Writing for PASS
Blowing the Top off the Test
PASS WRITING ASSESSMENT
 March Writing Assessment: grades 3–8
 March 19: Day 1 – Extended Response
with prompt
 March 20: Day 2 Multiple-choice
items
PASS Writing Test Blueprint for Grades 3-8
Domain
Possible
Points
Extended
Response
Content/Development 1-4
Possible
Points
MultipleChoice Items
5-8
Organization
1-4
5-8
Voice
1-3
5-8
Conventions
1-4
5-8
PASS Writing Test Blueprint for Grades 3-8
The extended-response item is
scored using the 15 point rubric.
The score will be weighted x 2.
There is 1 extended response
and 25 multiple choice items.
Writing Answer Document
SC Department of Education
All SCDE documents are posted
on Anderson One’s website
www.anderson1.k12.sc.us
Time to Write
So what do we teach?
Writing Standards
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The student will create written
work that has a _____ _____,
__________ ______, ________
____________, _________ use of
_____, and _______ use of the
___________ of written
Standard American English.
Standard 3-4,4-4,5-4
Writing Standards

The student will create written
work that has a c____ f____,
s_________ d_____, c_______
o___________, e________ use of
v____, and c_______ use of the
c___________ of written
Standard American English.
Standard 3-4,4-4,5-4
Writing Standards

The student will create written
work that has a clear focus,
sufficient detail, coherent
organization, effective use of
voice, and correct use of the
conventions of written Standard
American English.
Standard 3-4,4-4,5-4
Descriptive Writing
 Descriptive Writing
 Paints a word picture in the reader’s mind, often making use of
sensory details What the writer sees, hears, smells, feels.
 Informational writing is used to help a reader/learner
understand and visualize a process or see how key components
fit together in a piece of equipment
 Common Examples: menus, catalogs, travel brochures,
technical manuals.
 Key Traits: Word choice or voice The more vivid the language,
the more complete and interesting the picture. Ideas are
important to a good description.
Narrative Writing
 Tells a story. Has a plot, setting and characters who have
motives for what they do. Is more than a list of random
events. It has a problem and solution or a challenge to
be overcome.
 Common examples: novels, short stories, narrative
picture books, plays, diaries, news stories, biographies,
histories
 Key Traits: Organization – very important. Needs a
strong beginning, development of problem and great
ending
 Key Traits: Ideas are critical.
Informational Writing
 Effective informational writing answers a key question. Sometimes
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based on formal research or personal experience and observation.
Well supported by facts, comparisons, or quotations from reputable
sources.
Can have strong voice indicating the writer’s passion for the topic.
Examples: Journal articles, Informational brochures, Newspaper
articles, Research summaries, Textbooks, non-fiction trade books,
How-to manuals, Cookbooks
Key Traits: Ideas (accurate, complete, interesting)
Organization
Voice (appropriate for audience and topic)
Teach the Writing Process
Brainstorming/Writing Rough Draft
Graphic organizers
Revising
Editing
Publishing
Revising
 To be good at revising, students must be immersed in
writer’s language: read aloud often and from many sources.
 Revise for one trait, one error only.
 Use rubrics for student assessment
 The goal is to eliminate the problem in the writing.
 Class chart: Quick Checklist for Revision: Stimulating
ideas, Logical organization, Engaging Voice, Smooth
sentences, Correct, Accurate copy
 Questions: what kinds of things do writers do when they
revise?
 Don’ revise everything.
SCDE Writing Matrix
 Handouts cover it all!
 Posted on website – General AND by Grade Level
 Writing Instruction by Assessment Domains –
Conventions
 Writing Instruction by Assessment Domains –
Conventions of Grammar
 Writing Instruction by Assessment Domains – Traits
 Writing Instruction by Assessment Domains – Types
of Writing
How do we teach it?
