you can help them vote more thoughtfully and avoid choosing texts based on popularity or humor alone. Here are some steps to encourage better voting habits:

1. Encourage reflection
   Walk around and ask open questions like “Which one is more on track? Which one is answering the prompt best? Who could win the finale? Which one is most exciting?”

2. Clearly explain the criteria, focus, or goal
   Provide clarity by articulating your overall objective or the specific focus of the challenge. Clearly explain the task criteria to guide students’ efforts. For example, ask questions like, "What defines an atmospheric text?" or "Are we looking for emotional appeal or logical arguments?"

3. Explain consequences for off-topic texts
   Let students know that if a team selects a silly or off-topic text for the finale, you as the teacher have the authority to replace it. While texts remain anonymous to students, remind them that the platform tracks who wrote each text, ensuring accountability.

4. Replace inappropriate texts in the finale
   If a team selects a text that is silly or doesn’t appropriately answer the prompt, take a moment to address the situation constructively. Start by explaining why the text does not align with the rules or criteria of the challenge. Then, replace it with another text from the same team that better fits the prompt. This approach reinforces the importance of staying on topic, encourages accountability, and ensures a fairer outcome for all participants.

4. Strategies for how to present finalists

The way you choose to orchestrate the final can significantly impact the number of teachable moments you create with your class. We encourage you to reflect on your approach and experiment with different variations to observe how your students respond and maximize learning opportunities.

1. Teachers read texts in alphabetical order
   Presenting team texts in alphabetical order ensures fairness, as the randomized order eliminates any perceived advantages.

2. Teachers read the best texts first
   Starting with the text that has the most potential can set a high standard for the class and give you a better opportunity to highlight strong writing techniques, explain literary devices, and clarify your expectations for quality work. This approach works well to inspire students and show them what success looks like.

3. Focus on thoughtful texts
   Subtly steer attention toward texts that demonstrate effort and align with the prompt. Spending more time discussing well-crafted texts sends a clear message that emphasizes their value.

4. Students read their own text
   If your students feel confident and are comfortable speaking in front of the class, this strategy allows them to practice reading aloud and performing. However, be mindful that some students might vote based on personality or delivery rather than the quality of the text. Use this approach thoughtfully to ensure fairness.

5. Let a student control the presentation
   Assigning a student to control the presentation interface gives them a leadership role and frees you to circulate around the room. This empowers students, builds their confidence, and gives you more opportunities to observe, coach, or address individual learning needs.

5. Effective Analysis of Student Texts

Analyzing the finalists’ texts is a golden opportunity for you to shine as a teacher and provide frequent feedback to your students. This moment is particularly effective because inductive learning keeps students highly engaged—they’re eager to listen, improve, and win. By using peer texts as role models and combining your guidance, you can foster both learning and motivation.

1. Positive feedback
   Highlight specific strengths in the text, such as vivid imagery, creative ideas, or effective use of a personal tone. Celebrate successes to build confidence and encourage students to learn from each other’s strengths and areas for improvement.

2. Explain literary devices through examples
   Use the feature at the bottom of the screen to highlight relevant literary devices directly within the text. By clicking on a specific device, you can draw students' attention to how it’s used in context. Repeating this process over time creates powerful teachable moments, helping students recognize patterns and better understand how these devices enhance writing. This hands-on approach makes learning more engaging and impactful as they see these concepts come to life in texts they’re already invested in.

3. Explain the challenge criteria
   Each challenge comes with a default focus, but you’re free to adapt or create your own criteria—either by explaining it verbally or writing it on the board for all challenges. If you choose to stick with the default focus, it’s essential to help students understand how and why certain texts excel at meeting the criteria while others may fall short. Discussing these differences not only clarifies expectations but also fosters critical thinking and helps students refine their writing skills.

4. Offer critical feedback
   Provide clear, actionable suggestions for improvement, such as refining sentence structure, staying on topic, or adding more detail. Frame your feedback as opportunities for growth, encouraging students to see critique as part of their learning journey.

