Matrix Writing

Robert Pottle combined three elements to create his Matrix Writing framework.

1. His ten years of experience teaching writing in an elementary school setting.

2. His experience as a published author, which includes several books and numerous inclusions in today’s most popular anthologies.

3. His five guiding principles for writing instruction.

The five guiding principles that directed the development of Robert Pottle’s Matrix Writing are:

In fact, when Robert first started developing his Matrix Writing framework he was designing it to teach aspiring children’s authors about writing. As the framework took shape, he realized that the framework was useful to writers of all ages. At first, Robert was surprised by this, but with a little more thought, it made perfect sense. If a writing framework is truly authentic it would, by necessity, be useful to writers of all ages - children through to professional writers.

2. It is easier to learn than to unlearn.

It has been said, in reference to learning, that practice does not always make perfect, but practice does make permanent. As teachers we must be careful not to make an inefficient, or worse, an incorrect method permanent in our students. This is why authentic strategies are a must.

3. Teach students to be great writers and those students will get great writing scores.

It is surprising that this is the most controversial guiding principle. If you are truly teaching your students to be great writers, it is only logical that they should get great writing scores. Furthermore, if you are truly teaching your students to be great writers, and they are not getting great writing scores, the problem may not be with the instruction, but with the assessment. One way to check the quality of your assessment tool is to use it to assess some of your favorite published children’s books. If the assessment tool is valid, then those great books should get great scores.

Robert understands that sometimes, through no choice of our own, we, as teachers, need to use less than ideal assessment tools. Robert Pottle’s Matrix Writing does provide a framework, that once internalized by the students, will help their writing to score better in a variety of scoring situations.

4. The more specific a framework is to a genre, the more likely it is to produce great writing.

This is the guiding principle that sets Robert Pottle’s Matrix Writing apart from so many other writing programs. With good intentions, many of today’s writing programs try to be applicable to all forms of writing. Paradoxically, this has the effect of making many writing programs both watered down and too complex at the same time. Robert Pottle’s Matrix Writing is specific to writing stories. Story writing is typically the most common type of writing done in schools. It serves as a great base from which students can more effectively branch out into other types of writing.

5. Assess the product not the process.

There are many great writing programs out there that teach the process of writing. The writing process is important to teach, but it is just one part of creating a great story. The problem of teaching only the writing process is that a student can master the process but still be creating lousy stories. A writer needs to master the writing process AND understand what the Elements, Structure, and Craft of great stories are in order to produce great stories.

Yes, we need to teach the writing process, but we should not lose sight of the fact that the process is a means to an end, that end being a great story. It is that story which should be assessed. Robert Pottle's Matrix Writing provides a framework that can be used to assess the product, not the process. While a writer can master the process and still create substandard writing, it would be difficult to follow this framework and not write an interesting story.