Product Details

• Author: Mark Overmeyer
• Year: 2009
• Grade Range: 4-8

• Media: 136 pp/paper
• ISBN: 978-157110-713-8
• Item No.: WEB-0713

"Assessment, when used correctly in a formative way, can empower students and teachers to not only improve, but better yet, to believe in themselves as writers and teachers of writing. And once you believe you are a writer, and a teacher of writing, any barrier, no matter how imposing, begins to crumble.
—Mark Overmeyer

The earlier that teachers think about instruction, and the sooner that students self-assess their progress, the better the final writing product will be. What Student Writing Teaches Us: Formative Assessment in the Writing Workshop provides practical suggestions for teachers of writing. This book offers no "easy" solutions, because assessing writing is not an easy endeavor. Framed within the context of writing workshop, the book examines the reasons for reading student work and provides various methods for helping students improve as writers. Formative assessment presents teachers with multiple opportunities to read student work, with a clear focus, thereby supporting students in all stages of the writing process.

Chapter topics range from rubrics to grades, from self-assessment to paper load. Student work samples from all stages of the writing process emphasize the importance of considering each piece of writing a student creates, no matter how brief, as an opportunity to learn. Individual, small-group, and large-group discussions illuminate the need for feedback within writing workshop. Every suggestion in the book has been classroom tested with the help of "experts" - students ages five to fourteen - who are quoted throughout the book.

Table of Contents

You will need the latest version of Adobe Flash Player to browse this book.

Contents
Foreword by Jeff Anderson
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: Defining Assessment in the Writing Workshop
Chapter 2: Formative Assessment in Action: Setting the Stage for Success
Chapter 3: Feedback as Formative Assessment
Chapter 4: Self-Assessment
Chapter 5: Grades
Chapter 6: Keeping Records, Keeping Track
Appendix
Bibliography

Mark Overmeyer
Mark is a native of Colorado, and received his education at the University of Northern Colorado, Colorado College, and University of Colorado at Denver. He has 16 years' of teaching experience, all in the Cherry Creek Schools in Denver, Colorado.
> More