Silent Writing and Index Cards

Writing Recipe: PPT Essay Index Cards

My favorite middle school librarian, who is now retired, taught me one of the best tricks for chunking information. Index Cards. I know, I know it sounds so simple, but it is so true.
I have been struggling to teach middle school writing. We have Chromebooks for every student. It is great, but.....Sometimes it just is not real for students. I like to make reading real and writing. Typing an essay on a computer can put distance between students and their writing. Index cards bridge that gap.
Day 1:
Students work silently. Their names are on the board under the heading: Thesis Statement card. So, I had students create a white index card with just the essay question. Next, we wrote our thesis statement. We did this by creating a "black card" . We took a black marker and drew a black box around one card. We had one card for the restatement, one for each idea. Each idea was a different color: pink, red, and green. They then put all of the cards together on one thesis statement card. I checked each card as students finished for accuracy. I put a red check on the ones which were right to keep track of which cards I had checked. Students move their name on the board to introduction when their card has been checked. Then, they begin working on the introduction.
Day 2:
We took each idea card and turned them into a paragraph based on that idea. Students had a topic sentence card, an evidence card with two pieces of relevant evidence, and a conclusion card. The topic sentence card had to include a transition word. Students names are on the board under Body Paragraphs. Students who finish move their name to Conclusion.
Day 3:
More Silent writing and moving names based on where they are with the writing. Students who are falling behind come at recess to catch up. Students begin working on the Conclusion and Typing the First Draft.
Day 4:

Index Cards PPTStudents complete writing First Draft and Begin Revising using CUPS and ARMS.