"To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you are going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction."
-Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
If you have ever planned a road trip, taken a plane ride, or even just looked up the address to a place you wanted to go, you know the importance of beginning with the end in mind. If you don't know where you are planning to end up, you have no hope of actually getting there.
It is EXACTLY the same for teaching and, specifically, teaching writing.
Many people think that good writing just happens. You are either predestined to be a good writer or you're not. But, the truth is that it takes a whole lot of forethought to reach the finish line; especially, if you are talking about teaching writing.
So, where do we, as teachers, begin? How do we set our students up for success? How do we "begin with the end in mind" when it comes to planning writing lessons that both engage and get results?
The answer is: standards, exemplars, and rubrics. They are the maps to our road trip. They are the airport we are flying into when booking plane tickets. They are the voice on Google Maps telling us where to turn and when we have reached our destination.
Learning to read these "maps" are the key to unlocking the coveted goal of being (or creating) good writers.
STANDARDS
Standards are arguably the single-most critical "go-to" there are for teachers lesson planning with the end in mind. Now, stick with me for a second. I know there are many people out there who have very strong opinions about standards, but let's face facts. For better or worse, they guide instruction at each grade level. They outline for teachers what topics to teach and they build from year to year. They aren't perfect, but they do provide a direction in which to take our students.
And, I will admit that for too long I paid them absolutely no mind, stumbling along hoping for the best and thinking, "If only I had had a map..."
But, I did have a road map. However, it would be years before I knew the power of reading it. (Insert "face palm" emoji here!)
Each grade-level in the standards is broken up into four (4) categories: Text Types and Purposes, Production and Distribution of Writing, Research to Build and Present Knowledge, and Range of Writing. This makes lining up grade-level specific skills easy. It's like looking at a flight of stairs. You can see what the grade before yours did and what you need to do to make sure that your students are ready to move to the next grade.
Disclaimer: I'm a teacher in California, and we use the Common Core State Standards. However, if you are from a state that uses it's own standards, I imagine your's work in a similar way...
EXEMPLARS
The beauty of the standards (if you use CCSS) for writing teachers lies in Appendix C. Appendix C has student examples of writing from each grade-level WITH the annotations highlighting the reasons that each particular student sample is exemplary. Brilliant.
Those student exemplars are the end that we have to keep in mind.
For teachers, Appendix C makes showing the ideal writing sample to students easy. For students, seeing and reading closely (examining) these exemplars with their teacher gives students an example that they can emulate. Students learning to write look at the exemplars in Appendix C and think, "If the student who wrote the exemplar can write a "4" or an "A" paper, I can too" which is empowering.
Now, this is in NO WAY a love letter to the standards and the exemplars provided. I also believe in the power of writing your own exemplars or using an anonymous student's work as an example. There are pros and cons to both options and homemade exemplars work just as well (sometimes better) than the exemplars in the standards (if they are done right). The only real difference is that homemade exemplars require a little more work by the teacher and I am all about helping to make your life easier!
Appendix C Exemplars | Homemade Exemplars |
Already created for you | Can be personalized for specific writing tasks |
No question as to the exceptional nature of the sample piece | Need to seek out an exceptional student writing OR write one yourself |
Annotations are provided | Need to create your own annotations based on homemade exemplars |
Annotations can be used as a "cheat sheet" when planning writing mini-lessons and creating rubrics | No annotations that can be used in planning future mini-lessons and writing rubrics |
Expectations for mastery assumes all students are at the same writing achievement level | Homemade exemplars can be made (written) or selected to support various levels of writing and tailored to specific writing goals |
RUBRICS
Rubrics are basically charts that measure each piece of writing. They explicitly tell students what they need to include in their writing to be successful. Rubrics detail characteristics of exceptional writing, good writing, so-so writing, and poor writing. (And, if you start your writing unit with an exemplar, you have a built-in grading guide to make scoring student writing easier! Winning!)
As I said, I like things that make my life (and yours) easier but still get the job done, so I like the writing rubrics created by Smarter Balanced. They line up with the expectations for students in grades 3-11 and have a rubric for all three writing test types (narrative, informative/explanatory, and opinion/persuasive).
Just as in exemplars, there are also pros and cons to using a pre-made rubric versus making your own.
Pre-Made Rubrics | Homemade Rubrics |
Already done for you (saves time) | Customizable (can be co-created with students) |
Grade-level expectations are already included | Grade-level expectations will need to be researched |
TIME TO PLAN
Now that you have the roadmap (your standards, exemplars, and rubrics) it is time to plan your "trip".
Start with what your students know right now and compare that to what they need to be able to do for the next grade-level. Then, work backwards. What skills should you spotlight in a mini-lesson that will move your students closer to their destination-Grade-Level Mastery City!
Mapping out your plans for writing and talking to your students about the expectations for them at the end of each writing unit are important steps in helping set you AND students up for writing success.
Remember, if you know where you are going you have a better chance of getting there!
Until next time, Friends,
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