Pre-assessments:

Students began the unit with a pre-assessment. This was a whole group writing prompt with little instruction given beforehand. The prompt (“Tell me everything you know about weather”) was decided by grade level teachers and given in all classes in the first grade.

Throughout the unit:

I began each lesson by teaching a specific writing skill that I encouraged my students to then implement in their own writing. They were not assessed per lesson, but encouraged to try each technique when they were ready. All students eventually implemented all of the components that they would be formally assessed on at the end, and we spent time reviewing each concept and making sure that this was incorporated in their final products. Doing this meant that each student could work at their own pace, and while all students were held to the same expectation, they could approach the unit in unique ways.

Post-assessment:

Students were assessed twice during this unit. At the end of the first six weeks I assessed them and their ability to incorporate certain key features into their texts. They needed to use their graphic organizers to help them write and then transfer informational texts organized across pages with headings, drawings and diagrams, introductions and conclusions. This unit then continued for another six weeks, after which students were formally assessed with the same prompt they were given in the beginning, “Tell me everything you know about weather.”