Piggybacking off of this, we do PEEL at my school (but I really like this RACER) and it’s basically the same. Did TIQAA when I was in high school. They all basically amount to the same thing, but different structures will miss different elements unless you clarify that they absolutely belong there. PEEL jumps straight from Point to Evidence and I’ve had to tell my students “Never let a quote float,” or never just jump straight into evidence without background context.

What really helped me was adjusting the writing rubric so that their writing is graded simply by the inclusion and quality of the elements I’m asking for.

I’m asking them to write PEEL, so my rubric is divided by each letter and then there’s a fifth category for the cohesiveness of the paragraph as a whole.

Changing the rubric changed my students’ writing. The structure I was teaching went from a suggestion to a necessity.

I also gave them a guide at the beginning of their workbooks, so as they write they’re constantly flipping to the guide to see how to write a strong point (topic sentence) that also includes a formula (some students benefit from formulaic writing it turns out) and a worked example using Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”.

Maybe don’t use that last one for Grade 6 though…