Learn with Mr. Lind

One of the most practical writing strategies discussed in The Writing Revolution is the use of “Because, But, So” sentence stems.
Students begin with a statement and then expand it by:
✔ Explaining (because)
✔ Contrasting (but)
✔ Drawing conclusions (so)
The strategy is simple, but it encourages critical thinking and helps students learn how to develop ideas in writing.
One thing I particularly liked was how the book recommends starting with teacher-created sentence stems before gradually having students create their own.
Strong writing often begins with strong thinking.
And sometimes a little structure goes a long way.

One of the key ideas emphasized in The Writing Revolution is that students need explicit instruction in writing.

Part of that instruction is helping students understand the difference between editing and revising.

Editing focuses on correcting mistakes such as spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.

Revising focuses on improving the writing itself by strengthening ideas, adding details, improving organization, and clarifying meaning.

As a teacher and tutor, I often teach these skills separately because they require different types of thinking.

One of the biggest lessons students can learn is that strong writing rarely appears in a first draft.

It is usually built through revision.

And that’s where real growth occurs.

📚 Lessons from The Writing Revolution #1: The Power of Summarizing

One of the biggest takeaways from The Writing Revolution was the importance of teaching students how to summarize effectively.

Research suggests that summarizing can improve comprehension, retention, and critical thinking because it forces students to identify the most important information and organize it clearly.

This is one of the reasons I spend so much time reading articles with students, annotating texts, discussing main ideas, and organizing responses before we begin writing.

Strong writing often begins with strong thinking.

And summarizing is one of the best ways to practice it.

☀️ Summer Learning Tip #5: Learn Something New

Summer is a great time for students to learn a new skill.

But here’s a tip for parents:

Try connecting that new skill to something your child either loved or struggled with during the school year.

🎾 Tennis → scorekeeping & math

🎸 Music → patterns, fractions & rhythm

🍳 Cooking → measurement & fractions

🌎 Language → reading & communication

✏️ Journaling → writing practice

The goal isn’t to turn summer into school.

The goal is to help students see that learning is connected.

Some of the best learning happens when students don’t even realize they’re practicing important skills.

☀️ Summer Learning Tip #4: Be Bored

This may sound strange, but I think boredom can actually be good for students.

Many children today are constantly busy with camps, sports, lessons, practices, and activities.

When they finally have free time, it’s easy to immediately turn to a screen.

But some of the best learning happens when students have time to think, wonder, create, and explore their own interests.

Boredom often leads to curiosity.

And curiosity often leads to learning.

This summer, don’t be afraid to leave a little room in the schedule for students to discover what interests them.

☀️ Summer Learning Tip #3: Review & Preview

Summer doesn’t have to be about getting far ahead.

Instead, I often encourage students to:

✅ Review a math topic from the previous year

and then

✅ Preview how that same skill will be used next year.

Examples:
➕ Multiplication → Multi-digit multiplication
➗ Division → Long division
🍕 Fractions → Fraction operations
🔢 Decimals → Percentages

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that students don’t always need more math.

Sometimes they need more confidence with the math they’ve already learned.

Summer is a great opportunity to strengthen foundations and start the next school year feeling prepared.

I think writing is one of the most important things students can do over the summer.

The key, however, is not assigning essays or worksheets.

Instead, focus on creating a simple writing routine.

Some ideas:
✏️ Five-minute free writes
✏️ Vacation journals
✏️ Movie reviews
✏️ Restaurant reviews
✏️ Funny memories
✏️ Creative stories

I often tell families that I don’t really care whether students write in a notebook or type on a computer.

The important thing is that they’re writing.

One thing I’ve learned after years of teaching writing is that strong writers become strong writers by writing consistently.

And honestly, just five minutes a day can go a long way.

Parents often ask me what students should do academically over the summer.

My answer is usually simple:

Read.

Not because it's homework.Not because it's required.

Because reading supports vocabulary, comprehension, writing, critical thinking, and curiosity.

A few practical tips:📚 Keep books visible.📚 Create a small daily routine.📚 Let students choose what they read.📚 Model reading yourself.

And remember:

Summer reading doesn't have to look like school.

One of the most important comma rules I teach students is using commas with FANBOYS (coordinating conjunctions).

While I teach all seven, I spend the most time on AND, BUT, OR, and SO because those are the conjunctions students use most often.

More importantly, I want students to notice what's happening on BOTH sides of the conjunction.

Example:

“Billy studied all week, but he still felt nervous before the test.”

Both sides contain a complete thought with a subject and a verb.

Once students learn to spot complete thoughts, commas start making a lot more sense — and run-on sentences become much easier to avoid.

One comma lesson that really helps students level up their writing is commas with appositives.

I often teach students this structure:
• proper noun
• comma
• extra information
• comma
• finish the sentence

Example:
“Michael Jordan, a six-time NBA champion, changed the game of basketball forever.”

One of the biggest clues:
If the sentence still makes sense without the extra information, commas usually belong there.

At On the Write Track, we start introducing sentence structures like this early because students are capable of more sophisticated writing than people sometimes realize.

Often, students simply haven’t been taught or challenged to try it yet.