Notes on Writing Committee meeting on December 12, 2015.

The writing committee met on December 14, 2015.  Prior to the meeting, teachers collected narrative writing samples K-12 and chose a high, medium, and low example using the rubric.  As a committee, they reviewed writing samples using Calkins’ rubrics.  The trends identified early on (see below) were concerns throughout the writing we reviewed, as well as the last two bullets.

Students need to:

•  be able to write a complete sentence early on.
• be able to create a story with a beginning, a middle and an end.
• be able to write for sustained periods of time.
•  be able to revise their work.
•  be able to use upper case and lower case letters correctly.
• be able to use transition words.
• be able to write using correct grammar.
• be able to write a paragraph.

Teachers need to:

• consider administering the assessment to small groups so they can scribe as the students write, as well as observe writing behaviors included in the rubrics.
• consider using three pieces of paper for writing stories – one for the beginning, middle and end of a story.  This might help students understand the concept.
• Use a common vocabulary when discussing writing.

 
 

Helana shared high school samples with the committee as well as her first draft of her rubric for grades 10-12.  In response to the directive to create consistency across the grade levels, she is revising the rubric.  Thank you, Helana.

The writing committee will meet on January 21, 2016.

Thank you all for your hard work.