K-12 Vertical Writing PLC Minutes Nov. 5, 2013 4:00 p.m.

Members Present: Kim Winchel, Sara Schuemann, Kristin VanWyk, Christy Drumm, Katie Hughes, Sara Kelley, Heather Kortlandt, Melissa Koenig District Prompt- Why (what does the vertical team want to gain from this?) Members were asked to list their reasons as to why the district prompt was being given to provide additional clarification. Answers to the why question included: To provide exemplar papers per grade level To provide measurable data across the buildings To chart progressions of the Common Core across the grade levels To use the pre/post assessments to guide our instruction To provide connectiveness from the grade level below and the grade level above To insure that we are hitting the essential skills at each grade level Allows us to watch students grow as a writer To chart the K-12 trajectory expectations To assist with common scoring practices The district prompts are separate from growth goals. Growth goal pre-assessment may be given at any time. Action steps done or that need to get done for the vertical team by spring: At the elementary, the district prompts (for each type of writing) should be given just prior to teaching a unit to guide instruction and a post assessment should be given at the conclusion of the unit. At the MS/HS the school uniform prompt pre test was given the first two weeks of school to6,7,8,9,10, and 11 graders and a post will be given at the end of the school year (date to be determined) Each teacher should give their vertical writing team member an exemplar paper to share with the group at our May meeting. An exemplar paper is one in which all of the components of a paper are demonstrated. For K-11 this will be the school uniform exemplars and for k-5 will also be informational and narrative (friendship) as well. Note- Pre-assessments are necessary to give as they provide the teacher direction on their instruction. Note-For k-5, Post assessment papers for the three types of writing are to be given at the end of the units. (We anticipated that would be at the end of each trimester. However, if your unit goes into the next trimester, give the post assessment when the unit is completed. ) Krisitin & Melissa will begin generating ideas for an informative prompt and will email the other vertical members for feedback. The informative prompt should be given at the elementary level at the beginning of Unit 3 in WriteSteps. The goal is to have the prompt in the hands of teachers by the end of this month.

What will the vertical team do with the exemplars in May? At the elementary level, the post assessment for each of the three types of writing will be inserted into the red folder. Stapled to the paper will be the clarifying document rubric that will state the grade level and if the child has exceeded expectations, met expectations, approaching expectations, or below expectations. Melissa will begin preparing these documents for narrative and informative to mirror the opinion document. The vertical team will also compare the exemplars to the trajectories of the CCSS to track how our kids are doing against the CCSS standards for the types of writing.

Clarifying Document used for scoring for K-5 After viewing the new clarifying document for opinion papers, it is the recommendation of the team to use the clarifying document as the rubric for the vertical prompts instead of the WriteSteps rubric as previously recommended. Melissa will begin creating these documents. Writing Matrix Members were asked to list the reasons as to why we are doing a district Matrix. Answers to the why question included: Chart the 12 exposures of the three types of writing A tool for teachers to share writing ideas Action steps needed for the Matrix K-5 teachers are expected to use the Google Doc because it is a live/current document. At the elementary level, this will allow teachers to see ideas prior to a PLC meeting where much of the time will be spent on math this year. At the secondary level, they will be able to chart the writing that is being done across the curriculum and if there are some months when too much writing is being done or vice versa.- A google Doc might be helpful here. Heather will work with 6-12 on this. Other Questions A clarifying question on red folders was also asked. The end of the year dashboard letter along with the post assessment of the three types of writing will be placed in the folder. Teachers do not need to write any scores in the folder as the dashboard letter will serve this purpose.