The writing committee met
on October 26, 2015. They identified the following areas to focus on
based on
student performance.
Students need to:
- be able to describe their
thinking process when writing - including the rationale for evidence.
- be fluent writers able to write
for sustained periods of time.
- be able to revise their
work.
- be able to score their own
writing on appropriate rubrics.
- be able to understand and apply
grammar.
Teachers need to:
- develop a common vocabulary around
writing across all content areas and grades.
- develop a common set of
annotations for writing across all content areas and grades.
- develop a common set of
proofreading annotations for writing across all content areas and grades.
Next Steps:
The writing committee will:
- use Calkins' Writing
Pathways to collect writing samples and look for trends throughout
the year at the Vinalhaven School.
- Create rubrics for use.
- Create a writing continuum for
Vinalhaven School to
serve as a framework for the writing program.
Our next meeting will be held in November - on the 12th or 13th
(Amanda is taking a poll). The entire committee will meet that day to
look at narrative samples.
Thanks go to: Helena, Mae, Robb, Missy, Hilary, and Cherie for all of their hard work.
“If
any of us coauthor a student’s piece of writing, making it vastly better than
anything the student could possibly do on his own, and if we do this by working
so far outside the student’s zone of proximal development that the student
doesn’t learn to do what we teach on is own, then even if this produces better
writing, it is essentially for naught.”