Writers Workshop
Students have difficulty revising
their work if . . .
 they don’t have enough written to revise.
 they don’t know how to “read” and assess their own
writing
 They do not realize that writing must “stand alone” – the
writer won’t be there to explain what doesn’t make
sense.
 They do not understand the difference between editing
and revision – and so do not spend enough time revising.
 They have made their writing so BIG that revision looks
overwhelming.
Writing Standards
The student will
write for a variety
of purposes and
audiences.
Standard 3-5,4-5,5-5
Content and Development
Clarity
Focus – a small, easy to manage topic
Good information – from experience,
imagination or research
A fresh perspective
Important, helpful details that go
beyond the obvious
Content and Development
To communicate thought to others and
include extensive and exact descriptive
detail to communicate a clear
understanding of the experience
Effective writing is dependent on
writers’ ability to anticipate the
questions that might arise in the reader’s
mind.
Ideas Lessons
 What’s Missing? Give informational article with how to
steps that you have removed key steps or rearranged the
steps. Have students read and determine what is missing.
 Shoes. Bring in shoes – old, new, from another time
period, etc. Have students observe and brainstorm. Have
them write: an advertisement as it would have appeared if
new; a poem about the owner of the shoe; a brief
description of the shoe or the shoe’s owner; a short story in
which the shoe played an important role; write from the
point of view of the shoe
 Quick writes
6 Things to tell your students to
strengthen Content and Development
 Be an observer (Notice everything and everyone around you)
 Write small (Rather than trip to Disney World, write about your
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favorite ride)
Pick your own topics (Students write best when they know and
care about the topic) (Need practice with prompts, too)
Get rid of the deadwood (Separate the good ideas from the
snoozers)
Don’t try to tell too much (When writing about a trip, no one
wants to hear about packing)
Don’t generalize (words like fun, good, etc. don’t tell us
anything as readers. Write specifics. I found out I could be four feet
from a bear and not die of fright.” Better than I was afraid.
Organization
 Order and logic
 A snappy lead that gets the reader’s
attention
 Clear connections to a main idea
 In informational writing, gets to the point!
 Easy to follow but not too predictable
 A graceful ending – doesn’t just STOP
Organization
 Organization refers to the logical arrangement of
sentences and paragraphs in order to coherently express
ideas that readers can understand and follow.
 Compels readers to be convinced, enlightened, or
affected. If writing is poorly organized, the writer’s
ideas will not be clearly conveyed and readers are likely
to become confused or frustrated. Good organization
requires the writer to remain focused on the writing
topic by establishing a clear presentation and
progression of ideas.
Organization Suggestions
 How to Organize a Letter: The Situation Introduce your
message right away. Answer the question, Why am I writing?
Explanation Expand on your message. Give details. Answer
the questions, What is this all about? Action Suggest what you
want the reader to do: the what, when, and how. Answer the
question What happens next?
 Create charts for good beginnings, endings.
 To add rigor: re-write beginnings or endings.
 Getting Rid of the Rubble. To add rigor: give writing with
additional sentences added in. Students have to delete the
sentences off topic/rearrange the order.
6 Things to tell your students to
strengthen Organization
 Spend time on a good lead. (Class chart or in writer’s notebook)
 Have a center. A main idea. A theme.
 Gather information in chunks. Put things together that go togther
and then get rid of the filler.
 Try to see a pattern. Many ways to organize writing. Information is
sequential. Descriptions are organized with transitions. A persuasive
argument often begins with the conclusion.
 Link ideas together. Don’t leave the reader asking questions to
clarify. As you write ask, what does this sentence have to do with the
main idea?
 End with flair. Class chart or in writer’s notebook.
Writers Workshop - Organization
 Day 1 Goal: Teacher models how to get started with a
prompt.
 Shares prompt, brainstorms ideas and talks aloud
to organize the ideas to show what a correct
response would look like.
 Day 2 Goal: Organize sentences with a good flow and
with good organization so reader doesn’t get
confused.
