Supporting a Comprehensive Writing Curriculum
1. What teacher-directed writing am I currently doing?
What skills am I currently teaching?
How did I select these skills?
How do these skills relate to the EALRs and the Writing Continuum?
What resources am I using to teach these skills?
What observations can I make about my students’ performance from reviewing their work?
How am I engaging the students in self-reflection?
What do I envision as my next steps?
2. What are the student-directed writing opportunities in my classroom including Writer’s Workshop?
How have I organized my classroom for student-directed writing?
What are some examples of topics my students select?
What is the student writing telling me about their strengths and weaknesses?
As a result of these observations, what skill lessons have I or will I teach? What resources have I or will I use?
How am I teaching self-reflection?
What is my greatest challenge in supporting student-directed writing?
3. How am I teaching the six traits this year?
On which traits have I focused?
Why did I select these?
What are my plans for teaching the other traits?
What resources am I using to teach the traits?
What progress do I see my students making?
How am I involving the students in self-reflection related to their work with the six traits?
4. What work am I doing related to writing modes and forms?
How am I teaching narrative descriptive, expository, persuasive writing?
What resources am I using?
As I reflect on the writing assignments I have recently assigned, in which mode was I asking the students to write? How did I reinforce this with my students?
What scoring criteria did I using? How did I apply the criteria?
What forms for writing have my students written in this year, i.e., letters, reports, notes, memos, stories.
What am I discovering about my students’ ability to write in different forms?
How am I engaging my students in self-reflection?
5. What work did I do this year with the writing process?
What strategies am I teaching to support pre-writing?
How do I encourage revising the original drafts? What evidence do I ask for?
How do I get the kids to edit?
What resources do I have available?
What example of published student work has been taken through the entire writing process?
How do I engage the students in self-reflection related to the writing process?
6. How is my writing program supporting the students in acquiring the district outcomes? Thinking Skills? Thinking Behaviors? How could I link these to my writing instruction?
7. What support do I need most in developing my classroom’s comprehensive writing program?