Written Expression
Strategy: SCOPE Strategy
Age Appropriate: 3rd through 12th grade
Procedures/Steps: The SCOPE strategy helps students improve the quality of their
writing, as it is easily memorized and simple.
1. Spelling: Are all my words spelled correctly?
2. Capitalization: Have I capitalized all appropriate words, including proper nouns,
the first word in each sentence, and people’s names?
3. Order of words: Is my word order correct?
4. Punctuation: Did I use end punctuation and other punctuation marks
appropriately?
5. Expression of complete thoughts: Do all my sentences contain a noun and a verb
to convey a complete thought?
 When students are first learning this strategy, provide them with a handout
with a SCOPE checklist printed on it.
Comments/Tips:
 Teach this strategy by copying a sample first draft onto an overhead.
 Review this as a class, evaluating it for the SCOPE elements. They may then pair
off or work individually and critique one of their own writing samples using
SCOPE.
 A poster can also be created and hung in the classroom for easy reviewing.
Source:
Bos, C.S. & Vaughn, S. (2002). Strategies for teaching students with learning and
Behavior problems. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.