Professional Learning
EmPOWER

A method for teaching academic writing

Need better school-wide writing outcomes?
Choose the right training program for you.

Private Course

If your school is not getting the writing outcomes you want, and you need help.

Online Course

If you are an SLP or educator who wants to learn EmPOWER now, join our online course.

Writing is hard for SO MANY students

They can’t get started. They don’t write very much, and when they do, their ideas are disorganized. They ramble off topic and don’t answer the question.

Some have tons of ideas, but they don’t know how to get them out of their heads.

They’re stuck!

The way writing is taught isn’t working

Students who struggle with language, literacy, and learning need more explicit instruction in writing. With a reliable way to approach writing and insight into how language works, they do better.

A simple cartoon of a stick figure looking worried while trying to juggle multiple balls, with several falling to the ground, symbolizing being overwhelmed or struggling to manage tasks.

Writing: the ultimate juggling act

To write, students must manage many things simultaneously: handwriting, spelling, punctuation, word choice, grammar, purpose, organization, clarity, and rhythm, to name just a few.

Mix in feelings of anxiety, overwhelm, or disinterest — chronic problems for so many students with learning challenges — and there are simply too many balls to juggle all at once.

Students convince themselves that they can’t do it. Once that negative self-story sets in, it’s unlikely to change.

Writing goes where self-talk goes

In our effort to understand how to help students who struggle with writing, we asked them what they were saying to themselves as they sat with their writing assignments.

Their answers were heart breaking. They were drowning in negative thoughts about themselves. Their struggle with organizing language was palpable, and they envisioned a lifetime of failure.

We realized that the most important thing we needed to change was the conversation students were having inside their own heads. They also needed better tools for harnessing all the ideas that were stuck there.

To do that, we needed to change the conversation teachers were having with them about writing and give them more effective tools for teaching.

EmPOWER solves all of these problems

Drawing on the best research, we merged self-talk, dialogic instruction, and a set of visual tools that illustrate how language works.

A more systematic way to teach the writing process

EmPOWER is an explicit way to teach the writing process in six, finely articulated steps:

A graphic showing the word 'EMPOWER' as steps on a staircase, each letter representing an action: E for Evaluate, M for Make a plan, P for Plan, O for Organize, W for Work, E for Evaluate, and R for Re-work. A stick figure is climbing the staircase, symbolizing progression and empowerment.

Our secret sauce

At its core, the EmPOWER method consists of 9 questions, 10 visual tools, and 5 strategies that support academic writing. It can be used in grades 2 through 12 to guide expository and narrative writing.

Using EmPOWER, teachers pose the same set of questions each and every time students sit to write, opening a dialogue to explore options together. Each question triggers the use of a strategy or visual tool that students use to organize their ideas. Ultimately, students decide what they want to say and how to assemble their ideas and express them clearly.

As students move through the writing process with EmPOWER, they make all the decisions, and they are in full control. Rather than guess or ramble, their conscious choices give birth to ideas expressed well on paper.

A simple cartoon of a stick figure sitting at a desk, holding a paper and a pen, with a stack of books labeled 'Step 1' and 'Step 2' nearby. The figure has a thought bubble with question marks, indicating confusion or deep thinking.
A simple cartoon of a smiling stick figure holding up a sign that says 'HOW,' symbolizing a question or inquiry about a process or solution.

EmPOWER keeps the focus on HOW, not WHAT

WHAT students write in school is dictated by school-wide curriculum and the content goals of individual teachers.

EmPOWER leaves the WHAT up to teachers and focuses on HOW. It gives them a way to navigate the writing process from start to finish and express thoughts and ideas in a way that makes sense.

Because every written text begs for a smart process, EmPOWER supports any writing assignment in any grade and any content area.

The key to success: A universal approach

When used by a whole school community, EmPOWER aligns general and special education seamlessly across all tiers of instruction as well as all grades and content areas.

Everyone speaks the same language, so students have the consistency they need to excel.

Measurable gains in just one year

School-based action research at The Summit School shows students using EmPOWER make statistically significant gains in how much and how well they write within just one year.

These gains hold into the following school year, impervious to the “summer slide.”

Both teachers and students report gains in self-confidence.

Increased confidence shifts the stories they tell themselves about what they can do and what’s possible for them in the future.

A 3D bar graph showing data for grades 2 through 7 across three time points: September (yellow bars), January (blue bars), and May (red bars). The bars increase in height from grade 2 to grade 7, indicating growth or change over time.
Number of words written improved at every grade level
A 3D bar graph showing data for grades 2 through 7 across three time points: September (yellow bars), January (blue bars), and May (red bars). The bars increase in height from grade 2 to grade 7, with noticeable growth between the time points for each grade.
Composition quality improved at every grade level
A 3D bar graph with four categories on the x-axis: Minimal, Somewhat, Moderate, and Significant. The y-axis represents numerical values from 0 to 15. The bars increase in height from Minimal to Significant, with the Significant category having the tallest bar.
To what degree has EmPOWER enhanced your success with teaching expository writing?
A 3D bar graph comparing two categories: Agree and Disagree. The y-axis represents numerical values, with Agree having a much taller bar around 50 and Disagree having a shorter bar around 10, indicating a significantly higher agreement rate.
EmPOWER helps me write well
Blue quotation mark

EmPOWER gave me the language I desperately needed to teach my students. I developed an eye for many of the behind-the-scenes difficulties kids were having, difficulties that had to do not with grammar and spelling, but with managing the planning, organizing, and holding processes necessary to create a text.

Greg S. Middle school English teacher

Blue quotation mark

In the past, teaching students how to write was exhausting because I could never really get students to think for themselves. With EmPOWER, they’ve become independent thinkers. Now, when they have a question, all I do is redirect them. They know how to work out their writing problem on their own.

Rocio E., Speech-Language Pathologist

Blue quotation mark

My students’ confidence has soared with EmPOWER. They now have a ‘can do’ attitude about writing. Now I spend a lot less time clarifying, and students spend more time working independently.

Elisa P., Grades 3-7 Special education teacher

A diagram titled 'Benefits of EmPOWER' divided into two sections: 'Students' and 'You,' each with a list of benefits. Under 'Students': 1. Know how to get started and work their way through any writing assignment, 2. Gain strategies for organizing ideas that can be used for a lifetime, 3. Supports working memory and the spatial underpinnings of language that shape text development, 4. Anxiety about writing goes down, and self-confidence soars. Under 'You': 1. Have an instructional routine and set of strategies you can use year after year, 2. Learn proven strategies you can use in every grade, every content area, and with students of all ability levels, 3. Explain abstract concepts about how written language works in a way students can understand, 4. Swell with pride and joy as students shift from 'I can’t' to 'I can!'

Private Course

If your school is not getting the writing outcomes you want, and you need help.

Online Course

If you are an SLP or educator who wants to learn EmPOWER now, join our online course.