I am an active participant on the high school "team" of English teachers. This team of individuals is inspiring to work with and together we continuously bounce ideas off of each other and share laughs, deep discussions, and innovative strategies to use in the classroom.
I have been part of Regents grading committees over the past two years and have learned so much from my colleagues. I feel fortunate to be a part of such a warm and intelligent department. I also am grateful for the time we are allotted to collaborate on major assignments. The English department often collaborates to create assignments aligned to the NYS Common Core Regents. |
In the most recent Vertical and Horizontal Articulation workshop, we discussed the importance of students' metacognition in relation to the writing process. In order to make sure that students are reflective and cognizant of the steps and skills necessary to complete each writing process, we created writing reflection sheets that students have to respond to thoroughly. One of the writing reflections will be completed after every single essay. This reflective assignment is titled, "Writing Folder Reflection: An Essay-By-Essay Approach." First, students complete the chart by reading over their essays and the feedback given by their instructor. The students jot down their "strengths" on one side of the chart and then record their "areas in need of improvement" on the other side. Once students complete the chart, they are then asked to answer specific reflection questions. Below is a sample of this reflective assignment. This will be completed per essay and kept inside the students' writing folder. This will also act as a quiz grade.
Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.
In addition, we created an end-of-year reflection for the students to complete. This reflective assignment causes students to not only think about how they have improved as a writer, but also how the skills they have learned in their English course helped enhance their writing ability in other disciplines, and visa-versa. The students will state concerns and questions they may have for their future as writers, and record how they will implement the feedback they have been given all year in their writing assignments to come.
Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.