This year students wrote memoirs as their personal narrative for our first writing unit in language arts. We spent a considerable amount of time on mini-lessons that addressed the following:
*generating story ideas
*characteristics of memoirs
*hooking the reader with a good lead
*zooming in on the main event
*showing not telling using the senses
*satisfying conclusions
*revision and editing skills
During the process, the students periodically self-assessed and set goals for the continuation of their memoirs. As a final assessment, they were asked to self-assess using the following rubric. The rubric begins with a grade 4 level to the left and works towards a grade 7 level of writing proficiency. This rubric was adapted from materials from TCRWP (Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project). The original rubric is about 4 pages long; however, we knew that this would overwhelm our student population in which many of them are ELL's. So, we adapted this rubric to make it more manageable.
For many years now I have believed strongly that students should always assess their work before the teacher does so. It is imperative that they can reflect on what they have written and identify on a rubric what they have achieved and where they need to focus their attention for future work. In my experience, very few students are unable to assess their writing. Some students do have inflated ideas of where their writing is on a rubric and some are way too hard on themselves. But, for the most part, they are usually right on the mark and I often agree with their assessments of themselves.
We also added reflection questions for the students at the end of the rubric. This is often the section that I enjoy reading the most and which gives me the best insight into what the student is like as a writer. I am regularly amazed by some of the thoughtful responses to these questions by my students as they are able to tell me what went well, what they struggled with, and what they would remember for the next time. This set of reflection questions also included which mini-lesson they found most helpful- a great way for me to judge which ones were effective and to work on strengthening my practice.
Here is the rubric.
Here is an example of a student's thoughtful reflection on her writing:
Reflection: Answer the following in complete sentences with details.
1. What was the purpose of writing a memoir?
I think that the purpose of writing a memoir was to challenge ourselves by changing settings (flash back) and then reflect on a certain moment.
2. What was the easiest part about this assignment?
The easiest part of writing the story was to get the ideas and put them all down.
3. What was the hardest part about this assignment?
The hardest part was to describe my feelings and the story to make the reader really understand and feel what I feel.
4. What mini-lesson helped you the most?
I think the mini lesson that helped me the most was the best times last times one because it’s how I got the idea of how to make a good and powerful story about my cousin.
5. Which parts of this assignment helped you to develop your skills as a writer?
The ending part, it helped me understand that the best ending aren’t the ones that are the longest and have the most complicated words. Infact an ending can be short, simple, and very powerful.
*generating story ideas
*characteristics of memoirs
*hooking the reader with a good lead
*zooming in on the main event
*showing not telling using the senses
*satisfying conclusions
*revision and editing skills
During the process, the students periodically self-assessed and set goals for the continuation of their memoirs. As a final assessment, they were asked to self-assess using the following rubric. The rubric begins with a grade 4 level to the left and works towards a grade 7 level of writing proficiency. This rubric was adapted from materials from TCRWP (Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project). The original rubric is about 4 pages long; however, we knew that this would overwhelm our student population in which many of them are ELL's. So, we adapted this rubric to make it more manageable.
For many years now I have believed strongly that students should always assess their work before the teacher does so. It is imperative that they can reflect on what they have written and identify on a rubric what they have achieved and where they need to focus their attention for future work. In my experience, very few students are unable to assess their writing. Some students do have inflated ideas of where their writing is on a rubric and some are way too hard on themselves. But, for the most part, they are usually right on the mark and I often agree with their assessments of themselves.
We also added reflection questions for the students at the end of the rubric. This is often the section that I enjoy reading the most and which gives me the best insight into what the student is like as a writer. I am regularly amazed by some of the thoughtful responses to these questions by my students as they are able to tell me what went well, what they struggled with, and what they would remember for the next time. This set of reflection questions also included which mini-lesson they found most helpful- a great way for me to judge which ones were effective and to work on strengthening my practice.
Here is the rubric.
Here is an example of a student's thoughtful reflection on her writing:
Reflection: Answer the following in complete sentences with details.
1. What was the purpose of writing a memoir?
I think that the purpose of writing a memoir was to challenge ourselves by changing settings (flash back) and then reflect on a certain moment.
2. What was the easiest part about this assignment?
The easiest part of writing the story was to get the ideas and put them all down.
3. What was the hardest part about this assignment?
The hardest part was to describe my feelings and the story to make the reader really understand and feel what I feel.
4. What mini-lesson helped you the most?
I think the mini lesson that helped me the most was the best times last times one because it’s how I got the idea of how to make a good and powerful story about my cousin.
5. Which parts of this assignment helped you to develop your skills as a writer?
The ending part, it helped me understand that the best ending aren’t the ones that are the longest and have the most complicated words. Infact an ending can be short, simple, and very powerful.
