Four+Square+Writing

Westwood adopted a writing method last year that is used school wide. The four square writing method is a step-by-step approach built around a simple graphic organizer that teaches students how to collect and organize ideas and eventually turn them into published works of writing. The basic premise is that as a pre-writing activity the students divide their paper into 4 squares. Across the middle of all 4 squares they draw a long rectangle. In the rectangle they put the topic, 3 boxes are for sub-topics and the 4th box is for a generic wrap-up sentence. After MUCH practice we begin to build on the 4Square method. Along with the stated sub-topic we add 3 bullets in each sub-topic box and write a Prove It! phrase beside each bullet. The students learn that the Prove It! phrase must tell something that was true or factual about the sub-topic for expository writing and a point they wanted to make about the sub-topic in narrative writing. The wrap-up sentence becomes more than just generic, it becomes a sentence that includes the topic, the 3 sub-topics and a conjunction.

The students are given a tool to help them organize their paper before they start writing. This way there is a topic paragraph, 3 sub-topic paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph.