4. “Assigning writing
is easy. Teaching
writing is really
hard.”
“We need to teach our
students to read like
writers and write like
readers.”
Kelly Gallagher, Author and Teacher
http://www.kellygallagher.org/index.html
21. “There is now conclusive, compelling
research stating that acting as a
Professional Learning Community
(PLC) is the most powerful and
effective process to systemically change
school culture and improve student
learning.”
- Sharon Kramer, PLC Conference:
Connecting the Dots: From ELA Standards to Formative
Assessment to Interventions and Extensions, 2014
22. The Big Ideas of a PLC
We accept learning as the fundamental purpose of our
school and therefore are willing to examine all practices and
their impact on learning.
We are committed to working together to achieve our
collective purpose. We cultivate a collaborative culture
through the development of high-performing teams.
We assess our effectiveness on the basis of results rather
than intentions. We seek relevant data and information and
use that information to promote continuous improvement.
23. Selection of Articles / Videos
Get with your
grade level
Watch all of the
videos
Read all of the
articles
Decide as a group
what
videos/articles
you will use for
the pre-test and
the post-test
34. Key Points
Looking at the Informational/Explanatory
Rubric, highlight key points for a 4 score
Highlight differences for a 3 score
Highlight differences for a 2 score
Highlight differences for a 1 score
Determine protocol for a 0 score
35.
36. Scoring Protocol
Look at the anchor
set of papers for
your grade level
Discuss with your
team key points
Determine a
protocol for how
your team will score
papers with fidelity
37. Scoring Practice
Working with your
grade level, begin
scoring practice
student papers.
Each paper should be
scored by at least 2
teachers.
Discrepant scores
need to be discussed
and protocol
determined
Assign and assess writing does not teach students the knowledge and skills needed to become better writers
WriteWell is designed around the format of Writer’s Workshop where teachers teach students minilessons as well as teach them to read like writers and write like readers. Putting up a prompt for the students to write about is not teaching writing.
It is an online product that is revised and improved as needed throughout the year and more extensively each summer, relying on classroom teachers to make the revisions. Assessments are meant to show growth based on the minilesson instruction. This must take place.
Participants spend some time online exploring the units for their grade level
Show both the assessments and where to find the anchor sets
Need to be schoolwide / districtwide consenses as to what articles/videos will be used
