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Interesting archived blog post from @briankoppelman advocating against relying on prescriptive practices as enshrined in screenwriting books when writing for movies. He articulates the kind of process I built The Writer's Practice around. briankoppelman.com/2013/12/31/con…
In The Writer's Practice I set up "experiences" for writers to practice the skills, attitudes, and habits of minds of writers learn to think like a writer and adapt that thinking to unfamiliar genres to figure out how the work yourself. @briankoppelman illustrates that process. 
The argument @briankoppelman makes is artistic, that to develop an original, compelling vision you can't rely on prescriptions. I think that's true, and I think similar values should extend to how we allow students to explore all writing. They will become better writers.
Some may argue that the writing students do is more utilitarian, not "artistic" or creative, but all writing is expressive, and really even a screenplay is utilitarian, a road map for movie. Writing a screenplay is solving a writing problem, the same as a lab report.
We constrain students by offering writing prescriptions so they can perform on assessments, but those assessments often aren't meaningful. They're reductive so they can be standardized. To do well on those, prescriptive teaching can be effective, but it prevents growth.
Rather than giving students templates, I give them experiences. They have to try to solve the writing-related problem inside the experience, and in so doing, build their practices. This makes writers who would be prepared to follow @briankoppelman's screenplay "method."
Anyway, for sale now, The Writer's Practice: Building Confidence in Your Nonfiction Writing. Get it at the indie bookstore near you. indiebound.org/book/978014313…