6. Comparing Two Texts: A Back-and-Forth Analysis

Comparing two texts can create powerful teachable moments, especially when the texts offer clear contrasts. This approach helps students analyze writing critically and understand what makes one text more effective than another. By comparing texts in real time, you not only engage students in critical thinking but also show them how to apply these insights to their own writing. These moments can leave a lasting impact on their skills and confidence when writing longer pieces. Here are two scenarios to consider:

1. Contrasting tones or styles
   When two texts differ significantly—such as one being very suspenseful while the other is less so—it provides an excellent opportunity for discussion. Ask questions like: "Why does this text feel scarier than the other?" or "What techniques are being used here?" Guide students to explore elements like word choice, sentence structure, and imagery to uncover how these contribute to tone and impact.

2. Contrasting strengths of arguments
   If one argument is clearly stronger than the other, dive deeper into the differences. Discuss with students:

• "What makes this argument more convincing?"

• "How is evidence used effectively here?"

• "What role does emotional persuasion or logical structure play?"

7. Recap before allowing students to vote

Presenting 3-5 texts in the finale can be overwhelming for some students, especially when they may have forgotten the first ones by the end. To help them process the options and make thoughtful decisions, here are strategies teachers have successfully used to slow down the pacing and ensure a better voting experience:

1. Recap finalists
   Point to each finalist text on the board and provide a brief recap, highlighting a vivid phrase, memorable character, or unique plot point from each story.

2. Remind students to vote thoughtfully
   Use your voice as the teacher to guide their focus. Encourage students to prioritize the criteria and the prompt’s intention. Reinforce this by emphasizing what defines high-quality writing. Encourage them to vote based on writing quality and creativity rather than humor or popularity.

These steps help students feel less rushed, reduce decision-making stress, and promote a more thoughtful, criteria-based voting process.

8. Ending of the Competition

Our goal is to help teachers celebrate all students’ efforts while fostering a growth mindset in the classroom. However, some teachers have shared that their students thrive on a bit of competition and exposure. Here are some strategies to balance celebration and encouragement while keeping all students motivated:

1. Celebrate winning team members
   Ask the winning team members to raise their hands, and encourage the class to applaud their efforts. This recognition can be especially impactful for struggling students who were part of a strong writing team, as it boosts their confidence and encourages them to keep trying.

2. Celebrate total word count
   Write the class’s total word count on the board and challenge them to surpass it in future sessions. This collaborative goal emphasizes growth and teamwork over individual competition.

3. Highlight overlooked texts
   Scroll through texts intentionally to pause on standout pieces at the end of the session. Use this opportunity to celebrate these “hidden gems,” giving them the recognition they deserve and reinforcing that every student’s effort matters.

These strategies help end the competition on a positive and inclusive note, celebrating both individual and collective achievements while promoting a culture of growth and learning.

9. After a successful competition

After a successful match, students often feel a strong sense of satisfaction and excitement about their work. Many may even want to continue developing their texts and ideas. This enthusiasm provides you with countless opportunities to foster growth and development beyond the WeWillWrite platform. Here are some ideas inspired by our community of teachers to help students refine their skills and creativity:

1. Improve grammar and punctuation
   Print or email the students’ texts and ask them to focus on improving grammar and punctuation. Have them return the revised versions for feedback or discussion.

2. Revise texts by hand
   Provide printed copies of their texts with your comments and suggestions. Ask students to rewrite their improved versions by hand to reinforce blended learning.

3. Peer feedback: two stars and a wish
   Print out the texts and have students read their peers’ work. Ask them to identify two strengths (stars) and one suggestion (wish), then return the feedback to the author.

4. Team collaboration
   Print all team texts and have each team sit together to create a new, collaborative story inspired by elements from their original pieces. This activity emphasizes teamwork and creativity.

5. Extend writing in Google Docs
   Ask students to copy their text into Google Docs and continue developing it, focusing on expanding ideas, adding details, or enhancing structure (beginning, middle and end).

6. Design a project in Book Creator
   Encourage students to take their text into Book Creator, where they can design a visually appealing project that integrates their writing with images, layout, and design elements.

7. Home assignment
   Have students copy their text and use it as the foundation for a home assignment. They can expand it into a more detailed story, essay, or report.

8. Class anthology
   Compile all the final texts into a class anthology to celebrate students’ work.

9. Oral presentations
   Ask students to present their improved texts to the class, focusing on delivery and confidence.

10. Creative extensions
    Use the texts as inspiration for artwork, scripts for short plays, or even multimedia/video projects.

These activities transform competition excitement into ongoing opportunities for growth, creativity, and deeper learning.

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