- Curriculum & Instruction
- The Writers' Express
- How It Works
WEX® - How It Works
WEX helps teachers provide structured and systematic writing instruction proven to increase student writing achievement.
Training & Coaching
Educators learn The WEX® Method for teaching writing based on sequential skills that make the greatest impact on student writing. A dynamic feedback system focuses on one skill at a time and enables teachers to work with each student until a skill is mastered.
By continuously showing students the impact their words have on a real audience, and by steadily developing their power to increase that impact, teachers ignite the urge that inspires students to write, and develop the ability that keeps them writing.
Practicing the WEX Method
The WEX Method uses writing as the entryway to reading. Teachers track each student's development through the sequence of skills individually. Each student moves at his or her own pace, moving back and forth between technical skills and expressive abilities to develop a distinctive writing voice.
As students grow increasingly adept at using the WEX writing skills, they begin to observe how published authors use these very same skills. This, in turn, launches a natural, curiosity-driven urge toward the careful analysis of text. WEX enables students to examine a range of texts with the sure competence of craftsmen who understand and appreciate the choices involved in writing.
Delivering the WEX Curriculum
Teachers follow carefully sequenced lessons to create a learning cycle of focused daily practice and targeted feedback. Most WEX lessons consist of six distinct elements that take a total of 45 minutes to complete.
Click any stage of the cycle below to see the WEX Method in action.
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Targeted
Instruction 7-10 minutescloseTargeted Instruction
7-10 minutes
The lesson starts with a teacher-directed discussion in which students review a skill, learn about a new skill, or dig deeper into a skill that was introduced in a previous lesson.
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Skill Drill4x per week
7 minutesorcloseRevisionSkill Drill
4x per week, 7 minutes
Students repeatedly work with one small aspect of a particular skill. The procedures are simple, and the expectations are clear and consistent. Once a week students write in response to a revision assignment in place of the skill drill.
Assignment1x per week
7 minutescloseRevision Assignment
1x per week, 7 minutes
A quick, in-class assignment allows students to practice a specific skill by changing or adding to something already written.
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Verbal
Warm-Up1 minutecloseVerbal Warm-Up
1 minute
The teacher asks a series of questions designed to trigger students’ memories and help them get a quick start on the writing prompt.
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Journal Writing12 minuteswith
closeOver-the-Shoulder
Journal Writing
12 minutes
Teachers post a writing prompt designed to elicit a specific skill; students respond silently and independently.
Conferences30 seconds eachcloseOver-the-Shoulder Conferences
30 seconds each
As students write, the teacher circulates, whispering immediate, individualized feedback or direction.
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Closing1 minute
close
Closing
1 minute
The teacher conducts a quick polling exercise that helps students notice connections to their peers and reflect on the day’s work.
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Feedback1x per week
2-3 minutes per journalcloseFeedback
1x per week, 2-3 minutes per journal
Teachers comment, track skills, and write revisions assignments. Comments show the student how specific details in his or her writing have had an impact on the reader and instruct them on how to move forward.
