Start students in a discussion of the objectives of the writing lesson. For a first writing assignment, clearly define whether the writing objective is informational or creative. Ask the students questions about the topic and have them share their ideas with classmates. Instruct students to write examples of their topic sentences on the board.
Before students begin writing, instruct them to develop an outline of the paragraph structure based on their topic sentence. You may want to provide comments on the outlines as feedback before students start writing the text in the paragraphs. For middle school and above, pair students together and have them take turns critiquing outlines.
How often you check for understanding depends on the skill level and age of your class, as well as whether you've just introduced a new concept. When students struggle to keep writing, take the opportunity to stop and reteach concepts from a new angle. Ask students to share ideas with each other on how to overcome writer's block.
When necessary, continue the three-step writing exercise over several days and break instruction into smaller units. An advantage of this method is that a teacher can group students into different groups of abilities and instruct them at different paces. End the week of instruction with a showcase of completed student work.