December 2025

Some students can write a solid paragraph and then completely fall apart when asked to keep going with writing body paragraphs. You might see: This isn’t a failure of instruction. It’s a sign that students have reached the edge of their current writing endurance. Writing beyond one paragraph requires a different kind of stamina. This post […]

Once students can write more than a few sentences, the next challenge appears quickly: Keeping those sentences focused on one idea in writing paragraphs practice. This is often where writing falls apart. Students may write several unrelated sentences, repeat themselves, or shut down altogether when asked to write a full paragraph. So let’s talk about paragraph endurance.

When trying to get students to work on expanding sentences, at some point, almost every educator hears it: “I’m done.”“I don’t know what else to write.”“Do we really need five sentences?” And often, the student has written two or three when their protests ring out. When this happens, it’s tempting to assume students are being

If students shut down, rush through writing, or constantly ask, “How many sentences does this have to be?” the issue often isn’t ability. It’s engagement, and engaging reluctant writers is the next mountain to climb when you’re building writing endurance with your students. Before students can build writing endurance, they need a reason to stay with the work.

If students groan, stop after two sentences, or complain that their hand hurts when it’s time to write, it’s easy to assume the problem is motivation or effort. Often physical writing stamina is the culprit. For many students, especially in upper elementary, writing is physically exhausting before it ever becomes mentally challenging. If their hands tire quickly,