1998, my second year of teaching, I attended a 12-hour Project CRISS training and heard something that has shaped every lesson I have planned since: writing is a commitment on paper. That idea shaped how I planned lessons then, and it still shapes how I think about instruction today.
When students write, they commit to an idea, an explanation, a claim, or a connection. Writing forces learners to slow down, make choices, and show their thinking. In social studies, students tackle perspective, cause and effect, continuity and change, and the use of evidence. Writing gives those ideas structure and purpose. Still, writing in social studies can feel overwhelming. Students often respond with an immediate “oh no”. Teachers often wonder how to fit writing into an already full curriculum.
Writing does not need to be perfect to matter. When students write a little and write often, they use writing as a thinking tool instead of a final performance. Short, purposeful writing moments allow students to try ideas, revise their thinking, and deepen understanding without worrying about perfection.
Frequent low stakes writing helps students commit their thinking to paper, clarify ideas, make sense of content, build confidence with academic language, and strengthen historical reasoning over time. When students pick up a pen or open a document, they work through ideas instead of copying information. Writing becomes part of learning, not something students avoid. This connects directly to an upcoming Region 7 featured event, Write a Little, a Lot in Social Studies, led by the team from s3strategies.
During Write a Little a Lot in Social Studies, teachers will explore practical writing strategies that fit naturally into social studies instruction. The focus stays on meaningful, authentic tasks that extend student thinking and raise rigor while remaining realistic for classroom use. Teachers can adapt each strategy across upper elementary, middle school, and high school classrooms.
Writing a little and writing often does not mean doing more. It means asking students to commit to their thinking, their learning, and their understanding in small but powerful ways. This belief has guided my work for decades. It still matters. If writing plays a role in how you want students to think and learn in social studies, I hope you will join us.
Let’s turn “oh no” into “I am ready” to commit my thinking onto paper. Our featured event, Write a Little a Lot in Social Studies takes place on March 2, 2026.