 Teacher talks out loud and displays writing prompt
responded to previously. Has additional sentences
written on sentence strips. Reads the sentences and
asks “if I place this here would it make sense?” The
class will decide where sentences would fit.
 Day 3 and 4 Goal: Practice in small groups the
same concept the teacher modeled. Give new
prompt, students brainstorm, write sentences
and organize them.
 Day 5 Goal: Give pairs of students several
sentences. Students group the sentences by
topic, helping them to organize ideas into
specific categories and write a topic for the
categories.
Voice
 Moments that stick with you
 Relies on strong verbs and precise nouns
 Creates word pictures
 “Just right language” – suits the topic, the audience, the
purpose
 Has the mark of this particular writer
 Brings the topic to life
 Is appropriate for the audience, topic, purpose
 Shows conscious concern for readers interest or
informational needs
Voice
 Successful writers are able to decide what words will most precisely and
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clearly express their ideas, and what words will support their purpose for
writing.
Successful writers also consider their reader, choosing words that encourage
a reader to connect to their ideas and intentions. When conveying
experience, writers often choose words that appeal to the reader’s senses
and give the sensation of experiencing the event.
Effective writing also involves adapting word choice, voice, and tone
depending on the purpose, audience, and/or topic of a writing task.
Two ways this is achieved are through voice, the writer’s ability to convey a
personality or attitude in language, and tone, the writer’s attitude toward
the topic or audience.
Writers alter their manner of expression (e.g., their word choice, sentence
structures, etc.) as a means of demonstrating their attitudes towards a topic
or an audience.
Voice Suggestions
 Share excerpts from 4-5 favorite works that exemplify
different types of voice. Example to ask: What kind of voice is
this? What age to you think the author is? This makes me feel . . . I
know the author feels . . .Is the voice based on sentence structure,
a detail, conventions, ideas? Does use of voice let you know the
characters do not like each other?
 Class chart: The Right Voice and Word Choice for the Right
Audience
 Class chart: Bury the overused words and replace with better
choices. Paul WENT down the road. Rewrite to make him happy,
in a hurry, old, lost, trying to hide from someone, tired, etc.
 Whose voice? After author studies of 3-4 authors and teaching
the voice of that author, hide the covers of the books, read excerpts
and see if students can identify the author. Remind them you can
recognize their writing by their voice.
Voice mini-lesson
 Introduce the word voice. Explain what it means in a writing. Share
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examples of voice from classroom libraries.
Independent Search. Have students look for examples of voice in their
independent reading.
Mini-lesson: Sentence Stretching. Display small, boring non-vivid
sentences. Teacher models how to rewrite the sentence changing words to make
it more exciting and descriptive.
Re-writing. Independently in small groups: Have students rewrite sentences by
making them more exciting and descriptive. Emphasize voice and vivid word
usage.
Coming alive. Small group: Give students a boring, paragraph. Have them work
together to add voice to their writing. Share paragraph orally.
Adding Adjectives. Brainstorm a large list of adjectives on chart paper. Have
students create detailed, vivid sentences using those adjectives. Create their own
list of adjectives and more sentences.
Using photos. Have students create sentences with voice explain what is
happening in the picture. (who, what, when where)
Voice
 Good writers make many choices about language use. They decide
what kinds of sentences to use and how to construct sentences to
clearly convey relationships among ideas; they also purposefully
arrange these sentences to enhance the organizational qualities of
their writing. They choose particular words and alter how emotion
and voice are expressed to clearly and effectively communicate.
 Effective sentence structure can also enhance the development and
organization of ideas and is a device used by writers to emphasize
ideas within a sentence.
 Alternating the length and kinds of sentences used can also make a
text easier to follow and more interesting to read. Successful writers
achieve sentence variety by strategically crafting shorter and longer
sentences, by varying the ways sentences begin, and by using a
variety of sentence types (e.g., simple, compound, complex).
