try these test prep materials: Spotlight on revising and
editing. It is available by Curriculum Associates. We use it
in the lower grades and it really helps prepare writers for
testing. Its sad that even the best writers could not pass the
writing portion without explicit instruction in how to pass
the test. It has nothing to do with voice, style, word
choice. In the lower grades, the focus is on expository
writing that follows a rigid formula.

On 11/03/09, mrs. how ever do I teach it wrote:
> I just got our benchmark results back for English I (grade
> 9) and only 39% of students mastered standard w1.9 and only
> 50% for w1.1 and my question is.....what do I do?
>
> (std 1.9 and 1.1 are.. 1.9 Revise writing to improve the
> logic and coherence of the organization and controlling
> perspective, the precision of word choice, and the tone by
> taking into consideration the audience, purpose, and
> formality of the context. 1.1 Establish a controlling
> impression or coherent thesis that conveys a clear and
> distinctive perspective on the subject and maintain a
> consistent tone and focus throughout the piece of writing.)
>
> I keep teaching writing but the questions on our benchmark
> (very similar to CST's) do not really address what I teach.
> I teach how to improve your writing and add details, etc.
> The test asks "how do you best revise this sentence?"
>
> I need some curriculum (preferably free) which addresses
> these standards in these manners, and with a correlating
> how-to-teach-it guide. Just telling students "question 3's
> answer is c; a,b,d are wrong because bla bla bla" is just
> not doing it. I want them to really know it inside and out
> and I don't know how to explicitly, precicely, teach this.
>
> Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Share This Post | Report This Post

Next Post >>

Posts on this thread, including this one