First grade is when we truly begin to see first-graders explode in their writing capabilities. We have moved past simple sentences, and students begin expressing themselves through their writing. Not only are their skills developing but they are learning to understand the importance of using correct punctuation and grammar. First-graders have so many ideas, thoughts, and opinions, but it can still be a struggle to put it all down on paper. However, this time is essential to make sure they are progressing towards strong writing skills, which means…we need to be diligent in assessing their writing.
I teach three different types of writing throughout the school year, which means it’s imperative to track my students’ progress between each unit. And various components come into play during these units. Below I have listed a few ways to assess my student’s writing informally and easily.
Unit Assessments
During each of my writing units, I make sure to assess students at the beginning, middle, and end of that unit. These pieces are not formal assessments. But instead, I choose a piece during each time to take a look at, which I then provide feedback to my students. It also helps me gather more information on how my students are doing. Based on those assessments, I can notice trends and shift the direction we will head to next. For instance, I will choose a writing activity from this resource as my unit assessment during opinion writing.
Exit Tickets
Like exit tickets for assessing reading, you can use these the same way for writing. You can give students a writing prompt and use this exercise as a quick way to assess their writing skills. It’s a great idea to use these when closing out a unit. For instance, if you are teaching a unit on opinion writing and want to see how your students are doing, pull out an exit ticket for a quick and easy way to monitor progress.
Writing Rubrics
I have a set of differentiated rubrics for each of the writing units that I use to assess writing based on Common Core standards. The rubrics that I use are straightforward, making it easy for me to run through as I assess my student’s writing. Rubrics are great to use for formal and informal assessments, and they give me a clear-cut look at where my student’s strengths and areas of improvement are during each unit. But, they also allow me to track progress during the phase of the unit.
Writing Conference Notes
I have a list of what I expect my students to know and apply during a writing unit. But, then during the unit, I have a writing conference sheet that allows me to keep track of notes. It is labeled for weeks 1-4 for each day. This allows me to quickly jot down notes while I am either working with a student or if I am taking a peek at one of their pieces. As the weeks go by, I can compare my notes from the previous weeks to discover what areas my students are still struggling on.
Writing Prompts
The only way to become a strong writer is through continuous practice. The more opportunity and exposure my first-graders have, the better they become. I track this progress through writing prompts throughout a unit, allowing me to see how my students improved from the beginning to the end of a unit.
Self-Assessments and Peer Review
Self-assessments are also teacher assessments because when students are required to re-read and edit their own work using a rubric, we can better understand where they are. Provide students with a simple checklist of what they need to be looking for, such as capital letters, punctuation, spelling, or duplicated words. While my firsties aren’t going to be able to necessarily take a deeper dive into their writing as I would, self-assessment does make them aware of double-checking their work and the importance of re-reading. How many times as adults have you read something you just wrote and have repeated a word or something didn’t make sense? This is exactly what we are hoping our early writers are aware of during self-assessment. Plus, after I know they have assessed their work for those errors I can then spend more time diving into the structure and body of their writing.
We need assessments to determine how students are taking in content, but assessments can get tedious, which is why having a variety of different tools and tactics helps to ensure the process of assessments doesn’t become mundane. These are all ideas and different strategies I have used throughout my years of teaching, and I am continuously on the lookout to keep assessments from getting incredibly boring!
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