Meade County Writing Expectations
Sixth Grade- (2011-12)
Teachers in Meade County Elementary Schools will move from a traditional approach of developing writing pieces to a
process-oriented approach in which we develop writers. Students will not write pieces just “for the portfolio.” Instead, throughout
the school year, students will be given multiple opportunities to experience all three types of writing (writing to learn, writing to
demonstrate learning, writing for publication). Students should create a collection of writing with multiple examples from all three
types. This collection should include pieces across all content areas. (The collection does not have to be located in one place but
could be in different notebooks, folders, or digital formats.) Near the end of the school year (late May), students will select their best
pieces from this collection to be folder entries. The final writing folder will be a sample of actual work the student completed
throughout the year. It will not require weeks of additional conferencing, revising, and typing of pieces.
Teachers will give feedback on pieces as they are completed. Students will periodically pull pieces to put in a “possibility
folder”. A random 10% of the writing folder (minimum of 5) from each grade level will be pulled for a Writing Folder Review
in early Nov., Mid/Late Feb., and Mid May. At the end of the year, students will make final selections for the folder.
6th
Types of Writing Evident in All
Classrooms
Writing for Publication
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

Argument to support claims (6.W.1)
Informative/explanatory (6.W.2)
Narrative (6.W.3)
As part of or in addition to writing
lessons in core reading program.
Writing Folder Contents
At the end of each 12 week period…
students will choose
1. -at least one sample of each type of
writing
2. -one sample of On Demand and
3. -complete a self-reflection of
themselves as a writer (See samples).
At the end of the year (late May)…
Students will choose
On-Demand Writing
Students are given a prompt and then
write on the spot in class. If it’s
given for homework, it’s not ondemand.
Writing to Demonstrate Learning
Writing to Learn
Evidence of technology on one or
more entry. (Podcast, PhotoStory,
Moviemaker, SMARTnotebook,
PowerPoint, wiki, etc..)
(*one will include evidence of technology)
 2 of their best Writing for Publication
pieces (including history of the piece)
 1 On-demand piece
 1 best Writing to Demonstrate
 1 best Writing to Learn entry
Focus on developing the writer instead
of a certain number of pieces. The final
writing folder will be a sample of actual
student work. The goal is to demonstrate
the growth of the writer. It will not
require weeks of additional conferencing,
revising, and typing pieces.
Expectations from a Quality
Writing Program
Writing for Publication
Should include the “history of the piece”
6.W.5:
 Dates
 Rubric (may be “I can” statements,
checklists, etc…)
 Prewriting (may be a picture)
 One or more rough drafts showing revision
& feedback not just recopied.
 Writing (may include invented words)
 Teacher annotation as needed.
On-Demand Writing (with rubric)




Prompt
Prewriting
Draft
Revision
Writing to Demonstrate Learning
Should include:
Student’s writing with date (and teacher
annotation, if needed)
Writing to Learn
Should include:

Student’s “dated” writing draft (and
teacher annotation, if needed)
 Rubric
Writing examples: For further explanation of the 3 text types and grade specifics, see Common core standards, Appendix A, pages
23-24, and Appendix C
Writing for Publication- written for someone other than the teachers (& usually taken through the entire writing process).
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
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Arugument (6.W.1) - write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
Informative/explanatory (6.W.2)- write informative/explanatory text to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and info. through the
selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content
Narrative (6.W.3)- write narratives (real or imagined) using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well structured event
sequences
The 3 text types listed above could also be used in other types of writing like writing to demonstrate learning and writing to learn.
Writing to Demonstrate Learning- written for the teacher
(poster, presentation, project, Open Response Question, summaries, explanations, lab report, etc…)
Writing to Learn- written for the writer to better understand a topic or process.
(student thinking about their own learning, journal entries with thoughts and summaries, Reading response journal entry, double-entry dialogue
journal with teacher/student feedback, writer’s notebook entry, goals, admit/exit slips, etc…)
Use of Technology-(6.W.6) Photo story, Podcast, PowerPoint, SmartNotebook, etc…to enhance communication.