This is a simple template for progress monitoring. It’s an excel file, so you can enter the specific categories according to grade and standard. I included a couple of examples. Download the Progress Report here. It looks like this:

Show, Don’t Tell
You probably won’t get great results if you tell a group of kindergartners to go to their desks and write about a memory. Instead of telling them what to do, you’ll have to show them each step.  Each time you teach them a technique or strategy, show them how to use it. Walk them through the entire process and encourage participation. You’ll need a big standing easel and chart paper so they can all see your work.

Choosing a Shared Experience
If you’re working on memoirs (writing about things that have happened in their lives) and you model “My Vacation in Florida”, you might loose them at airplane.  Instead, choose events that you do together. Of course you can write about big events like field trips, assemblies and field day. But you can also write about smaller events that happen everyday like reading games, science projects and library visits.

Model Your Thinking
Maybe you collected rocks as a science activity and you chose to model writing about that experience. First, think out loud: “OK, I think I’ll write about finding my rock yesterday. That was fun. What do I need to do first?” Kids will help you think it through: “Put your name on your paper!” Think out loud through the entire process. “I remember when I found my rock. I was over by the slide. I’m going to write about that. My first sentence will be, ‘I ran out the door’. I know how to write ‘I’. Next I’ll write ‘ran’.”

Reinforce Strategies
Choose a couple of strategies to reinforce during the modeling. If you have a word wall, for example, use it. If the students have alphabet charts on their desks, you should have one handy also. You might say, “Let’s see… ‘ran’. I’m going to look on my alphabet chart for the rrrrr sound. Here it is; just like ‘rocket’. R!”

Complete the Process
If your writing project will take more than one day, it might be tempting to tell the students, “OK, today you’ll finish your story from yesterday. Go ahead and get to work.” You’ll probably need to show them how to do this. Take out your model. Re-read it. Notice and correct a mistake. Think out loud about how to pick up where you left off. In other words, show them each step through completion.

Create an Audience
When students write in their journals, the writing is just for them (and you) to read. When it’s time to select a piece to publish (revise, edit and create a finished product), construct an audience. Tell students when they begin working on their selections that there will be a publishing celebration during which they will read their work aloud. Invite parents, other teachers and the principal.  Of course, this serves to build community and involve parents. But it is also important for the writing process itself. It gives them another reason to do their very best work.

Set the Mood
Count down the days until the party. Make invitations and decorations; plan to have snacks for the guests. Have a plan for how you will greet your guests and where they will sit. In other words, make it a big deal. Decorate the “stage” for the presenters.  If you have access to a video camera, record the presentations and show it to the class later.

Define the Writing Cycle
Setting a date for a publishing celebration defines an absolute ending point to the editing process. Some kids don’t need this; they can complete the process easily. Other students have trouble getting through the drafting and the editing. These kids tend to have many “almost finished” drafts.  The party pushes them to finish a piece so they can participate. If your students are very independent in their writing, and are all in different stages of the editing process, they can choose a favorite piece to read at the celebration.

Stage Fright
Even the most outgoing kids can get nervous reading in front of an audience. You’ll want to practice this skill by letting them read in front of the class several times before the party. Encourage them to give it a try, but don’t ever force someone to present if they are too nervous. If a student decides to back out at the last moment, ask if they would like you to read the piece aloud instead.

Display the Published Pieces
Create a special area in your classroom to display the completed pieces. Allow students to check them out, just like the other books. Plan to have publishing parties at the end of each unit of study (poetry, non-fiction, etc). Each published piece can then be added to the student’s writing portfolio.

Some questions to consider while planning lessons:

What?

1. What is the intended learning? What are the skills, concepts, habits of mind being developed?
2. To what standard(s) is the lesson content connected?
3. What difficulties, misunderstandings, or misconceptions might students have about this content?
4. What theories of teaching and learning support this lesson design?

 How? 

5. How will the teacher model/explain clear expectations for the students’ learning?
6. How will each activity promote rigorous thinking?
7. How will students be grouped for learning? How is the grouping related to the lesson content?
8. How will accountable student talk and collaboration be encouraged in an atmosphere of mutual respect?
9. How will students make public their thinking and learning?
10. How will assistance be provided to individual students (struggling students as well as those needing an extra challenge)?
11. How will student learning be assessed by the teacher and by the students themselves?
12. How will student accomplishment be recognized?
13. How will the teacher do things differently the next time? How will instruction proceed form here?

 Why? 

14. Why is the lesson content appropriate to the students’ learning needs and prior knowledge?
15. Why are these instructional strategies/learning activities appropriate to the lesson/goals?

 Questions derived from The Institute for Learning’s Content-Focused Coaching model.

Here is an example of a list of possible interventions for use with academic intervention plans.
Note: the list was created by teachers and compiled by the staff developer.

An academic intervention plan is meant to provide a roadmap for teachers and parents of struggling students. It’s a concept that Special Educators use all the time, but can also be employed by regular educators. 

When you compile all of your relevant data, you’ll usually find that several of your students are struggling. This is the time to create an intervention plan. Before you begin, you really have to think through the process.

