Northern Elementary Writing Policy

Updated May 2013

Senate Bill 1 Requirements:

  • Provide students multiple opportunities to develop complex communication skills for a variety of purposes
  • Provide students access to the use of technology tools
  • Provide access to and use of language tools

Administrative Responsibilities

  • Identify and support school literacy leader and/or literacy committee
  • Provide resources for teachers to improve communication instruction
  • Ensure all teachers are adequately trained to teach writing/communication
  • Ensure that all teachers are familiar with the Kentucky Writing Scoring Rubric
  • Oversee the collection and movement of student writing portfolios
  • Provide professional development and resources to help support and improve writing within the school
  • Communicate expectations for the vision of 21st Century writing and communication program to all staff
  • Communicate the monitoring process to all staff at the beginning of each year
  • Participate in the yearly District program review
  • Ensure all teachers are following the district KCAS ELAcurriculum map, which addresses writing, speaking, listening, and language standards

Teacher Responsibilities

  • Incorporate writing as an integral part of every classroom and as a natural outcome of the content being studied in all curriculum areas.
  • Engage students in the three categories of writing—writing to learn, writing to demonstrate learning, and writing for publication—regularly and in all classrooms in all subjects
  • Provide multiple opportunities for students to practice writing for a variety of purposes and audiences (including journaling, open response, on demand, portfolio entries, writing over time assessments)
  • Provide multiple opportunities for students to develop complex communication skills for a variety of purposes
  • Provide opportunities for 21st Century learning—multimedia presentations, recorded speeches, blogs, video/digital recordings, or other medium
  • Teach the writing process at all grade levels (pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, publishing, and reflection upon writing)
  • Provide opportunities for students to publish written work
  • Regularly model and practice with students on extended and constructed response questions using Powergraph model (MACC, MATTER, MASH, BRAIN)
  • Regularly model and practice with students on the 3.8 paragraph model
  • Provide feedback to students regarding writing and communication skills using Kentucky Scoring Guide and descriptive comments
  • Collect writing samples for inclusion in Rainbow Folderor digital portfolio that show growth over time
  • Ensure that students understand the Kentucky Scoring Rubric (purpose, audience, idea development, organization, sentences, language, and conventions)
  • Ensure that Rainbow Folders follow each child from Kindergarten through fifth grade. Rainbow Folder content will be sent to the Middle School at the end of fifth grade.
  • Follow the district KCAS ELA curriculum map, which addresses writing, speaking, listening, and language standards
  • Provide evidence of literacy instruction as outlined in checklists for the Writing Program Review digital evidence folder.

Student Responsibilities

  • Select topics for writing
  • Produce original work, avoiding plagiarism
  • Complete grade level writing requirements
  • Understand criteria used to evaluate their writing and communication skills
  • Engage is self-assessment of writing and goal setting
  • Self-select pieces for inclusion in Rainbow Folder and digital portfolio

Procedures

  • Every student will keep a working Rainbow Folder and a digital portfolio.
  • Rainbow Folders and digital portfolios will be accessible to administrators and to the writing committee at all times.
  • Rainbow (writing) and digital folders will contain items such as:
  1. Current Polished pieces
  2. Journal Samples
  3. Extended Response examples
  4. Constructed Response examples
  5. Multi-media presentations
  6. Other materials relevant to writing, listening, and observing
  • Rainbow Folderand digital portfolios should reflect the following:
  • evidence of all stages of the writing process
  • communications from across the content areas
  • communications of a variety of forms and purposes
  • evidence of the three types of writing (writing to learn, writing to demonstrate learning, writing for publication)
  • Pieces will be analyzed quarterly according to the attached schedule in PLC meetings.
  • Each teacher will submit to the writing cluster leader the required writing checklist on the specified due date for committee review. The cluster leader will submit the checklists to the BAC and DAC.
  • Teachers will use the district-wide midterm and trimester report card to report writing progress with the KCAS writing standards. Midterms and trimester report cards are standards-based and writing is ranked on a 1-4 grading scale.