Public Writing and Writing for Tests and Assessments

Chapter 5 of Content Area Reading (Vacca and Vacca) teaches us about public writing in our content areas.

Public writing differs from Writing to Learn activities in that students need to focus on grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. to make sure that it is ready for an audience to read. Much like public speaking, public writing takes practice. It is important that we give our students the a belt full of tools so that they feel ready and confident to produce writing meant for the public.

When we encourage our students to partake in Write to Learn Activities, we tell them not to worry too much about grammar and spelling, just to let their thoughts out. For this and other reasons it is important that we provide examples of public writing that relates to the assignment we give. We should also provide very clear rubrics so that our students know what we expect of their writing.

This website below shows good examples of public and professional writing.
http://www.pitt.edu/~ppw/examples.html





There are many limitations for students' writing in the tests and assessments that are administered today. Chapter 10 of Content Area Writing (Daniels, Zemelmen, and Steinke) tells us that tests only look at one moment in time. There is no way to see how a student has progressed through the unit we are testing on. The answer to the essay could either be what the student learned throughout the unit, or it could be prior knowledge that they already had.

Another limitation is the way we have taught students to write, strictly for a grade. We need to be teaching students to write with the purpose of persuading or inspiring. Working in a middle school I have noticed some transitioning into writing persuasive essays, but this is strictly for assignments and not for tests. I would like to see this taken to the next level and shifted into our assessments. This would cause students to think deeper and would help teachers assess what the students have learned.

Students are often only given one chance to write their answer, and there is generally a time frame. This could cause anxiety on students and get in the way of them showing their best work. It also causes them to only do the bare minimum and hinders elaboration.

Below are some ideas given in our text as to how we as educators can offer writing assessments that will prove to be more beneficial for both our students and ourselves.

1. Offer choices
2. Allow more time - perhaps allow students to take essays home to do
3. Allow more than one chance - allow students to make corrections and re-do. This will prove to be a great learning opportunity
4. Create rubrics that are clear, yet non-constricting - leave room for students to be creative
5. Make writing prompts that are more open ended
6. Have themes and prompts be relevant to your students

There is much to think about when it comes to creating writing based assessments. Below is a link to a website that may be useful in helping you to find prompts for student writing

http://educationnorthwest.org/resource/514