Pre-Assessment Makes for Preparation & Planning

I always love the beginning of school for all the possibilities: getting to know my new students and planning how to best meet their needs, trying new strategies and lessons. Most teachers pre-assess their class to see what they know and what they need. However, I used to struggle with what to do with the data, once collected

Our first unit of study in writer's workshop is personal narrative. After brainstorming and reviewing elements of personal narratives, students wrote to an on-demand prompt: write about a friend or family member and a time they spent together.

After 45-60 minutes writing,  I quickly read their story and use a personal narrative checklist to see what they included and what they still need. 

From there, I group students with the same writing needs into mini-lesson groups. I scan to see which skills or strategies the majority of the class needs, then plan whole class mini-lessons.

Download your copy of the Narrative Writing planning forms HERE.  I hope this helps you to streamline and implement effective writing planning.

The Writing Strategies book is one of my favorite resources. Once I know what my students need to improve their writing, I rely on The Writing Strategies Book to plan specific writing mini-lessons. To read more about teaching writing, click HERE and HERE.  For peer feedback forms and scoring rubrics, click HERE or on the image below.  

Check out the links below to read about more terrific teaching ideas! Have a great beginning of the year!

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