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Auburn adopts 'Empowering Writers' K–5 program; teachers report early engagement
Summary
Auburn Public Schools began districtwide K–5 implementation of the Empowering Writers curriculum. Teachers and students described step-by-step annotation and organizer-based lessons; district plans middle-school rollout next year.
Auburn Public Schools began a districtwide rollout of the Empowering Writers instructional program in grades K–5, presenters and administrators told the school committee on Wednesday.
The program emphasizes a common vocabulary and graphic organizers—"the narrative diamond" and the "informational pillar"—that teachers use to guide whole-class reading and writing lessons, Superintendent Dr. Chamberlain said. "Writing is not just a tool to assess learning; it's something that promotes learning," Mr. Kelly said during the committee's teaching-and-learning report.
Erin Kane, a teacher from Swanson Road School, demonstrated classroom practice with two students, Quinn Shanahan and Lila Manje. Kane described beginning instruction with predictable text components and annotation prompts, then moving students from heavily scaffolded tasks toward independent writing. "Students became experts in annotating text, and they have now moved on ... to writing on our own," Kane said.
Student presenter Quinn Shanahan summarized a classroom argumentative exercise that asked, "Should all schools have a pool and require swimming lessons in PE?" The class listed pros and cons, used sentence starters to build claims and then completed a "pillar" organizer as a draft for a multi-paragraph essay. "The issue was, should all schools have a pool and require swim lessons in PE? My claim was not all schools should have a pool ... not every school can afford swimming pools," Shanahan read.
Mr. Kelly told the committee the district chose Empowering Writers after reviewing district data (I-Ready and MCAS results), teacher feedback and vendors. The program will be supported by three half-day professional-development sessions this year for K–5 teachers; grades 6–8 professional development is planned next year. Kelly said the chosen materials integrate with the district's Wonders literacy program to avoid duplicative classroom resources.
School committee members praised classroom engagement and asked about timeline and assessment. Kelly said teachers will use common formative checks and that the program's goal is durable skill-building across grades.
The district will monitor teacher feedback and student work as the program scales; some middle-school teachers are already scheduled to attend a one-day Empowering Writers workshop in February.
