First Year Writing Teacher Support: Reserve Time for Revision

Hang in there, new teacher, you’re almost to the finish line. By this point in the school year, you’ve definitely had your students write a thing or two.  So you now know that getting students to write perfectly polished drafts is a lot harder than meets the eye.  I know when I first started teaching, […]

Four Reflective Activities That Lead to Meaningful Revision

With a new year comes that familiar and distinct habit for many: profound reflection on the last 12 months. We swap out our calendars for new ones, we declare sentiments like new year, new me (partially in jest, partially in earnestness), and we commit ourselves to learning from our mistakes in pursuit of self-improvement.   […]

A Slam Dunk: How a Basketball Metaphor Led My Writers to Better Revision

Image via pixabay.com. Scaffolding. This is exactly what I had on my mind on the eve of a busy day this semester.  I had spent the first quarter of the school year working intensely to give my senior honors students as much commentary on their writing as possible.  Along with conferring with them verbally during […]

Getting Real with Rubrics: Providing More Authentic Opportunities with the College Essay

Think about how much thought goes into the creation of a rubric.  There is so much to consider: How many criteria should it have?  What are the appropriate criteria?  How should each criteria be weighted?  How should this rubric be set up? Should it have boxes, a checklist, or something else?  These are big decisions […]