HOW TO TEACH WRITING IN SPECIAL EDUCATION WITH STEP-BY-STEP EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION

Teaching writing in a self-contained special education classroom can feel overwhelming for both students and teachers. Many students with disabilities come in with limited writing instruction or inconsistent experiences. And let’s be real: there aren’t a lot of writing programs out there that are truly accessible for our learners. That’s why explicit writing instruction is essential.

If your students freeze when asked to write a sentence or if you find yourself avoiding writing because it’s “just too hard”, you’re not alone. But with the right supports, structure, and scaffolds, your students can learn to write and even enjoy it.

In this post, I’ll walk you through how I teach expository writing in a self-contained setting using a scaffolded, step-by-step approach that builds confidence and foundational skills.

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Why Start with Expository Writing?

I like to begin my writing groups with expository writing because it's the most concrete writing form. There’s less pressure to be creative and more focus on facts, which makes it easier for students to learn sentence structure, editing, and organizing ideas.

Because expository writing is all about facts and details, it allows us to practice writing in a structured, predictable way. That predictability is huge for students who benefit from routines and clear expectations.

Step 1: Teaching Complete Sentences

Before we even think about writing a paragraph, we spend time mastering complete sentences.

• We define what makes a sentence complete (capital letter, subject, verb, punctuation).

• We correct lots of nonexamples together on the board.

• We use visual supports like anchor charts (you can grab a free one in my Resource Library) to reinforce what belongs in a sentence.

This is also a great time to introduce editing skills. Students love “fixing” broken sentences, and it reinforces sentence structure in a fun, interactive way.

Step 2: Gathering Text Evidence and Taking Notes

Next, we introduce note-taking using graphic organizers. I love starting with a bubble map where the main topic goes in the center and supporting details are written around it.

✅ Pro tip: Explicitly teach what a “detail” is.

✅ Use mentor texts and think-alouds to model how to find details in the text.

This step builds the foundation for paragraph writing and gives students confidence in organizing their thoughts visually before writing them out in full sentences.

Step 3: Writing Detail Sentences

Once students have their notes, we start writing detail or supporting sentences. This part is often the easiest because the students are just turning their own notes into full sentences.

To scaffold:

• I provide a pre-written topic sentence and conclusion sentence so students can focus just on the body of the paragraph.

• We go over each note and practice turning it into a sentence.

• We mark up our notes in our notebooks together.

  
  

This helps students see the connection between note-taking and paragraph writing, while removing the cognitive overload of generating everything at once.

Step 4: Teaching Conclusion Sentences

After students are comfortable with detail sentences, we focus on conclusion sentences. I teach that a conclusion wraps up the writing and answers: “What did I just read about?”

We use sentence starters like:

• “In conclusion, ___”

• “This paragraph was about ___”

• “To sum it up, ___”

  
  

Practicing these sentence frames gives students confidence to summarize without simply repeating.

Step 5: Crafting Topic Sentences (The Hardest Part!)

Topic sentences are usually the most difficult part for my students, so I save this for last. Without support, many students write something like “This is about frogs,” or just copy the title.

To scaffold topic sentences, I give them three sentence starters to choose from:

1. A “Did you know?” question→ Did you know that frogs can live in water and on land?

2. A descriptive sentence→ Frogs are amazing animals that live all over the world.

3. An interesting fact→ Frogs can jump over 20 times their body length!

   
   

Giving choices with structure empowers students to write better topic sentences without getting stuck. And even though I provided topic sentences in the earlier writing steps, I revisit and model how to write them independently. We practice, revise, and celebrate even small improvements.

Why This Works: Building Writing Skills Over Time

By explicitly teaching each part of the paragraph separately, students are able to master one piece at a time. This scaffolded writing instruction works beautifully in self-contained classrooms where students may need repeated practice and individualized supports.

I typically spend the entire first year focusing on expository writing. And that’s okay! By the second year, we can branch out into:

• Narrative writing

• Writing letters and emails

• “How-to” writing and procedural texts

  
  

When students have a solid foundation, they’re more willing to take risks and build on their skills.

Make It Easier on Yourself (and Your Students)

With a consistent, explicit approach to writing instruction, your students will grow, and they’ll start to see themselves as writers. I created a resource called The Writing Process that walks through everything I just shared. Plus, it gives you editable templates and tools to make it your own!

Here's what's included:

✔ A 5-day lesson outline & editable planning templates

✔ Anchor charts for each part of a paragraph

✔ Graphic organizers for brainstorming

✔ Guided & independent writing pages

✔ Topic sentence and related detail task cards

✔ A fading schedule for writing support

✔ Data collection sheet and basic writing rubric

✔ Sample IEP goals for writing paragraphs

The Writing Process | Paragraph Writing Unit for Special Education

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Want to brainstorm ideas for your classroom or talk writing instruction? Come hang out with me on Instagram @missluluspecialed. I’d love to hear how writing is going in your classroom!