Point of View Letter Writing

After studying a concept or event for several days/weeks, a fun way to assess students' understanding is to have them write letters from a different perspective. West Vigo Middle School teacher Melanie Beaver had great success with this in her language arts classroom. She loved having students write a letter from one recently-studied concept to another.    read more...

Spice up subject area writing with “point of view”

To add a little life into your content-area writings, students may appreciate playing with voice. Beyond just writing explanatory pieces to the teacher, develop a writing task that allows students to use their content knowledge by writing as if they were a particular object.    read more...

Writing from a different perspective

If you are looking for a way to have students write about a content area topic beyond a simple, predictable, regurgitated summary--- try this creative idea!    read more...

Key questions in the content areas

When you plan your next set of test or assignment questions, consider paralleling your state’s standardized exam. Here are three ways:    read more...

Strategies for short-answer responses in the content areas

You can encourage students to write stronger, more thorough responses to content area questions with the Invisible Questions strategy.    read more...

Paralleling in-class assessment with the state exam

Consider patterning your in-class assessments to those styles and formats your state’s standardized exam. Here are some suggestions:    read more...

Lift, whisper, & track

When students write in the content areas, their “hurry-up and finishâ€� attitude often prevails. They often slap it together to be “done.â€� One way to slow students down after they are finished writing, and before they turn it in is to expect a 3-step rereading process.    read more...