Writing Assessment

What are the key points you want to keep in mind as you assess students? Why?

There were some great tidbits about assessing writing in Routman for this week's reading. It is important to not make it all about the state test (WASL) and to use rubrics judiciously. It's important to not let the joy go out of writing. Continue to do creative writing that is for fun - not to fit a mold (or rubric). Let the students be creative - and creative writing does not fit a rubric.

The assessments should primarily be to help learning. Don't over assess - it is important to do lots of writing, but not necessary to grade all of it. Do 'on the run' roving conferences, ask questions about their work, help plan the writing by doing outlines, etc. Let the kids do a lot of self-assessment. This is ultimately the goal for them - to be able to assess and revise their own writing at a high level. Use lots of good writing as examples - some as shared writing in the class, some examples from previous classes, etc. During read-aloud times, talk about good writing as you read it.