Rita and I have asked our students to write A LOT over the last three weeks. According to one student, "I have never written this much in my whole life!" We love the amount of writing the students have done and have seen some great progress.
One thing we both struggle with is how to give students feedback about their writing in a quick way so that they know what is working and what isn't. We have instituted "Writing Partners", which is discussed on our "Classroom Happenings" page, and this has helped students receive feedback from peers. There are times though that eighth graders need us, their teachers, to let them know what is working and what isn't.
This week, as I walked around while the students were independently reading, I quickly scanned students' Writer's Notebooks to read their second attempt at investigative journalism. In first period, I wrote notes on my clipboard: "good", "ok", "argument" or "report" next to what I noticed from each student's writing, but I didn't get a chance to show the students the specific notes. I gave general feedback to the entire class but nothing specific to a student.
In second period, I made the same notes on my clipboard but made a point of talking to as many students as I could about how I "rated" their writing.
Finally by third period, I got smart enough to mark a "R" (for report), "A" (for argument), a check mark (for "ok") and a smiley face (for "good") directly on each student's Writer's Notebook page. Once we came back together as a class, we discussed what the marks meant and how to revise their writing. In periods 6 and 7, I gave the immediate feedback like in period 3 which the students seemed to appreciate.
It was an enlightening day for me regarding how to give quick feedback for writing. I also had immediate formative assessment data about what the students were struggling with, and I was able to do a quick lesson on the issues I saw during each period.
**Sorry this post is not as timely as it should have been. I've had several days to reflect on the good and the bad of our Wednesday in 8th grade ELA.
One thing we both struggle with is how to give students feedback about their writing in a quick way so that they know what is working and what isn't. We have instituted "Writing Partners", which is discussed on our "Classroom Happenings" page, and this has helped students receive feedback from peers. There are times though that eighth graders need us, their teachers, to let them know what is working and what isn't.
This week, as I walked around while the students were independently reading, I quickly scanned students' Writer's Notebooks to read their second attempt at investigative journalism. In first period, I wrote notes on my clipboard: "good", "ok", "argument" or "report" next to what I noticed from each student's writing, but I didn't get a chance to show the students the specific notes. I gave general feedback to the entire class but nothing specific to a student.
In second period, I made the same notes on my clipboard but made a point of talking to as many students as I could about how I "rated" their writing.
Finally by third period, I got smart enough to mark a "R" (for report), "A" (for argument), a check mark (for "ok") and a smiley face (for "good") directly on each student's Writer's Notebook page. Once we came back together as a class, we discussed what the marks meant and how to revise their writing. In periods 6 and 7, I gave the immediate feedback like in period 3 which the students seemed to appreciate.
It was an enlightening day for me regarding how to give quick feedback for writing. I also had immediate formative assessment data about what the students were struggling with, and I was able to do a quick lesson on the issues I saw during each period.
**Sorry this post is not as timely as it should have been. I've had several days to reflect on the good and the bad of our Wednesday in 8th grade ELA.