Do your students underperform on state writing assessments?
It’s not just about writing—it’s about reading closely, thinking critically, and responding clearly under pressure.
Test-Ready Writers:
Strategies to Help Students Read, Think, and Write Under Pressure
Writing under pressure requires reading closely, thinking critically, and responding clearly…all at once.
That’s why we created the Test-Ready Writers workshop—so you can show students how to handle on-demand writing situations.
This workshop will reveal proven strategies, scaffolded mini-lessons, and ready-to-use resources that make rigorous response writing manageable—for you and your students.
When you’ve equipped your students with the right tools to succeed on test day, they can demonstrate comprehension in clear, well-developed responses.
3 Reasons You Can’t Miss This Workshop
Turn test stress into success
Equip students with practical strategies for tackling constructed and extended responses.
Leave with tools you can use tomorrow
Get ready-to-go mini-lessons and resources to utilize with current course content.
Boost student thinking & writing
Push students past surface-level answers to write well-supported, high-quality responses.
LEARN HOW TO:
- Target the beyond-the-text thinking students must execute and communicate in writing.
- Teach students to support short constructed responses with a clear answer, relevant evidence, and meaningful explanation.
- Guide students beyond simply identifying evidence to explaining and commenting on it.
- Strengthen extended responses where students have to compare or synthesize ideas across multiple texts.
- Push students beyond surface-level observations when composing argumentative and literary analyses.
- Prepare students for the academic vocabulary found in prompts to ensure they respond in the correct genre and with the appropriate information.
When students have the right tools,
test day becomes proof of their progress.
You’ll walk away with strategies that help students write with confidence—
not only for the test, but for school and for life.
Start with the free webinar:
AVAILABLE ON-DEMAND
WHAT YOU’LL TAKE AWAY:
- A comprehensive list of skills students need in order to read, think, and write at the level required for rigorous state tests.
- A clear framework for teaching constructed- and extended-response writing across ELA, science, and social studies.
- Six places where a short writing lesson could fit within the day/class period.
- Lessons that shift students from copying too much from the text to citing only the strongest, most relevant evidence.
- Lesson concepts that lead to synthesizing—versus simply summarizing.
- Strategies to encourage interpretation, explanation, and elaboration of evidence
- Tools for teaching students how to accurately decode the academic vocabulary within writing prompts.
- Ready-to-use classroom resources and scaffolded mini-lesson ideas.
COST
$199
Take 10% off with groups of 10+
PD CREDIT
5.5 hours of professional development credit
DIGITAL RESOURCES
Get access to classroom resources & lesson ideas
CHOOSE YOUR EVENT
JANUARY 21
Virtual Event
Attend from the comfort of your home
or watch with colleagues
9:00 A.M. – 3:30 P.M. ET
A 1-hour lunch break is included.
If you’re battling low ELA test scores, attending this workshop is the right decision.
This workshop is designed for all educators responsible for preparing students for response writing on standardized assessments and performance tasks, including:
- Grades 3–12 ELA teachers.
- Science and social studies teachers.
- Instructional coaches, curriculum coordinators,
and instructional officers. - SPED, ML, Title I, and intervention specialists.
- School principals.
- District curriculum directors.
WHAT EDUCATORS ARE SAYING
“A strength of Smekens Education is that topics chosen and presented are relevant to teachers in a variety of settings. And best practices are modeled—which adds an extra layer of learning.”
Maria Pittenger
Resource/Special Education Teacher
Fort Wayne, IN
“Thank you for being an energetic model/inspiration for what a classroom teacher can be! I can’t help but think how much more engaged our students would be if our teachers were as animated and intentional as you are!”
Hilary Holmes
Principal
Clayton, NM
“Kristina is the QUEEN of making the invisible VISIBLE, and, more importantly, CONCRETE. She concretely teaches it to me so that I can teach my kids.”
Heidi Tornquist
Teacher
Mishawaka, IN
“I feel more prepared to dig deeper into skills that will help my students perform better on state testing.”
Megan Joseph
Teacher
Vincent, OH
“Practical strategies with resources to match. You all have professional development down
to a science.”
Ryan Asher
Chief Academic Officer
Versailles, KY
“The content presented will help be better prepare my students not only for the state assessments but future grade-level expectations.”
Dawn Turner
Teacher
Commiskey, IN
“Kristina’s energy & enthusiasm are contagious, and she is definitely entertaining! After 28 years of teaching, I have attended a lot of PD workshops. Absolutely none of them hold a candle to the Smekens workshops I have attended. Kristina is inspirational and makes me look forward to a new year!”
Carol Brown
Teacher
Beavercreek, OH
“I glean MORE depth of knowledge every time I am in Kristina’s presence. Her expertise is at the top of the Literacy Food Chain and YET she is the only guru that SHOWS HOW explicitly. Profound and one-of-a-kind amongst other experts out there.”
Beth Mouw
Teacher
Oak Brook, IL
“Absolutely life-changing! The how we teach concepts in our classrooms is just as important as the content of our classrooms. If every content area practiced these methods, students would become better learners across the board! As the corporation’s media specialist & literacy coach, the detailed instruction and phenomenal examples gives me fantastic tools to do my job!”
Melinda Thompson
Media Specialist
Selma, IN
PRESENTER: Kristina Smekens
A celebrated educator, author, and literacy consultant, Kristina Smekens has built a reputation for using enthusiasm, humor, and common sense to equip K-12 educators with simple and effective strategies for teaching reading and writing.
As president and lead consultant for Smekens Education, Kristina is constantly developing new strategies to help teachers meet the demands of today’s College and Career-Ready Standards. She shares those strategies with teachers across the United States and beyond through on-site professional development, seminars, and an always-growing pool of print, digital, and video resources.