Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Red-Green Dot Writing


Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we will be doing a 10 minute writing activity to start class. Students will use their 3-brad folder for their journal writing, and these folders will stay in the class. This sheet will be in the  pocket of the folder, and students will set it on their desk when writing so it's easy for me to access.

Every student will start with the first focus item "neatness" as their assignment, so the box next to #1 will be checked for each student when I hand out the sheets. While student are writing, I will rotate around the room, marking a red dot next to writing that does not meet my standards for neatness, and a green dot next to writing that does meet my expectation for neatness. This is the brilliance of the red-green dot writing technique: I only find two examples in each student's work, and they are redirected IN THE MOMENT. It only takes a few moments to "grade" each student's paper, and they don't have to wait 24 hours (or longer in some cases) to see feedback on their writing. I will tie this into my super improvers wall as well, and provide acknowledgement for improvement.

Students will also "grade" each others papers by marking red/green dots on their partner's paper! What an excellent way for them to show that they truly understand the focus! Seeing how they mark the dots on a peer's paper and then listening to the students explain the reasoning behind the dots to one another are two great ways to informally assess student understanding of the focus as well.  

As individual students show mastery of their assigned focus, they will be assigned a new focus at their own pace. So if Johhny shows mastery of neatness after two journal entries, he will be assigned focus #2 capitalization and will receive red/green dots only for capitalization. Suzy might need more time to master neatness, and not move on to capitalization until her fifth journal. 

A mastered focus can be reassigned at any time if the student has forgotten This technique differentiates each students' assignment so they are each working on the skill that they need most.  

My hope is that I can work with the language arts teacher on my team so that I can add "other focus items" that correlate with what students are learning about in language arts. I would also love to differentiate these as well based on the recommendation of the LA teacher. 

9 comments:

  1. I love the idea of moving the kids up at different levels!

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  2. I love each of the sheets you have created. Is there any way to obtain a copy of each? (the red-green rubric, Homework sheet, and Power Pix? I also teach 6th grade science and have been thinking about power pix. I am not sure how this commenting works but my email is: tfbutton123@aol.com - if you can give me a reply, I sure would appreciate it. Thanks so much!
    Joy

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  3. Joy, I'm glad that you like them! I just emailed you copies of everything. Let me know if you need anything else!

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  4. Can you please sent the red/green marker and power pix to me too? I am begging! I will share my power pix back! We can trade! My email is fridaycat6@sbcglobal.net. Thank you so much!

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  5. I was looking for Universal Homework Model sheets on Pinterest and saw these! Awesome! I teach younger students but it gives me good ideas of how to adapt for my needs in special education.

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  6. I LOVE your red/green marker focus sheet. I teach 5th grade reading but I want to include writing journals on their books. Could you send it to me also? My email is mrsleavins@yahoo.com. Thank you so much.

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  7. I have just been assigned to 6th grade. I love this sheet. May I have this also? matthewa.jdms@gmail.com Thanks a bunch.

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  8. Here's a link to the red/green rubric
    I'm using this year. I hope you find it useful!

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  9. Hi Sarah , for the past weeks I've been studying your blog and everything associated with WBT and I am overwhelmed and excited to say the least. Tomorrow I will be teaching Grade 6 for the 1st time as I 've been a primary teacher for over 12 years !! I was wondering if you can send me at lorrainespiteri@gmail.com your Universal Homework sheets, and Power Pix and any sheets that a Grade 6 teacher can find useful . Thanks so much in advance :)

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