I went to a writing class today. It was really useful and I came away with a lot of ideas. One of the things we talked about was stating an objective before each lesson and letting students know exactly what is expected of them. Students are more likely to meet our expectations if they know what our expectations are. They want to please us and be successful in the classroom. During this class, I was sitting next to a darling teacher who said that she always reminds her students to check 4 things after they write:
I loved this idea and so I had to turn it into a poster. I am definitely implementing this in my classroom tomorrow. Even though I can’t really can’t take credit for this idea, I still wanted to pass it onto you! How great would it be if our students checked for these things themselves? I am going to love this, because I am constantly saying, “Did you remember your finger spaces between each word?”, “How do you start a sentence?”, “Re-read your writing to yourself.” Over and over and OVER again! It will be so nice to have them be more accountable for their own work.
I also made a student checklist to go along with the poster. For the first couple weeks, I will go over this checklist with each student (after they have already completed it on their own) in order to set a high standard. I don’t want them hurrying through it and checking “yes” for everything just to get done. I want them to know how important it is to accurately assess their own work.
Click here to download these documents! ENjOY!
How do you assess writing in your classroom?
