Case+Presentations

Case Studies of Student Writers

After the written assignment, Student Writer Profile, is completed,

Small group oral presentation around one writer Group chooses a secondary writer and a question: E.g. How do we teach the "safe" writer who takes no risks? How do we encourage writers to revisit and revise their work? How do we support poets with a limited idea of poetry?

The group reads the writing sample and invites comments, using the Collaborative Assessment Protocol (below). Whole class addresses the questions. Finally, the group adds their observations about the writer. Research Questions from the Student Writer Profiles



Collaborative Assessment Conference Steve Seidel, Director of Project Zero, Harvard University This protocol has several purposes: ∑ to enhance teachers’ perceptions of all their students’ work by honing the teachers’ perceptual skills ∑ to encourage depth of perception by demonstrating all that can be seen in a single students’ work ∑ to encourage a balance in perception—the habit of looking for strength as well as need ∑ to encourage conversations among teachers about what the work shows and of how they can act individually and collectively on what it shows in order to benefit their students Each step is initiated with a particular question:


 * What do you see? **


 * What questions does this work raise for you? **


 * What do you think the student is working on? **


 * What are the implications for teaching and learning? **

Aspects of this protocol: ¸ withholding context ¸ withholding judgments ¸ hearing your colleagues describe what they see on the page (and saying what you see)

__From:__ //The Power of Protocols// //An Educator’s Guide to Better Practice// By Joseph P. McDonald, Nancy Mohr, Alan Dichter, Elizabeth C.McDonald Teachers College Press, Columbia University 2003