Everyone has something to say. And if you say it, you can write it.
Write your first draft with your heart. Re-write with your head. ~From the movie Finding Forrester
Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time... The wait is simply too long. ~Leonard Bernstein
Deciding what to say and how to say it is really a creative process, even for expository and persuasive pieces that are fact-based. That is why it is hard for some to get started. Thankfully there are tricks students can use to get those creative juices going. We write alot in 8th grade, responding to what we read in Language Arts and what we are learning across the curriculum. Students will get lots of practice using those tricks.
To assess our writing we use a framework known as The 6 Traits, developed by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. The Traits (Ideas, Organization, Sentence Fluency, Word Choice, Voice, and Conventions) give students, teachers and parents a common language to talk about writing expectations and giving feedback. The links below will help with writing this year.
To assess our writing we use a framework known as The 6 Traits, developed by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. The Traits (Ideas, Organization, Sentence Fluency, Word Choice, Voice, and Conventions) give students, teachers and parents a common language to talk about writing expectations and giving feedback. The links below will help with writing this year.
The best way to improve writing skill is practice, feedback, practice, feedback, and more practice, feedback. While we will do a lot of writing and conferencing in class, there is only so much time in a block. If you want to access some additional coaching, the links to the right might be of interest to you. They are both subscription services for automated proofreader/plagiarism checkers, but the fee is significantly less than the cost of a tutor and you can access them at your convenience. Writecheck.com is actually part of a service called Turnitin.com, which is used by several local high schools.
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