Stop Trying to Fix Students' Writing and Do This Instead (Writing Wednesday)

I'm at the Quoddy Writing Retreat in Lubec, Maine, this week, working alongside Ralph Fletcher and Georgia Heard and a room full of writers on completely different projects. Yesterday they gave us three prompts to bring into our response groups each day, and I'm sharing them here because every teacher facilitating peer feedback in a classroom can use these too."This seems to be about..." "I really connected to the part where..." "I wanted to know more about..." These three prompts pull meaning from a writer's work instead of jumping straight to fixing it. That shift matters for how writers apply feedback during peer response time, and it builds real connection instead of surface-level editing comments. These three prompts will change how your students talk to each other about their work.I also want to put a book on your radar: Valerie Bolling's book, Goal Setting in the Writing Classroom, released in 2025. Chapter Four highlights peer feedback and critique groups, and I'm obsessed with it right now.Chapters:0:00 Writing Wednesday from the Quoddy Writing Retreat0:12 Meet the facilitators: Ralph Fletcher and Georgia Heard0:25 Three prompts for response groups0:50 Why these prompts pull meaning instead of fixing writing1:05 Book recommendation: Goal Setting in the Writing Classroom by Valerie Bolling1:20 Chapter Four: peer feedback and critique groups1:30 Sign-off🌿Ready to grow alongside your children? Book a coaching session with me here. We'll unlock the expert who is already within you and surround you with a community of educators committed to forever getting better through collective expertise.#Schoolutions #SchoolutionsPodcast #ForeverGettingBetter #5PracticesOfExpertTeachers #CuriosityDriven #EvidenceBasedClassroomReadyStrategies #WritingWednesday #PeerFeedback #WritingWorkshop #ClassroomBelonging #StudentEngagement #InstructionalStrategies #TeacherCoaching #ActiveLearning #LessonPlanning When teachers, coaches, administrators, and families grow together, they create schools where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged, supported, and ready to thrive.