As students write

The teacher follows basic rules as their students write in all three levels.

1. The teacher directs students to write on every other line of their paper.

This practice allows for space for minor revisions without extensive erasing and crowding for making corrections.

2. The teacher tells the students that they will observe them as they write.

If they see a problem, they will put a dot in the margin of the line that as a problem but will not tell them what the problem is.

3. The teacher refers to the criteria given in the directions when commenting on what students have written.

If students do not follow the directions, the teacher tells them which directions they did not follow.

4. The teacher reads the passages as students are writing.

They move about the classroom from one students to the next. A good practice they follow is making a line in the margin of students’ papers to mark where they have already read.

5. The teacher does not spend a lot of time with one student.

They do not stand around as a student tries to find and correct a problem. Instead, they observe other students and return to the student who had the problem later if possible.

6. The teacher makes frequent comments to the class as they read what students are writing.

The comments focus on what students are doing well and specific mistakes observed in several students writing. If a student has had a problem in the past with a particular skill and is doing well, the teacher makes a positive comment to the class.

7. The teacher does not wait for all students to complete an in-class assignment.

They allow a reasonable amount of time based on the performance of a slower but industrious student. A minute or two before the students need to stop writing, tell them how much time is left. The students put their pencils down when the teacher tells them to stop. If the teacher waits for all students to finish the writing rate will not greatly improve as there is no payoff for writing faster. Students who do not finish in time will finish the assignment at another time during the day.

8. The teacher praises improvement by making announcements to the class.

It is important that the teacher praises improvement of the lower performers, so they understand they are not failing to meet your expectations.

Turn to page 23 in RMSE-LA 3 Teaching Guide, page 29 in RMSE-LA 4 Teacher’s Guide and page 17 in RMSE-LA 5 Teacher’s guide to review as students write.