NewsPre-K to 8Academics
Lower School implements Darlington Writes Program
Feb 22, 2007 9:10 AM
By Tannika King - Faculty
Lower School students in grades 2-5 were writing more than Valentine’s Day cards on Feb. 14. This day marked the second assessment this year of the newly implemented Darlington Writes Program, which aims to develop student writers at every grade level.
“Lower School students are taught writing skills that include planning, writing, revising and editing,” said Dr. Steve Bartholomew, director of Lower School. “Our curriculum emphasizes reading and the use of spoken and written language in all subject areas and at all grade levels, and our teachers provide the students with many opportunities to write for a variety of purposes, thereby enhancing their success in writing.”
Teachers incorporate effective writing practices into the daily routine to teach students about expository, narrative and persuasive writing.
“My students complete Daily Grams practice and write often in social studies, science and English classes,” said Lola Bradshaw, fourth-grade teacher.
Students are assessed in the fall, winter and spring. Assessments include a prompt, a planning page, and the required focused correction areas which are based on a rubric design. Students are given 45 minutes to complete the exercise.
“The rubric point system used by each classroom teacher in the evaluation helps to pinpoint the competencies demonstrated by the students,” said Bartholomew.
Bradshaw, who just finished scoring her students’ second assessment, said she is already seeing a great deal of improvement. “Darlington Writes has enhanced and directed my students’ writing skills,” she said. “They take their writing much more seriously. Mrs. Anthony and I always try to choose a prompt that will encourage their creativity.”
Year-long benchmarks and grade-level expectations are used to guide the students’ writing and progress. Effective writing should exhibit clear focus on the topic; detailed presentation of relevant information; organized structure, including a beginning, middle and end; appropriate transitional devices; elaborated support that incorporates details, examples, vivid language and mature word choice; demonstrated knowledge of conventions of standard written English in punctuation, capitalization, spelling and penmanship; and varied sentence structure.
“I have been amazed with the progress of my students so far this year,” said Charla Brewster, third-grade teacher. “I look forward to evaluating their assessments in the spring to see how much they have sharpened their writing skills.”
For more information, please call the Lower School Office at 706-291-2522.
“Lower School students are taught writing skills that include planning, writing, revising and editing,” said Dr. Steve Bartholomew, director of Lower School. “Our curriculum emphasizes reading and the use of spoken and written language in all subject areas and at all grade levels, and our teachers provide the students with many opportunities to write for a variety of purposes, thereby enhancing their success in writing.”
Teachers incorporate effective writing practices into the daily routine to teach students about expository, narrative and persuasive writing.
“My students complete Daily Grams practice and write often in social studies, science and English classes,” said Lola Bradshaw, fourth-grade teacher.
Students are assessed in the fall, winter and spring. Assessments include a prompt, a planning page, and the required focused correction areas which are based on a rubric design. Students are given 45 minutes to complete the exercise.
“The rubric point system used by each classroom teacher in the evaluation helps to pinpoint the competencies demonstrated by the students,” said Bartholomew.
Bradshaw, who just finished scoring her students’ second assessment, said she is already seeing a great deal of improvement. “Darlington Writes has enhanced and directed my students’ writing skills,” she said. “They take their writing much more seriously. Mrs. Anthony and I always try to choose a prompt that will encourage their creativity.”
Year-long benchmarks and grade-level expectations are used to guide the students’ writing and progress. Effective writing should exhibit clear focus on the topic; detailed presentation of relevant information; organized structure, including a beginning, middle and end; appropriate transitional devices; elaborated support that incorporates details, examples, vivid language and mature word choice; demonstrated knowledge of conventions of standard written English in punctuation, capitalization, spelling and penmanship; and varied sentence structure.
“I have been amazed with the progress of my students so far this year,” said Charla Brewster, third-grade teacher. “I look forward to evaluating their assessments in the spring to see how much they have sharpened their writing skills.”
For more information, please call the Lower School Office at 706-291-2522.
