How & Why to Lead Students Through Scaffolded, Collaborative Essays (with a character analysis essay mini-unit)

At least once a year, usually when I am transitioning them from “easier” thinking/writing into more challenging thinking/writing, my students write collaboratively.

In 180 Days, Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher advocate for writing “laps” — circuits of writing in a similar mode or on a similar topic that increase in rigor and intensity as the student “r…