Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively

Sample color-coding reflections

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The piece begins with more plot summary and less commentary, but ends with more  

commentary and analysis as the writer elaborates on his interpretations.

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The use of quotes from the story helps tie the plot summary to the commentary.

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Additional plot summary may be necessary to explain Jimmy’s background, such as why  

he dropped out of school or how he taught himself to read.

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Have students analyze how their strategy use, 

writing knowledge, writing skills, and written 

products have improved. Students can keep a 

portfolio of their work throughout the school 

year to facilitate this analysis. At different 

points during the year, encourage students 

to compare their most recent work to earlier 

pieces of their writing. For example, students 

can review work they wrote in the beginning 

of the school year, compare it to work they 

wrote in May, and answer reflection questions 

such as the following:

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•  After rereading drafts of your own work, 

can you see any evidence of your growth 

as a reader and writer? Please describe 

what you notice about your performance.

•  If you saw growth between your drafts, 

what do you think is responsible for your 

progress? Be as specific as you can in your 

answer.

•  If you did not mention this above, to what 

degree did revising your first draft prepare 

you to write well on your final draft?

Students can go through a similar exercise 

when moving between a first draft and sub-

sequent drafts for the same assignment. After 

students have implemented their revisions, 

ask them to explain the changes they made 

to reach their final draft and to articulate 

how those changes helped make their writing 

more effective.

Rubrics are tools students can use to facili-

tate the evaluation of their work. Use rubrics 

to prompt students to identify ways in which 

their writing could be improved, and ask 

students to identify strengths in their writing 

and others’ writing (see Example 1.13).

Teachers can find many sample rubrics online 

or through professional learning communities. 

They can also create rubrics themselves or in 

collaboration with other teachers. Teachers 

may consider consulting their state writing 

rubrics as well as exemplar papers when 

developing rubrics from scratch. Teach stu-

dents how to use rubrics to assess how well 

they met certain criteria and to inform their 

plans for improving their writing.