Tuesday is the day to share a “Slice of Life” with Two Writing Teachers. Check out the writers, readers and teachers here. Thanks to Stacey, Anna, Beth, Tara, Dana and Betsey for creating a place for us to work collaboratively.

What a fun day today as a fourth grade team reviewed opinion on-demands and worked on scoring them.  Conversations were rich as we focused on evidence of what the students “can do” and then moved on to consider the implications for instruction.

Instruction will include how students can use the Units of Study checklist to evaluate their own work and set goals.  Two definite areas that we saw for instruction were “leads” and “transitions” so that led our thinking to possibilities for charts.  (I like to “develop” them electronically in order to have a copy with me for reference as I move from building to building.)  Two charts that we are considering as we have students “reflect” on their own writing include:

The first column in “rising steps of complexity” are examples of opening paragraphs.  The text boxes on the arrows name the student move(s) used.

This second chart is about transition words.  “Because” is tricky when it is used at three different levels.  Is it the only transition word used?  If so, probably not a “3 Star” use of transitions.  Because is a perfect direct link for a reason “why” but has less value as a transition as we move up the steps and through the grade levels.

After students self-assess their own writing, they can set goals and have some model words/text to help them visibly see what their targeted learning looks like.  Visible targets for students?  Increasing the likelihood that students can meet the targets – progressions that “show” students how to write better!

How are you helping your students “see” their writing targets?