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Interactive Practice: Respond to Student Writing

Allen Teng's seventh-graders prepare drafts of editorials.

The following drafts give you an opportunity to evaluate authentic samples of student pieces written in three different genres. Each time you identify a strength or weakness in one of the samples, you will be able to compare your assessment with detailed comments from another teacher.

These comments also indicate how the teacher might respond to a particular issue: with written or oral observations or questions, with targeted instruction, or—in some cases—by choosing to ignore the issue in favor of more pressing instructional concerns.

The criteria listed on each paper's evaluation grid were discussed, modeled, and practiced in the student's classroom. Such explicit expectations provide a basis for teacher and peer response and prepare students to think independently about their writing.

The scoring system for the rubrics comes from Kentucky's state-assessed Writing Portfolio.

"Cell Phones in Our Schools...Would They Be So Bad?"
An editorial written by a sixth-grade student

"The Watch glass"
A poem written by an eighth-grade student

"Skates 280"
A personal narrative written by a seventh-grade student

Responding to Student Writing (pdf)
A packet including the three drafts and all the related Interactive Practice materials