Free Webinar Series Recordings for School Leaders
Writing as the Path to Student Growth on Assessments
In this four-part video series, administrators will learn how regular writing can improve students' critical thinking skills while impacting achievement on rigorous state assessments.
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Upon signing up for the series, you'll immediately receive an email containing a link to watch Video 1. Each week following, you'll receive the next video in the series, which culminates with Video 4, a deep dive into an assessment of your choice.
The videos were developed by Dr. Kavita Venkatesh, ThinkCERCA's Executive Director of School Innovation and former district administrator.
Video 1
Writing is the Path to Critical Thinking
In this video session, Nikki Lacewell – a ThinkCERCA School Success Manager and former school principal – discusses the longterm impact of writing on students' critical thinking skills.
While students need regular writing practice to succeed on rigorous end-of-year assessments, it's important to also recognize the enormous impact writing can have on students' lives. In a constantly changing world, one thing's for certain: the ability to think critically and clearly communicate ideas will empower students throughout their lives, careers, and post-school pursuits.
Video 2
Texts, Tasks, and Student Growth
When you look at the expectations for your students on assessments, you know that writing – essays, constructed responses, or text-dependent analysis – matters. To best prepare students to tackle these writing tasks, they need opportunities to practice these tasks at a level that is appropriate for them.
In this 9-minute mini-webinar, Dr. Venkatesh discusses how to support teachers in differentiating texts and tasks for students throughout the year.
Video 3
Aligning Student Expectations and Teacher Practice with Rubrics
In this 5-minute video, Dr. Venkatesh discusses how rubrics can be used in all subjects, by students and teachers, to set goals for student work. Whether it's for a presentation, a written assignment, or a group project, rubrics can manage student expectations across an entire school.
Rubrics can also help teachers provide actionable feedback to students, so that when it comes to writing and explaining their thinking process, they know how to be more purposeful and clear.
Video 4
A Deep Dive into Assessments
In this video, Dr. Venkatesh will dive into real examples from popular assessments – PARCC, Smarter Balanced, STAAR, the Ohio AIR, Georgia Milestones, or Regents – to discuss the texts, comprehension checks, and writing tasks on each test.
Using these components as a guide, Dr. Venkatesh will discuss how writing can prepare students to succeed on end-of-year assessments.