1. What evidence demonstrates that the student is falling behind?
2. What actions will be taken by the teacher, the parent and the student to intervene? See a list of possible interventions.
3. How will you monitor progress?
4. How will you determine when and if your goals are reached?
5. How will you communicate with the student and the parents?

Here is an academic intervention plan template.

Here is a template for a writing data sheet. Use this sheet while compiling and analyzing all writing data (perhaps at the end of each quarter).

Writing Data Template

Rubrics allow you to describe the behavior/evidence that results in a particular score.  Start with only 2 or 3 categories and 3 possible scores. 

Step 1: Plan the outline 
Think through your rubric carefully before you create it with your students. I’ll use a behavior rubric as an example, but they are very useful for ”grading” work also. I’ll make a rubric for partner discussions during reading. What do I want to see/hear? I want to see respectful social behaviors. I want them to take turns talking and be active listeners. I also want to hear thoughtful discussions. I want them to refer to the text for evidence. I want them to prompt each-other to think deeply. OK, now I can organize these ideas into categories.

Step 2: Describe the Behavior
You need to have a pretty good idea about what should go in those boxes before you present this to the students. Try to pinpoint behaviors and evidence in an objective way. If your rubric is very specific, anyone should be able to “grade” the students and reach the same conclusion (including the students themselves). Either you met the criteria or you didn’t. Try to avoid using descriptors like “good” or “bad”. Instead, quantify tangibles (had less than 3 spelling errors).
Your notes might look like this:

Step 3: Create the Rubric with Your Students
Creating a rubric is very cognitively demanding. If your students are new at this, you can help them by showing them examples and “non-examples”. Recruit another teacher or administrator to help you. In our partner discussion example, you would get another teacher to act out a discussion with you in front of the class. First you would have a terrible discussion (the non-example). You would interrupt, not listen, etc. Then, ask the students how you did. Why was it a bad discussion? Then, have a great discussion and have the kids explain why it was better. This will really help them pinpoint specific behaviors (and they think it’s hilarious). Create the rubric on a big piece of chart paper and make sure they can read it from wherever they’ll be sitting.

Step 4: Use the Rubric Everyday
After the students have a partner discussion, ask them to rate themselves. I like using 1,2,3 because they can just hold up their fingers to show you their self-assessment. You’ll say, “How do you think you did today with partner discussions?” and they will show you a score. Choose one group to explain their self-assessment (”We got a 2 because I interrupted one time and we used evidence twice”).  This process takes about 30 seconds.

“I don’t know what to write about.”
Part of the problem is that kids don’t spend enough time writing. Another part of the problem is that we prompt them to write about huge events, like summer vacations. Those only happen once a year.  We need to show them how to write about small things - things that happen everyday. If they begin to do that successfully, they will never run out of ideas. The way to teach them how to do this is to model it. Every time you write a story, think it through… “I want to write about my day at the amusement park, but that’s too big. I’ll just write about one ride.”

Think, Talk, Draw, Write
This is a great exercise for kids having trouble organizing and following through with their writing. I’ve used this process with grades 2-6. Remember that you have to model every step of the process. I like to start modeling with the time I broke my arm (everybody has an injury story). Here’s how it works:
Day 1
1. Prompt students to think of an event they’d like to write about (keep it small and non-fiction narrative)
2. Have them tell their story to a partner
3. Have students fold a piece of copy paper into four boxes and label each one (1,2,3,4)
4. Draw the story in the four boxes (this really forces them to organize their thoughts)
Day 2
5. Go back to the drawing. Add details that show setting, characters’ emotions, dialogue, etc.
6. Talk through the story again, using the pictures as a guide
7. Begin writing (on a separate sheet of paper or in a blank book)
Days 3-5
8. Continue writing and editing
9. Allow them to illustrate the final product

Most parents know that reading to their kids is important, but don’t often write with them. Not surprisingly, many kids are great readers but struggle with writing. Writing with your kids is really fun; here are a couple of tips.

Make Books
Take a piece of construction paper, fold it in half and staple some copy paper inside. With young kids, you can “write” the story with illustrations first; this helps them follow along. See my post about making books with pre-schoolers. If the kid is doing the writing, don’t spend too much time getting it perfect. The emphasis is on the creative process, not the spelling or handwriting. Older kids will have fun making their own illustrations. These books become a part of your library and kids love to read them over and over again. 

Choose Non-Fiction
Kids tend to get stuck on the autobiographical “About Me” books (What I Want to be When I Grow Up, My Family, etc.). Help them get past this by realizing that everyday things are book-worthy. When they get the hang of writing about things that really happened, there is never a shortage of material.

Write Small
Beware the “My Summer Vacation” story. The subject is way to big to be interesting. It will inevitably sound like a laundry list of events (First, we flew on the plane, then we went to the hotel. We went to the beach and built a sandcastle…). Instead, help them choose one, much smaller event - maybe just the airplane. The details will make the story colorful (I ate two tiny bags of peanuts and drank a cup of tomato juice…).

Write Often
Don’t wait for something special to happen. Write about walking to the park, baking a cake, getting a haircut, visiting a friend…

Additional Resources:
US Department of Education