A middle school English teacher recently asked for help finding effective bell work after being told that the daily grammar practice she had used for years was no longer “good enough.” Instead, administrators wanted bell work that more directly prepared students for the state test.
I understand the frustration. The pressure to demonstrate that every classroom activity is aligned with state testing is very real.
But the request might also be a blessing in disguise.
Our goal as English teachers is not simply to prepare students to answer isolated questions about grammar, punctuation, or sentence structure. We are trying to help them become lifelong writers and thinkers. Unfortunately, isolated grammar drills or worksheets rarely transfer into students’ authentic writing (Collier, 2022; Collet & Greiner, 2020). A student may correctly identify a comma splice on Monday, still misuse commas on Tuesday, and note remember what a comma splice (or noun) is the next week.
This is why students need opportunities to use language in context, to build muscle memory like athletes.
The bell work routine that changed my classroom
After participating in a National Writing Project summer institute, I replaced my traditional bell work with quick writes. This activity was game-changing—not because I abandoned grammar instruction or test preparation, but because quick writes allowed me to address those needs through actual writing. Just like a coach teaches students how to throw or hit a ball by having them actually engage in the activity, I started working with students within the context of their own writing.
For those of you who may be new here: a quick write is a brief period of uninterrupted, low-stakes writing. Students are invited to explore an idea without worrying about whether every sentence is polished or every answer is “correct.”
The routine can be simple:
- Project a compelling, open-ended prompt.
- Set a timer for two to five minutes.
- Ask students to write continuously. I write with my students so they see me modeling what we're doing and see that I value the process as a writer.
- Give students a minute or two to share with a partner. If there are an odd number of students, I'll share with whoever is left over.
- Invite one or two students to share with the class. If they don't share, you share your quick write.
The entire routine can take only five to seven minutes.
While sometimes stopping for five minutes and writing with the students can be difficult, but it's improtant. Doing so reminds them that writing is not merely something students complete for teachers. It is something people use to think, reflect, question, remember, and make meaning.
Quick writes are test preparation
Quick writes may not look like traditional test preparation, but they develop many of the abilities students need when they encounter an unfamiliar prompt on a high-stakes assessment.
Students practice:
- generating ideas quickly;
- sustaining attention;
- writing under a time constraint;
- developing confidence;
- forming opinions;
- supporting ideas with details;
- responding to unfamiliar topics; and
- continuing to write even when the perfect words do not immediately appear.
These skills are difficult to develop through worksheets alone.
When students write regularly, the blank page becomes less intimidating. They begin to trust that they can generate an idea, explore it, and shape it into something meaningful.
Grammar still has a place
Replacing daily grammar worksheets with quick writes does not mean abandoning grammar instruction.
Instead, grammar can become part of the writing.
One day, students might respond to an opinion question. On another, they might reflect on a quotation, connect a theme to their own experience, or write from the perspective of a character. A quick write could also ask students to revise a confusing sentence or improve a messy paragraph.
After students write, the teacher might select one sentence (anonymously or from their own writing) to examine as a class. Students can discuss how punctuation, sentence structure, word choice, or organization changes the meaning.
Grammar instruction becomes more powerful when students can see what the choices are doing inside real writing.
Protecting what matters most
We do need to prepare students for state assessments. But the strongest preparation is not always the activity that looks most like the test.
A five-minute quick write routine builds the stamina, flexibility, confidence, and idea-generation skills students need to respond when a test places an unexpected prompt in front of them.
More importantly, quick writes protect what matters most: helping students discover that their ideas are worth expressing.
That is a skill they will need long after the state testing window closes.
You can read more about building a quick-writing routine in The Importance of Quickwriting in the Classroom.
References
Collier, L. (2022). Teaching Grammar in Context. Council Chronicle, 19–21.
Collet, V. S., & Greiner, A. C. (2020). Revisioning Grammar Instruction through Collaborative Lesson Study: A New Apprenticeship of Observation. Literacy Research and Instruction, 59(2), 95–120. https://doi.org/10.1080/19388071.2019.1709927