Do you ever get frustrated with the lack of effort put forth by some students during Writing Workshop? I am appalled when I confer with a student who has only written a few sentences each day. While I am not suggesting that teachers grade students’ writing in their Writer’s Notebooks, I do feel that students need to be held accountable for the writing work that they do each day.

Daily Self-Assessment: Writers fill out a Writing Workshop self-checklist at the end of workshop time as a way to hold themselves accountable for both the quality and quantity of their writing. Students turn these in at the end of each week. I glance over them to see which students I need to meet with.

Teacher Assessment: This rubric is more comprehensive and is to be completed by the teacher at the end of each month or grading period, depending on how much writing your students are doing. You can even have students complete the assessment as well to compare their assessment to yours. Download the Writer's Notebook teacher assessment rubric.