It’s important that students write everyday, but that doesn’t mean that each piece will complete all the steps of the writing process. Routine, fluency and on demand writing may not require the full process experience, while other pieces like narrative, expository or persuasive pieces might. In any event, whenever students write they should be thinking about what good writers do. The COPS strategy is a simple visual tool that will help to focus students each time they pick up their pencil.

The strategy can be posted vertically or horizontally in the classroom for all students to see and teachers to reference.

C = Capitalization
O = Organization
P = Punctuation
S = Spelling

Before students write they should be reminded about what they know. Reviewing the strategy before they write will help to focus their thinking. You can review the whole strategy for focus or one piece at a time for a particular writing emphasis. You might say something like, “We know that good writers use a variety of punctuation in their writing, so today, I want you to be thinking about including a variety of punctuation in this assignment”. “What will that look like?”

During the writing, students can be self-monitoring to see that they are using the strategy or focus point. For example, if the focus for the assignment was spelling, the student may say, “Am I using word banks, word walls, thesauri, glossaries, dictionaries, and spellcheck to get that perfect piece?” “Am I thinking about the strategy and making changes as I write?”

After the writing, students can use the strategy or focus to self correct. Some reflection questions could be, “Did I include evidence of the strategy in my writing today? What did I do really well? What do I need to fix? What do I want to remember for the next time I write?” To reflect on a particular focus the writer might revisit the piece looking for evidence of the focus. Perhaps noting examples of the focus in the text would be helpful.
“What corrections do I need to make? Does my writing reflect my focus?”

Thinking about the strategy or working on a particular focus each time students write will help them to strengthen their skills over time. The thinking will become more automatic. The writing will become more fluent.