If you're a teacher feeling frustrated that your students can't write, you're not alone.
College professors across the country are sounding the alarm: students are arriving on campus without the ability to craft clear, coherent sentences, let alone structured essays. One professor lamented, “Too many of today’s students just can’t write sentences.” (James G. Martin Center)

In 2011, the The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) writing assessment revealed a persistent and troubling trend in student writing performance: only 24% of 8th and 12th graders performed at or above the proficient level in writing. (NCES) 

The Impact of Technology and AI on Writing Skills

The digital revolution has fundamentally changed how students write. While tools like ChatGPT can help with efficiency, it also makes it easy for students to bypass the deep thinking and revision that strong writing requires.

Educators are now navigating a dual challenge: adapting to these new tools while preserving the importance of foundational skills – using AI as a tool to teach structure, syntax, and clarity rather than a replacement for writing instruction. (Washington Post, Business Insider)

Frameworks That Inspire Us 

If students are going to achieve mastery of the written word in the midst of AI dominance, their instructors will need the best curriculum they can get. There are some brilliant minds out there shaping the field of writing instruction. Here are the ones who have been most influential at Redwood: 

• The Writing Revolution®: Built on the Hochman Method® – the brainchild of Judith C. Hochman – this framework breaks down the writing process into digestible steps and connects it to deep thinking skills. Significantly, this approach to writing instruction is designed to be fruitfully embedded in any class, not just language arts. (thewritingrevolution.org)
• Keys to Literacy® and The Writing Rope®: Originated by Joan Sedita, these research-based frameworks beautifully articulate the necessary components of skilled writing. (keystoliteracy.com, Reading Rockets)

We aren’t affiliated with these programs – but, like many teachers, we’ve been inspired by these thought leaders and their novel approaches to instruction.

Where “Writing Our World” Began

In 2019, Kait Feriante, Co-Founder of Redwood Literacy, was teaching the very first cohort at Redwood Day School in Chicago—a school for students with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences. (Redwood Day School)

She had a class of 10 students—each with complex learning profiles—and could not find a structured written expression program that included built-in progress monitoring that worked for her neurodivergent learners. So she started writing her own. She brought on a team of colleagues, and the project flourished.

Using 10-minute lesson plans with applied practice and immediate feedback, she designed writing instruction that actually worked. Students were engaged, teachers were supported, and the seed of something new began to sprout.

Writing Our World™: A Free, Teacher-Friendly Solution

Fast forward to 2025. That seed has blossomed into Writing Our World™—a comprehensive, easy-to-implement writing curriculum that’s helped thousands of students produce strong expository writing while strengthening their reading comprehension, critical thinking, and vocabulary.

And now, Redwood Literacy is making Writing Our World™ available to everyone—100% free. Whether you're teaching second-grade science or twelfth-grade language arts, Writing Our World™ fits into your day—without overhauling your entire curriculum.

Why teachers love it:

• 75 scaffolded substeps guiding students from practicing sentence-level skills to composing multi-paragraph essays
• Each substep has one to five short lessons, including built-in repetition for neurodivergent learners
• Free assessments and rubrics for each substep and pre/post unit assessments for progress monitoring
• Minimal prep time—designed for real teachers with real lives
• Global geography, Tier 2 vocabulary, and digital writing tools
• Works in every content area, from elementary to college

Writing and Reading are Interconnected

Just as handwriting helps students internalize spelling patterns, learning to write a research-based essay enhances reading comprehension, academic confidence, and digital literacy.

Even the most reluctant writers have found success with Writing Our World™ when lessons are delivered with creativity and relentless optimism. Any student can learn to write an essay, and with the right tools any teacher can help them do it.

Join the Waitlist

If you're a teacher or parent who wants to help students write, join us. Writing Our World™ will launch its free membership in the Summer of 2025, and you can sign up now to be the first to access the platform and explore the resources.

Join the Waitlist

Spread the word. Share it with colleagues. Let’s empower the next generation of writers.