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What will my students see when completing a Writing Coach assignment?

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Writing Coach guides students through a structured writing process that helps them plan, write, and revise an essay with support from Khanmigo.

Whether students access Writing Coach through Khan Academy Classroom (KAC) or the standalone Writing Coach site, the writing experience is nearly identical. This article explains what students will experience during each stage of a Writing Coach assignment and highlights the few differences where they exist.

The student writing process

Students complete Writing Coach assignments in five stages:

  1. Understand the assignment
  2. Create an outline
  3. Write a first draft
  4. Complete the completeness check
  5. Revise the essay

1. Understand the assignment

Students begin by reviewing the essay prompt and any instructions you've provided.

During this stage, students can:

  • Read the assignment prompt and instructions.
  • Ask Khanmigo questions about the assignment.
  • Get help understanding what the prompt is asking.
  • Receive suggestions for how to get started.

Khanmigo can help students understand the assignment, but it won't generate essay content for them.

When students are ready, they continue to the outlining stage.

 

2. Create an outline

 

Before writing, students organize their ideas using a graphic organizer.

Depending on the assignment, students can add:

  • A thesis statement
  • Body paragraphs
  • Supporting evidence
  • Reasoning and explanations
  • External sources

Students can also add additional body paragraphs, rearrange sections, or remove sections they no longer need.

Throughout this stage, students can ask Khanmigo questions or request feedback on their outline. Khanmigo helps students develop their ideas, but it won't generate outline content for them.

Note: If a student pastes more than 10 words into the Thesis/Claim, Main point/Topic, or Reasoning/Explanation fields, you'll see a Questionable originality flag in the student's report. Students aren't notified when these flags are generated.

3. Write a first draft

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Students use their completed outline to write the first draft of their essay.

While drafting, students can:

  • View their outline alongside the essay editor.
  • Copy sections from their outline into their draft.
  • Ask Khanmigo questions or request feedback.
  • Review the assignment instructions at any time.

Khanmigo can provide guidance throughout the drafting process, but it won't write the essay for the student.

Note: If a student pastes more than 15 words into their draft that didn't originate from their outline, you'll see an originality flag in the student's report with additional details for review.

Important: Students can only submit their first draft for feedback once. After moving to the revision stage, they can't return to rewrite their original draft from scratch.

 

4. Complete the completeness check

Before feedback begins, Writing Coach reviews the student's draft to determine whether it's ready for revision.

If the draft needs additional work—for example, it's too short or missing major sections—the student will be prompted to continue writing before moving on.

This helps ensure students receive meaningful feedback on a complete draft.

 

 

5. Revise the essay

Rather than presenting all feedback at once, Writing Coach guides students through revisions one category at a time.

Students work through four feedback categories in this order:

  1. Thesis & Focus – Is the main argument clear and well-defined?
  2. Evidence & Reasoning – Are ideas supported with strong evidence and explanation?
  3. Structure & Organization – Is the essay logically organized?
  4. Language – Is the writing clear, precise, and appropriate?

For each category, students:

  1. Review the feedback.
  2. Revise their essay.
  3. Ask Khanmigo follow-up questions if they need additional guidance.
  4. Continue to the next category after completing their revisions.

Khanmigo won't tell students exactly what to write. Instead, it provides guidance and actionable suggestions that help students strengthen their own writing.

This guided approach encourages students to focus on one aspect of their writing at a time instead of trying to revise everything at once.

 

After students finish

The final step depends on how students accessed Writing Coach.

Students using Khan Academy Classroom (KAC)

After completing all four revision categories, students see an End-of-Task card confirming they've completed the assignment.

They also earn 10 gems before returning to their learning queue.

 

Students can then export their work as:

  • Microsoft Word (.docx)
  • Google Drive (requires a Google account)

Their completed essay remains available if they return later.

 

Preview the student experience

If you'd like to experience Writing Coach from a student's perspective before assigning it:

In Khan Academy Classroom (KAC)

Open your Assignments page and select Preview from the assignment's options menu.

In standalone Writing Coach

Open one of the sample essays available from the My essays page (or the essay library).

 

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