____ Nevada teachers (K-12) need to better balance their test preparation activities with authentic writing instruction. ____ Nevada teachers (K-12) need to use more strategies that push students to the analysis and evaluation level (Bloom’s) when teaching reading and writing. ____ Nevada teachers (K-12) need to improve their abilities to model and teach both authentic pre-writing and revision strategies. Which—from your observations of writing instruction—do you believe would make the most difference in helping our Nevada students achieve better writing results? Rank these three ideas:

____ Nevada teachers (K-12) need to better balance their test preparation activities with authentic writing instruction. Third Grade: No Direct Test Preparation Two Creative Narrative Lessons Two Personal Narrative Lessons Fourth Grade: Three Practice Prompts (Spring)..with pre-writing strategies …with annotated samples & “Sparklers” Three Follow-up Lessons …focused on the “Seven Elements of a Differentiated Writing Lesson” Fifth Grade: Three Practice Prompts (Fall)..with pre-writing strategies …with annotated samples & “Sparklers” Three Follow-up Lessons …focused on the “Seven Elements of a Differentiated Writing Lesson”

____ Nevada teachers (K-12) need to better balance their test preparation activities with authentic writing instruction. Pictured here are fourth graders posing with their final drafts of the follow-up lesson they did after spending a week writing a practice passage akin to the type of writing they’d do on our state test as fifth graders. The follow-up lesson lasted three weeks as they went through the entire writing process. The students set goals for themselves to work on during the follow-up based on the scores they received from the practice prompt they wrote to. Imagine what stronger writers Nevada would have if they practiced three times in their fourth grade year—a month in between practices—and followed each practice prompt with an authentic narrative writing lesson.

____ Nevada teachers (K-12) need to better balance their test preparation activities with authentic writing instruction.

____ Nevada teachers (K-12) need to use more strategies that push students to the analysis and evaluation level (Bloom’s) when teaching reading and writing. “First Pen” chapter (featured in the fifth grade section of the “Show Me” Guide) An “Olympic Committee Task” for you to analyze and evaluate this mentor text: _____ Fletcher has chosen memorable and relevant details to tell his story (idea development); _____Fletcher’s personality is revealed, and he really sounds like he has written about a topic he cares about. (voice); _____Fletcher’s use of adjectives, verbs, and sentence variety proves he has a great command of language (word choice & sentence fluency); _____Fletcher spelled all his words correctly (conventions). Your task: Work with a fellow “judge” to decide which three skills from the four above made this writing worth publishing; then, of those three, decide which one was his “Gold Medal skill,” his “Silver Medal skill,” and his “Bronze Level skill.”

____ Nevada teachers (K-12) need to use more strategies that push students to the analysis and evaluation level (Bloom’s) when teaching reading and writing. An “Olympic Committee Task” for you to analyze and evaluate this student sample: _____ John has chosen memorable and relevant details to tell his story (idea development); _____John’s personality is revealed, and he really sounds like he has written about a topic he cares about. (voice); _____John’s use of adjectives, verbs, and sentence variety proves he has a great command of language (word choice & sentence fluency); _____John spelled all his words correctly (conventions). Your task: Work with a fellow “judge” to decide which three skills from the four above made this writing worth publishing; then, of those three, decide which one was his “Gold Medal skill,” his “Silver Medal skill,” and his “Bronze Level skill.” Writing inspired by the “First Pen” chapter (featured in the fifth grade section of the “Show Me” Guide)

____ Nevada teachers (K-12) need to use more strategies that push students to the analysis and evaluation level (Bloom’s) when teaching reading and writing.

____ Nevada teachers (K-12) need to improve their abilities to model and teach both authentic pre-writing and revision strategies.