Organizing your anchor paper collection

You know how important it is to show authentic examples of student work to your class, but keeping track of why you kept a certain piece is tricky. We've all collected piles of papers from one year, and then wondered why in the world we wanted a particular piece when we looked at it the next year.    read more...

Identify expectations through anchor papers

Have you ever inquired about what to wear to an upcoming social event? Then, based on the person's response (e.g. dressy casual, comfy clothes, a shirt & tie, etc.), did it help you determine the level of formality you were going to follow? This is the notion of anchors or benchmarks. We do this in the real world to gauge an appropriate level of expectations or quality. This concept is powerful for classroom writing, too. You need to help students know your expectation for writing tasks and they need to know when they've met them.    read more...

Collect and store writing samples and mentor text

Beyond just telling students what "good writing" looks like, teachers need to show them examples, too. Although teacher-made models can fulfill this "show them examples" need, it is also great to reveal authentic student writings that someone of a similar age created.    read more...

All Call for Anchor Papers

Before your best writings walk out the door at the end of the school year, I invite you to participate in my newest project. I'm putting together a K-12 collection of strong student writing samples for a yearlong set of writing units. This would include writing examples for narrative, expository, descriptive, persuasive, nonfiction, letter writing, poetry, compare-contrast, literature response, research . . . anything and everything!    read more...

Reveal “good” writing before students write

No matter what grade-level you teach, no matter what the subject matter is, no matter what genre you are teaching -- you want to show students an example of a "good one" before they write. Besides just modeling a teacher example, reveal an actual student example or anchor paper. Give the students a vision for what a "good one" looks and sounds like.    read more...

Anchor Paper Websites

Needing anchor papers? Visit some of these web sites for a variety of anchor papers along with some scoring practice.    read more...

Using anchor papers to teach the 6 Traits of writing

Have you ever tried to shoot a basket without ever seeing the hoop? Imagine doing this every time you write? Of course students will question if they wrote a “good one,â€� or if they accomplished what the teacher wanted, or if they are “done.â€� When they don't ever see the target, how will they know if they hit it?    read more...

Anchor papers with voice

Teachers are always asking for strong writing samples and anchor papers to utilize within the classroom. Throughout my travels last month, I collected several pieces from teachers who were excited to share their students’ writing successes.    read more...

Getting ready for next school year

Are there things I should save and/or organize as this year ends to help me for next school year?    read more...