The progress students are making isn’t always obvious day to day, but looking back at the work students completed at the beginning of the year makes the progress clear. We had a grand plan that the students would keep portfolios that we would add work to throughout the year. Unfortunately, after the first few items, the portfolios were forgotten. (New plan for next year!) However, we did have a few things including on demand writing assessments from the beginning of the year and end of the year.
This was our first year of using Lucy Calkins Units of Study for Writing Workshop. Look at these differences in just one year! Regardless of their ability at the beginning of the year, the students learned and improved their writing abilities. Using writing workshop and Lucy as our guide, we were able to differentiate for all learners!
August
June
Instead of lists and individual sentences, he wrote in a paragraph, focusing on one specific event.
August
June
Wow! In August, what she did write was done with a teacher sitting right next to her. In June she wrote in sentences, albeit run-ons, without any teacher assistance. She also focused on only one event.
August
June
Again he focused on one specific slice of time – the first day of school. He writes with such a strong voice! If only he had time to finish!
My favorite line: “This was one weird classroom.”
I can only imagine what will happen next year when we actually know what we are doing!
jenniebblog 