[...]... about why and how we assess student writing xv What Student Writing Teaches Us: Formative Assessment in the Writing Workshop by Mark Overmeyer © 2009 Stenhouse Publishers No reproduction without written permission from publisher This page intentionally left blank What Student Writing Teaches Us: Formative Assessment in the Writing Workshop by Mark Overmeyer © 2009 Stenhouse Publishers No reproduction... Overmeyer © 2009 Stenhouse Publishers No reproduction without written permission from publisher This page intentionally left blank What Student Writing Teaches Us: Formative Assessment in the Writing Workshop by Mark Overmeyer © 2009 Stenhouse Publishers No reproduction without written permission from publisher C h a p t e r 2 What Student Writing Teaches Us: Formative Assessment in the Writing Workshop... know what I would have done without them, and their students pushed my thinking every step of the way as I wrote and revised xi What Student Writing Teaches Us: Formative Assessment in the Writing Workshop by Mark Overmeyer © 2009 Stenhouse Publishers No reproduction without written permission from publisher W h at S t u d e n t W r i t i n g T e a c h e s Us the manuscript Jan and James, your students... picture Student- friendly rubrics and criteria lists, discussed in Chapter 3 of this book, have helped to bring students into the discussion, but what Goldberg and Popham are charging us with as teachers of writing takes this idea of students’ being involved in their own learning one giant step further They are reminding us that we as writing teachers cannot be the ones who know everything We must let... Assessment, when used correctly in a formative way, can empower students and teachers not only to improve but, better yet, to believe in themselves as writers and teachers of writing And once students believe they are writers and you believe you are a teacher of writing, any barrier, no matter how imposing, begins to crumble 7 What Student Writing Teaches Us: Formative Assessment in the Writing Workshop... logical instructional move If our goal as writing teachers is to help our students improve, then waiting until the end is too late—in fact, “the end” should only happen when students literally leave our classrooms because of semester or year-end breaks 4 What Student Writing Teaches Us: Formative Assessment in the Writing Workshop by Mark Overmeyer © 2009 Stenhouse Publishers No reproduction without written... lives We just don’t have enough time, and if students were just with us longer, we could make an impact We worry about having enough time every day, and then we wonder if the time we do spend provides enough opportunities for students to grow as writers 14 What Student Writing Teaches Us: Formative Assessment in the Writing Workshop by Mark Overmeyer © 2009 Stenhouse Publishers No reproduction without written... brings us around to what has always been true about the teaching and assessment of writing The focus of our assessment— whether before, during, or after the process of writing and intertwined assessment—should always begin with what is right with student writing For me, remembering that is refreshing, like taking a deep breath I believe that if we can’t find something good in a student s piece of writing, ... about our writing Though specific writing standards vary from state to state, the standards published by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the 11 What Student Writing Teaches Us: Formative Assessment in the Writing Workshop by Mark Overmeyer © 2009 Stenhouse Publishers No reproduction without written permission from publisher W h at S t u d e n t W r i t i n g T e a c h e s Us International... teacher, and perhaps other students) and a narrow purpose (to get a good enough grade to pass) In the planning stages, then, we should consider our students’ needs and their progress toward a standard, and we should always consider why we are asking students to write 12 What Student Writing Teaches Us: Formative Assessment in the Writing Workshop by Mark Overmeyer © 2009 Stenhouse Publishers No reproduction . class="bi x0 y0 w0 h0" alt="" teaches us what student writing What Student Writing Teaches Us: Formative Assessment in the Writing Workshop by Mark Overmeyer. © 2009 Stenhouse Publishers. No reproduction. StenhouSe PubliSherS Portland, Maine forMative aSSeSSMent in the writing workShoP teaches us what student writing Mark overMeyer foreword by Jeff anderson What Student Writing Teaches Us: Formative. seriously inter- feres with teaching and learning. What Student Writing Teaches Us gives us insight into what assessment really means and addresses the importance of self-assessment and student