6 Things to tell your students to
strengthen Voice
 Be yourself –You want your voice to have your personality, your
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fingerprint; When you call someone on the phone and they
recognize your voice;You want that in your writing.
Match voice to purpose – A mystery told around a campfire has
different voice from a letter written to the principal.
Think of your audience – Picture your audience when you
write. Make your writing interesting. Don’t bore them.
Read. Find authors whose voice you like to read. Pattern your
writing after them. Pull those books out and read when you get
stuck.
Know your topic –You can write with confidence when you
know your subject.
Model voice writing like a letter. – Letter writing is a great
way to practice voice.
Conventions: Grammar, Usage and
Mechanics
 Grammar is the system through which a
given language is ordered according to an
agreed-upon set of internal rules; mechanics
refers to conventions of capitalization,
punctuation, and spelling.
 Good writers have a command of grammar,
usage, and mechanics so that only minimal
errors in their writing.
Conventions
 Looks clean, edited, proofread
 Easy to decode and follow – conventions
enhance meaning
 No BIG, GLARING errors that distract the
readers or distort the message
 Correct spelling, punctuation, paragraphs for
new topics, capitals used appropriately,
 Varied sentence length
Conventions Lessons
 Practice everyday! Keep it short. Don’t waste time
on DOL. Create your own for the next day by what
you see in student writing.
 Teach editing symbols (one error at a time).
Teacher models. Students practice on a short, focused
text that is not their own. To start, tell them how many
errors there are. (Remember editing is also checking to
see if your name is on your paper). If students struggle
editing, start with first line, then first two lines, etc.
 To add rigor: have students write a paper with errors
and give to partner to mark.
Conventions (Editing)
 Mini-lesson: Example – simple + simple = compound. Display
two sentences and have students combine the sentences to create a
compound sentence. Practice examples together.
 Mini-lesson: Comma, Comma Where? Give each student a passage
with no commas. Have them mark where commas belong. Share
correct answers.
 Mini-lesson: The Goofs – http://jc-schools.net/write/goofs/
Choose one of the powerpoints to do in class. Use white board. Have
students write their answers. Review as necessary.
 Mini-lesson: Be a Teacher for a Day. Give students written papers
that have mistakes and have them correct the conventions. Go over in
class.
6 Things to tell your students to
strengthen Conventions
 Edit two ways. When using a computer to write, read and edit on
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screen but always print a hard copy and look again.
Read from the bottom up. When looking for spelling errors, read
from the bottom up.You focus on spelling and not on content.
Make all rough drafts double spaced. Give yourself room to
read and room to work.You can edit on the extra lines.
Learn copy editor’s symbols.
Start in the middle. After you have edited your piece, do it once
more starting in the middle.
Be a sleuth. Learn to have editor’s eyes.
Publishing
Final draft
Sharing with peers
Sharing with class
Tips to Remember
Do teach students to stay on
topic and include sufficient
details
Don’t teach students that they
must fill up the page.
Points will be deducted.
Resources
 http://writingfix.com/index.htm (WritingFix –
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Home of Interactive Writing Prompts)
www.reading.org (International Reading Association
website)
www.ncte.org (National Council of Teachers of English)
www.teachingchannel.org (videos)
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/itmrlsx/def
ault.aspx (National Assessment of Educational Progress)
sample questions
www.thinkcentral.org (Journeys website)
http://www.writesmart.com/educators.html
PRACTICE PROMPT
 Imagine that students at your school are going to select a new school mascot.
A mascot is an animal or object used to represent a group. For example, many
sports teams have mascots.
 Four choices are being considered as your school’s mascot:Tigers, Rising
Stars, Dolphins, and Rockets.You have been asked to choose one of the four
mascots and to support your choice in a letter to the school principal.
 Write a letter to your principal convincing him or her that your choice
should be the school mascot. Be sure to include reasons and examples in your
letter.