Amping up Agency Blog Series · assessment · self-assessment

Empowering Students with a Kid-Friendly Tool for Self-Assessment: Amping up Agency Blog Series

When students can articulate how they have grown as writers and can name the strategies they’ve used, we help see that they can do it again next time.

agency · assessment · goals · Google Forms · self-assessment · small group · writing workshop

Student Agency, Self-Assessment, and Small Group Instruction

Nudging students toward self-assessment and goal-setting leads to students' increased understanding of what they are working on and why they're working on it. That intentionality is a critical aspect of learning!

Expanding the Reach with Small Group Work Blog Series · mentor texts · minilesson · self-assessment · small group

A Few Tips for Small Group Instruction: Expanding the Reach With Small Group Work

Small group instruction is one of the most powerful ways to differentiate instruction while offering opportunities for collaboration and connections between students. Here are some tips to increase the leverage and impact of your writing instruction. 

assessment · checklists · COVID-19 · Google Forms · self-assessment · writing workshop

Three Quick Ways to Know How Students Are Doing

How can I make progress pathways for young writers working from anywhere clearer for them? Inviting students into the evaluation process is helpful, and my hope is that one of these ideas will inspire you.

Distance Learning · self-assessment · small group

Small Group Instruction Regardless of Platforms

Small groups are possible through breakout rooms, and just as in the classrooms, they offer targeted lessons for what students need right as they need it. It’s so worth figuring how to keep this important type of instruction happening, no matter where!

assessment · engagement · kindergarten · Meet Writers Where They Are Blog Series · progressions · self-assessment

Meet Writers Where They Are: Making Learning Relevant and Personal

Maya Angelou reminds me that when I know better, I can do better. The more I know about how, where, and why a student is functioning, the better I can teach that student.

assessment · authentic assessment · data · feedback · formative assessment · giveaway · goals · growth mindset · high school · middle school · monitoring student learning · peer conferring · personalization · reading-writing connections · record keeping · Reflective Practice · Sarah M. Zerwin · self-assessment · standards · student engagement · Student ownership · writing workshop

Point-Less by Sarah M. Zerwin: A Review and Giveaway

Sarah Zerwin is workshop to her core, and she has found ways to ensure that her assessment practices are not sending conflicting messages to kids. Point-Less will challenge readers to reflect and inspire them to advocate for change.

charts · immersion · informational writing · self-assessment · writing workshop

A Peek Into the Start of an Information Unit

When we show students examples of what they should be creating before and during their writing, we are, in many ways, providing them a figurative ride up the chairlift with many good skiers in front of them. In two separate classrooms, I introduced an information writing unit with a classroom teacher with a pile of books and writing samples and the students sitting in a circle. "Your job," I said, "is to look at these books and pieces like writers. What did the author do? How did they do it?"

goals · self-assessment · writing workshop

Empowering Writers

As we approach the end of the year, it could be a great time to challenge students to think about who they are as learners, what helps them hold on to new concepts, and how they do their best work. That being said, this knowledge could empower students at any point in the year.

assessment · authentic assessment · formative assessment · management · on-demand piece · self-assessment

Tips for Analyzing and Scoring a Ton of Writing

Time is precious, and your mental energy even more so. Why waste either when others before you have learned through trial and error? Avoid common missteps by reading these simple tips.

independent writing · Reflective Practice · revision · self-assessment · visual thinking strategies · writer identity · writing process

Five Tips to Building a Rereading Habit

Do you make time for your writers to reread? Rereading is one of those pieces of the workshop we might be assuming our writers are doing but direction is needed to really make it a habit. Here are five tips to give rereading a place in your writing workshop this year.