Everybody Writes
Set silent writing before the discussion, so every student works out an answer first
Use this when
What is it?
Everybody Writes means giving the class a few minutes of silent writing on a question before anyone discusses it. Each student works out an answer on the page, and the discussion that follows is built from what they have written. By the time the first student speaks, every student has already answered, and you have been able to read their thinking as it happened.
The steps
- Choose a question that needs full sentences. Everybody Writes suits questions with a why or a how in them:Why does the writer end the chapter here?A question with a one-word answer is better suited to Show-Me Boards.
- Set the question, the time and the silence together. State all three before any pen moves.In your books: why does the writer end the chapter here? Three minutes, in full sentences, in silence. Go.
- Hold the silence and read over shoulders. Let the first minute settle, then circulate. Read as many answers as you can reach, and note two or three worth hearing aloud, including one that shows a common error.
- Give a warning, then call time. Near the end, say:Thirty seconds. Finish the sentence you are on.Then give your attention signal (your class's rehearsed cue for quiet) and wait for full quiet.
- Open the discussion from the page. Start with an answer you read while circulating, and ask for it word for word.Dana, read me your first sentence.Take the next few answers in the same way. Reading aloud is easier than remembering, and it keeps the discussion close to the writing.
- Send one line back to the books. After the discussion, ask everyone to improve their written answer:Add one sentence you could not have written ten minutes ago.The books then hold both the first answer and the better one.
What it looks like
Mrs Tan's class of 14-year-olds has just read the final scene of An Inspector Calls. "In your books: why does Priestley have the telephone ring at the very end? Three minutes, in silence. Go." Pens begin to move. Two desks in, she stops at Reece's book, which holds a single word: tension. She taps the stem on the board, Priestley wants the audience to…, and moves on.
At three minutes: "Pens down. Dana, read me your first sentence." "Priestley wants the audience to see that nothing has really changed." "Read it again. Everyone, listen for really." Three more answers follow, each one read from a book. The last is Reece's: "Priestley wants the audience to feel the tension come back." She asks the class to add one more sentence, and most books finish the lesson four lines longer.
How you’ll know it’s working
- Pens are moving within about ten seconds of "go", across the whole room, and they keep moving for most of the set time.
- Answers in the discussion arrive as full sentences, often read straight from the page.
- Count the voices in the discussion that follows: eight or ten different speakers take part rather than the usual three.
- Books hold a written answer for every question discussed, and the line added afterwards improves on the first attempt.
Pitfalls & fixes
- A question too small for the writing. "What year was the play written?" earns three words and two idle minutes. Save Everybody Writes for questions that need reasons, and put quick facts on Show-Me Boards.
- Talking over the silence. Clarifications and reminders during the writing pull attention away from the page. Say everything before "go", and hold any afterthought until time is called.
- A discussion that ignores the writing. If nothing they wrote is ever used, students learn that the writing is filler, and effort can fade within a week. Open with a line you read over a shoulder, every time.
- Marking every answer. Thirty short answers per question would bury you by Friday. Read over shoulders during the writing instead, and collect books no more often than you already do.
Weigh it up
Why it’s worth it
- Every student answers every question you set this way. A hands-up discussion hears one answer at a time; here, thirty are written before the first is spoken.
- The discussion that follows is better. Answers arrive rehearsed and in full sentences, and students are more willing to defend an idea they have already committed to paper.
- Cold Call becomes safe. Everyone holds a written answer, so naming any student is fair, and quiet students can take part without having to volunteer.
- You gather assessment evidence as it happens. Two minutes of reading over shoulders reveals misconceptions before the discussion airs them, in time to choose which answers the class hears.
- Writing stamina grows. Several short, low-stakes bursts a week add up, and written answers elsewhere begin to lengthen; a silent burst can also settle a restless room without a single correction.
The costs
- It spends lesson time. Three or four minutes per question means fewer questions per lesson, so the technique belongs on the questions that matter most.
- The silence has to be real, and that is a routine in itself. In a class that cannot yet work quietly, the writing turns into whispering and the benefit disappears with it.
- The gap between writers shows on the page. Your slowest writers produce a line while others fill half a page, and those students need a stem or a tighter question rather than simply more time.
Adaptations
- Early years / lower primary: shrink the writing to a single sentence, or a drawing with a label, and keep the silence to about a minute. One line still gives every child an answer to bring to the carpet.
- Primary: put the writing in books rather than on whiteboards, so that the thinking survives the lesson and can be reread. One to two minutes suits most questions at this age.
- Maths, science and practical subjects: the writing can take the form of working, a labelled diagram or a prediction. "Everyone attempts it in silence, then we compare methods" carries the same benefit as full sentences.
- Post-16 / adult: stretch the writing to five minutes for evaluative questions, and treat the notes as seminar preparation. Adults still benefit from the silence rule; state it once, warmly.
Where this comes from
Doug Lemov codified the pre-discussion format as 'Everybody Writes' in Teach Like a Champion. Beneath it sits the older writing-to-learn tradition, where the research finds that writing about content brings small but genuine gains in learning, strongest when the writing asks students to reflect on their own understanding. The specific move of placing silent writing just before a discussion has not been trialled on its own.
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